May 24, 2014

Commentary on the Book of Genesis

By: Tom Lowe

                    

Lesson II.E.4: The Expulsion of Ishmael. (Gen. 21:8-21)                                                                   

 

 

Genesis 21:8-21 (KJV)

 

8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

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, even with Isaac.

11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son.

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 Beersheba.

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 bowshot: 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, lift 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.

 

 

Note: the New Living Translation is used throughout, except for the text.

 

 

Introduction

 

This passage is very similar to the incident that is described in chapter 16. There, Hagar reacted to the jealousy and subsequent harsh treatment by Sarah by fleeing into the wilderness with the intention of returning to Egypt, her home. The main differences between the two cases is that Ishmael, on the first occasion, was yet to be born, while he is a teenager in the passage before us. The other difference is that while she ran away in the first case, she is forced to leave on this occasion. In both cases it was Sarah’s jealousy and contempt for Hagar that resulted in her leaving the house of Abraham.

 

 

 

 

Commentary

 

 

8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

 

This precious baby first lived by feeding on his mother’s milk, but the day came when he had to be weaned. In the East, a baby was weaned at about the age of three. The feast mentioned was the customary family feast on the occasion of weaning a child. It was a great event in the life of all the family. It was an occasion to be celebrated with rejoicing and feasting. The newly weaned child is formally brought into the presence of the assembled relatives and friends, to partake of some simple food items. Isaac attired in the symbolic robe, the badge of birthright, was then acknowledged heir of the tribe. Even in this there is a lesson for us. From now on, Isaac will be drinking from a glass, but when he was just a babe it was quite different. While his mother was getting dinner ready, this little baby in the crib had everything in his entire body working at once. He’s got his feet up in the air kicking wildly, his hands are waving frantically, his little face is beet red, and he is yelling at the top of his lungs—he wants his bottle, and he wants it now. “You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries for milk” (1 Pe. 2:2). It is wonderful to be a new Christian with an appetite like that for the milk of the Word. But the time comes when you are ready to grow up as a believer. Instead of just reading John 14 and Psalm 23—as wonderful as they are—try reading through the entire Bible. Grow up. Don’t be a baby all your life. Notice God’s admonishment in Hebrews 5:13-14: “And a person who is living on milk isn't very far along in the Christian life and doesn't know much about doing what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong and then do what is right.”

 

 

9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.

 

God used the incident of Ishmael’s mocking Isaac to drive out the child Ishmael and Hagar (v. 10), for they would be a threat to the promised seed. The Hebrew word for “mocking” is also translated laughing in other places, and from it we get the name Isaac. It appears that the mocking amounted to ridicule of Isaac as the child of promise. Actually, there is no good reason here to introduce the idea of mocking. What Ishmael was doing does not matter as much as the fact that it infuriated Sarah. Perhaps she simply could not bear to see her son playing with Ishmael as with an equal. Or it may be that green-eyed jealousy took full control. Sarah may have feared that, Abraham, out of love for Ishmael, would give the older lad the prominent position in the inheritance. At any rate, family life could not go on as it was. Earlier Sarah had mistreated Hagar (16:6{12]); and now Hagar’s son was mistreating Sarah’s son. Earlier Sarah had caused pregnant Hagar to flee; now she caused Hagar and her 16 or 17 year old son to flee. Abraham was 86 when Ishmael was born (16:16{13]), and 100 when Isaac was born (21:5{14]), and Isaac was probably weaned (v. 8) at age 2 or 3. That would make Ishmael 16 or 17 years old. What arrogance that a boy of seventeen would torment a little boy of only three! But God had said that Ishmael would become “a wild donkey of a man” (16:12{10]), and the prediction came true. The flesh and the Spirit are in conflict with each other and always will be until we see the Lord (Gal. 5:15-26).

 

In Galatians 4:28-29{3], Paul made it clear that Ishmael represents the believer’s first birth (the flesh) and Isaac represents the second birth (the Spirit). Ishmael “was born of the flesh” because Abraham had not yet “died” and was still able to begat a son (Ge. 16). Isaac was “born of the Spirit” because by that time his parents were both “dead” and only God’s power could have brought conception and birth. Ishmael was born first, because the natural comes before the spiritual (1 Co. 15:46{4]).

