the Second Week after Easter
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Contemporary English Version
Genesis 21:20
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God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer.
And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
And God was with the boy, and he grew and lived in the wilderness. And he became an expert with a bow.
God was with the boy as he grew up. Ishmael lived in the desert and became an archer.
God was with the boy as he grew. He lived in the wilderness and became an archer.
God was with Ishmael, and he grew and developed; and he lived in the wilderness and became an [expert] archer.
And God was with the boy, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer.
So God was with the childe, and he grewe and dwelt in the wildernesse, and was an archer.
And God was with the boy, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and was an archer.
God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the desert and became an archer.
And God was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
God continued to be with the boy while he grew up. Ishmael lived in the desert and became a hunter. He learned to shoot a bow very well.
And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow.
And God was with the boy; and he grew up and dwelt in the wilderness of Paran and learned to become an archer in the wilderness of Paran.
God was with the boy as he grew up; he lived in the wilderness of Paran and became a skillful hunter.
God was with the boy, and he grew; he settled in the wilderness and became an archer.
And God was with the boy. And he grew up. And he lived in the wilderness and became a great archer.
And God was with the childe, which grew vp, and dwelt in ye wildernes, and became a connynge archer,
And God was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer.
And God was with the boy, and he became tall and strong, and he became a bowman, living in the waste land.
And God was with the lad, and he grewe, and dwelt in the wyldernesse, and became a principall archer.
And God was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
And God was with the lad, and he grew, and dwelt in the wildernesse, and became an archer.
And God was with the child, and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
And God was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
And God was with the boy, and he grew up and settled in the wilderness and became a great archer.
and was with him, and he encresside, and dwellide in wildernesse, and he was maad a yong man an archer,
and God is with the youth, and he groweth, and dwelleth in the wilderness, and is an archer;
And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer.
So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
And God was with the boy as he grew up in the wilderness. He became a skillful archer,
God was with the boy and he grew. He lived in the desert, and became very good in using the bow.
God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow.
And it came to pass that God was with the boy, and he grew, - and dwelt in the desert, and he became as he grew up, an archer,
And God was with him: and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became a young man, an archer.
And God was with the lad, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow.
And God was with the lad, and he grew. And he dwelt in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer.
God was on the boy's side as he grew up. He lived out in the desert and became a skilled archer. He lived in the Paran wilderness. And his mother got him a wife from Egypt.
God was with the lad, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
God: Genesis 17:20, Genesis 28:15, Genesis 39:2, Genesis 39:3, Genesis 39:21, Judges 6:12, Judges 13:24, Judges 13:25, Luke 1:80, Luke 2:40
an archer: Genesis 10:9, Genesis 16:12, Genesis 25:27, Genesis 27:3, Genesis 49:23, Genesis 49:24
Reciprocal: Genesis 21:14 - child 1 Samuel 10:7 - God
Cross-References
But your son will live far from his relatives; he will be like a wild donkey, fighting everyone, and everyone fighting him."
I have heard what you asked me to do for Ishmael, and so I will also bless him with many descendants. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make his family a great nation.
Although Abraham was very old, Sarah had a son exactly at the time God had said.
Abraham named his son Isaac,
Now I want you to promise in the name of God that you will always be loyal to me and my descendants, just as I have always been loyal to you in this land where you have lived as a foreigner."
And so, Abraham promised.
One day, Abraham told Abimelech, "Some of your servants have taken over one of my wells."
As Jacob and Esau grew older, Esau liked the outdoors and became a good hunter, while Jacob settled down and became a shepherd.
So take your bow and arrows, then go out in the fields, and kill a wild animal.
