EXPOSITION. T'cr. !l. -And Sarah saw-at the feast festly betrayed by her maternal fears and already mentioned (Knobel, Keil); probabl;i: womanly jealousy. also on different occasions since the birth of Ver. _11.-And ,the thing (literally, tlM lsanc-the son of Hagar the Egyptian, WO'l d, 1. e. Sarah s proposal) was very 0
which she had born unto Abraham, mock- grievous (literally, evil, exceedingly; for the ing. Ilail:ovra ,,,ra laaar roii vioii avr1Jc contrary phrase vide eh. xx. 15) in Abra- ( LXX. ), ludentem cum Isaaco jilio suo ham's sight (literally, in the eyes of Abra- (Yulgate), playing like a child (Aben Ezra, ham) because of his son - who, besides Knobel, Tuch, Ilgen), playing and dancing being bound to him by the ties of natural gracefully (Gcsenius); but the stronger sense affection, had for years been regarded as tho of the worJ, implying mockery, scoffing, Heaven-appointed heir of the promise (vide irritating and deriding laughter (Kimchi, eh. xvii. 18). Yatablus, Grotius, Calvin, Rosen1Diiller, Keil, Ver. 12.-And God said unto Abraham.- Kalisch, 'Speaker's Commentary,' Murphy), probably in e. dream, or night vision (vide besides being admissible (cf. eh. xi:x. 14; ver. 14)-Let it not be grievous in thy sight xni 8; xxxix. 14, 17; Exod. xxxii 6), because of the lad, and because of thy bond- seems involved in the Piel form of the parti- woman ;-who was never i-ecognised by God ciple i'IJ):t,:) (Kurtz), and is demanded by Gal. as Abraham's wife (cf. eh. xvi. 8)-in all that iv. 29. Tb.at Ishmael ridiculed the banquet Sarah bath said unto thee, hearken unto on the occasion of Isaac's weaning (Mal- her voice. Though Saralt'J counsel was ap- renda), quarrelled with him about the heir- proved by God, it does not fol101v that her ship (Fagius, Piscator), e.nd perhaps made conduct was. On a former occasion A.bra.- sport of him as a father of nations (Heng• ham's hearkening unto Sarah's voice had led stenberg), though plausible conjectures, are to sin (eh. xvi 2); this time it would lie not stated in the text. Ainsworth· dates exactly in the line of duty. For in Ieaao from this event the 400 years of Israel's shall thy seed be called. Literally, in Isaac oppression (i,ide eh. xv. 13). shall seed (i. e. posterity) be called to thee,· Ver. 10.-Wherefore ahe aaid-though meaning neither, "by Isaac shall thy seed wiih nn admixture of sinful feelings, non be called, or named " (Hofmann, Kalisch, dubito arcano Spiritus instinctu gubernatam Ainsworth), nor, "in Isaac shall thy seed be fui,sse ejus linguam et menteni (Calvin) ; vide called into existence" (Dreschler); but, "in Gal. iv. 30-unto Abraham, Cast out-by some Isaac shall there be posterity to theo which kind of legal act (as divorce: cf. Levit. xri. shall pass as such," i. e. be called or recog- 7, 14 ; xxii. 13 ; Isa. lvii 20), which should nised as such (Keil) ; or, more simply, "in insure the disinheriting of Ishmael (Bush); Isaac,'' i. e. in the line of Isaac, " shall be 1hough probably this is to import later Mosaic called to thee a seed," i. e. e. seed par ex- legiBlation into the records of primitive times cellence, the seed already promised (Bicek, -this bondwoman - a term ill befitting Delitzsch, Rosenmiiller, Alford, Murphy). Sarah, who had ~ven Hagar to her husband Ver. 13. -And also of the son of the bond- es a v.ife (eh. xvi. 3)-and her son (who was woman will I make a nation. Literally, to a Abraham E offspring, though not the promised riation I will 8et or put him,· a prornis1, seed ; a eonsideration which should have already given (eh. xvii. 20), but here repeated mitigated Sarah's anger): for the aon of this to render Ishmael's dismissal easier. Because bondwoman (a repetition evincing the bitter- he is thy seed, " Thy son according to the 11ess of her contempt and the intensity of her flesh, though not after the tromise, ns Isaac tholer) ahall not be heir with my aon, even was" (Ainsworth); a proo that men mny with lsaa.c. Notwithstanding the assurance sometimes receive mercies for their fathers' (eh. xvii. 21) that the covenant was made sakes. v.ith Isaac, Sarah was apprehensive lest Ver. 14.-And Abraham roae up early in !shmael shQ <ld contrive to disinherit him ; the moming,-hastening to :put in force the e.u act of u1,belief into which she was mani- Divine inst111ctions (cf. eh. x1x. 27; xxii. 3, OE. XXJ. \J-14.] TIIE BOOK OF GE~ESIS. 273
Abraham ; eh. xx. 8, ALimclcch; eh. xxviii. of over seventeen years, upon her shoulder 18, Jacob)-and took bread, and a bottle of (LXX., Schumann, Bohlen); but giving him, water,-the bottle, from a root signifying to along with the bottle (Havernick, Kalisch, enclose (Fiirst) ; cicr~ov (LXX. ), was com- ALapicle, Ainsworth), or, as well as the bread posed of skin, the material of which the (Keil, :Murphy), to Hagar, not to be carried earliest carrying vessels were constructed (cf. as a burden, but led as a companion-and Josh. ix. 4, 13; Judges iv. 19; 1 Sam. xvi. ■ ent her away :-divorced her by the com- 20 ; Matt, ix. 17), "The monuments of mand of God (A Lapide); but as Hagar was Egypt, the sculptures of :Mesopotamia, and never recognised by God a.~ Abraham's wife, the relics of Herculaneum and Pomp~1i afford her sending away was not a case of divorce nmple opportunities to learn the shape and (Wordsworth)-and ahe departed (from Beer- nse of every variety of bottles, often surpris- sheba, whither Abraham had by this time ing us both by their elegance and costliness" removed, and where, in all probability, Isaac (Kalisch)-and gave it unto Hagar, putting had been born), and wandered-i. e. lost her it on her shoulder, -the usual place for way (cf. eh. xxxvii. 15)-in the wilderness carrying such vessels among Oriental women. (the uncultivated waste between Palestine According to Herodotus (ii. 35), Egyptian and Egypt) of Beer-sheba-introduced hero women carried burdens on their shoulders, by anticipation, unless the incident in vcrs. Egyptian men upon their heads-and the 22-33 had :previously taken place (vide ol!I child,-not placing the child, now a youth ver. 31),