Genesis 21:8–21 (ESV)And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. So she said to Abraham, cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac. And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring. So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, let me not look on the death of the child. And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, what troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Up, lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation. 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. And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.This passage marks a transition point within the story of Isaac and Abraham and Hagar and Ishmael. We read that Isaac is having a weaning feast, and so he's grown up enough that finally he can be weaned and become a more independent person as part of the story.This really is telling us that this promised child—the child that God had promised, the one through whom Abraham's offspring will be reckoned—is thriving. But at the same time, she sees Ishmael laughing or mocking Isaac at this feast. And like any kind of mama bear, her instinct explodes and she decides, "Okay, now is the time to get rid of Hagar, the slave woman, and her son Ishmael," even though she, Sarah, was the one who had originally proposed the plan that Abram would have a son by her slave.So she goes to Abram and she demands, "Cast out the slave woman and her son." It feels harsh to us. It feels wrong. And yet God tells Abraham, "Actually, no, listen to her. Do what she says, because the covenant line is not bound up in the son Ishmael. It's not bound up in Hagar's child. It is bound up in Isaac."So the covenant line must run through Isaac alone. And so the family has to be cleaned out, if you like, from this child that wasn't the promised child. This child that was the result of human planning against God's will.Remember what God had promised to Abraham: that he would make him into a great nation, that he would give him a land—the land of Israel—and that he would make him a blessing to all nations. This promise, this blessing to all nations shouldn't be muddled up through a child that is not the child of promise. And so, yes, God says, "Listen to Sarah and cast Hagar out."Now, it's important for us to notice here that God doesn't do this without compassion or because he's vindictive or something like that. He actually provides for Hagar and for Ishmael as the story continues. In fact, God fulfills some of the promise to Abraham through Ishmael himself, and he does make him into a great nation that will one day be a constant thorn in the flesh of Israel. But God keeps his promises even when they complicate matters.And so Hagar and Ishmael are cast out, and Hagar wanders with Ishmael through the desert. Eventually their water runs out, their hope is gone, and an angel calls from heaven and says to her, "Fear not, for God has heard the boy." The same God who is protecting his covenant promise is the same God who is safeguarding Isaac and is now the same God who opens a well here for the rejected Hagar and for Ishmael and provides for them for a future by providing for them with water now.Three Important LessonsThis is an important passage for us to wrestle with because it really shows us a couple of things about human nature which I think are important for us to think about.Firstly, jealousy is a terrible thing and it is going to break communities wherever it goes. The mockery of Ishmael to Isaac at the feast shows us how quickly the joy that we should be having—in this case joy that he's weaned, that he's doing well, that he's succeeding at life, if you will—ruins the celebration of joy. And we see this throughout family lines today. We see ...
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2025/07/2111 分