Author: jovial_cynic

Hagar’s Cry

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Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “May I not see the boy die!” And she sat opposite him, and raised her voice and wept. God heard the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
Genesis 21:16-17 (NASB)

It’s fascinating to read that both Hagar and Ishmael are crying out, but the text only says that God heard the boy crying, but then the angel asks “what is the matter with you, Hagar?”

Why would it say “God heard the boy crying?”

There are thoughts in the commentaries about this:

Perhaps the boy is about to die, and his need is greater than hers. Surely God attends to the needs of the most needy.

Or Perhaps it’s because Ishmael is a son of Abraham, so there’s a special connection. God has made a promise to be with Ishmael.

Etc, etc. It’s all Ishmael-centered.

But maybe the story is actually still centered around Hagar. Maybe the reason God hears the boy’s cry is because that is Hagar’s specific prayer. She cries out to God, “Please hear my son’s cry.” Though God made a promise about Ishmael to make him a great nation, God and Hagar already have an established relationship. God sees Hagar.

Well of Oaths

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So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.
Genesis 21:14 (NASB)

Beersheba means “the well of oaths.” The way we see it in Genesis 21 shows us the difference between God and man.

Abraham makes no covenant with Hagar. He sends her off with bread and water, and though he is worried about his son Ishmael, he makes no promise to them.

Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.”
Genesis 21:18 (NASB)

In the wilderness of Beersheba, God meets Hagar and makes an oath to her: to make Ishmael a great nation. This promise is similar the one made about Isaac.

Immediately afterwards, we see Abraham take an oath and make a covenant with Abimelech, king of Gerar and with the commander of Abimelech’s army. With the rich and the powerful.

He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a witness for me, that I dug this well.” Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them took an oath. So they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, got up and returned to the land of the Philistines.
Genesis 21:30-32 (NASB)

Perhaps we are meant to learn that our oaths should be made to protect the weak and the lowly, as that is where God dwells. But instead, we are inclined to make covenant only with those who can benefit ourselves.

Adam’s Redemption

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This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters. So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.
Genesis 5:1-5 (NKJV)

Perhaps the story of Adam’s redemption is found in Genesis 5, verses 1-5.

Who is Your Father?

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Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking Isaac. Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac!”
Genesis 21:9-10 (NASB)

There is a story in the Midrash that paints a sweeping narrative that creates context for these two verses. It starts back in the previous chapter, when Sarah is taken by Abimelech.

So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; for the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
Genesis 20:17-18 (NKJV)

Remember: the healing that happens in that chapter is related to childbirth.

Based on this childbirth-related healing, and then the birth of Isaac in chapter 21, the rabbis suggest that rumors began to spread. Perhaps this son of Sarah is no son of Abraham, but instead is a son of Abimelech. The timing is right, and clearly, Abimelech’s wife and “female servants” are all pregnant.

While we, the readers, are told that God prevented Abimelech from touching Sarah, who knows if the people in the story, to include Abraham’s whole entourage, believe it?

And most importantly, does Hagar believe it? She has witnessed Abraham and Sarah’s frequent deception first-hand.

So the rabbis say this: “the prattle of children reflects what they picked up from their father or what they picked up from their mother.” If Ishmael is “mocking” Isaac (and not abusing, per another interpretation of the story), perhaps the mockery is this: “Everyone knows Abraham is my father. Who is your father?”

And Sarah, hearing this, would know that these are Hagar’s words, and that Hagar would be making a clear statement about inheritance: Only the son of Abraham should receive any portion of Abraham’s blessing and wealth.

Perhaps this is why Sarah declares, “the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac!”

Fountain of Youth

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And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son in his old age.”
Genesis 21:7 (NASB)

There is a teaching in the Jewish commentaries that say Sarah experienced a reversal of age and literally became a young woman again in order to give birth to Isaac and to nurse him until weened.

In this chapter, when Isaac is born, only Abraham’s age is referenced.

Whether Sarah literally became a youthful woman again (so beautiful that even a Pharaoh would find her desirable!) or not is immaterial. It changes nothing. However, in some ways, she did experience something that’s only possible for younger women – to give birth, and to nurse a child until it is weened.

In contrast, Abraham appears to remain old in every way.

A Mother’s Instincts

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Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking Isaac. Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac!”
Genesis 19:9-10 (NASB)

It’s difficult to understand why Sarah is so upset in this story when you read the English. Most translations render the word צִחֵּק (tsichek) to show Ishmael “mocking,” or “making fun of” Isaac.

