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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
G E N E S I S
CHAP. XXI.
In this chapter we have,
I. Isaac, the child of promise born into
Abraham’s family,
II. Ishmael, the son of the bondwoman,
cast out of it,
III. Abraham’s league with his
neighbour Abimelech,
IV. His devotion to his God,
| The Birth of Isaac. | B. C. 1897. |
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1 And the LORD visited Sarah as
he had said, and the LORD did
unto Sarah as he had spoken.
2 For
Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham
a son in his old age, at the set time
of which God had spoken to him.
3 And Abraham called the name of his
son that was born unto him, whom
Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
4 And
Abraham circumcised his son Isaac
being eight days old, as God had commanded
him.
5 And Abraham was
an hundred years old, when his son
Isaac was born unto him.
6 And Sarah
said, God hath made me to laugh,
so that all that hear will laugh with
me.
7 And she said, Who would have
said unto Abraham, that Sarah should
have given children suck? for I have
borne him a son in his old age.
8 And
the child grew, and was weaned: and
Abraham made a great feast the same
day that Isaac was weaned.
Long-looked-for comes at last. The vision
concerning the promised seed is for an appointed
time, and now, at the end, it speaks,
and does not lie; few under the Old Testament
were brought into the world with such
expectation as Isaac was, not for the sake of
any great person eminence at which he
was to arrive, but because he was to be, in
this very thing, a type of Christ, that seed
which the holy God had so long promised
and holy men so long expected. In this
account of the first days of Isaac we may
observe,
I. The fulfilling of God’s promise in the
conception and birth of Isaac,
Note,
God’s providences look best and brightest
when they are compared with his word, and
when we observe how God, in them all, acts
as he has said, as he has spoken.
1. Isaac
was born according to the promise. The
Lord visited Sarah in mercy, as he had said.
Note, No word of God shall fall to the
ground; for he is faithful that has promised,
and God’s faithfulness is the stay and support
of his people’s faith. He was born at
the set time of which God had spoken,
v. 2.
Note, God is always punctual to his time;
though his promised mercies come not at
the time we set, they will certainly come at
the time he sets, and that is the best time.
2. He was born by virtue of the promise:
Sarah by faith received strength to conceive
Heb. xi. 11.
God therefore by promise
gave that strength. It was not by the
power of common providence, but by the
power of a special promise, that Isaac
was born. A sentence of death was, as it
were, passed upon the second causes: Abraham
was old, and Sarah old, and both as
good as dead; and then the word of God
took place. Note, True believers, by virtue
of God’s promises, are enabled to do that
which is above the power of human nature,
for by them they partake of a divine nature,
2 Pet. i. 4.
II. Abraham’s obedience to God’s precept
concerning Isaac.
1. He named him, as God commanded
him,
v. 3.
God directed him to a name for
a memorial, Isaac, laughter; and Abraham,
whose office it was, gave him that name,
though he might have designed him some
other name of a more pompous signification.
Note, It is fit that the luxuriancy of human
invention should always yield to the sovereignty
and plainness of divine institution;
yet there was good reason for the name, for,
(1.) When Abraham received the promise of
him he laughed for joy,
Note,
When the sun of comfort has risen upon the
soul it is good to remember how welcome
the dawning of the day was, and with what
exultation we embraced the promise.
(2.) When Sarah received the promise she
laughed with distrust and diffidence. Note,
When God gives us the mercies we began
to despair of we ought to remember with
sorrow and shame our sinful distrusts of
God’s power and promise, when we were in
pursuit of them.
(3.) Isaac was himself,
afterwards, laughed at by Ishmael
(v. 9),
and perhaps his name bade him expect it.
Note, God’s favourites are often the world’s
laughing-stocks.
(4.) The promise which
he was not only the son, but the heir of,
was to be the joy of all the saints in all ages,
and that which would fill their mouths with
laughter.
2. He circumcised him,
v. 4.
The covenant
being established with him, the seal of
the covenant was administered to him; and
though a bloody ordinance, and he a darling,
yet it must not be omitted, no, nor deferred
beyond the eighth day. God had kept time
in performing the promise, and therefore
Abraham must keep time in obeying the
precept.
