Isaac is born, and Sarah is still giggling
In Genesis 21, Sarah finally has the son who was promised to her and Abraham.. Isaac was born and circumcised when Abraham was 100 years old. I love Sarah’s comment after the birth:
Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
She sees the humor in it! It seems like this holy event, but here Sarah is, looking at herself, an old granny nursing a baby, and laughing!
The Sarah-Hagar feud
It sounds like there were still hard feelings between Sarah and Hagar (the mother of Ishmael, also Abraham’s son):
Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
Abraham was upset out of concern for his son Ishmael, but God reassured him that Ishmael would become a nation too, and that Abraham should do what Sarah wants, and send Ishmael and his mother away:
Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
A miracle for Ishmael
God had Abraham send Ishmael and Hagar away, but the journey was not without difficulty:
When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob.
God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
Ishmael and Hagar continue living in the desert. Ishmael becomes an archer, and finds a wife from Egypt. And with that, the story of Ishmael ends.
Abraham, Abimelek, and a well
Abimelek, the king Abraham lied to about Sarah, has a request for Abraham:
“God is with you in everything you do. Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.”
Ok sounds reasonable.. And Abraham agrees, and then complains about a well:
Abraham said, “I swear it.”
Then Abraham complained to Abimelek about a well of water that Abimelek’s servants had seized. But Abimelek said, “I don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today.”
Some sort of treaty is made involving lambs and cattle, and the place is called Beersheba
So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek, and the two men made a treaty. Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, and Abimelek asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?”
He replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well.”
So that place was called Beersheba, because the two men swore an oath there.
And then, Abraham “stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.”
Well that was all very random :/
———————————-
At this point in Genesis, we’ve moved on from the origin stories and logic puzzles, so the issues that are forming for me are different. I’m basically left thinking, where’s the spiritual insight? The moral teachings? The holiness? These are cruddy stories of cruddy people who are supposed to be holy or special or prophets or whatever. If I had never heard of any of this, and picked up a Bible, and started reading Genesis, there’s no way would I think this is something great and real and true.
However, given my background, and the relevance of these stories with today’s culture and politics, this is a fascinating journey. On to the next chapter…
“who are supposed to be holy or special or prophets or whatever.”
Who said they’re supposed to be holy/special/prophets though? Have you considered that these might be your own presuppositions?