Wherever you go, I will watch over you, then later I will bring you back to this land. I won't leave you—I will do all I have promised.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And God was with the lad,.... To confirm his health, to provide for him the necessaries of life, to protect him from danger in the wilderness where he was, and to prosper and succeed him in temporal things; all which is owing to the providential goodness of God:
and he grew; increased in bodily stature, and arrived to manhood; or, "he became great", in riches and in substance, as Ben Melech interprets it:
and dwelt in the wilderness; of Beersheba, where he now was, or of Paran after mentioned, a fit place for a wild man to dwell in, as it was said he should be; and by this means the oracle was fulfilled,
Genesis 16:12:
and became an archer; skilful in the use of the bow and arrow, both for hunting and slaying of wild beasts, on whose flesh he lived, and for lighting with men, against whom his hand would be: the Jewish writers l say he was born with a bow, and brought up with one, and that he shot an arrow at his brother Isaac, with an intention to kill him, while he was in Abraham's house; but it does not appear that he had any knowledge or use of the bow until he was in the wilderness and was grown up, by which he lived and defended himself; and so his posterity the Kedarenes, who sprung from his son Kedar, were famous for archery,
Isaiah 21:17; and the Ituraeans, from Jetur, another of his sons,
Genesis 25:15, were remarkable for their bows, of which Virgil m speaks; and so the Arabians that live in the deserts and round about them, called Nabathees, from Nabaioth, another son of Ishmael, are now extraordinary marksmen for bows and arrows, and to sling darts which are made of cane n: the Saracens got their living not by the plough, but chiefly by the bow, and were all of them warriors, and lived upon wild flesh, and as rapacious as kites o; and now the troops of the governor of Mecca, whereabout Ishmael, by the Arabs, is supposed to live, which are only infantry, are called Al-Harrabah, that is, archers, or dart men p.
l Pirke, c. 30. Ammian. Marcellin. Hist. l. 14. m "Ithyraeos taxi curvantur in arcus". Georgic. l. 2. ver. 448. n Rauwolff's Travels, par. 2. ch. 4. p. 118. by Ray. o Ammian. Marcellin. l. 14. p. 8. Ed. Vales. p Sharif al Edrisi, apud Pocock. Specim. Arab. Hist. p. 122, 124.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
- The Birth of Isaac
7. מלל mı̂lēl “speak,” an ancient and therefore solemn and poetical word.
14. חמת chêmet “bottle,” akin to חמה chāmâh, “surround, enclose,” and הוּם chûm “black. באר שׁבע beêr-sheba‛, Beer-sheba‘, “well of seven.”
22. פיכל pı̂ykol, Pikhol, “mouth or spokesman of all.”
23. נין nı̂yn “offspring, kin;” related: “sprout, flourish.” נכד neked “progeny,” perhaps “acquaintance,” cognate with נגד ngd, “be before” (the eyes) and נקד nqd, “mark.”
33. אשׁל 'êshel “grove;” ἄρουρα aroura, Septuagint.; אילבה 'ı̂ylābâh, “a tree,” Onkelos.
This chapter records the birth of Isaac with other concomitant circumstances. This is the beginning of the fulfillment of the second part of the covenant with Abraham - that concerning the seed. This precedes, we observe, his possession of even a foot-breadth of the soil, and is long antecedent to the entrance of his descendants as conquerors into the land of promise.
Genesis 21:1-8
Isaac is born according to promise, and grows to be weaned. “The Lord had visited Sarah.” It is possible that this event may have occurred before the patriarchal pair arrived in Gerar. To visit, is to draw near to a person for the purpose of either chastising or conferring a favor. The Lord had been faithful to his gracious promise to Sarah. “He did as he had spoken.” The object of the visit was accomplished. In due time she bears a son, whom Abraham, in accordance with the divine command, calls Isaac, and circumcises on the eighth day. Abraham was now a hundred years old, and therefore Isaac was born thirty years after the call. Sarah expressed her grateful wonder in two somewhat poetic strains. The first, consisting of two sentences, turns on the word laugh. This is no longer the laugh of delight mingled with doubt, but that of wonder and joy at the power of the Lord overcoming the impotence of the aged mother. The second strain of three sentences turns upon the object of this admiring joy. The event that nobody ever expected to hear announced to Abraham, has nevertheless taken place; “for I have borne him a son in his old age.” The time of weaning, the second step of the child to individual existence, at length arrives, and the household of Abraham make merry, as was wont, on the festive occasion. The infant was usually weaned in the second or third year 1 Samuel 1:22-24; 2 Chronicles 31:16. The child seems to have remained for the first five years under the special care of the mother Leviticus 27:6. The son then came under the management of the father.
