Genesis 21:8-21 (NRSV)
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
(Gal 4.21—30)
8 The child grew, and was weaned; 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, playing with her son Isaac. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.” 11 The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. 13 As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.” 14 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 about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she cast 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, “Do not let me 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; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” 19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.
20 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 got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Genesis 21:8-21 is the story of the dismissal of Hagar and Ishmael. Paul will deal with this theme in Galatians 4:21-30. In the Quran, Abraham takes Hagar and Ishmael to Mecca and establishes them in that place. The text uses the term Elohim for God. The turning points in the story involve “seeing” and “hearing.” It suggests the importance of what we choose to see and hear as well.
The story is distressing regarding the character of Abraham and Sarah. Sarah observes Isaac and Ishmael playing together and wants Abraham to cast them into the wilderness. To the credit of Abraham, her request concerning his son distresses him. Yet, he still does as she requests. At this point, we have an example of what I mean when I suggest that we as readers can adopt the stance of trusting the witness of the text. The text is clear that God assures Abraham that Hagar and Ishmael will be all right. In fact, Ishmael, like Isaac, will be the father of a great nation. It was this promise that assures Abraham that God wanted him to agree with Sarah. Thus, from what human beings can see, I suppose, Abraham appears weak in agreeing with Sarah. However, the text allows us to see that once again God takes a direct interest in Abraham and communicates directly with him. God has a plan, and once again, Abraham agrees to the plan. However, things become desperate for them as they wander in the wilderness. Mother places her child in the bushes because she does not want to watch him die. She weeps. Here is one of the places in the Old Testament where the text moves between “angel of God” and “God,” apparently God being so present in the angel as to make an encounter with one an encounter with both. Such a text prepares us for the Christian view of the Trinity as seeking to resolve the tension between the transcendence and immanence of God. In any case, she hears from the divine from heaven a promise that her son will be the ancestor of a great nation. She opens her eyes and sees water, which shares with her son. The boy becomes the ancestor of the Bedouins, hunters, and plunders. The story reminds us that God protects those whom human beings reject. It hints that God has a plan and blessing for all peoples and not just for Israel.
8 The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. The E account has Abraham treating Isaac and Ishmael the same. Abraham’s celebration of Isaac’s weaning with a “great feast” is ambiguous. On the one hand, it may have seemed somewhat premature in a pre-penicillin culture where infant mortality could have been as high as 30 percent in the first year, and where most children may not have lived to age 5. Even with 19 centuries of advances in sanitation, medical treatment and nutrition, almost half the children born in Italy in 1871 died before their 5th birthday, and figures for the eastern Mediterranean region of Syria-Palestine would have been comparable. On the other hand, weaning in the ancient Near East, even today, may not take place until a child is 3 years old, by which time Abraham may have concluded that Isaac was past the critical first years of life and was likely to reach adulthood, a genuine cause for celebration. Nonetheless, because so many children in ancient Israel (and the ancient world in general) did not survive childhood, relatively little attention is paid to that life stage in the Hebrew Bible, and there is only a small handful of references to the weaning of actual children (I Samuel 1:23-24; I Kings 11:20; Hosea 1:8). No mention is made, of course, of a weaning celebration for Ishmael. The notice of the weaning feast may be a subtle reminder of Abraham’s questionable judgment in matters domestic (recall his capitulation to Sarah’s explosive tantrum in 16:6), an aspect of the patriarch’s biblical depiction not to be overlooked. Although Abraham is portrayed with heroic abilities in matters of faithfulness and trust — his response to God’s call to migrate to an unknown land, his sustained intercession on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah, his unquestioned obedience to the summons to sacrifice Isaac — he is also shown to be a man of remarkably uncertain constitution in his own troubled household. The writers of the Bible are unflinching in their assertion that all human figures, no matter how spiritually great, ultimately have feet of clay
