Walk in the Bible - Genesis 21

 Walk in the Bible - Genesis 21

     Abraham had just prayed for King Abimelech and the wombs of all his wives and concubines had opened up, now GOD was going to reward Abraham, just like HE did for Job over in Job 42:10. Job had lost everything, had boils all over his skin and here he was praying for his friends benefit, and GOD gave him back everything he lost, twice over. Abraham wasn't in quite as dire a situation as Job, but GOD had promised him a son, he'd waited, he and his wife were now past the age where they could have children by any means known on Earth, and GOD's now about to give him a son since HE promised HE would grant Abraham a son. In fact, not only was GOD going to do this, but scripture goes out of it's way to tell us that HE's going to do it exactly when he said it would happen to begin with, over in Genesis 18:10.

     Verse 2 goes out of the way to confirm this is Abraham and Sarah's son, to once again back up GOD's promise to them that they'd have a son. Further, we see Abraham naming his son Isaac, just like he was told to do in Genesis 17:19. In verse 4, we're shown that Abraham is circumcising him, just like GOD asked him to do in Genesis 17:12 for himself and anyone in his house. Just in case there was any doubt, the Bible also goes out of it's way to show that Abraham was far past the age when he should have had a child by telling us that he was 100 years old when Isaac was born.

     Sarah is shown going from mocking, in Genesis 18:12, to joy in Genesis 21:7 - 8. The Bible then fast forwards 2 years and resumes again at a time when Isaac was weaned. We know he's 2 years old, in part because Rashi lets us known that this was at the end of 24 months. Chizkuni agrees and offers Samuel 1:1-24 as proof, because Samuel was also brought before the Lord at 2 years of age as well, after he was weaned.

     Abraham throws a big party, and the next thing we see is that the son of Hagar, the slave of Sarah is said to be "playing". Now, he's more likely mocking Isaac or engaging in some form of idolatry. I realize that seems like a huge leap, however, Rashi points out that the same word is used in Exodus 32:6 when the ancient Israelite's "played" before the golden calf. Rashi also notes the same word for playing, the Hebrew word "tsachaq" is also used in Genesis 39:17 when Potiphar's wife accuses Joseph of "mocking" them.

     Other scholars, such as Sforno state that Ishmael was mocking Isaac. He points to Sukkah 56 which tells us that what children say in public is often picked up from their parents in private! Sforno states that Ishmael could have stated the Isaac was actually Abimelech's son, despite the Bible telling us that GOD stopped Abimelech from actually touching her! Chizkuni states that Ishmael was likely belittling Isaac, and in stating this, supports Sforno.

    Some scholars think that Ishmael may have been belittling Isaac about who was actually the first born son, and would, thus receive a double portion of the inheritance of his father, Abraham, as was the custom in that day. Verse 10, in addition to showing that Sarah was furious, somewhat supports this supposition. Either way, we know Sarah's furious and tells Abraham to expel Hagar and Ishmael both so that they won't inherit anything from him. Interestingly enough, Kli Yakar reminds us that expulsion wouldn't have prevented Ishmael from claiming his inheritance at all!

    We can see that Abraham's pretty upset about his son being expelled. OrHachaim, Rashi and Tur HaAroch all comment that Abraham was upset because he thought his son might turn from his worship of GOD to the pagan ways of the Egyptians. This isn't without merit as Rashi tells us (commenting on Genesis 11:28) that Abraham's brother burned to death in front of his eyes, by order of King Nimrod of Ur because his brother smashed his father's idols. Ishmael was also his son too, and just like JESUS would comment in his sermon on the mountain in Luke 11:11-13, he wanted to give good gifts to Ishmael as well, and casting him out wouldn't have been a good gift to give in his eyes.

    None the less, GOD tells Abraham not to worry about the boy (Ishmael) or Hagar. HE lets him know that Isaac, his son with Sarah would continue his offspring, but Ishmael wouldn't be forgotten, GOD said he'd make a nation out of him too, because he was Abraham's son too. We see Abraham giving Hagar bread and water for her journey back to Egypt. Even though Sarah was likely still furious with her, Abraham provided for her journey. This is likely where the proverb (Proverbs 25:21) "If your enemy is hungry feed him bread; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink" comes from.