Genesis 21:9-21
The dismissal of Hagar and Ishmael. “The son of Hagar ... laughing.” The birth of Isaac has made a great change in the position of Ishmael, now at the age of at least fifteen years. He was not now, as formerly, the chief object of attention, and some bitterness of feeling may have arisen on this account. His laugh was therefore the laugh of derision. Rightly was the child of promise named Isaac, the one at whom all laugh with various feelings of incredulity, wonder, gladness, and scorn. Sarah cannot brook the insolence of Ishmael, and demands his dismissal. This was painful to Abraham. Nevertheless, God enjoins it as reasonable, on the ground that in Isaac was his seed to be called. This means not only that Isaac was to be called his seed, but in Isaac as the progenitor was included the seed of Abraham in the highest and utmost sense of the phrase. From him the holy seed was to spring that was to be the agent in eventually bringing the whole race again under the covenant of Noah, in that higher form which it assumes in the New Testament. Abraham is comforted in this separation with a renewal of the promise concerning Ishmael Genesis 17:20.
He proceeds with all singleness of heart and denial of self to dismiss the mother and the son. This separation from the family of Abraham was, no doubt, distressing to the feelings of the parties concerned. But it involved no material hardship to those who departed, and conferred certain real advantages. Hagar obtained her freedom. Ishmael, though called a lad, was at an age when it is not unusual in the East to marry and provide for oneself. And their departure did not imply their exclusion from the privileges of communion with God, as they might still be under the covenant with Abraham, since Ishmael had been circumcised, and, at all events, were under the broader covenant of Noah. It was only their own voluntary rejection of God and his mercy, whether before or after their departure, that could cut them off from the promise of eternal life. It seems likely that Hagar and Ishmael had so behaved as to deserve their dismissal from the sacred home. “A bottle of water.”
This was probably a kid-skin bottle, as Hagar could not have carried a goat-skin. Its contents were precious in the wilderness, but soon exhausted. “And the lad.” He took the lad and gave him to Hagar. The bread and water-skin were on her shoulder; the lad she held by the hand. “In the wilderness of Beer-sheba.” It is possible that the departure of Hagar occurred after the league with Abimelek and the naming of Beer-sheba, though coming in here naturally as the sequel of the birth and weaning of Isaac. The wilderness in Scripture is simply the land not profitable for cultivation, though fit for pasture to a greater or less extent. The wilderness of Beer-sheba is that part of the wilderness which was adjacent to Beer-sheba, where probably at this time Abraham was residing. “Laid the lad.” Ishmael was now, no doubt, thoroughly humbled as well as wearied, and therefore passive under his mother’s guidance. She led him to a sheltering bush, and caused him to lie down in its shade, resigning herself to despair. The artless description here is deeply affecting.
Genesis 21:17-21
The fortunes of Ishmael. God cares for the wanderers. He hears the voice of the lad, whose sufferings from thirst are greater than those of the mother. An angel is sent, who addresses Hagar in the simple words of encouragement and direction. “Hold thy hand upon him.” Lay thy hand firmly upon him. The former promise Genesis 16:10 is renewed to her. God also opened her eyes that she saw a well of water, from which the bottle is replenished, and she and the lad are recruited for their further journey. It is unnecessary to determine how far this opening of the eyes was miraculous. It may refer to the cheering of her mind and the sharpening of her attention. In Scripture the natural and supernatural are not always set over against each other as with us. All events are alike ascribed to an ever-watchful Providence, whether they flow from the ordinary laws of nature or some higher law of the divine will. “God was with the lad.” Ishmael may have been cured of his childish spleen. It is possible also his father did not forget him, but sent him a stock of cattle with which to begin the pastoral life on his account. “He became an archer.” He grew an archer, or multiplied into a tribe of archers. Paran Genesis 14:6 lay south of Palestine, and therefore on the way to Egypt, out of which his mother took him a wife. The Ishmaelites, therefore, both root and branch, were descended on the mother’s side from the Egyptians.