 

When you trust Jesus Christ, you experience a miracle birth from God (John 1:11-13{5]), and it is the work of the Holy Spirit of God (John 3:1-8). Abraham represents faith, and Sarah represents grace (Gal. 4:24-26{6]), so Isaac was born “by grace . . . through faith” (Eph. 2:8-9{7]). This is the only way a lost sinner can enter the family of God (John 3:16-18{8]).

 

 

 

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, even with Isaac.

 

This little baby sure caused a lot of trouble in the home of Abraham and Sarah. We find the son of Abraham by Hagar, Ishmael, was mocking, and Sarah caught him doing it. We now begin to see the true nature and Character of Ishmael. Up to this point, he seems to be a pretty nice boy, but now, with Isaac coming into the family, Ishmael really shows his true colors.

 

It is worth noting that, in the biblical record, God often rejected the firstborn and accepted the second-born. He rejected Cain and accepted Abel (Ge 4:1-15). He rejected Ishmael, Abraham’s firstborn, and chose Isaac. He bypassed Esau, Isaac’s firstborn, and chose Jacob (Rom. 9:8-13); and He chose Ephraim instead of Manasseh (Ge. 48). In Egypt the Lord condemned all the first born (Ex. 11-12) and spared only those who were “twice-born” because they were protected by the blood of the Lamb. According to the law codes of that time, Ishmael was entitled to an inheritance share, but Sarah was determined that Isaac would be the sole heir. That could be legally achieved, for there was legal tradition stipulating that a son by a slave woman could forgo his inheritance claim in exchange for freedom.

 

This is an illustration of the fact that a believer has two natures. Until you are born again you have the old nature, and the old nature controls you. You do what you want to do. As the old secular song says, you are doing “what comes naturally.” What you do that comes naturally is often not the nicest sort of thing. But when you are born again, you receive a new nature. And when you receive a new nature that is when the trouble always begins. Paul writes about the battle that is going on between the old and new nature in the seventh chapter of Romans: “When I want to do good, I don't. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway” (Rom. 7:19). That is, the new nature doesn’t want to, but the old nature wants to do it, and the old nature is in control. The time comes when you have to decide which one of the natures you are going to live by. You must make a decision in this matter of yielding to the Lord. You either have to permit the Holy Spirit to move in your life, or else you have to go through life controlled by the flesh. There is no third alternative for the child of God. As a believer you cannot live in harmony with both natures. You are going to have to make a choice. James says, “They can't make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do” (James 1:8). This explains the instability, and the insecurity among many believers today. They want to go with Jesus and yet they want to go with the world. They are spiritual schizophrenics, trying to do both—and you cannot do that. The Greeks had a race in which they put two horses together, and the rider would put one foot on one horse and the other foot on the other horse, and the race would start. Well it was a great race as long as the horses stayed together. You and I have two natures—one is a white horse, and the other is a black horse. It would be great if they would go together, but they will just not work together. The white horse goes one way and the black horse another way. When they do this, you and I must make up our minds which one we are going with—whether we are going to live by the old nature or the new nature. This is why we are told to yield ourselves: “Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning. Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God” (Rom. 6:13). Paul goes on the say that what the law could not do through the weakness of the flesh, the Spirit of God can now accomplish what the Law could never do.

 

The nature of Ishmael begins to be revealed. This is the nature we find manifested later on in that nation, a nation that is antagonistic and whose hand is against his brother. This has been the picture of him down through the centuries.

 

The conflicts in Abraham’s home could have been settled in four ways. Isaac could have been sent away, but that would mean rejecting the promises of God and all that God had planned for the future. Isaac and Ishmael could have lived together, but that would mean constant conflict. Ishmael’s nature could have been changed to make him more agreeable, but that would have required a miracle. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” (John 3:6), and it always will be flesh. The only solution was to send Ishmael and his mother out of the camp and make Isaac the sole heir.

 

This story, as the apostle tells us in his allegory in Galatians, and the persecution by the son of an Egyptian was the beginning of the four hundred years of persecution of Abraham’s seed by the Egyptians.

 

 

11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son.

 

This would be a very hard thing for Abraham to do; after all, as far as the flesh is concerned, Ishmael is Abraham’s son just as much as Isaac is. Isaac has just been born and Abraham doesn’t know much about him yet. But this boy Ishmael has been in the home a good many years—he’s a teen-ager now, and Abraham is attached to him. It is going to be very painful (“grievous”), if he is going to have to send him away. Again, I go back to what I said before: God did not approve of Abraham and Sarah using Hagar to bring a son into the family; and God cannot accept Ishmael. This is sin, God just did not approve of it. It was heartbreak for Abraham, but in order to relieve the tension in the home he was going to have to send the boy away. Poor Sarah just couldn’t take it with this older boy around mocking her.