9 But Sarah saw, leaving us to wonder what she saw that bothered her, the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with (metzacheq[1]) her son Isaac. Sarah seeing something sparks the crisis of the narrative. The theme of seeing is one of several themes that unify the story of Abraham’s household, as in the parallel account of this incident in chapter 16. For example, Sarah states the problem of her childlessness in 16:2 by saying to Abraham, “You see that the LORD has prevented me from bearing children,” and when Hagar “saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress,” 16:4, etc. The literary artistry in these patriarchal narratives of Genesis is remarkably subtle and easily missed in readings focused on extracting theological or spiritual truths. So, what did Sarah see? The text is ambiguous here. The children may have innocently played together, she may have seen Ishmael molest Isaac, and she may have seen Ishmael becoming too much like Isaac. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.” 11 The matter was very distressing to Abraham, a beautiful part of this story, on account of his son. He clearly has feeling for Ishmael. He refuses to disown Ishmael in his heart. The suggestion of the competition that Sarah felt distresses him. 12 But God (Elohim), an important point that God told Abraham to do what Sarah said, said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. The story of Abraham has focused on him having a child through Sarah. Sarah wants no competition for the inheritance Abraham possessed. 13 As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.” Abraham complies because of a revelation of the plan of God for world history. God communicates directly with Abraham and once again does so with a promise. Thus, he is not complying because of some weakness of character in him in order to please his wife. God reassures Abraham that Ishmael will become a great nation, even if removed from the chosen line of Abraham-Isaac. Here is a hint that God has a plan for all nations. An interesting an approach to the history of religions at this point would be to a way of discerning such a plan within their texts. 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning, he will do the same in the next chapter to sacrifice his son, 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. The child is small enough for Hagar to carry here, but in 16:16, the P account, Ishmael is 16 or 17. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. Fron what human beings could witness, we find a story of Ishmael’s death sentence by expulsion in Genesis 21. It parallels at several points the death sentence by sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22. The biblical writer emphasizes that Abraham had two sons, both of paramount importance in the history of the Semitic peoples. To banish mother and son to the wilderness is to condemn both to an almost certain death. Interdependence played a much greater role in individual survival in pre-mechanized societies than it does today, and even if Ishmael was a teenager by the time of this episode (as 17:25 indicates he would be), only miraculous intervention could save him and his mother from death. In fact, such invervention seems to be the point. Both of the great nations that will arise out of Isaac and Ishmael can rely upon divine intervention to preserve them. Thus, while on the human level of action we may have a story of a death sentence for mother and son, on the theological level we have a story of the providence of God in caring for Ishmael and his descendants.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. The verb used to describe Abraham’s sending Hagar away in verse 14 is the same verb used to describe Hagar’s casting of Ishmael under a bush when their water supply is exhausted (v. 15), and this verbal similarity is the first of several details that will draw a parallel between Abraham and Hagar. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” The theme of seeing or looking returns as Hagar removes herself some distance from Ishmael so that she will not look upon the death of the child. And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17And God (Elohim) heard, hearing becomes a turning point in the story, the voice of the boy; and the angel of God (Elohim) called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God (Elhoim) has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Ishamel’s name means “God/El hears,” suggesting a play on words here. 18 Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” Hagar is the only matriarch given this type of promise. Here is one of the incidents in the Old Testament where one finds that God has a unique relationship with angels in that God is so directly present in them that one finds it difficult to tell of the writer refers to God or to the angel.[2] 19 Then God [Elohim] opened her eyes, seeing becomes important again, and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. In the next chapter, Abraham will discover a ram caught in the thicket that will take the place of Isaac for sacrifice.
20 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 got a wife for him from the land of Egypt. The boy becomes the ancestor of the Bedouins, hunting and plunder. In marrying the Egyptian we see how far he had gone from Abraham. However, the child will be under the protecting hand of God. This story of miraculous delivery from death concludes with the notice of Ishmael’s maturation and marriage to an Egyptian, one of his mother’s people, foreshadowing in a single verse the great drama of Joseph’s rescue by Ishmaelites and his survival (and the survival of his family) in Egypt (Genesis 37:28).
