LAUGHTER IS BORN TO SARAH
Genesis 21:1-21
Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. (1)
chapter 21
1. Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.
2. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.
3. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.
4. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him.
5. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6. Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me."
7. And she added, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
8. The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.
9. But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking,
10. and she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac."
11. The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.
12. But God said to him, "Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.
13. I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring."
14. Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
15. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.
16. Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, "I cannot watch the boy die." And as she sat there, she began to sob.
17. God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.
18. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation."
19. Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20. God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer.
21. While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
1. Both Abraham (17:17) and Sarah (18:12) had laughed at the impossibility of having a son. One year later “the LORD was gracious to Sarah … and …did for Sarah what he had promised.” They could finally understand God’s joy in naming him Isaac (17:19). Sarah saw this as a source of joy for everyone, not only her. Her crushed spirit was restored. God’s promises fulfilled through Jesus reveal his faithfulness and are a source of joy to us.
2. Hagar’s teenage son did not laugh but mocked. Abraham and Sarah’s sin against Hagar continued to hurt the family. But God intervened, affirming Isaac while directing Hagar and Ishmael to be sent out. Sending them away was the painful cost of sin, which God took responsibility for on their behalf.
3. Hagar’s life has been hard as an abused slave, used up and then cast aside. But God did not abandon her. God visits her again, calls her by name, provides words of comfort and direction, and opens her eyes to his providence for them. God’s mindfulness for her and her son reminds us of our Lord Jesus, who came to seek and to save the lost (Lk 19:10). Sometimes we or our loved ones feel like Hagar sobbing in the desert, needing God’s intervention. Let’s pray to our merciful God.
Prayer: Father, remind me of the joy of salvation that I may laugh today. Please intervene in the lives of today’s Hagar and Ishmael.
One Word: God keeps his promises