2. The first noticeable circumstance in the life of Isaac took place in connection with his weaning. His precise age at the time is not given, but we may sup- pose him to have been (according to Eastern custom) fully two years old. In honor of the occasion Abra- ham made a great feast, as an expression, no doubt, of his joy that the child had reached this fresh stage in his career — was no longer a suckling, but capable of self- sustenance, and a certain measure of indc]iendcnt ac- tion. For the parents, and those who sympathized with them, it would naturally be a feast of laughter — the laughter of mirth and joy ; but there was one in the family — Ishmael — to wliom it was no occasion of glad- ness, who saw himself supplanted in the more peculiar honors of the house by this younger brother, and who mocked while others laughed — himself, indeed, laughed (for it is the same word still, pn^^O, Gen. xxi, 9), but Avith the envious and scornful air which betrayed the alien and hostile spirit that lurked in his bosom. He must have been a weU-grown boy at the time ; and Sa- rah, descrying in the manifestations then given the sure
ISAAC 6(
presage of future rivalrj- and strife, urged Abraham to cast forth the bondmaid and her son, since the one could not be a co-heir with the other. Abraham, it woidd seem, hesiUted for a time about the matter, feeling pain- ed at the thought of having Ishraael separated from the household, and only complied when he received an ex- plicit warrant and direction from above. At the same time, he got the promise, as the ground of the divine procedure, " For in Isaac shall thy seed be called," that is, in Isaac (as contradistinguished from Ishmael, or an}^ other son) shall the seed of blessing that is to hold of thee as a father have its commencement. It is proba- ble that Abraham needed to have this truth brought sharply out to him, for correction on the one side, as well as for consolation and hope on the other, as his pa- ternal feelings may have kept him from apprehending the fidl scope of former revelations concerning the son of Hagar. The high purposes of God were involved in the matter, and the yearnings of natural affection must give way, that these might be established. In the trans- actions themselves the apostle Paul perceived a revela- tion of the truth for all times — especially in regard to the natural enmity of the heart to the things of God, and the certainty with which, even when wearing the badge of a religious profession, it may be expected to vent its maUce and opposition towards the true children of God (Rom. ix, 7, 10 ; Gal. iv, 28 ; Heb. xi, 18). The seed of blessing, those who are supernatifrally born of God, like Isaac, and have a special interest in the riches of his goodness, are sure to be ej'ed with jealousy, and, in one form or another, persecuted by those who, with a name to live, still walk after the flesh (Gal. iv, 21-31). See IsiiMAEL.
It has been asked, what were the persecutions sustain- ed by Isaac from Ishmael to which Paul refers (Gal. iv, 29) ? If, as is generally supposed, he refers to Gen. xxi, 9, then the word pHlSp, Trai^ovra, may be translated mocking, as in the A. Y., or insulting, as in xxxix, 14, and in that case the trial of Isaac was by means of "cruel mockings" {ijnzaiyfiwv), in the language of the Epistle to the Hebrews (xi,3C). Or the word may in- clude the signification paying idoldtrovs vorship, as in Exod. xxxii, fi, or Jighting, as in 2 Sam. ii, 14. These three significations are given by Jarchi, who relates a Jewish tradition (quoted more briefly by AVctstein on Gal. iv, 29) of Isaac suffering personal violence from Ishmael, a tradition which, as Mr. Ellicott thinks, was adopted by Paul. The English reader who is content with our own version, or the scholar who may prefer either of the other renderings of Jarchi, will be at no loss to connect Gal. ix, 29 with Gen. xxi, 9. But Ori- gen (m Gen. Horn, vii, § 3), and Augustine (Sermo iii), and apparently Prof. Jowett (on Gal. iv, 29), not observ- ing that the gloss of the Sept. and the Latin versions " playing icifh he?- son Isaac" forms no part of the sim- ple statement in Genesis, and that the words pH:i73 vaiZovTO, are not to be confined to the meaning " play- ing," seem to doubt (as Mr. Ellicott does on other grounds) whether the passage in (icnesis l)cars the con- struction apparently put upon it by St. Paul. On the other hand, liosenmiiller {Srhol. in Gen. xxi, 9) even goes so far as to characterize tciuiKi — "persecuted" — as a very excellent interpretation of ptlS^. (See Drusius on (ien. xxi, 9, in Crit. Sacr., and Estiui? on Gal. iv, 29.)
What effect the companionship of the wild and way- ward Ishmael might have had on Isaac it is not easy to say; but his expulsion was, no doubt, ordered by God for the good of the chikl of promise, and most i^robably save<l him from many an annoyance and sorrow. Freed from such evil influence, the child grew u{) under the nurturing care of his fond parents, rnild and gentle, lov- ing and beloved.