 

It is clear that Abraham did not want to send Ishmael away, but this was God’s command, and he had to obey. Little did he realize that his obedience was preparation for an even greater test when he would have to put Isaac on the alter. The word translated “grievous” means “to shake violently,” like curtains blowing in the wind. Abraham was deeply moved within and perhaps somewhat displeased with the turn of events. He loved the boy, but there is, however, no concern shown for the boy’s mother. When Sarah turned bitterly against her, Abraham replied, “Since she is your servant, you may deal with her as you see fit” (Ge. 16:6); and what seemed “fit” to Sarah was to treat her harshly, so she fled into the desert. This shows the low estimation in which women were held in the times in which this account of Abraham belongs. Little or no dignity was accorded her as a person. She could be treated as a chattel, a mere instrument of convenience for the man and for his family. Some of the patriarchs had concubines who seem to be accepted as part of a normal household, as with Abraham here and with Jacob (Ge 30:3-5{1]). Hence, we are given a reminder of what must be kept in mind when reading Genesis, that the religious conscience which had such noble growth in Israel had for its soil the same sort of life and same ideas as those of other peoples in ancient times. Consequently, we must not believe that just because it is recorded in the Book of Genesis that God approved of it. In addition to its other functions, the Bible is a history book which tells of both the good and bad associated with the event or situation.

 

 

In the birth of Isaac, as I have already suggested, we have a foreshadowing of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. God did not suddenly spring the virgin birth on mankind. He had prepared us by several miraculous births before this, including the birth of John the Baptist, the birth of Samson, and here the birth of Isaac. I would like to call your attention to the remarkable comparison between the births of Isaac and the Lord Jesus Christ.

  1. The birth of Christ and the birth of Isaac had both been promised. When God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees, twenty-five years earlier, God had said to him, “I am going to give a son to you and Sarah.” And now, twenty-five years have gone by, and God has made good His promise. God also said to the nation Israel, “A virgin shall conceive and bring forth a Son.” When the day came that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, it was a fulfillment of prophesy. Both births had been promised.
  2. With both births there had been a long interval between the promise and the fulfillment. Actually there had been twenty-five years between the time God promised it until Isaac was born. As for the birth of Christ you could go back many generations. For example, God had promised that there would come One in the line of David—and that was a thousand years before Christ was born. This is quite a remarkable parallel.
  3. The announcements of the births seemed doubtful and impossible to Sarah and Mary. You will recall that the servants of the Lord visited Abraham as they were on their way to Sodom, and they announced the birth of Isaac. It just seemed impossible. Sarah laughed and said, “This thing just can’t be. It is beyond belief.” And, after all, who was the first one to question the virgin birth? It was Mary herself. When the angel made the announcement, she said, “. . . how shall this thing be, seeing I know not a man?” (Luke 1:34).
  4. Both Isaac and Jesus were named before their births. Abraham and Sarah were told that they were going to have a son and that they were going to name him Isaac. And with the birth of the Lord Jesus, we found that He was also named beforehand. The angel said to Joseph, “. . . Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).
  5. Both births occurred at God’s appointed time. Verse 2 of this chapter says at the set time which God had spoken to them of, Sarah brought forth Isaac. And regarding the birth of Jesus, we note that Paul says, “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law” (Gal. 4:4).
  6. Both births were miraculous. The birth of Isaac was a miraculous birth, and certainly, the birth of the Lord Jesus was—no man had any part in that.
  7. Both sons were a particular joy to their fathers. We read that “Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac,” meaning laughter. This was the name he gave his son because back at the time God made the announcement, he laughed because of his sheer joy in it all. Referring to the Lord Jesus, we read that the Father spoke out of heaven and said, “. . . This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). Both sons were a joy.
  8. Both sons were obedient to their fathers, even unto death. In chapter 22 we are going to see that this son Isaac was offered up by his father. He was not a small boy of eight or nine years. Isaac just happened to be about thirty-three years old when this took place, and he was obedient to his father even unto death. That was true of Isaac, and it was certainly true of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a marvelous picture of the birth and life of Christ in the birth and life of Isaac.
  9. Finally, the miraculous birth of Isaac is a picture of the resurrection of Christ. We have already noted Paul’s words that Abraham “knew that he was too old to be a father at the age of one hundred and that Sarah, his wife, had never been able to have children” (Rom. 4:19). Out of death came life—that, you see, is resurrection. After Paul emphasizes this, he goes on to say of the Lord Jesus, “He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God” (Rom. 4:25). We have seen in Isaac quite a remarkable picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now we find how God graciously deals with Abraham and also with Hagar and her son Ishmael.

