36 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Genesis 21 This chapter gives an account of the conception, birth, circumcision, and weaning of Isaac, Genesis 21:1; of the mocking of Ishmael, and of the casting out of him and his mother from Abraham's house, at the request of Sarah, which, though grievous to Abraham, he complied with at the direction of God, Genesis 21:9; of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said,.... To Abraham, Genesis 17:16; in a way of mercy and kindness, by fulfilling his promise, giving strength to conceive and bear a child; see 1 Samuel 2:21: and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken; which intends the same thing in different words; and the repetition is made to cause attention to God's...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter we have, I. Isaac, the child of promise born into Abraham's family, ver. 1-8. II. Ishmael, the son of the bondwoman, cast out of it, ver. 9-21. III. Abraham's league with his neighbour Abimelech, ver. 22-32. IV. His devotion to his God, ver. 33. The Birth of Isaac. (b. c. 1897.) 1 And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For Sarah conceived,.... This explains what is meant by the Lord's visiting her, and doing to her according to his word, see Hebrews 11:11; and bare Abraham a son in his old age; which circumstance is remarked, that the favour might appear the greater, and the more wonderful; or, "unto", or "for his old age" (n), for the comfort of him in his old...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Abraham called the name of his son that was borne unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. Which is the name he was directed to give him, Genesis 17:19; and he remembers the order, and is obedient to it; the reason of which name, which signifies laughter, was on account of his laughing for joy at the promise made him, as well as there might be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old as, God had commanded him. Genesis 17:12, and was the first that we read of that was circumcised on that day, according to the divine precept, which Abraham strictly observed; for though this was the son of the promise, and of his old age, for whom he had the most affectionate regard, yet...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Abraham was an hundred years old when son Isaac was born unto him. So that this was years after his departure from Haran, and coming into the land of Canaan, for then he was seventy five years of age, Genesis 12:4; and this exactly agrees with the account of Demetrius, as related by Polyhistor, an Heathen writer (o), who makes Isaac to be born...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh,.... This she said on occasion of the name of her son Isaac, which name her husband had given him by divine direction, and to which she assented. This doubtless brought to her mind her former laughing, when she first heard that she should have a son, which was in a way of diffidence and distrust; but now...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And she said, who would have said unto Abraham,.... No one a year ago could ever have thought of such a thing, much less have come and told Abraham that he should have a child or children by Sarah; the thing was incredible, and next to impossible; none but God himself, or an angel from him, could have declared this, as none but he could bring it...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the child grew, and was weaned,.... He throve under the nursing of its mother, and through the blessing of God upon him; and being healthy and robust, and capable of digesting stronger food, and living upon it, he was weaned from the breast: at what age Isaac was when weaned is not certain, there being no fixed time for such an affair, but it...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian,.... That is, Ishmael, who is not expressed by name, but described by being a son of Hagar, a servant of Sarah's, and an Egyptian woman; all which seems to be observed by way of slight, both to Hagar and her son; which she had born unto Abraham; not unto Sarah, as she proposed to herself, when she gave...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore she said unto Abraham, cast out this bondwoman and her son,.... Hagar, Sarah's handmaid and bondservant, and her son Ishmael; by this it appears that Hagar was concerned in this affair, and set her son on to mock Isaac, at least she encouraged him in it, buoying: him up with his being the firstborn, and having a right to the inheritance;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight,.... The motion that Sarah made to turn out of his house Hagar and Ishmael was not agreeable to him, but the reverse; it seemed an ill thing to him; it was greatly displeasing to him, and he was unwilling to come into it: because of his son; his son Ishmael; not grieved and uneasy for what he had...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And God said unto Abraham,.... Either by an articulate voice, or by an impulse on his mind, suggesting to him what he should do, being no doubt in great perplexity how to conduct between his wife and his son, but God determines the case for him, and makes him easy: let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation,.... A great nation, as is promised, Genesis 17:20; and such the Ishmaelites and Saracens have been, and the Turks now are, the descendants of Ishmael. The Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it, a people of thieves, or a thieving people; as were the Saracens, and who are thought to have that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Abraham rose up early in the morning,.... It was in the night the Lord spoke to him, and bid him hearken to the voice of Sarah; and, as soon as it was morning, he arose, and was not disobedient to the heavenly vision; for, though the thing he was directed to was disagreeable to flesh and blood, and contrary to his natural affection, yet, it...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the water was spent in the bottle,.... It was all drank up by them, being thirsty, having wandered about some time in a wilderness, where they could not replenish their bottle: the Jewish writers say (e) that when Hagar came into the wilderness, she began to wander after the idols of the house of Pharaoh her father, and immediately the water...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And she went and sat her down over against [him], a good way off,.... Not being able to bear the sight of her child in his agonies, and, as she apprehended, ready to expire, she went from the place where she had laid him, and sat down under one of the shrubs or trees to shade herself, right over against that where her child was, though at some...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And God heard the voice of the lad,.... By which it appears that he cried also; but whether it was in prayer to God, or through the distress and misery he was in, is not certain; and, be it which it will, his cries came up into the ears of the Lord, and he had compassion on him, and supplied his wants, and delivered him out of his miserable...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Arise, lift up the lad,.... She had set herself down at some distance, and now she is bid to rise up and go to the place where she had left her son, and raise aim up from the ground, on which he lay along: and hold him in thine hand: or take hold on him with thine hand, and hold him up with it, he being so weak that he could not sit up without...