And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.
And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bow shot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child.
And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest: Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. And Abraham said, I will swear. And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away. And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing; neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but to day. And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.
And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves? And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well. Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them. Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines’ land many days.
Genesis 21
In chapters 17 and 18, God was revealed as the Almighty—the One who carries out His promises in spite of the weakness of His people and the wickedness of the world. In chapter 19, the evil of the world was fully demonstrated, while in chapter 20 the evil of the flesh and the weakness of God’s people were manifested.
The world and the flesh having been exposed, we learn in chapter 21 that God’s set time had come and the long-promised heir was born (vv. 1-7); the bondwoman and her child were cast out (vv. 8-21); and the world had to acknowledge that God was with the man of faith (vv. 22-34).
The Birth of Isaac (vv. 1-5)
Everything on man’s side having broken down, we learn that the “set time of which God had spoken” had come and the promised heir was born. He was called Isaac, meaning “laughter,” and in due time was circumcised in accordance with the directions of the Lord. Everything takes place in God’s set time and according to God’s Word.
In the birth of Isaac we have a striking type of Christ, of whom we read, “When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son” (Gal. 4:44But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (Galatians 4:4)). Christ is the One through whom all the blessings promised to Abraham were secured, whether for Israel, the direct seed, or for the Gentile nations.
The Effect of That Birth (vv. 6-9)
In the two incidents that follow, we see the effect of the birth of the heir. In the one scene there were those who rejoiced; in the other there were those who mocked. Again, do not these two incidents strikingly bring before us the two-fold effect of the birth of Christ? Sarah said, “God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.” Time was when her laughter was the expression of her unbelief; now it was the overflow of the joy of her heart. Moreover, her faith recognized that the birth of the son was so wholly of God, lying so entirely outside the thoughts of man, that she asked, “Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck?” So impossible was this to nature that no man would have said it. Only God would have said it; and only One who is almighty could carry out what He said.
So when at last the Christ of God became Incarnate there were those who, in harmony with heaven, recognized the intervention of God and could rejoice over the birth of the long-promised heir. With joy Mary delighted to say, “He that is mighty hath done to me great things.” Zacharias saw that God had visited His people, “To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; the oath which He swore to our father Abraham”—these and all “that looked for redemption in Jerusalem” (Lk. 1:49, 68-7349For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. (Luke 1:49)
68Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, 69And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; 70As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: 71That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 72To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, (Luke 1:68‑73)).
But if there were those who rejoiced at the birth of Isaac, there were also those who mocked, and we see what called forth their enmity. There came a day when “a great feast” was made in honor of the heir. This honor to the heir aroused the jealousy and enmity of those who had long held a position in the household of Abraham.
So in the history of our Lord, it was the recognition of His supreme and unrivaled place that drew forth the jealousy and enmity of religious flesh. The wise men from the East worshipped Him as the King of the Jews. Immediately all Jerusalem was troubled and Herod, the false king, sought to kill the holy Child.
The Lesson for Us (v. 10)
There are, however, other lessons for us in this deeply instructive scene. In the Epistle to the Galatians, the apostle quotes the words uttered by Sarah to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.”
In this passage the apostle uses Isaac, not as representative of Christ, but of believers—those who are the subjects of sovereign grace. He says, “We, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.” Moreover, as he uses Isaac to set forth all that we are as born of the Spirit, so he uses Ishmael to set forth our old man—all that we are as born after the flesh. He shows, too, that the man that is after the flesh is entirely opposed to the man that is after the Spirit. “As then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now” (Gal. 4:28-3128Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 29But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 30Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 31So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. (Galatians 4:28‑31)).
The True Character of the Flesh (vv. 11-12)
Even as the coming of Christ into the world exposed all that man is by nature and awakened the enmity of the flesh, so in the history of our own souls the more Christ has His true place in our affections, the more we discover the true character of the flesh that is still in us. If we make Christ a feast—if we give Him His true place in our hearts—we discover there is present with us that old man that always seeks to intrude and exalt self. This raises the great question, Am I going to spare the flesh by gratifying, indulging and exalting self, or am I going to refuse the flesh that Christ may have the supreme place in my life?