    Hagar is shows wandering through the wilderness of Beer-sheba. This wilderness would show up again in the Bible as this would be part of the journey the ancient Hebrew would make during the exodus. Most of the Torah scholars indicate that she was most likely given enough water to make it to Egypt, but she wandered around and her journey took longer that it should have. Here the experts disagree on what it meant for her to wander. Some say she went back to her pagan ways, others say she just got lost. The word used here for wandered "taah" could mean either.

    A lot of the Torah scholars believe that Ishmael was sick at this time and consumed more water that what would be typical which could be why Hagar ran out of water but not bread, as verse 15 tells us. One would think that Abraham would have realized Ishmael was sick and would have given Hagar more water to account for this, however. All of the scholars believe that Ishmael was in his early teens at the time and had grown too tired to walk which is why his mother left him under the bushes. We know his mother sat away from her son, and it's believed that she did this so that her son wouldn't hear her crying as well. Hagar believed that both she and her son were going to die in the desert and she began weeping

    Verse 17 tells us that GOD heard the cry of Ishmael, or his prayer, and through an angel, he tells her that he heard Ishmael's prayer right where he was and that he won't die in the desert, instead HE'LL make a great nation from him. The Torah scholars aren't sure of exactly what happened next, some say that HE allowed her to see a well that was already there, but hidden. Others say that HE told her where to find water and she did, and yet others state that HE split the land so that water appeared. Either way, we know she filled the water skin with water and let her son drink. Verse 18 - 20 shows that Ishmael didn't die in the desert, but rather grew up in the desert to become a great archer.

    Verse 22 backs up chronologically and takes place the day after Sarah told Abraham to cast out her servant, Hagar and her son. They're still celebrating Isaac's weaning, and King Abimelech, the one Abraham prayed for, and the chief of his troops, Phicol sought to set up an alliance with him, because they saw that GOD was on his side because of what happened at his palace and what happened in Abraham's life. Remember, children were considered a blessing from GOD in that time, sons especially so! King Abimelech proposed a treaty between Abraham and not only himself, but his son and his grandson too, he also asked that the treaty include his people and land as well!

    Incidentally, in the Talmud, Chulin 60b:12 tells us that because of that oath, the Jewish people were prohibited from taking the land of the Philistines during the lifetime of King Abimelech, his son and his grandson. This treaty shows up later in the story of Sampson. In any case, Abraham accepts this treaty from King Abimelech.

    In this day and age there were two different kinds of treaties, a parity agreement, which is made between two equal parties, and in this case, a Suzerain or vassal treaty made between a king and his vassal. This is the kind of treaty we're seeing here. This kind of a treaty always included a prologue, which is what we saw recorded in Genesis 21:23. The prologue is where the King would point out the nice things he's already done for the party in an effort to get that party to sign the treaty and be nice to him as well. Even though Abraham agreed, he saw the need to literally call out King Abimelech for not being as nice as he said he was being.

    Abraham pointed out that they'd made a treaty to treat each other well, but yet Abimelech and his servants had seized one of his wells. Radak tells us explicitly that this well was the one he dug himself in Ber Sheeba, which was on the border between the land of Canaan and the Philistines. He says that Abimelech's servants took the well because it was dug on "their" land. Radak explains that Abimelech claimed innocence due to ignorance of the situation, he said he didn't know anything about it until Abraham said something, and thus implying Abraham was just as much at fault for not saying anything earlier. The only way this was going to be solved would be for both Abimelech and Abraham to head over to that well and sort it out, which is just what they did.

    The next verse shows Abraham giving Abimelech sheep and oxen, these were going to be use to finalize the treaty, just like you or I would sign our names on an agreement. Abraham, however, set aside seven ewes, female sheep, by themselves, and King Abimelech asked him what that was all about. Rabbeinu Bahya reminds us that the Hebrew word for seven, ("Shaba") was derived from the Hebrew word for oath, ("Sheba") or ("Shibah"), thus, seven ("shaba") sheep for the oath ("Sheba" or "Shibah")). Abraham lets him know that he's adding this in to his treaty as proof that the well is his.

