Genesis 21:1-8
ISAAC BORN, CIRCUMCISED, AND WEANED... [ Continue Reading ]
ISAAC BORN, CIRCUMCISED, AND WEANED... [ Continue Reading ]
And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoken. The Lord visited Sarah by doing to her as He had promised, by granting her what she had desired for so many years, a child of her own. Children are a gift of the goodness of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken to him. God's promise was literally fulfilled, for at just the time that He had named at His last visit the son of promise was born, a stranger in truth, for Abraham was still sojourning in the land of... [ Continue Reading ]
And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. The emphasis is again upon the fact that this was the son of promise, that he was the son of Abraham, not by a servant, but by Sarah, his wife. He complied with God's command in giving his son the name Isaa... [ Continue Reading ]
And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him. Genesis 17:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
And Abraham was an hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto him.... [ Continue Reading ]
And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.... [ Continue Reading ]
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. It was an occasion of great rejoicing; for Sarah, with reference to the name which the Lord had selected for the child, cried out: "Laughter God has prepared for me; a... [ Continue Reading ]
And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. So Abraham shared the grateful joy of his wife, making the occasion of his son's weaning a great festival, with the customary feast. This happened when Isaac was about three years old. This story re... [ Continue Reading ]
And Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. It was a jeering laughter, a sneer, which Ishmael affected, perhaps as early as the festival of weaning. Unbelief, jealousy, and pride were aroused in Ishmael by the fact that Isaac was plainly the heir of the ho... [ Continue Reading ]
Hagar and Ishmael Cast Forth... [ Continue Reading ]
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. This was not a matter of petty jealousy, but was spoken in agreement with the promise of the Lord. Till now Hagar had been suffered in the house of Abra... [ Continue Reading ]
And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. His personal affection for his own flesh and blood, and the fact that God had given him special promises concerning Ishmael, Genesis 17:18, caused him to hesitate about taking such a step.... [ Continue Reading ]
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. It was God who decided the matter, and in Sarah's favor. Abraham was to set aside perso... [ Continue Reading ]
And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation because he is thy seed. For Abraham's sake even the slave's son should receive a large share of this world's blessings.... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Abraham, as usual, lost no time in performing his duty, unpleasant as it... [ Continue Reading ]
And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. Apparently Hagar lost her way, or some miscalculation interfered, for the water in the skin was exhausted before she reached a spring. The ensuing suffering soon became so great that the boy was unable to support... [ Continue Reading ]
ISHMAEL'S LIFE SAVED... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Here are further traits of a mother's undying love. She would not abandon the lad entirely, even if... [ Continue Reading ]
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 Isaiah... [ Continue Reading ]
Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. In this great extremity Ishmael forgot all his mocking and turned to the prayers which he had learned in his father's house. In answer to this prayer the Angel of God in the specific sense, the Son of God, who ha... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Help had been so near at hand, but Hagar, in her own exhausted condition, had not noticed the spring which welled forth at a small distance. Now she filled the skin which she... [ Continue Reading ]
And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.... [ Continue Reading ]
And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt. Ishmael grew up as a true son of the desert, living in the great wilderness which extends on the southern boundary of Canaan from Egypt to Arabia. The blessing of God rested upon him. He became very ski... [ Continue Reading ]
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;... [ Continue Reading ]
The Covenant Between Abraham and Abimelech... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Abraham was still living in the land of the Philistin... [ Continue Reading ]
And Abraham said, I will swear. He was ready to make such a covenant; he had no hopes for the personal possession of Canaan. But before he subscribes to any further promises, he distinguishes between political and private rights.... [ Continue Reading ]
And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. That was a grievance which required adjustment before any pact could be made.... [ Continue Reading ]
And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing, neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it but today. This explanation, accompanied, as it was, with the order to return the well to its rightful owner; was satisfactory; it showed the fairness of Abimelech in all his doing.... [ Continue Reading ]
And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant. The presents were the token of the covenant on the part of Abraham which was now formally entered upon by both.... [ Continue Reading ]
And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.... [ Continue Reading ]
And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves?... [ Continue Reading ]
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. This was a special transaction with reference to the well which the servants of Abimelech had taken from Abraham. Abimelech's surprised question as to the meaning of th... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore she called that place Beersheba, because there they sware both of them. With an oath they confirmed their covenant, and therefore the place of their meeting was ever afterward known as Beersheba, "the well of the oath. " It is about twenty-five miles from Hebron, on the road to Egypt, wher... [ Continue Reading ]
Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech rose up and Phichol, the chief captain of his host, and they returned in to the land of the Philistines, that is, to Philistia proper, which was along the Mediterranean Sea.... [ Continue Reading ]
And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.... [ Continue Reading ]
And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days. As he had done in other places, Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:18, so Abraham did here. Having planted a tamarisk, a tree which grew to a remarkable height and furnished a wide shade, he proclaimed there the name of the eternal God, chiefly to his... [ Continue Reading ]