The Corinthian believers were indulging the flesh in a worldly form; the Colossian saints were in danger of ministering to the flesh by religious ritual; while the Galatian assemblies were giving place to the flesh by legality. They were putting themselves under law as a rule of life. But so far from producing a Christ-like life they only developed the fleshly life with its vain glory, and envy, and strife. So the apostle says, “Cast out the bondwoman and her son.”
We are to refuse the law as a rule of life and the flesh which it stirs up. It is not that the believer slights the law, or is indifferent to its moral requirements. Far from this; but he is to refuse to put himself under the principle of law. Christ hath made us free from the law as a means of obtaining blessing; and we are to stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, looking to Him to keep us moment by moment. How truly this was the experience of the Apostle Paul. Christ had the supreme place in his affections, for he could say, “For to me to live is Christ.” The result was that he refused his own righteousness which was of the law, and had no confidence in the flesh (Phil. l:21; 3:3). He cast out the bondwoman and her son.
To refuse the flesh will call for self-denial, and this involves suffering. So to cast out the bondwoman was “grievous in Abraham’s sight.” He was reminded, however, that all blessing was connected with Isaac. To deny oneself and follow Christ will entail a cross—or suffering, but it will lead to great blessing in association with Christ.
The Picture of Israel
Hagar and Ishmael as wanderers in the wilderness, with the water spent, may set forth typically the present position of Israel as a result of seeking to obtain the blessing under law, and so rejecting Christ, the Promised Seed. The earthly people of God have become wanderers in the world. Yet Israel is still the object of God’s providential care even as God provided for Hagar and her son.
The Testimony of the World (vv. 22-24)
In the closing scene of the chapter, the man of the world acknowledged that God was with the man of faith that walked in separation from the world. Time was when the man of faith slipped and, acting in unbelief, came under the reproof of Abimelech. Now the promised heir had come and was given his rightful place by Abraham, and the bondwoman and her son were cast out. What was of God was recognized as supreme and all that was of the flesh had been refused, with the result that Abimelech had to acknowledge, “God is with thee in all that thou doest.” Instead of reproving Abraham, as in former days, he was reproved by Abraham. Nor is it otherwise today.
If Christ has His true place in our lives, if we refuse the flesh, and by faith walk in true separation from the world, the result will be that even the world will see and admit that God is with us.
The True Character of the World (vv. 25-34)
While the world may have to admit that God is with His people who walk in separation, nonetheless it will seek to deprive the people of God of their means of spiritual refreshment. It will seek to stop our wells. Like Abraham, we may resist the world’s efforts and reprove the world for attempting such a thing; but, like Abraham, let us seek to mingle with our reproofs the spirit of grace that seeks to impart to the world something of our blessing as represented by the seven ewe lambs.
The closing verses would appear to present the climax of Abraham’s spiritual history. We have seen that the world has to acknowledge that God is with him; now we see that Abraham was with God. He called on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God and lived as a pilgrim in the land.
God’s ways are not like human ways,
He wears such strange disguises;
He tires us by His long delays,
And then our faith surprises.
While we in unbelief deplore,
And wonder at His staying,
He stands already at the door,
To interrupt our praying.
He takes a leader from the Nile,
Where mother hands have laid him;
Hides him in palaces the while,
Till He has right arrayed him.
He sends him to the desert’s hush,
With flocks and herds to wander;
Then meets him in the burning bush,
New mysteries to ponder.
Why should we doubt His care and grace,
As though He had forgotten?
As though time’s changes could efface
What love had once begotten?
As though He’d lost us from His thought
And moved on now without us,
Whose love has always goodness wrought,
And constant been about us.
—J. E. R.