Hagar and the Angel Near Ishmael in the DesertBible World
21:15Genesis 21:15
And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
The verse describes the moment in the wilderness after Hagar and Ishmael were sent away when their water was exhausted and they were left in desperate distress, with Ishmael grown weak and faint so that Hagar placed him in the shade under one of the desert shrubs and withdrew so she would not watch him die. They had been sent out with little water while traveling toward an encampment that was to become hers, and she had evidently lost her way. Though he is called a child, he was about eighteen or twenty years old, child being a relative term measured against the customary length of human life at that time, which must have been as high as one hundred and fifty years. The surrounding account is one of God's mercy and compassion for a lonely mother and her thirsty child, whose life was spared when God showed Hagar a well, freeing them from bondage without sending them back to it. The event belongs to God's providential dealings with Abraham's family, whose promised Seed was to come through Isaac, the miraculous child of promise, while Ishmael the son of the bondwoman represents those who trust in their own works and teaches the truths of the two covenants and the two peoples.
Wilderness Setting and Rescue
The verse takes place in the wilderness after Hagar and Ishmael were sent away, when the water in the bottle was exhausted and they were left in desperate distress. Ishmael had grown weak and faint and exhausted from thirst and hardship. Hagar cast or placed him under one of the desert shrubs, in its shade, and then moved away so she would not have to watch him die.
They had been sent into the wilderness with little water. Hagar was traveling toward an encampment that was to become hers but evidently lost her way. Abraham's act of sending Hagar and Ishmael away was a test of his faith and obedience.
The surrounding account is one of God's mercy and compassion for a lonely mother and her thirsty child. The child's life was spared when God showed Hagar a well. The surrounding account presents Hagar and her son as freed from bondage and succored by the angel of the Lord, who does not send them back to bondage.
Meaning of the Child
Despite the wording that calls Ishmael a child, the chronology and the circumstances show he was about eighteen or twenty years old. The use of child there is not limited to early childhood but describes someone much older when measured against the lifespan customary in that age. Child is a relative term measured against the customary and average length of human life at the time. That average length must have been as high as one hundred and fifty years.
By the same rule, a person one hundred years old is properly called a child when the average lifespan is upwards of nine hundred years, as it was before the Flood. Just as people are called children at five or six when life expectancy is about thirty, so a hundred-year-old could be called a child when the antediluvians lived on average more than nine hundred years. Such a person one hundred years old would still be morally accountable and subject to judgment.
Covenant and Moral Lessons
Genesis 21:15 falls within God's providential dealings with Abraham's family, whose line was chosen to carry forward the promised Seed. The account of Abraham's two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, to which the verse belongs, places the promise and the line through which the Seed would come through Isaac, the miraculous child of promise.
The chapter containing the verse stands as an example of the unhappiness caused by polygamy in Abraham's family. Ishmael's birth through Hagar followed human scheming rather than God's promise, and the story to which the verse belongs shows the trouble and bondage that followed that scheme. Ishmael, the child of the handmaid, represents those who trust in their own works.
The verse belongs to the history of Ishmael, son of the bondwoman Hagar, and Isaac, son of the freewoman Sarah, which teaches truths about the two covenants. That same history teaches about the typical and antitypical systems, and about the two peoples, literal Israel and true Israel, Jews and Gentiles, as representatives of the Lord and His work in two special periods of its development in the earth.
The verse describes the moment in the wilderness after Hagar and Ishmael were sent away when their water was exhausted and they were left in desperate distress, with Ishmael grown weak and faint so that Hagar placed him in the shade under one of the desert shrubs and withdrew so she would not watch him die. They had been sent out with little water while traveling toward an encampment that was to become hers, and she had evidently lost her way. Though he is called a child, he was about eighteen or twenty years old, child being a relative term measured against the customary length of human life at that time, which must have been as high as one hundred and fifty years. The surrounding account is one of God's mercy and compassion for a lonely mother and her thirsty child, whose life was spared when God showed Hagar a well, freeing them from bondage without sending them back to it. The event belongs to God's providential dealings with Abraham's family, whose promised Seed was to come through Isaac, the miraculous child of promise, while Ishmael the son of the bondwoman represents those who trust in their own works and teaches the truths of the two covenants and the two peoples.
Wilderness Setting and Rescue
The verse takes place in the wilderness after Hagar and Ishmael were sent away, when the water in the bottle was exhausted and they were left in desperate distress. Ishmael had grown weak and faint and exhausted from thirst and hardship. Hagar cast or placed him under one of the desert shrubs, in its shade, and then moved away so she would not have to watch him die.
They had been sent into the wilderness with little water. Hagar was traveling toward an encampment that was to become hers but evidently lost her way. Abraham's act of sending Hagar and Ishmael away was a test of his faith and obedience.
The surrounding account is one of God's mercy and compassion for a lonely mother and her thirsty child. The child's life was spared when God showed Hagar a well. The surrounding account presents Hagar and her son as freed from bondage and succored by the angel of the Lord, who does not send them back to bondage.
Meaning of the Child
Despite the wording that calls Ishmael a child, the chronology and the circumstances show he was about eighteen or twenty years old. The use of child there is not limited to early childhood but describes someone much older when measured against the lifespan customary in that age. Child is a relative term measured against the customary and average length of human life at the time. That average length must have been as high as one hundred and fifty years.
By the same rule, a person one hundred years old is properly called a child when the average lifespan is upwards of nine hundred years, as it was before the Flood. Just as people are called children at five or six when life expectancy is about thirty, so a hundred-year-old could be called a child when the antediluvians lived on average more than nine hundred years. Such a person one hundred years old would still be morally accountable and subject to judgment.
Covenant and Moral Lessons
Genesis 21:15 falls within God's providential dealings with Abraham's family, whose line was chosen to carry forward the promised Seed. The account of Abraham's two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, to which the verse belongs, places the promise and the line through which the Seed would come through Isaac, the miraculous child of promise.
The chapter containing the verse stands as an example of the unhappiness caused by polygamy in Abraham's family. Ishmael's birth through Hagar followed human scheming rather than God's promise, and the story to which the verse belongs shows the trouble and bondage that followed that scheme. Ishmael, the child of the handmaid, represents those who trust in their own works.
The verse belongs to the history of Ishmael, son of the bondwoman Hagar, and Isaac, son of the freewoman Sarah, which teaches truths about the two covenants. That same history teaches about the typical and antitypical systems, and about the two peoples, literal Israel and true Israel, Jews and Gentiles, as representatives of the Lord and His work in two special periods of its development in the earth.