Gen 21.1-34 will tell us about the birth of Isaac fulfilling God’s promise; Hagar and Ishmael are sent away due to strife; God preserves Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness and his provision; Abraham makes a non-aggression covenant with Abimelech and settles an issue about a well.
v 1…Then the Lord took note (remembered; visited) of Sarah as her had said (Gen 17.16), and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised.
v 2…So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time (“moed” or set time-Gen 18.14) of which God had spoken to him.
v 3…And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac (“Yitzchak” meaning laughter).
v 4…Then Isaac circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him (he is the first one we read about that was circumcised on the eighth day).
v 5…Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
v 6…And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me (rejoice).”
v 7…And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have born him a son in his old age.”
v 8…And the child grew and was weaned (after about 24 months), and Abraham made a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned (because he had escaped the perils of infancy).
v 9…Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had born to Abraham, mocking (“tzakek” and related to YItzchak).
v 10…Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be heir with my son Isaac.
v 11…And the matter distressed (gave him pain) Abraham greatly because of his son.
v 12…But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named (be called seed).
v 13…And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.”
v 14…So Abraham rose early in the morning (knowing it was God’s will) and took bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder along with the boy and sent her away (language of a divorce-Gen 16.3). And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba (well of the oath or well of the seven; Abraham’s residence during this period-20.15).
v 15…And the water in the skin was used up, and she left the boy (out of her hand; he was faint with thirst; unable to walk) under one of the bushes (for some shade).
v 16…Then she went and sat down opposite him (not able to bear watching him suffer), a bowshot away (within hearing; plural “bowshots” in Hebrew; this alludes to the shooter who walks backward from a target to the point they can still see the target), for she said, “Do not let me see the boy die.” And she sat opposite him and filled up her voice and wept.
v 17…And God heard the lad crying and the angel of the Lord called to Hagar from heaven (she heard him but did not see him like she did before), and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is (Ishmael means “God hears”).
v 18…Arise, lift up the lad and hold him by the hand; for I will make a great nation of him (Gen 16.10).”
v 19…Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad a drink.
v 20…And God was with the lad and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness, and became an archer.
v 21…And he lived in the wilderness of Paran and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt (not far from her own country; once free from the influence of Abraham, she relapsed back into idolatry).
v 22…Now it came about at that time that Abimelech (a royal title of Philistine kings) and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham saying, “God is with you in all that you do;
v 23…now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, or with my offspring, or with my posterity; but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me, and the land in which you have sojourned (he had given Abraham to go wherever he wanted in his kingdom; so when Abraham’s descendants come into possession of all the land of Canaan, that none of Abimelech’s descendants be dispossessed).”
v 24…And Abraham said, “I swear it.”
v 25…But Abraham complained (reproved him) to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had seized.
v 26…And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; neither did you tell me, nor did I hear of it until today.”
v 27…And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech (in gratitude for his earlier favors) and the two made a covenant (they “cut” a covenant by cutting the animals into pieces and walking between the pieces, signifying that whoever broke this covenant deserved to be cut into pieces).
v 28…Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
v 29…Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seen ewe lambs mean which you have set by themselves?”
v 30…And he said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand in order that it may be a witness to me, that I dug this water (Abraham probably got a document saying the same thing).
v 31…Therefore he called that place Beersheba (well of the oath or well of the seven “lambs”) because there the two of them took an oath.
v 32…So they made a covenant in Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army arose and returned to the land of the Philistines (Gerar-20.2).
v 33…And Abraham planted a tamarisk (“eshel” and can mean a grove of any tree) tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord (Yehovah), the everlasting God (El Olam).
v 34…And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines for many days (years).