Genesis 21:22-34
According to the common law of Hebrew narrative, this event took place before some of the circumstances recorded in the previous passage; probably not long after the birth of Isaac. Abimelek, accompanied by Phikol, his commander-in-chief, proposes to form a league with Abraham. The reason assigned for this is that God was with him in all that he did. Various circumstances concurred to produce this conviction in Abimelek. The never-to-be-forgotten appearance of God to himself in a dream interposing on behalf of Abraham, the birth of Isaac, and the consequent certainty of his having an heir, and the growing retinue and affluence of one who, some ten years before, could lead out a trained band of three hundred and eighteen men-at-arms, were amply sufficient to prove that God was the source of his strength. Such a man is formidable as a foe, but serviceable as an ally. It is the part of sound policy, therefore, to approach him and endeavor to prevail upon him to swear by God not to deal falsely with him or his. “Kin and kith.” We have adopted these words to represent the conversational alliterative phrase of the original. They correspond tolerably well with the σπέρμα sperma and ὄνομα onoma, “seed” and “name,” of the Septuagint. Abraham frankly consents to this oath. This is evidently a personal covenant, referring to existing circumstances. A similar confederacy had been already formed with Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre. Abraham was disposed to such alliances, as they contributed to peaceful neighborhood. He was not in a condition to make a national covenant, though it is a fact that the Philistines were scarcely ever wholly subjugated by his descendants.
Genesis 21:25-26
Abraham takes occasion to remonstrate with Abimelek about a well which his people had seized. Wells were extremely valuable in Palestine, on account of the long absence of rain between the latter or vernal rain ending in March, and the early or autumnal rain beginning in November. The digging of a well was therefore a matter of the greatest moment, and often gave a certain title to the adjacent fields. Hence, the many disputes about wells, as the neighboring Emirs or chieftains were jealous of rights so acquired, and often sought to enter by the strong hand on the labors of patient industry. Hence, Abraham lays more stress on a public attestation that he has dug, and is therefore the owner of this well, than on all the rest of the treaty. Seven is the number of sanctity, and therefore of obligation. This number is accordingly figured in some part of the form of confederation; in the present case, in the seven ewe-lambs which Abraham tenders, and Abimelek, in token of consent, accepts at his hand. The name of the well is remarkable as an instance of the various meanings attached to nearly the same sound. Even in Hebrew it means the well of seven, or the well of the oath, as the roots of seven, and of the verb meaning to swear, have the same radical letters. Bir es-Seba means “the well of seven or of the lion.”
Genesis 21:32-34
Returned unto the land of the Philistines. - Beer-sheba was on the borders of the land of the Philistines. Going therefore to Gerar, they returned into that land. In the transactions with Hagar and with Abimelek, the name God is employed, because the relation of the Supreme Being with these parties is more general or less intimate than with the heir of promise. The same name, however, is used in reference to Abraham and Sarah, who stand in a twofold relation to him as the Eternal Potentate, and the Author of being and blessing. Hence, the chapter begins and ends with Yahweh, the proper name of God in communion with man. “Eshel is a field under tillage” in the Septuagint, and a tree in Onkelos. It is therefore well translated a grove in the King James Version, though it is rendered “the tamarisk” by many. The planting of a grove implies that Abraham now felt he had a resting-place in the land, in consequence of his treaty with Abimelek. He calls upon the name of the Lord with the significant surname of the God of perpetuity, the eternal, unchangeable God. This marks him as the “sure and able” performer of his promise, as the everlasting vindicator of the faith of treaties, and as the infallible source of the believer’s rest and peace. Accordingly, Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Genesis 21:20. Became an archer. — And by his skill in this art, under the continual superintendence of the Divine Providence, (for God was with the lad,) he was undoubtedly enabled to procure a sufficient supply for his own wants and those of his parent.