III. The impressions which this mercy
made upon Sarah.
1. It filled her with joy
(v. 6):
“God has
made me to laugh; he has given me both
cause to rejoice and a heart to rejoice.”
Thus the mother of our Lord,
Note,
(1.) God bestows mercies upon his
people to encourage their joy in his work
and service; and, whatever is the matter of
our joy, God must be acknowledged as the
author of it, unless it be the laughter of the
fool.
(2.) When mercies have been long
deferred they are the more welcome when
they come.
(3.) It adds to the comfort of
any mercy to have our friends rejoice
with us in it: All that hear will laugh with me;
for laughing is catching. See
Others would rejoice in this instance of God’s
power and goodness, and be encouraged to
trust in him. See
2. It filled her with wonder,
v. 7.
Observe here,
(1.) What it was she thought so wonderful:
That Sarah should give children suck,
that she should, not only bear a child, but
be so strong and hearty at the age as to
give it suck. Note, Mothers, if they be
able, ought to be nurses to their own children.
Sarah was a person of quality, was
aged; nursing might be thought prejudicial
of herself, or to the child, or to both; she
had choice of nurses, no doubt, in her own
family: and yet she would do her duty in
this matter; and her daughters the good
wives are while they thus do well,
1 Pet. iii. 5, 6.
See
(2.) How she expressed
her wonder: “Who would have said
it? The thing was so highly improbable, so
near to impossible, that if any one but God
had said it we could not have believed it.”
Note, God’s favours to his covenant-people
are such as surpass both their own and
others’ thoughts and expectations. Who
could imagine that God should do so much
for those that deserve so little, nay, for those
that deserve so ill? See
Eph. iii. 20; 2 Sam. vii. 18, 19.
Who would have said that God
should send his Son to die for us, his Spirit
to sanctify us, his angels to attend us? Who
would have said that such great sins should
be pardoned, such mean services accepted,
and such worthless worms taken into covenant
and communion with the great and
holy God?
IV. A short account of Isaac’s infancy:
The child grew,
v. 8.
Special notice is taken
of this, though a thing of course, to intimate
that the children of the promise are growing
children. See
Those
that are born of God shall increase of God,
He grew so as not always to need milk, but
was able to bear strong meat, and then he
was weaned. See
And
then it was that Abraham made a great feast
for his friends and neighbours, in thankfulness
to God for his mercy to him. He made
this feast, not on the day that Isaac was
born, that would have been too great a disturbance
to Sarah; nor on the day that he
was circumcised, that would have been too
great a diversion from the ordinance; but
on the day that he was weaned, because
God’s blessing upon the nursing of children,
and the preservation of them throughout the
perils of the infant age, are signal instances
of the care and tenderness of the divine providence,
which ought to be acknowledged,
to its praise. See
| Hagar and Ishmael Expelled. | B. C. 1892. |
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9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar
the Egyptian, which she had borne unto
Abraham, mocking.
10 Wherefore
she said unto Abraham, Cast out this
bondwoman and her son: for the son
of this bondwoman shall not be heir
with my son, even with Isaac.
11 And
the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s
sight because of his son.
12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it
not be grievous in thy sight because
of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman;
in all that Sarah hath said
unto thee, hearken unto her voice;
for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
13 And also of the son of the bondwoman
will I make a nation, because
he is thy seed.
The casting out of Ishmael is here considered
of, and resolved on.
I. Ishmael himself gave the occasion by
some affronts he gave to Isaac his little
brother, some think on the day that Abraham
made the feast for joy that Isaac was
safely weaned, which the Jews say was not
till he was three years old, others say five.
Sarah herself was an eye-witness of the
abuse: she saw the son of the Egyptian mocking
(v. 9),
mocking Isaac, no doubt, for it is
said, with reference to this
(Gal. iv. 29),
that
he that was born after the flesh persecuted him
that was born after the Spirit. Ishmael is
here called the son of the Egyptian, because,
as some think, the 400 years’ affliction of
the seed of Abraham by the Egyptians began
now, and was to be dated hence,
She saw him playing with Isaac, so the
LXX., and, in play, mocking him. Ishmael
was fourteen years older than Isaac; and,
when children are together, the elder should
be careful and tender of the younger: but it
argued a very base and sordid disposition in
Ishmael to be abusive to a child that was no
way a match for him. Note,
1. God takes
notice of what children say and do in their
play, and will reckon with them if they say
or do amiss, though their parents do not.
