the Second Week after Easter
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New King James Version
Genesis 21:2
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
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- CondensedParallel Translations
Sarah conceived, and bore Avraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
And she conceived, and Sarah bore to Abraham a son in his old age at the appointed time that God had told him.
Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. Everything happened at the time God had said it would.
So Sarah became pregnant and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the appointed time that God had told him.
So Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.
So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.
For Sarah conceiued, and bare Abraham a sonne in his olde age, at the same season that God tolde him.
So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.
Although Abraham was very old, Sarah had a son exactly at the time God had said.
Sarah conceived and bore Avraham a son in his old age, at the very time God had said to him.
And Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.
At exactly the time God said it would happen, Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age.
And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him.
For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
and she became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham when he was old. The boy was born at the time God had said he would be born.
Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him.
And Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the time appointed, that which God had spoken with him.
And Sara was with childe, and bare Abraham a sonne in his olde age, euen in the tyme appoynted, like as God had spoken vnto him afore.
And Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
And Sarah became with child, and gave Abraham a son when he was old, at the time named by God.
For Sara conceaued, and bare Abraham a sonne in his olde age, euen the same season whiche the Lorde had appoynted.
And Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
For Sarah conceiued, and bare Abraham a sonne in his old age, at the set time, of which God had spoken to him.
And she conceived and bore to Abraam a son in old age, at the set time according as the Lord spoke to him.
And Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.
And sche conseyuede, and childide a sone in hir eeld, in the tyme wherynne God biforseide to hir.
and Sarah conceiveth, and beareth a son to Abraham, to his old age, at the appointed time that God hath spoken of with him;
For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would.
Sarah was able to have a child and she gave birth to a son when Abraham was very old. He was born at the time the Lord said it would happen.
Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him.
So, Sarah, conceived and bare, to Abraham, a son, for his old age, at the set time, of which God had spoken with him.
And she conceived and bore a son in her old age, at the time that God had foretold her.
And Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him.
And Sarah became pregnant, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
conceived: 2 Kings 4:16, 2 Kings 4:17, Luke 1:24, Luke 1:25, Luke 1:36, Acts 7:8, Galatians 4:22, Hebrews 11:11
at the set: Genesis 17:19, Genesis 17:21, Genesis 18:10, Genesis 18:14, Romans 9:9
Reciprocal: Genesis 11:30 - barren Genesis 29:31 - he opened Genesis 30:22 - opened Joshua 24:3 - gave 1 Chronicles 1:28 - Isaac 1 Chronicles 1:34 - Abraham Ecclesiastes 3:2 - time to be born Matthew 1:2 - Abraham Luke 1:57 - General Galatians 4:23 - but Hebrews 6:15 - General
Cross-References
Then God said: "No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year."
And He said, "I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son." (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.)
Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son."
Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, "Let me not see the death of the boy." So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.
And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.
And Abraham said, "I will swear."
Then Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech's servants had seized.
Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.
Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
For Sarah conceived,.... This explains what is meant by the Lord's visiting her, and doing to her according to his word, see
Hebrews 11:11;
and bare Abraham a son in his old age; which circumstance is remarked, that the favour might appear the greater, and the more wonderful; or, "unto", or "for his old age" n, for the comfort of him in his old age, who having lived so many years under the promise of a son, and in the expectation of one, even of the promised seed, from whom the Messiah should spring, now has one, than which nothing could yield him greater consolation:
at the set time of which God had spoken to him, Genesis 17:21; God was not only faithful in fulfilling his promise, but in keeping the exact time of it.
n לזקניו "pro senectute ejus", Vatablus; "senectuti ejus", Junius & Tremellius.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
- The Birth of Isaac
7. מלל mı̂lēl “speak,” an ancient and therefore solemn and poetical word.
14. חמת chêmet “bottle,” akin to חמה chāmâh, “surround, enclose,” and הוּם chûm “black. באר שׁבע beêr-sheba‛, Beer-sheba‘, “well of seven.”
22. פיכל pı̂ykol, Pikhol, “mouth or spokesman of all.”
23. נין nı̂yn “offspring, kin;” related: “sprout, flourish.” נכד neked “progeny,” perhaps “acquaintance,” cognate with נגד ngd, “be before” (the eyes) and נקד nqd, “mark.”
33. אשׁל 'êshel “grove;” ἄρουρα aroura, Septuagint.; אילבה 'ı̂ylābâh, “a tree,” Onkelos.