 

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.

 

God makes it clear to Abraham that He is not going to accept Ishmael as the son he had promised. Because God had chosen Isaac, His choice had to be protected. Both Christ and the church must descend from Abraham through Isaac. This is pointed out by the apostle in Romans 9:7{2], to show that all who came from Abraham were not the heirs of Abraham’s covenant. Ishmael and Hagar had to be expelled. Sarah was wrong when she told Abraham to marry Hagar (Ge. 16:1-2{9]), but she was right when she told Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael out of the camp.

 

 

13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.

 

God had said, “Of thy seed, I will make nations to come from you,” and therefore He now says that a great nation will come from this boy Ishmael also.

 

 

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 Beersheba.

 

“Abraham rose up early” so that the wanderers might reach a refuge before the sun is at its apex and the temperature makes travel almost impossible. “Bread” includes all kinds of foodstuffs. “Bottle” doesn’t refer to a glass bottle, but to a leather vessel, formed from the entire skin of a lamb or kid sewed up, with the legs for handles, usually carried over the shoulder. Ishmael was a lad of seventeen years, and it was quite customary for Arab chieftains to send out their sons at such an age to make their way in the world: often with nothing but a few days’ provisions in a bag.

 

The wilderness of Beersheba was a wide extensive desert on the southern border of Israel, about fifty miles south of Jerusalem and twenty-seven miles south of Hebron. For those going southward, it was the last point of any significance in Palestine.

 

 

15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

 

In that dry wilderness area, these two travelers could not hope to exist many hours without experiencing extreme thirst. When the water gave out, exhaustion and thirst took over the boy, and Hagar for a while supported the fainting youth with his arm around her shoulders but his weight became too much for her and she was forced to free herself from him, and at that point, she laid him down in the small shade of a shrub to die.

 

 

16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: 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.

 

Ishmael and Hagar get lost in the wilderness, their water ran out, and they gave up in despair. This experience was quite different from the time Hagar first met God in the wilderness (16:7{15]). Sixteen years before she had found a fountain of water, but now she saw no hope at all. Evidentially Hagar had forgotten the promise God had made concerning her son; but Ishmael must have remembered them, for he called on the Lord for help. God heard the lad’s cries and rescued them both for Abraham’s sake.

 

The Angel of God is the same Person as the Angel of the Lord; the “messenger of Yahweh” who is none other than the Lord Himself.

 

 

18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.

 

The great nation that came from Ishmael was the Ishmaelites, one of the enemies of Israel. Had she forgotten the promise? Whether she had or not, He had not forgotten, and He directed her to a well (v. 19), which was nearby but probably covered over by brushwood.

 

 

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.

 

“The Angel of” the Lord met “Hagar” in “the desert” (vs. 17, 18) as before (16:7{15]), and by supernatural intervention directed her to “water” from a well (v.19) as before (16:14{16]). This forestalled failure of God’s promises concerning Ishmael made earlier (16:12{10]; 17:20{11]; v. 13). “God” told “Hagar” as He had told Abraham, that from Ishmael came a “great nation” (21:18{17]; v. 13). Ishmael “lived in the desert”. . . “became an archer” (v. 20; 16:12{10]) and married an Egyptian (21:21{18]).

 

God did not abandon Hagar and Ishmael for Ishmael was the son of Abraham, God’s friend (v. 13). If Ishmael and Hagar had any bad feelings toward Abraham, they were certainly in the wrong; everything God did for them was because of his faithfulness to Abraham. The Lord reaffirmed His promise that Ishmael would become a great nation (vs. 13, 18, 17:20{11]), and He kept his promise (vs. 12-16). The Arab world is a force to be reckoned with today, and it all began with Ishmael.

 

 

20 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.

 

In spite of pictures in some Sunday school papers, and Bible story books, Ishmael was a teenager, and not a child when this event took place.