2. Mocking is a great sin, and very provoking
to God.
3. There is a rooted remaining
enmity in the seed of the serpent against the
seed of the woman. The children of promise
must expect to be mocked. This is
persecution, which those that will live godly
must count upon.
4. None are rejected and
cast out from God but those who have first
deserved it. Ishmael is continued in Abraham’s
family till he becomes a disturbance,
grief, and scandal to it.
II. Sarah made the motion: Cast out this
bond-woman,
v. 10.
This seems to be spoken
in some heat, yet it is quoted
as if it had been spoken by a spirit of prophecy;
and it is the sentence passed on all
hypocrites and carnal people, though they
have a place and a name in the visible
church. All that are born after the flesh and
not born again, that rest in the law and reject
the gospel promise, shall certainly be
cast out. It is made to point particularly at
the rejection of the unbelieving Jews, who,
though they were the seed of Abraham, yet,
because they submitted not to the gospel
covenant, were unchurched and disfranchised:
and that which, above any thing,
provoked God to cast them off was their
mocking and persecuting the gospel church,
God’s Isaac, in its infancy,
Note, There are many who are familiarly
conversant with the children of God in this
world, and yet shall not partake with them in
the inheritance of sons. Ishmael might be
Isaac’s play-fellow and school-fellow, yet not
his fellow-heir.
III. Abraham was averse to it: The thing
was very grievous in Abraham’s sight,
v. 11.
1. It grieved him that Ishmael had given
such a provocation. Note, Children ought
to consider that the more their parents love
them the more they are grieved at their misconduct,
and particularly at their quarrels
among themselves.
2. It grieved him that
Sarah insisted upon such a punishment.
“Might it not suffice to correct him? would
nothing less serve than to expel him?”
Note, Even the needful extremities which
must be used with wicked and incorrigible
children are very grievous to tender parents,
who cannot thus afflict willingly.
IV. God determined it,
We may well suppose Abraham to be greatly
agitated about this matter, loth to displease
Sarah, and yet loth to expel Ishmael; in this
difficulty God tells him what his will is,
and then he is satisfied. Note, A good man
desires no more in doubtful cases than to
know his duty, and what God would have
him do; and, when he is clear in this, he is,
or should be, easy. To make Abraham so,
God sets this matter before him in a true
light, and shows him,
1. That the casting
out of Ishmael was necessary to the establishment
of Isaac in the rights and privileges
of the covenant: In Isaac shall thy seed be
called. Both Christ and the church must
descend from Abraham through the loins of
Isaac; this is the entail of the promise upon
Isaac, and is quoted by the apostle
to show that not all who come from Abraham’s
loins were the heirs of Abraham’s
covenant. Isaac, the promised son, must be
the father of the promised seed; therefore,
“Away with Ishmael, send him far enough,
lest he corrupt the manners or attempt to
invade the rights of Isaac.” It will be his
security to have his rival banished. The
covenant seed of Abraham must be a peculiar
people, a people by themselves, from the
very first, distinguished, not mingled with
those that were out of covenant; for this
reason Ishmael must be separated. Abraham
was called alone, and so must Isaac be.
See
It is probable that Sarah little
thought of this
(John xi. 51),
but God took
what she said, and turned it into an oracle,
as afterwards,
2. That the
casting out of Ishmael should not be his
ruin,
He shall be a nation, because he
is thy seed. We are not sure that it was his
eternal ruin. It is presumption to say that
all those who are left out of the external dispensation
from all his mercies: those may be
saved who are not thus honoured. However,
we are sure it was not his temporal ruin.
Though he was chased out of the church, he
was not chased out of the world. I will make
him a nation. Note,
(1.) Nations are of
God’s making: he founds them, he forms
them, he fixes them.
(2.) Many are full of
the blessings of God’s providence that are
strangers to the blessings of his covenant.