The passage can raise some difficult ethical questions. We heighten them as readers if we do not trust the witness of the text. Without that trust, Abraham looks as if he does not care for the woman he bedded or the child that arose from that relationship. He comes across as weak in giving in to the death sentence as recommended by Sarah. Granted, Sarah does not come across well here. She seems so contemptuous that she willingly would expose them to death. Yet, while the text is not clear about what Sarah saw, she may have seen molesting by Ishmael of Isaac. I have no interest in protecting the the character of either patriarch or matriarch. Other scenes in their story show questionableness of character. However, this scene may not be such an example, as much as a surface reading may suggest or an untrusting reading of the witness of the text. Abraham has a clear message from God that God will provide for mother and son and in fact make a great nation out of the descendants of Ishmael. At the same time, it is almost as if the story is told from the perspective of Hagar and Ishmael. In that way, if we allow our imaginations to engage the text, we are moved by the image of the mother who places the child apart because she cannot bear to watch him die. We are also moved by the weeping mother and the divinely protected boy as God rescues them and promises a great future. God opens a well for mother and child so that they may drink and live. Yes, God cares for those deserted in the wilderness and on the fringes of society. [3]
Most of us have been there will Hagar. We have felt unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody. Some people in our world feel the hunger created by extreme poverty. Most of us, maybe all of us, have felt the terrible poverty of loneliness.[4]
The story of Hagar and Sarah finds an allegorical interpretation in Galatians 4:21-31. Paul likens Hagar to “Mount Sinai” or the law, or “present Jerusalem,” but Sarah is compared to the “Jerusalem above.” The one is a slave, the other is a “free woman.” In a letter in which Paul is teaching the Galatian community how to crawl out from under the oppressive thumb of the law, he uses Hagar to remind us that we are children not of the “slave” but of the “free woman.” The child of a slave must worry about what not to do; the child of a “free woman” — if she worries at all — worries about what it is possible to do. Both by nature (see chapter 3 and Paul’s discussion of “adoption”) and by circumstance, we are called children of God; the filial relationship was not earned by merit, but by grace. Paul will go on to describe the fruit of such a relationship in Chapter 5. Paul turns to the allegory to help the Galatian Christian to stop listening to the voices of the so-called Judaizers, and to listen instead to the voice of the Spirit calling them to freely express the grace and work of Jesus Christ.
[1] A participle of the Piel stem of the verbal root tz-ch-q, meaning “to laugh,” which is the root of Yitzchaq, “Isaac” in Hebrew, which means “he laughs.” The Piel participle of this root occurs three times in the OT, all in Genesis: here, Genesis 19:14, and Genesis 26:8. In 19:14, the context is the imminent destruction of the city of Sodom, and Lot has been warned by his angelic guests to gather his dependents and flee the doomed city. He urges his sons-in-law, engaged to his daughters, to flee with his family, but they refuse to take Lot’s warning seriously, because “he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting (metzacheq)” (19:14). In Genesis 26:8, Isaac has fled to the Philistine city of Gerar (as dubious a location as Sodom had been for Lot) to escape a famine in Canaan, and, fearing that the lawless Philistines would seize Rebekah, his wife, he tells the Philistine king, Abimelech, that Rebekah is his sister (a technique doubtless learned at home; see Genesis 12:10-20 and 20:1-18). Abimelech discovers the deception when he looks out a window and sees Isaac “fondling (metzacheq) his wife Rebekah” (26:8). have gone in the direction of “mocking” or “making sport of,” although, as Speiser notes, such a construction would ordinarily require the Hebrew preposition be- prefixed to the object of the verb, which is absent here. Sarah may have seen Ishmael simply playing with Isaac innocently, and her angry tirade is completely unrelated to Ishmael’s behavior. She may also have seen Ishmael molesting Isaac. A more likely understanding of the verb relies on the relation of its root with the son whose name was derived from it: Ishmael was “Isaac-ing” or “becoming like Isaac.” Whatever he was doing, it appeared to Sarah that Ishmael was threatening to supplant her son Isaac by behaving or becoming too much like him — an intolerable possibility for her — and thus her demand for Ishmael’s (and Hagar’s) banishment from her household
[2] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 204.
[3] Arguing a bit with and inspired by The Women’s Bible Commentary, 1993
[4] Mother Teresa: “Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat … Loneliness is the most terrible poverty.”
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