God –still
engaged in
our everyday
lives!
GENESIS 21
Life gets messy…
•V1-8 Mountain top: Isaac is born! Abraham is 100 years
old and Sarah is 90!
•Abraham circumcises Isaac on his 8th day; Sarah is
thrilled, “God brought me laughter and everyone laughs
with me!”
•Isaac is weaned, Abraham throws a huge festival –party!
Trouble in the Family (v9-14):
Ishmael is now 9 – 11 (still called “boy” so not yet 13 years
old). At the festival, he mocks Isaac and Sarah becomes MAD!
V10 Sarah shouts, “Get rid of him (Ishmael), he will have no
part of Isaac’s inheritance!”
v11 Abraham is distressed and God comforts him… “Do not
worry about Ishmael, do as Sarah says, My promise will be
through Isaac, but because this boy (Ishmael) is your son, he,
too, will be a great nation.” Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael
away…
God “cleans up the family mess” again…
Mercy and Grace working together!
•V14 –21 Hagar and Ishmael wander the Desert of
Beersheba…moving southeast of Gerar, food and water run-out, Hagar
leave Ishmael under a bush and walks away (about 30 feet+) and falls
down crying, “I can’t watch my son die…”
•V17 God hears Ishmael’s cry, speaks to Hagar and tells her, “lift him
up, I will make him a great nation, look there is a well of water…”
•V20-21 God was with the boy as he grew-up, became an expert
archer, and Hagar got him a wife from Egypt, and they lived in the
Desert of Paran
The Treaty (v22-29)
Abimelech asks for a treaty with
Abraham: “Before God, promise
you will not deal falsely with me,
my children, and my
descendants. Show me the
same kindness I have shown
you.”
Abraham agrees, however… Desert of Paran
There’s an “issue”… (V25 –30)
•Abimelech’s servants have seized the water well Abraham and his men
dug. Abimelech state, “I did not know, no one told me, you did not tell
me”
•Abraham brought cattle and sheep to Abimelech plus 7 lambs (a
separate gift). The two men made an agreement…Abimelech asked,
“What is the meaning of the 7 lambs?”
•V30 Abraham explained that the 7 lambs were a personal gift as a
witness that Abraham/family actually dug this well themselves, belongs
to Abraham and family…
•V31 The place was named Beersheba = ”well of 7” or “well of
oath”
•V32 Abimelech (King of Gerar) and his commander (Phicol)
returned to the land of the Philistines.
•V33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and then
called upon the name of the Lord, the Eternal God
•Tamarisk Tree: a ‘cleansing tree’
(breath of fresh air) and a symbol
of life and Abraham’s declaration
of God’s promises
V34 Abraham lived in the land of the Philistines for a long time…
•Philistines?
•Today the word labels someone
as a hostile or indifferent to
culture and art
•“Some hearing people can be
real Philistines to Deaf!”
•Land is current Gaza
•Enemies against Israel –
constantly taunted Israel
•Goliath was a Philistine
•Came from the Island of Crete,
called “Sea Peoples”
•Nebuchadnezzar (604 bc) totally
destroyed them
•Today no Philistines left, no
bloodline to identify heritage.
•No relations to Palestinians
God is still engaged in our everyday lives!
•Abraham’s messy family
•Political happenings
•Are we “planting” Tamarisk trees in our lives and for
generations to come? Do you have a place to meet with
Jesus daily? Is your life proclaiming your hope and trust in
His promises?
