Genesis 21.15-21-God Delivers Hagar and Ishmael
Sunday March 5, 2006
Genesis: Genesis 21:15-21-God Delivers Hagar and Ishmael
Lesson # 110
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 21:1.
Last Thursday evening, we studied the birth and circumcision of Isaac, which is recorded in Genesis 21:1-4.
Then, Last Sunday, we presented seven ways in which the birth of Isaac foreshadows, typifies or parallels the birth of Christ.
Genesis 21:1, “Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised.”
Genesis 21:2, “So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.”
Genesis 21:3, “Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.”
Genesis 21:4, “Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.”
On Tuesday evening we studied Genesis 21:5-7, which records the joy, the laughter of Sarah upon finally receiving the fulfillment of God’s promise and bearing a son for Abraham who was named Isaac.
Genesis 21:5, “Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.”
Genesis 21:6, “Sarah said, ‘God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.’”
Genesis 21:7, “And she said, ‘Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.’”
But this joy of Sarah’s would be short lived for later on this joy turned to anger and a crisis in the home of Abraham and Sarah as we saw in Genesis 21:8-11 on Wednesday evening.
This crisis is the result of Hagar and Abraham’s son, Ishmael persecuting Sarah and Abraham’s son, Isaac, the son of promise who would carry on the line of Christ.
Genesis 21:8, “The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.”
Genesis 21:9, “Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.”
Genesis 21:10, “Therefore she said to Abraham, ‘Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.’”
Genesis 21:11, “The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son.”
Then on Thursday evening we studied Genesis 21:12-14, which records the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael from the home of Abraham and Sarah.
Genesis 21:12, “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.’”
Genesis 21:13, “And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.”
Genesis 21:14, “So Abraham rose 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.”
The name “Beersheba” means, “well of seven” and was located in the flat southern part of the Negev, which extends roughly from a line drawn from Gaza through the modern political boundary of the southern West Bank, extending south to the mountain ranges of the Sinai and through the Arabah to the Red Sea.
Genesis 20 and 21:22-34 indicates clearly that Abraham was living in Gerar at this particular time in the narrative, which was near the coast about twelve miles south of Gaza and about fifty miles south of Hebron, in the land of the Philistines.
Therefore, it appears that Hagar is moving in a southeasterly direction toward northern Arabia, later inhabited by some of the Ishmaelites (cf. Genesis 25:12-18).
This morning we will study Genesis 21:15-21, which records God delivering Hagar and Ishmael from the desert of Beersheba.
Genesis 21:15, “When the water in the skin was used up (3 gallons), she left the boy under one of the bushes.”
The statement that “she (Hagar) left the boy (Ishmael) under one of the bushes” suggests that Hagar was in despair anticipating that her son would soon die from the heat and lack of water.
Notice that Hagar hasn’t really abandoned Ishmael since she does not leave him out in the hot midday Middle Eastern sun but rather she puts him under the shade of a bush.
Genesis 21:16, “Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, ‘Do not let me see the boy die.’ And she sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice and wept.”
The statement “she (Hagar) went and sat down opposite him (Ishmael), about a bowshot away” draws attention to her inward feelings of isolation, loneliness and despair.
Obviously, Hagar is emotional and is not thinking clearly and is acting irrational as indicated in the contradiction between her actions and her statement to God, “do not let me see the boy die” since one can see much farther than bowshot range.
She cannot think rationally and has failed to take God into consideration, who delivered her before the birth of Ishmael.
Genesis 21:17, “God heard the lad 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 lad where he is.’”
“God” is the noun Elohim, which emphasizes that God has sovereignly determined to intervene in the life of Hagar and Ishmael again and deliver them from their adversity in the desert.
The covenant name Yahweh, “Lord” is not used here since Hagar and Ishmael have been given no inheritance by God under the covenant that God made with Abraham, which is confirmed by Genesis 17:19-20.
The statement “God heard the lad crying,” does not mean that God heard Ishmael’s prayer and not Hagar’s rather it emphasizes that God is acting upon His promise to Abraham concerning Ishmael, which is recorded in Genesis 21:13.