 

 

21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

 

Since Ishmael was now virtually deprived of a father, his mother took it upon herself to obtain a wife for him from among her relatives. Ishmael’s marriage to an Egyptian, and his nomad rovings in the Sinai Peninsula underscore the separation of the Ishmaelites from the Abrahamic covenant.

 

So often in the trials of life we fail to see the divine provisions God has made for us, and we forget the promise He has made to us. We open our hands to receive what we think we need instead of asking Him to open our eyes to see what we already have. The answer to most problems is close at hand. If only we have eyes to see (John 6:1-13; 21:1-6).

 

Hagar is certainly a picture of the needy multitudes in the world today; wandering, weary, thirsty, blind, and giving up in despair. How we need to tell them that the water of life is available and the well is not far away! (John 4:10-14{19]; 7:37-39{20]). God is kind and gracious to all who call on Him, because of His beloved Son Jesus Christ. Horatius Boner wrote these words:

 

I heard the voice of Jesus say,

“Behold I freely give

The living water, thirsty one,

Stoop down, and drink, and live.”

I came to Jesus, and I drank

Of that life-giving stream;

My thirst is quenched, my soul revived,

And now I live in Him.

 

The Scriptures are going to drop the line of Ishmael and Follow it no longer, but his descendents, the Arabs, are out there in the desert even today. The Desert of “Paran” is in the northeastern portion of the Sinai Peninsula. It is a wild place, fit for a wild man; such as Ishmael.

 

 

 

scripture reference and special notes

 

{1] (Ge. 30:3-5). Then Rachel told him, "Sleep with my servant, Bilhah, and she will bear children for me." So Rachel gave him Bilhah to be his wife, and Jacob slept with her. Bilhah became pregnant and presented him with a son.

 

{2] (Rom. 9:7). Just the fact that they are descendants of Abraham doesn't make them truly Abraham's children. For the Scriptures say, "Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted," though Abraham had other children, too.

 

{3] (Gal. 4:28-29). And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac.

And we who are born of the Holy Spirit are persecuted by those who want us to keep the law, just as Isaac, the child of promise, was persecuted by Ishmael, the son of the slave-wife.

 

{4] (1 Co. 15:46).What came first was the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later.

 

{5] (John 1:11-13) Even in his own land and among his own people, he was not accepted. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan—this rebirth comes from God.

 

{6] (Gal. 4:24-26) Now these two women serve as an illustration of God's two covenants. Hagar, the slave-wife, represents Mount Sinai where people first became enslaved to the law. And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery. But Sarah, the free woman, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. And she is our mother.

 

{7] (Eph. 2:8-9) God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

 

{8] (John 3:16-18) "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. "There is no judgment awaiting those who trust him. But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God.

 

{9] (Ge. 16:1-2) But Sarai, Abram's wife, had no children. So Sarai took her servant, an Egyptian woman named Hagar, and gave her to Abram so she could bear his children. "The LORD has kept me from having any children," Sarai said to Abram. "Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her." And Abram agreed.

 

{10] (Ge. 16:12) This son of yours will be a wild one—free and untamed as a wild donkey! He will be against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live at odds with the rest of his brothers."

 

{11] (Ge. 17:20) As for Ishmael, I will bless him also, just as you have asked. I will cause him to multiply and become a great nation. Twelve princes will be among his descendants.

 

{12] (Ge. 16:6) Abram replied, "Since she is your servant, you may deal with her as you see fit." So Sarai treated her harshly, and Hagar ran away.

 

{13] (Ge. 16:16) Abram was eighty-six years old at that time.

 

{14] (Ge. 21:5) Abraham was one hundred years old at the time.

 

{15] (Ge. 16:7) The angel of the LORD found Hagar beside a desert spring along the road to Shur.

 

{16] (Ge. 16:14) Later that well was named Beer-lahairoi, and it can still be found between Kadesh and Bered.

 

{17] (Ge. 21:18) Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants."

 

{18] (Ge. 21:21) and his mother arranged a marriage for him with a young woman from Egypt.

 

{19] (John 4:10-14) Jesus replied, "If you only knew the gift God has for you and who I am, you would ask me, and I would give you living water." "But sir, you don't have a rope or a bucket," she said, "and this is a very deep well. Where would you get this living water? And besides, are you greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his cattle enjoyed?" Jesus replied, "People soon become thirsty again after drinking this water. But the water I give them takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life."

 

{20] (7:37-39) On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, "If you are thirsty, come to me! If you believe in me, come and drink! For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within." (When he said "living water," he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)