    This requires a bit of an explanation, what typically happened in this type of treaty is that the animals are laid on an altars, side by side, and after each party recited their part of the treaty, each person would light the animal carcasses on fire as an unspoken vow that should they break their treaty, this would be their fate. Abraham was stating that the well was his and if he was lying, may he be slaughtered and burned just like those animals were going to be! Because they did this where the well was located, the well was named "Beer-sheba" or the well of the seven-fold oath! After this treaty, the Bible tells us that Abimelech and Phicol left and went back to the capital. There business was done here.

    Abraham is shown planting a tamarisk at that same well in the next verse. There are two reasons that this type of tree would have been planted. The first is that Tamarisks create natural air conditioning and would have been a sought out tree to rest under during the heat of the day. The Tamarisk secretes salt during the heat of the day, which dries during the night. In the morning the water would evaporate creating a natural air conditioning effect.

The second reason is that a trees, in general, were planted as a memorial for great people. Now, verse 33 gives us an idea of who Abraham had in mind when it says that he invoked the name of the Lord. A Midrash by Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition) gives us an idea of how this would have worked. He states that a traveler would come by and rest under the tree, Abraham would have then likely have shared a meal with this stranger, and when the stranger would stand and bless Abraham he would have told them that what they've eaten came from GOD, and that they should bless and thank HIM instead!

   This chapter closes with Abraham living in the land of the Philistines for a long time. In a commentary on the Torah by Likutei Moharan, he reminds us that the fear of GOD adds length to your life, as stated in Proverbs 10:27. This passage is used to prove that Abraham lived in fear of Lord. The word, fear, is the Hebrew word ("yirah") which means fear, but also means reverence. Based on Abraham's conduct, it's more likely he lived in reverence rather than fear (as we would know it today).  

   Abraham had to make a series of choices. When Sarah asked him to expel Hagar and Isaac, he could have told her "no". This was a patriarchal society and his word would have been final, it would have been easy for him to do. Besides that, Ishmael was his son, and what father would have wanted to kick his son out? Yet, he listened to GOD who told him to do just what Sarah said, he said he'd take care of them and that they wouldn't die in the desert and he did just that!

   When King Abimelech met with Abraham to set up a treaty with him, he could have gone along with it, you know, not upset the apple cart as it were. He didn't, he spoke out and let the King know that his people had seized his well that he dug himself. He wound up getting the well and using that well to glorify GOD, and not himself. In both cases, he showed by his actions that he knew none of these situations were about him, but rather about GOD and GOD alone.

   How about it? Are there situations in your life where you could make it all about you and not one iota about GOD? Where you could make it seem like you did this all yourself? You know you didn't. Even if you had the knowledge to make that situation go exactly the way you wanted it to go, if GOD said "no", there's no way it would have gone in your favor. It only did so because he said "yes".

   This chapter, in addition to foreshadowing the Exodus, has one main message, GOD's in control and in charge. HE's the CEO of our lives, not us. As men, it's hard for any of us to let anyone else other than ourselves hold that position. I know, I tried to run my own life and wound up abstinent from alcohol, but homeless with only 75 cents to my name.

   In A.A. parlance, I was a dry drunk, someone who doesn't drink, but that's all they do. It's like being a Christian and only going to church on Sunday. That's not how a good Christian is made, nor is it how a good, Christian life is lived. Why not follow Abraham's example and let HIM take over. I can tell you from first hand experience, it's the best decision I've ever made.

   It's the reason I'm here now, doing this study, chapter by chapter. It's the reason why I'm no longer the same man I was even 1 year ago, much less 31 years ago when I walked into my first A.A meeting. I don't have the same (admittedly bad) attitude, nor the same (over-sized) ego, nor the same relationship with my family or even GOD.  All of that has gotten much, much better, and it can for you to. Just fire yourself and let GOD lead. If you're having trouble with this, send me an email and I'll be happy to talk!