Genesis 21 explained: Isaac Born, Ishmael Sent Away

Isaac is born (vv. 1-7)

After years of waiting, the elderly Sarah has the son God had promised, and Abraham names him Isaac, meaning "he laughs," and on the eighth day gives him the sign of God's lasting agreement with the family, as God had instructed. Both parents had once laughed in disbelief at the promise, and now Sarah's laughter is joy she expects others to share.

The feast and the quarrel (vv. 8-10)

Children were often nursed for two or three years, so weaning marked a child safely past the risky early years and was celebrated. Sarah sees Ishmael, by now a teenager, doing something she takes as mocking, though the Hebrew word can also mean simply playing, and scholars are unsure which is meant.

God backs Sarah, with a promise (vv. 11-13)

Abraham is deeply upset, since Ishmael is his own son, but God tells him the promised family line will run through Isaac. God also promises that Ishmael will become a nation too, because he is Abraham's child.

Hagar and Ishmael in the desert (vv. 14-21)

Abraham sends them off with some food and one skin of water, and when the water runs out Hagar sits apart so she will not have to watch her son die. God hears the boy, whose name Ishmael means "God hears," shows her a well, and Ishmael grows up in the desert as an archer.

A treaty at Beersheba (vv. 22-34)

A local king, Abimelek, sees that God is with Abraham and asks for a peace treaty, and Abraham uses the moment to settle a dispute over a well, giving seven lambs as public proof that he dug it, since in dry country a well meant life for the flocks. The name Beersheba plays on Hebrew words for "seven" and "oath," and Abraham plants a tamarisk tree there and worships the LORD as the God who lasts forever.

Key verse: Genesis 21:1

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on how to read the sending away of Hagar and Ishmael: some see God approving Sarah's demand as part of a larger plan, while others see a painful family failure that God permits but answers by personally rescuing the outcasts.

Something to think about

When something long hoped for finally comes to one person, what might it cost the people standing just outside their happiness?