This chapter records the birth of Isaac with other concomitant circumstances. This is the beginning of the fulfillment of the second part of the covenant with Abraham - that concerning the seed. This precedes, we observe, his possession of even a foot-breadth of the soil, and is long antecedent to the entrance of his descendants as conquerors into the land of promise.
Genesis 21:1-8
Isaac is born according to promise, and grows to be weaned. “The Lord had visited Sarah.” It is possible that this event may have occurred before the patriarchal pair arrived in Gerar. To visit, is to draw near to a person for the purpose of either chastising or conferring a favor. The Lord had been faithful to his gracious promise to Sarah. “He did as he had spoken.” The object of the visit was accomplished. In due time she bears a son, whom Abraham, in accordance with the divine command, calls Isaac, and circumcises on the eighth day. Abraham was now a hundred years old, and therefore Isaac was born thirty years after the call. Sarah expressed her grateful wonder in two somewhat poetic strains. The first, consisting of two sentences, turns on the word laugh. This is no longer the laugh of delight mingled with doubt, but that of wonder and joy at the power of the Lord overcoming the impotence of the aged mother. The second strain of three sentences turns upon the object of this admiring joy. The event that nobody ever expected to hear announced to Abraham, has nevertheless taken place; “for I have borne him a son in his old age.” The time of weaning, the second step of the child to individual existence, at length arrives, and the household of Abraham make merry, as was wont, on the festive occasion. The infant was usually weaned in the second or third year 1 Samuel 1:22-24; 2 Chronicles 31:16. The child seems to have remained for the first five years under the special care of the mother Leviticus 27:6. The son then came under the management of the father.
Genesis 21:9-21
The dismissal of Hagar and Ishmael. “The son of Hagar ... laughing.” The birth of Isaac has made a great change in the position of Ishmael, now at the age of at least fifteen years. He was not now, as formerly, the chief object of attention, and some bitterness of feeling may have arisen on this account. His laugh was therefore the laugh of derision. Rightly was the child of promise named Isaac, the one at whom all laugh with various feelings of incredulity, wonder, gladness, and scorn. Sarah cannot brook the insolence of Ishmael, and demands his dismissal. This was painful to Abraham. Nevertheless, God enjoins it as reasonable, on the ground that in Isaac was his seed to be called. This means not only that Isaac was to be called his seed, but in Isaac as the progenitor was included the seed of Abraham in the highest and utmost sense of the phrase. From him the holy seed was to spring that was to be the agent in eventually bringing the whole race again under the covenant of Noah, in that higher form which it assumes in the New Testament. Abraham is comforted in this separation with a renewal of the promise concerning Ishmael Genesis 17:20.
He proceeds with all singleness of heart and denial of self to dismiss the mother and the son. This separation from the family of Abraham was, no doubt, distressing to the feelings of the parties concerned. But it involved no material hardship to those who departed, and conferred certain real advantages. Hagar obtained her freedom. Ishmael, though called a lad, was at an age when it is not unusual in the East to marry and provide for oneself. And their departure did not imply their exclusion from the privileges of communion with God, as they might still be under the covenant with Abraham, since Ishmael had been circumcised, and, at all events, were under the broader covenant of Noah. It was only their own voluntary rejection of God and his mercy, whether before or after their departure, that could cut them off from the promise of eternal life. It seems likely that Hagar and Ishmael had so behaved as to deserve their dismissal from the sacred home. “A bottle of water.”
This was probably a kid-skin bottle, as Hagar could not have carried a goat-skin. Its contents were precious in the wilderness, but soon exhausted. “And the lad.” He took the lad and gave him to Hagar. The bread and water-skin were on her shoulder; the lad she held by the hand. “In the wilderness of Beer-sheba.” It is possible that the departure of Hagar occurred after the league with Abimelek and the naming of Beer-sheba, though coming in here naturally as the sequel of the birth and weaning of Isaac. The wilderness in Scripture is simply the land not profitable for cultivation, though fit for pasture to a greater or less extent. The wilderness of Beer-sheba is that part of the wilderness which was adjacent to Beer-sheba, where probably at this time Abraham was residing. “Laid the lad.” Ishmael was now, no doubt, thoroughly humbled as well as wearied, and therefore passive under his mother’s guidance. She led him to a sheltering bush, and caused him to lie down in its shade, resigning herself to despair. The artless description here is deeply affecting.
