Genesis 21:19, commentary and pictures

Stranded in the wilderness when her water was spent, Hagar feared her son would die of thirst. God heard Ishmael's cry and comforted her through an angel, then opened her eyes to see a nearby well she had not known was there, and she filled the bottle and gave the lad drink so his life was spared from perishing. The deliverance shows God's mercy and care in remembering the lonely mother and the lad in their distress. It teaches that God supplies what is needed by opening people's eyes to recognize the provision He has made, for relief may be close at hand even when unseen, so worry is unnecessary.

Setting and Story

Genesis 21:19 stands within the larger account of God's dealings with Abraham, an account that displays His providential care and interest among men and furnishes repeated lessons in faith. The surrounding chapter makes clear that Isaac was the miraculous child of promise, the son through whom the promised Seed was to come, rather than Ishmael. The history of Hagar and Ishmael included here illustrates how Abraham and Sarah's human device through Hagar produced bondage and trouble instead of God's promised outcome.

The verse belongs to the episode in which Hagar lost her way while journeying with Ishmael toward an encampment that was to become her own. It is the record of Hagar and Ishmael being succored and sent away free, not returned to bondage. In the wilderness they were stranded when the water in the bottle was spent and gone, and she feared her son would die of thirst.

When God opened her eyes she saw close at hand a well of water she had not known to be there, and she went and filled the bottle with water and gave the lad drink. That draught revived Ishmael, and his life was spared from perishing. The well was near even while she despaired, and her giving him drink out of what God enabled her to see turned impending death into deliverance. The rescue in Genesis 21:17-19 came because God heard Ishmael's cry and comforted Hagar by an angel, so the opening of her eyes to the well sets forth the deliverance as an angelic ministry that kept them from perishing.

Mercy and Meaning

God remembered the lonely mother and her thirsty lad in the wilderness when their water was spent, and in mercy enabled her to see a well and give her son drink. He had provided what was needed, and He opened her eyes to recognize the provision He had made, so that she drew water and gave it to her thirsty boy. He thus brought her need to her attention by opening her eyes to the well, and by that drink prevented mother and child from perishing in the desert.

Her fear that her son would die of thirst did not mean that help was absent, for the well was nearby even while she was exhausted and distressed and did not know it. Relief may be close at hand to a distressed believer even when unseen, for God provides what is needed, so worry is unnecessary. His word and Spirit and ministers guide afflicted people to the relief that is near them, enabling them to see the water and take it to those in need.

The history to which the opening of the eyes belongs, that of Ishmael son of the bondwoman Hagar and Isaac son of the freewoman Sarah, sets forth the two covenants, the typical and antitypical systems, and the literal Israel and the true Israel, Jews and Gentiles, as representatives of the Lord and His work in two special periods of its development.