Genesis 21:20

_AND GOD WAS WITH THE LAD; AND HE GREW, AND DWELT IN THE WILDERNESS, AND BECAME AN ARCHER._ He grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. Maurer renders it, 'he dwelt in the wilderness, and was growing up an archer' - i:e., acquiring greater skill and expertness in archery. His posterity have ever dwelt in that part of the Arabian desert, and they obtained by the bow the venison and wild fowl on which they subsisted; because he was averse to the plow, like the Bedouin of the present day ('inhabitant of the desert,' according to D'Arvieux), who uses the gun in preference either to agricultural or pastoral pursuits....

20._And God was with the lad_. There are many ways in which God is said to be present with men. He is present with his elect, whom he governs by the special grace of his Spirit; he is present also, sometimes, as it respects external life, not only with his elect, but also with strangers, in granting them some signal benediction: as Moses, in this place, commends the extraordinary grace by which the Lord declares that his promise is not void, since he pursues Ishmael with favor, because he was the son of Abraham. Hence, however, this general doctrine is inferred; that it is to be entirely ascribed to God that men grow up, that they enjoy the light and common breath of heaven, and that the earth supplies them with food. Only it must be remembered, the prosperity of Ishmael flowed from this cause, that an earthly blessing was promised him for the sake of his father Abraham. In saying, that...

14-21 If Hagar and Ishmael had behaved well in Abraham's family, they might have continued there; but they were justly punished. By abusing privileges, we forfeit them. Those who know not when they are well off, will be made to know the worth of mercies by the want of them. They were brought to distress in the wilderness. It is not said that the provisions were spent, or that Abraham sent them away without money. But the water was spent; and having lost their way, in that hot climate Ishmael was soon overcome with fatigue and thirst. God's readiness to help us when we are in trouble, must not slacken, but quicken our endeavours to help ourselves. The promise concerning her son is repeated, as a reason why Hagar should bestir herself to help him. It should engage our care and pains about children and young people, to consider that we know not what great use God has designed them for, and...

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....

- 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 _b__e__êr_-_sheba‛_, Beer-sheba‘, “well of seven.” 22. פיכל _pı̂ykol_, Pikhol, “mouth or spokesman of all.” 23. נין _nı̂yn_ “offspring, kin;” related: “sprout, flourish.”...

EXPOSITION GENESIS 21:15 AND THE WATER WAS SPENT IN (literally, _from_)_ _THE BOTTLE,—so that the wanderers became exhausted, and were in danger of fainting through thirst—AND SHE CAST THE CHILD—a translation which certainly conveys an erroneous impression, first of Ishmael, who was not an infant, but a grown lad (_vide supra_, Genesis 21:14), and secondly of Ishmael's mother, whom it represents as acting with violence, if not with inhumanity; whereas the sense probably is that, having, as long as her rapidly diminishing strength permitted, supported her fainting son, she at length suddenly, through feebleness, released his nerveless hand as he fell, and in despair, finding herself unable to give

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

CHAPTER 21 ISAAC AND ISHMAEL AND THE COVENANT WITH ABIMELECH _ 1. Isaac's birth (Genesis 22:1) 2. His circumcision (Genesis 22:4)_ 3. Ishmael mocking (Genesis 22:9) 4. Sarah's demand (Genesis 22:10) 5. God speaks to Abraham (Genesis 22:12) 6. Hagar and Ishmael cast out (Genesis 22:14) 7. The intervention of God (Genesis 22:17)

GENESIS 12:1 TO GENESIS 25:18. THE STORY OF ABRAHAM. In this section the three main sources, J. E, P are present. Gunkel has given strong reasons for holding that J is here made up of two main sources, one connecting Abraham with Hebron, the other with Beersheba and the Negeb. The former associates Abraham with Lot. (For details, see ICC.) On the interpretation to be placed on the figures of Abraham and the patriarchs, see the Introduction. The interest, which has hitherto been diffused over the fortunes of mankind in general, is now concentrated on Abraham and his posterity, the principle of election narrowing it down to Isaac, Ishmael being left aside, and then to Jacob, Esau being excluded....

_God was with the lad_ Cf. 22, Genesis 26:3; Genesis 39:2. _became an archer_ R.V. marg. rightly, _became, as he grew up, an archer_. Lat. _factusque est juvenis Sagittarius_. His descendants were famous in later times for their skill in the use of the bow (cf. Isaiah 21:17). Cf. Jetur the son of Ishmael (Genesis 25:15), the reputed ancestor of the Ituraeans....