(3.) The children of this world often fare the
better, as to outward things, for their relation
to the children of God.
| God’s Mercy to Hagar and Ishmael. | B. C. 1892. |
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14 And Abraham rose up early in
the morning, and took bread, and a
bottle of water, and gave it unto
Hagar, putting it on her shoulder,
and the child, and sent her away: and
she departed, and wandered in the wilderness
of Beer-sheba.
15 And the
water was spent in the bottle, and she
cast the child under one of the shrubs.
16 And she went, and sat her down
over against him a good way off, as it
were a bowshot: for she said, Let me
not see the death of the child. And
she sat over against him, and lift up
her voice, and wept.
17 And God
heard the voice of the lad; and the
angel of God called to Hagar out of
heaven, and said unto her, What aileth
thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath
heard the voice of the lad where he
is.
18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold
him in thine hand; for I will make
him a great nation.
19 And God
opened her eyes, and she saw a well
of water; and she went, and filled the
bottle with water, and gave the lad
drink.
20 And God was with the lad;
and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness,
and became an archer.
21 And
he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran:
and his mother took him a wife out of
the land of Egypt.
Here is,
I. The casting out of the
bond-woman, and her son from the family of
Abraham,
Abraham’s obedience to
the divine command in this matter was
speedy–early in the morning, we may suppose
immediately after he had, in the night’s
visions, received orders to do this. It was
also submissive; it was contrary to his judgment,
at least to his own inclination, to do it;
yet as soon as he perceives that it is the
mind of God he makes no objections, but
silently does as he is bidden, as one trained
up to an implicit obedience. In sending
them away without any attendants, on foot,
and slenderly provided for, it is probable that
he observed the directions given him. If
Hagar and Ishmael had conducted themselves
well in Abraham’s family, they might
have continued there; but they threw themselves
out by their own pride and insolence,
which were thus justly chastised. Note, By
abusing our privileges we forfeit them. Those
that know not when they are well off, in such
a desirable place as Abraham’s family, deserve
to be cashiered, and to be made to know
the worth of mercies by the want of them.
II. Their wandering in the wilderness,
missing their way to the place Abraham designed
them for a settlement.
1. They were reduced to great distress
there. Their provisions were spent, and
Ishmael was sick. He that used to be full
fed in Abraham’s house, where he waxed
fat and kicked, now fainted and sunk, when
he was brought to short allowance. Hagar
is in tears, and sufficiently mortified. Now
she wishes for the crumbs she had wasted
and made light of at her master’s table. Like
one under the power of the spirit of bondage,
she despairs of relief, counts upon nothing
but the death of the child
(v. 15, 16),
though God had told her, before he was born, that
he should live to be a man, a great man.
We are apt to forget former promises, when
present providences seem to contradict them;
for we live by sense.
2. In this distress, God graciously appeared
for their relief: he heard the voice of
the lad,
v. 17.
We read not of a word he
said; but his sighs, and groans, and calamitous
state, cried aloud in the ears of mercy.
An angel was sent to comfort Hagar, and it
was not the first time that she had met with
God’s comforts in a wilderness; she had
thankfully acknowledged the former kind
visit which God made his in such a case
(ch. xvi. 13),
and therefore God now visited her
again with seasonable succours.
(1.) The
angel assures her of the cognizance God
took of her distress: God has heard the voice
of the lad where he is, though he is in a wilderness
(for, wherever we are, there is a way
open heaven-ward); therefore lift up the lad,
and hold him in thy hand,
v. 18.
Note, God’s
readiness to help us when we are in trouble
must not slacken, but quicken, our endeavours
to help ourselves.
(2.) He repeats the
promise concerning her son, that he should
be a great nation, as a reason why she should
bestir herself to help him. Note, It should
engage our care and pains about children
and young people to consider that we know
not what God has designed them for, nor
what great use Providence may make of
them.
