GENESIS CHAPTER 21: GOD IS ALWAYS FAITHFUL TO HIS PROMISES

Introduction: This chapter tells the tale of the first two sons of Abraham. Both to become the father of many nations, but only one to carry the blood line from which Jesus would descend from. 

1    1.  And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 4. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5. And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.

Why did God wait for Sarah to become past the age of bearing children before He blessed them with their son? This was the family God had selected through which the seed of David would come and through which Jesus would ultimately come. Also, to show the importance of this birth and that it could only have come from God.  David E Pratte in his Commentary on the Books of Genesis (2010, 2013), he mentions that in his study there  were similarities between Isaac and Jesus’s.

   1)      They were both “promised and for told ahead of time”.

 2)      They were both “a means by which blessings would come to others”.

    3)      “Both were offer as sacrifices by their fathers”, only God stopped Abraham before he actually did the sacrifice because his was a test of faith and obedience. “

    4)      “Both were give special wives”. Isaac was given Rebecca by God, and Jesus will have the bride of the saints when this world is over. (Gen. 24: Eph. 5:23-39)

    5)      “Both were born of a miracle”, Isaac from a women past the age of conception (Gen. 18:9-15) and Jesus by a virgin. (Matt. 5:23-39)

    6)      “John the Baptist was also born of an elderly couple” (Luke 1:5-25). God is faithful in keeping his promises.

God gave Abraham instructions to name the child Isaac, which means laughter. 
 

6. And Sarah said God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7. 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”. 8. And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. 

In the ages past it has always been a blessing to have a child come into the family. Sarah was so excited she could not stop being happy and excited for the child to come. These days it seems to be a burned or an inconvenience to have a child, and women chooses, selfishly, to have an abortion. How sad this must make God, as He sends each child with a plan made for his or her life to do great things or be a great person to others. Yet again man has taken God will into his own hands and says that it is OK to kill children. It does not tell us how long Isaac suckled, and in those days I would imagine that the child would be weaned later than to day because as we will see below that Ishmael was between 15 and 17 when Isaac was weaned, and Ishmael was 13 when he was circumcised when Isaac was only 8 days old. 

9. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. 10. 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, with Isaac”. 11. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight.

Sarah must have seen some jealousy from Ishmael in his attitude toward Isaac for her to make such a request from Abraham. If you know of someone who has been an only child you would see how comfortable they can get into being the only one that gets all the attention from the parents. Ishmael must have been very afraid he would not get his fathers attention as he had before. With teens not brought up in a sharing atmos- phere you could see how Ishmael could have thought of Isaac as a threat even at the at age of two or three.

  Abraham loved Ishmael, he had watched him grow and he taught him father to son, and to cast he and his mother out was a very hard burden for him to carry out.

       12.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. 13. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.” 14. 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 Beer-sheba. 15. And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16. 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. 17. 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. 18. Arise, life up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. 19. 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”. 20 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt. 

God had promised Abraham that the child and his mother would be alright, that he would take care of them because Ishmael was Abraham seed. How sad Abraham must have been when he gave the bread and water to Hagar. If it were not for the Lords promise Abraham surely would have been heartbroken, for the life that Hagar lived by being Abraham’s wife must have been a sheltered one, and they would not have known how to take care of themselves in the wilderness. As stated here God sent an angel to Hagar to help her and tell her about Ishmael’s future and what type of man he would become. It was interesting to me that God heard the cry of the lad and not the mother. Surely in the teachings from his father Abraham Ishmael believed in the one true living God. Because Hagar was Egyptian she matched Ishmael  with an Egyptian wife.

 22. 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: 23. 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”.

24. And Abraham said, “I will swear.” 25. And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well  of water, which Abimelech's
servants had violently taken away. 26. And Abimelech said, “I wot not who hath
done this thing: neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard it, but to day.” 27. And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant. 28. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. 29. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, “What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves?”

30 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.” 31. Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them. 32. Thus they made a covenant at Beer-sheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. 

Abimelech came to Abraham to make a covenant of peace and making sure that Abraham would not lie to him or his sons, as he did with Sarah in the beginning about her being his sister. Abimelech showed Abraham a peaceful solution to a very touchy problem. So, he came asking Abraham to make a covenant between the two that would make them allies because Abraham had become very wealthy and increased in number and respected in the country side. Then after the covenant was made Abraham brought up a problem he had been having with the king’s soldiers regarding a well. Now to us a dispute over a well does not sound like much, but this well has been measure by archeologist to be twelve feet in diameter so in that area it was a vital asset to have for the herds of goat, sheep and cattle that Abraham had, and the fact that Abraham and his servants had dug the well. So the exchange of the seven ewes were given to Abimelech to secure the decision of the well that it belonged to Abraham. (David E Pratte, Commentary on the Books of Genesis).

33. And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. 34. And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines land many 

days. 

 

 Philippians 4: 13

The Road to Salvation (KJV)

Romans 3: 23, 24 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

Romans 5:8 “But God commended His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

John 3:15 “For God so loved the world That He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

1 John 4:9”In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him."

John 6: 47, 48 “Verily, verily, I say unto you He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.  I am that bread of life."

Romans 10:9 – 14 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed. 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed: and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard: and how shall they hear without a preacher?”

II Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

If you are not saved, I pray you will accept Christ as your Savior to day. We are not promised another minute on this earth. We are but on a journey, passing though this world to the next, and you have a choice of where you will spend eternity. I pray you choose to spend it in Heaven with the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit and all those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God and paid our sin debt for us. 

Seek out a Bible preaching church in your area, one where God word is preached and  is the center of their service, study and devotion.

*Pictures from the Free image on net.