“The angel of God” is a reference to an appearance of the “preincarnate” Christ, which is called by theologians a “theophany,” or “Christophany.”
God who is omniscient asks this question of Hagar not to solicit information regarding her situation but rather because He wanted to bring her back to reality and to get her stop crying and think rationally again.
He wanted her to know that He cares and also He wanted to arouse in her an awareness that her crying has not changed her circumstances, nor did it remove responsibility to her son.
Instead of getting all emotional and crying and abandoning her son in despair, Hagar should have been recalling how God eighteen years before delivered her in the wilderness of Shur when she was pregnant with Ishmael after being sent away by Abraham and Sarah (see Genesis 16:7-13).
Genesis 16:13, “Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, ‘You are a God who sees’; for she said, ‘Indeed, here in this place, I have looked at and accepted the revelation and message of the One who sees.’”
Hagar’s experience with the Lord in the past should have caused her to turn to Him again but she does not since she is trying to solve her problems without the help of God.
Genesis 21:18, “Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.”
The promise of Genesis 21:18 would give Hagar reassurance regarding the future of Ishmael and reiterates the promise that God made to Abraham that is recorded in Genesis 21:13 and Genesis 17:20.
Genesis 17:20, “As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.”
Genesis 21:19, “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.”
When it says that “God opened her (Hagar’s) eyes and she saw a well of water,” it does “not” mean that God miraculously made the well appear but rather, He simply called her attention to the well of water, which was there all the time she was sitting crying and had overlooked because she was so emotional.
God had revealed Himself again to Hagar as compassionate and faithful and now she must respond in faith to this revelation and she does.
In faith she must take Ishmael by the hand as God commanded in Genesis 21:18 and as soon as she obeyed God, God opened up her eyes and she saw the well of water.
Prior to this intervention by the preincarnate Christ, Hagar was not walking by means of faith but rather by sight as demonstrated by her tears.
2 Corinthians 5:7, “for we walk by faith, not by sight.”
Her faith would have protected her from the flaming arrows of the kingdom of darkness, which come in the form of discouragement in the midst of adversity.
Ephesians 6:16, “In addition to everything, I solemnly charge all of you to take up for yourselves your shield, which is your faith because that will enable all of you to extinguish all the flaming arrows originating from the evil one.”
Genesis 21:15-19 reveals that God hears and sees the distress and affliction of believers and cares for them and delivers them from every adversity.
Psalm 34:17, “The righteous cry, and the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.”
Genesis 21:20-21 records a summary of Ishmael’s career.
Genesis 21:20, “God was with the lad, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer.”
The statement “God was with the lad” does “not” imply that Ishmael was a believer but rather it emphasizes God’s sovereign care to fulfill His promises to Abraham regarding Ishmael, which are recorded in Genesis 17:20 and 21:13.
The fact that Ishmael was an excellent archer and lived in the wilderness indicates he provided food for his family as a hunter and he had a fondness for fighting.
Genesis 16:12, “He will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him; And he will live in opposition to all his brothers.”
Genesis 21:21, “He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.”
Genesis 21:21 records that Ishmael “lived in the wilderness of Paran,” which was located in the north central part of the Sinai Peninsula.
Since Hagar was a single parent she assumed the responsibility that the husband would normally perform in finding a wife for her son.
This leads us to the communion service.
So could we have our deacons pass out the communion elements and let us take a few minutes to meditate upon the Lord and prepare ourselves for the Lord’s Supper.
The Lord’s Supper is a commandment given by the Lord Jesus Christ to every church age believer to bring into remembrance His Unique Person and Finished Work on the Cross, both of which serve as the basis for fellowship with God and each other as members of the Body of Christ.
In the communion service, the bread portrays the sinless humanity of Christ, which was sacrificed for us and the wine portrays His spiritual death as our Substitute, both of which serve as the basis for fellowship with God and each other.
1 Corinthians 11:23, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread.”
1 Corinthians 11:24, “and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’”
1 Corinthians 11:25, “In the same way {He took} the cup also after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink {it} in remembrance of Me.’”
1 Corinthians 11:26, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.”