(3.) He directs her to a present supply
(v. 19):
He opened her eyes (which were
swollen and almost blinded with weeping),
and then she saw a well of water. Note,
Many that have reason enough to be comforted
go mourning from day to day, because
they do not see the reason they have for
comfort. There is a well of water by them
in the covenant of grace, but they are not
aware of it; they have not the benefit of it,
till the same God that opened their eyes to
see their wound opens them to see their
remedy,
Now the apostle
tells us that those things concerning Hagar
and Ishmael are allegoroumena
(Gal. iv. 24),
they are to be allegorized; this then will
serve to illustrate the folly,
[1.] Of those
who, like the unbelieving Jews, seek for
righteousness by the law and the carnal ordinances
of it, and not by the promise made in
Christ, thereby running themselves into a
wilderness of want and despair. Their comforts
are soon exhausted, and if God save
them not by his special prerogative, and by
a miracle of mercy open their eyes and undeceive
them, they are undone.
[2.] Of those
who seek for satisfaction and happiness in the
world and the things of it. Those that forsake
the comforts of the covenant and communion
with God, and choose their portion
in this earth, take up with a bottle of water,
poor and slender provision, and that soon
spent; they wander endlessly in pursuit of satisfaction,
and, at length, sit down short of it.
III. The settlement of Ishmael, at last, in
the wilderness of Paran
(v. 20, 21),
a wild
place, fittest for a wild man; and such a one
he was,
Those that are born
after the flesh take up with the wilderness of
this world, while the children of the promise
aim at the heavenly Canaan, and cannot be
at rest till they are there. Observe,
1. He
had some tokens of God’s presence: God
was with the lad; his outward prosperity
was owing to this.
2. By trade he was an
archer, which intimates that craft was his
excellency and sport his business: rejected
Esau was a cunning hunter.
3. He matched
among his mother’s relations; she took him
a wife out of Egypt: as great an archer as he
was, he did not think he could take his aim well,
in the business of marriage, if he proceeded
without his mother’s advice and consent.
| Abimelech’s Covenant with Abraham. | B. C. 1892. |
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22 And it came to pass at that
time, that Abimelech and Phichol the
chief captain of his host spake unto
Abraham, saying, God is with thee in
all that thou doest:
23 Now therefore
swear unto me here by God that
thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor
with my son, nor with my son’s son:
but according to the kindness that I
have done unto thee, thou shalt do
unto me, and to the land wherein thou
hast sojourned.
24 And Abraham
said, I will swear.
25 And Abraham
reproved Abimelech because of a well
of water, which Abimelech’s servants
had violently taken away.
26 And
Abimelech said, I wot not who hath
done this thing: neither didst thou tell
me, neither yet heard I of it, but to
day.
27 And Abraham took sheep
and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech;
and both of them made a
covenant.
28 And Abraham set seven
ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
29 And Abimelech said unto Abraham,
What mean these seven ewe
lambs which thou hast set by themselves?
30 And he said, For these
seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my
hand, that they may be a witness unto
me, that I have digged this well.
31 Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba;
because there they sware both
of them.
32 Thus they made a covenant
at Beer-sheba: then Abimelech
rose up, and Phichol the chief captain
of his host, and they returned into the
land of the Philistines.
We have here an account of the treaty between
Abimelech and Abraham, in which
appears the accomplishment of that promise
that God would make his name
great. His friendship is valued, is courted,
though a stranger, though a tenant at will to
the Canaanites and Perizzites.
I. The league is proposed by Abimelech,
and Phichol his prime-minister of state and
general of his army.
1. The inducement to it was God’s favour
to Abraham
(v. 22):
“God is with thee in all
that thou doest, and we cannot but take notice
of it.” Note,
(1.) God in his providence
sometimes shows his people such tokens for
good that their neighbours cannot but take
notice of it,
Their affairs do
so visibly prosper, and they have such remarkable
success in their undertakings, that
a confession is extorted from all about them
of God’s presence with them.
(2.) It is
good being in favour with those that are in
favour with God, and having an interest in
those that have an interest in heaven,
We will go with you, for we have
heard that God is with you. We do well for
ourselves if we have fellowship with those
that have fellowship with God,
2. The tenour of it was, in general, that
there should be a firm and constant friendship
between the two families, which should
not upon any account be violated. This
bond of friendship must be strengthened by
the bond of an oath, in which the true God
was appealed to, both as a witness of their
sincerity and an avenger in case either side
were treacherous,
Observe,
(1.) He
desires the entail of this league upon his
posterity and the extension of it to his people.