Genesis 21:17-21
The fortunes of Ishmael. God cares for the wanderers. He hears the voice of the lad, whose sufferings from thirst are greater than those of the mother. An angel is sent, who addresses Hagar in the simple words of encouragement and direction. “Hold thy hand upon him.” Lay thy hand firmly upon him. The former promise Genesis 16:10 is renewed to her. God also opened her eyes that she saw a well of water, from which the bottle is replenished, and she and the lad are recruited for their further journey. It is unnecessary to determine how far this opening of the eyes was miraculous. It may refer to the cheering of her mind and the sharpening of her attention. In Scripture the natural and supernatural are not always set over against each other as with us. All events are alike ascribed to an ever-watchful Providence, whether they flow from the ordinary laws of nature or some higher law of the divine will. “God was with the lad.” Ishmael may have been cured of his childish spleen. It is possible also his father did not forget him, but sent him a stock of cattle with which to begin the pastoral life on his account. “He became an archer.” He grew an archer, or multiplied into a tribe of archers. Paran Genesis 14:6 lay south of Palestine, and therefore on the way to Egypt, out of which his mother took him a wife. The Ishmaelites, therefore, both root and branch, were descended on the mother’s side from the Egyptians.
Genesis 21:22-34
According to the common law of Hebrew narrative, this event took place before some of the circumstances recorded in the previous passage; probably not long after the birth of Isaac. Abimelek, accompanied by Phikol, his commander-in-chief, proposes to form a league with Abraham. The reason assigned for this is that God was with him in all that he did. Various circumstances concurred to produce this conviction in Abimelek. The never-to-be-forgotten appearance of God to himself in a dream interposing on behalf of Abraham, the birth of Isaac, and the consequent certainty of his having an heir, and the growing retinue and affluence of one who, some ten years before, could lead out a trained band of three hundred and eighteen men-at-arms, were amply sufficient to prove that God was the source of his strength. Such a man is formidable as a foe, but serviceable as an ally. It is the part of sound policy, therefore, to approach him and endeavor to prevail upon him to swear by God not to deal falsely with him or his. “Kin and kith.” We have adopted these words to represent the conversational alliterative phrase of the original. They correspond tolerably well with the σπέρμα sperma and ὄνομα onoma, “seed” and “name,” of the Septuagint. Abraham frankly consents to this oath. This is evidently a personal covenant, referring to existing circumstances. A similar confederacy had been already formed with Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre. Abraham was disposed to such alliances, as they contributed to peaceful neighborhood. He was not in a condition to make a national covenant, though it is a fact that the Philistines were scarcely ever wholly subjugated by his descendants.
Genesis 21:25-26
Abraham takes occasion to remonstrate with Abimelek about a well which his people had seized. Wells were extremely valuable in Palestine, on account of the long absence of rain between the latter or vernal rain ending in March, and the early or autumnal rain beginning in November. The digging of a well was therefore a matter of the greatest moment, and often gave a certain title to the adjacent fields. Hence, the many disputes about wells, as the neighboring Emirs or chieftains were jealous of rights so acquired, and often sought to enter by the strong hand on the labors of patient industry. Hence, Abraham lays more stress on a public attestation that he has dug, and is therefore the owner of this well, than on all the rest of the treaty. Seven is the number of sanctity, and therefore of obligation. This number is accordingly figured in some part of the form of confederation; in the present case, in the seven ewe-lambs which Abraham tenders, and Abimelek, in token of consent, accepts at his hand. The name of the well is remarkable as an instance of the various meanings attached to nearly the same sound. Even in Hebrew it means the well of seven, or the well of the oath, as the roots of seven, and of the verb meaning to swear, have the same radical letters. Bir es-Seba means “the well of seven or of the lion.”
Genesis 21:32-34
Returned unto the land of the Philistines. - Beer-sheba was on the borders of the land of the Philistines. Going therefore to Gerar, they returned into that land. In the transactions with Hagar and with Abimelek, the name God is employed, because the relation of the Supreme Being with these parties is more general or less intimate than with the heir of promise. The same name, however, is used in reference to Abraham and Sarah, who stand in a twofold relation to him as the Eternal Potentate, and the Author of being and blessing. Hence, the chapter begins and ends with Yahweh, the proper name of God in communion with man. “Eshel is a field under tillage” in the Septuagint, and a tree in Onkelos. It is therefore well translated a grove in the King James Version, though it is rendered “the tamarisk” by many. The planting of a grove implies that Abraham now felt he had a resting-place in the land, in consequence of his treaty with Abimelek. He calls upon the name of the Lord with the significant surname of the God of perpetuity, the eternal, unchangeable God. This marks him as the “sure and able” performer of his promise, as the everlasting vindicator of the faith of treaties, and as the infallible source of the believer’s rest and peace. Accordingly, Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.