But Sarah’s reaction is based on something much more concerning.

Up until this moment in scripture, nearly every instance of this word was in the Qal, or basic form: “laughter.” Abraham laughs, Sarah laughs, Isaac’s name is יִצְחָק (Yitzḥaq), and it’s the causitive form of this same word, so it means “to make laugh.”

But in Genesis 19:14, the word changes form.

So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for the Lord is destroying the city.” But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be joking.
Genesis 19:14 (NASB)

Here, tzachak becomes *tzichek.*

Lot’s sons-in-law think he is “joking” about the cities being destroyed. The context shows they didn’t take him seriously, so they didn’t go with him. That’s a proper use of this form of the word.

Is this what Sarah sees Ishmael doing to Isaac? Does she Ishmael just goofing around and gets annoyed by it?

If instead of looking backwards to Genesis 19, we instead look forward for the use of this word, it gets dark, quickly.

The next two times the pi’el form of this word shows up in Genesis, it carries a sexual connotation.

Now it came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down through a window, and saw them, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah.
Genesis 26:8 (NASB)

She called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make fun of us; he came in to me to sleep with me, and I screamed.
Genesis 39:14 (NASB)

After that, it shows up in Exodus, and it’s connected to both sexual activity and idolatry. This passage describes the people in front of the golden calf.

So the next day they got up early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and got up to engage in lewd behavior.
Exodus 32:6 (NASB)

The final time it shows up in scripture is with the story of Samson, when he’s led out to “entertain the Philistines.”

It so happened when they were in high spirits, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may amuse us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars.
Judges 16:25 (NASB)

And this makes me wonder how Samson is actually being treated here. It’s very likely that he is naked for their amusement. For their pleasure.

If we read Sarah’s reaction to be tied to this forward view of tzichek, the picture is much more concerning. Perhaps we are meant to see that Sarah believes Ishmael is going to do something terrible to her son.

So she does what any mother would do.

Water in Wineskins

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So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.

When the water in the skin was used up, she left the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “May I not see the boy die!” And she sat opposite him, and raised her voice and wept. God heard the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
Genesis 21:14-19 (NASB)

There are a number of anomalies and odd statements in Genesis 21 that seem to hint at something, or reinforce a lesson.

Look at this word חֵמֶת (chemet). Some translations say “bottle,” but it’s a wineskin. Here it’s full of water.

You may remember from Genesis 18 how Abraham demonstrated his hospitality to the three angels – he brought them bread and water, which is echoed here. Later, Lot in Genesis 19 offers the angels bread, but in that chapter, no water is mentioned.

This word chemet is only found four times in the scriptures, and three of them are here in this passage about Hagar and Ishmael.

Chemet, chemet, chemet… with water.

The fourth time it’s mentioned, the context is quite different. Also, it seems quite related to Genesis 19.

“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor,
Pressing him to your bottle,
Even to make him drunk,
That you may look on his nakedness!
Habakkuk 2:15 (NKJV)

The phrease “look on his nakedness” is a euphamism for sex.

Perhaps Abraham’s water for Hagar and Ishmael is meant to stand in continued contrast against the unkindness and lack of hospitality in Sodom and Gomorrah, where the men wished to force themselves onto other men.

Translation Commentary

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She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Hagar and Ishmael Depart

So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.
Genesis 21:7-8 (NKJV)

Some Bible translation include their own commentary by way of section headings. The NIV and the NKJV both include a “Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away” header, but this shifts the focus and loses the story.

The entire point of this bit is that a very old woman is nursing a child!

Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son in his old age.”

And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah Turns against Hagar

Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking Isaac.
Genesis 21:6-9 (NASB)

The NASB inserts “Sarah Turns against Hagar” after verse 8, keeping the nursing and the weening segments together, but then it breaks up the *laughter* from v6 from the connected laughter in verses 9 and 10.

The story is much clearer without the section headings.

Prayer for Sarah

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So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; for the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
Genesis 20:17-18 (NKJV)

Abraham’s prayer at the end of Genesis 20 should surprise the reader, because his own wife is barren. It is meant to be ironic.

The rabbis have a saying about prayer: if you earnestly pray for someone who has a need, but you also have that need, God answers your need first.

And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken.
Genesis 21:1 (NKJV)

The “And” in Genesis 21:1 is meant to link this text to the end of Genesis 20 to show God answering this prayer for Sarah.