He would have his son, and his son’s son,
and his land likewise, to have the benefit of
it. Good men should secure an alliance and
communion with the favourites of Heaven,
not for themselves only, but for theirs also.
(2.) He reminds Abraham of the fair treatment
he had found among them: According
to the kindness I have done unto thee. As those
that have received kindness must return it, so
those that have shown kindness may expect it.
II. It is consented to by Abraham, with a
particular clause inserted about a well. In
Abraham’s part of this transaction observe,
1. He was ready to enter into this league
with Abimelech, finding him to be a man of
honour and conscience, and that had the fear
of God before his eyes: I will swear,
v. 24.
Note,
(1.) Religion does not make men morose
and unconversable; I am sure it ought
not. We must not, under colour of shunning
bad company, be sour to all company, and
jealous of every body.
(2.) An honest mind
does not startle at giving assurances: if
Abraham say that he will be true to Abimelech,
he is not afraid to swear it; an oath is
for confirmation.
2. He prudently settled the matter concerning
a well, about which Abimelech’s servants
had quarrelled with him. Wells of
water, it seems, were choice goods in that
country: thanks be to God, that they are not
so scarce in ours.
(1.) Abraham mildly told
Abimelech of it,
Note, If our brother
trespass against us, we must, with the meekness
of wisdom, tell him his fault, that the
matter may be fairly accommodated and an
end made of it,
(2.) He
acquiesced in Abimelech’s justification of
himself in this matter: I wot not who has
done this thing,
v. 26.
Many are suspected
of injustice and unkindness that are perfectly
innocent, and we ought to be glad when they
clear themselves. The faults of servants
must not be imputed to their masters, unless
they know of them and justify them; and no
more can be expected from an honest man
than that he be ready to do right as soon as
he knows that he has done wrong.
(3.) He
took care to have his title to the well cleared
and confirmed, to prevent any disputes or
quarrels for the future,
It is justice,
as well as wisdom, to do thus, in perptuam
rei memoriam–that the circumstance may be
perpetually remembered.
3. He made a very handsome present to Abimelech,
It was not any thing curious or
fine that he presented to him, but that which
was valuable and useful–sheep and oxen, in
gratitude for Abimelech’s kindness to him, and
in token of hearty friendship between them.
The interchanging of kind offices is the improving
of love: that which is mine is my friend’s.
4. He ratified the covenant by an oath, and
registered it by giving a new name to the
place
(v. 31),
Beer-sheba, the well of the oath,
in remembrance of the covenant they swore
to, that they might be ever mindful of it; or
the well of seven, in remembrance of the seven
lambs given to Abimelech, as a consideration
for his confirming Abraham’s title to that
well. Note, Bargains made must be remembered,
that we may make them good, and may
not break our word through oversight.
33 And Abraham planted a grove
in Beer-sheba, and called there on
the name of the LORD, the everlasting
God.
34 And Abraham sojourned
in the Philistines’ land many days.
Observe,
1. Abraham, having got into a
good neighbourhood, knew when he was well
off, and continued a great while there. There
he planted a grove for a shade to his tent, or
perhaps an orchard of fruit-trees; and there,
though we cannot say he settled, for God
would have him, while he lived, to be a
stranger and a pilgrim, yet he sojourned
many days, as many as would consist with
his character, as Abraham the Hebrew, or
passenger.
2. There he made, not only a
constant practice, but an open profession, of
his religion: There he called on the name of
the Lord, the everlasting God, probably in the
grove he planted, which was his oratory or
house of prayer. Christ prayed in a garden,
on a mountain.
(1.) Abraham kept up public
worship, to which, probably, his neighbours
resorted, that they might join with
him. Note, Good men should not only retain
their goodness wherever they go, but do
all they can to propagate it, and make others
good.
(2.) In calling on the Lord, we must
eye him as the everlasting God, the God of
the world, so some. Though God had made
himself known to Abraham as his God in
particular, and in covenant with him, yet he
forgets not to give glory to him as the Lord
of all: The everlasting God, who was, before
all worlds, and will be, when time and days
shall be no more. See
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