Gen 22.1-24 contains what is called the Akedah, or the “binding of the sacrifice.” It is the most important chapter to the Jewish people, and has one of the most glaring picture of the death and resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah in the Scriptures. Abraham will be a type of the Father and Isaac a type of Yeshua. The most important verse is Zech 14.9, the most important passage is Deut 6.4-9, and the most important book is Leviticus. God is going to “test” or examine Abraham. God knew what he was going to do, but Abraham didn’t; God stops Abraham from offering Isaac and reconfirms his promise to Abraham; the family listing of Nahor, Abraham’s brother whom he left back in Ur (this is important because Bethuel will be the father of Isaac’s future wife Rebekah).
v 1…Now it came to pass after these things, that God tested (examined) Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said , “Here am I (hinayni).”
v 2…And he said, “Please (an expression of entreaty) take your son, your only son (of the promise), whom you love Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah (meaning “Yah is teacher” and in the Jerusalem area), and offer him there as a burnt offering (a Korban Olah) on one of the mountains I will tell you (this was most likely the very mount where the Temple will be built, and where Yeshua will be offered just north of the altar-2 Chr 3.1).”
v 3…So Abraham rose early (showing his eagerness to obey Yehovah) in the morning, and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men (servants) with him, and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
v 4…On the third day (a very eschatological term) Abraham lifted his eyes, and saw the place from a distance (looking north, he saw the three valleys that formed the Hebrew letter “Shin” at Jerusalem, which is symbolic for several titles of God, like “Shaddai” and “Shalom”).
v 5…And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come back to you (alluding to the fact that Abraham believed God will raise Isaac from the dead-Heb 11.19).
v 6…And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son (like Yeshua carrying his cross); and he took the fire (the vessel with the fire) in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together (“yakdav” meaning together in purpose; this shows the Father’s part at the cross).
v 7…And Isaac (he is not mentioned again until v 24) spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am my son.” And he said, “Behold (see) the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
v 8…And Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
v 9…Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there, and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood (Josephus said he was 25 years old, and rabbinic tradition says he was 37; he was old enough to resist he aged father).
v 10…And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
v 11…But the angel of the Lord called to him out of heaven (he heard the voice) and said, “Abraham, Abraham (said twice to prevent him from going further, and to signify this will be repeated again in the future)!” And he said, Here I am.”
v 12…And he said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad and do nothing to him; for now I know (in the sense of having made it known) that you fear God (revere him; in awe); since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
v 13…Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold (see), behind him (Hebrew “achar” and can mean “westward”; if this was where the Temple would be built, where Abraham’s altar was will be the Temple altar, and westward would be the future site of the Holy of Holies) a ram caught in the thicket (a type of the sins of the people) by his horns (these two horns were seen in Jewish eschatology as the “first trump” at Shavuot, the betrothal of Israel; and the other horn was seen as the “last trump” or full marriage of Rosh Ha Shannah; Paul uses this term in 1 Cor 15.52), and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him for a burnt offering in place of his son.
v 14…And Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will see” (“Yehovah YIreh”-Yehovah will see the Temple and the sacrifice of Yeshua the Messiah on that mount), as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be seen (the redemption will be accomplished in Yeshua).”
v 15…And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,
v 16…and said, “By myself I have sworn (because he can swear by no one higher), declares the Lord, for because you have done this thing and has not withheld your son, your only son (of promise),
v 17…indeed I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate (the seat of civil government, jurisdiction and dominion) of their enemies.
v 18…And in your seed (the Messiah and those “in” him) all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because you have obeyed my voice.”
v 19…So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba, and Abraham lived at Beersheba.
v 20…And it came about after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, “Behold, Milcah also (Gen 11.29) also has borne children to your brother Nahor (Abraham had left him back in Ur; verses 20-24 are given to give the genealogy of Rebekah who will soon be linked with Isaac);
v 21…Uz his first born and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram;
v 22…and Chessed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.
v 23…And Bethuel became the father of Rebekah (Rivkah). These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
v 24…And his concubine (secondary wife), whose name was Reumah also bore Tebah, and Gaham, and Tahash, and Maacah.
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