Knowing the Word in Genesis 21:8-21, Protects Hagar and Ishmael

8 And the child grew and was weaned [around age three]. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. [Sarah’s joy is short-lived (in the narration) because Ishmael mocks Isaac with laughter.] 10 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.” [Sarah does not use their name, such is her disdain and her seriousness and her ruthless maternal instinct to protect her son. On one account she is in the right: Ishmael will not be the heir. God has already confirmed that.] 11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. [Abraham also loved Ishmael.] 12 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. 13 And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” [Like Sarah, God isn’t using their proper names either. The last time Abraham followed Sarah’s plan it got them into the trouble they are in now. It was his role to decide family policy, but God commands him to follow Sarah’s plans. The line of the elect will go through Isaac. His other children do not count. Yet God will bless Ishmael because he is Abraham’s offspring.] 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water [basic provisions for survival with a goat skin holding 3 gallons] and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away [kinder than Sarah’s “cast out”]. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. [Sarah is moving southward toward northern Arabia.]

15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16 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. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy [but apparently not Hagar’s], 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. [Ishmael’s behavior was responsible for their expulsion; his prayer is responsible for their salvation.] 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” [Hagar hears the divine promise made to Abraham.] 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water [as provision follows promise]. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt [Hagar’s homeland and a place that will become both a refuge and a curse for Israel].