Genesis 21 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study

Genesis 21

WHEN:

• Abraham was born in approximately 1996 B.C. and died in 1821 B.C. at 175 years old (Gen 25:7).

• Isaac, Abraham’s son, was born when Abraham was 100 years old (approximately 1896 B.C.).

CHARACTERS:

• Abram – A man from Ur of the Chaldeans who moved to Canaan at God’s instruction. God promised to make his descendants a great nation and to give them the land of Canaan.

• Sarah – Abram’s wife. God promised her she would conceive a child even though she was old.  

• Isaac – Abraham’s son with Sarah.

• Hagar – Sarah’s Egyptian slave and the mother of Ishmael.

• Ishmael – Abraham’s son with Hagar.

• Abimelech – The name Abimelech was probably not a proper name, but the title of a series of rulers who lived between Egypt and southern Canaan (similar to the title Pharaoh). 

WHERE:

• In Genesis 21, Abraham was living in southern Canaan. When Hagar left his house, she wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba before settling in the wilderness of Paran. At the end of the chapter, Abraham made a treaty with Abimelech in Beersheba.

OUTLINE:

• ABRAHAM AND SARAH RECEIVE THE SON GOD PROMISED THEM (21:1-7):

  • The Lord worked miraculously in Sarah and caused her to become pregnant.

  • She gave birth to a son when she was 90 years old, and Abraham was 100 years old.

  • They named their baby son Isaac.

  • Isaac was circumcised on his eighth day of life, just as God had instructed (17:10).

• HAGAR AND ISHMAEL ARE BANISHED (21:8-21):

  • When Isaac was weaned, Abraham prepared a great feast.

  • Sarah observed Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, laughing and she became angry.

  • She told Abraham she wanted Hagar and her son banished from their house.

  • This troubled Abraham, but God told him to do as Sarah requested.

  • God’s blessings on Abraham’s family were to continue through the bloodline of Isaac, but God assured Abraham He would care for Ishmael and his future family.

  • In the morning, Abraham gave Hagar bread and a skin of water and sent her away.

  • Hagar and Ishmael wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba until the water ran out, at which point they despaired of life.

  • As Hagar wept, the angel of God appeared to her and told her God was planning to make Ishmael into a great nation.

  • The angel of God opened her eyes and showed her a well of water.

  • Ishmael grew up and lived in the wilderness of Paran.

• ABRAHAM AND ABIMELECH MAKE A TREATY (21:22-34):

  • Abimelech and Phicol (his army commander) observed how God blessed Abraham and they proposed a pact of peace with him.

  • Abraham was willing to agree to the treaty, but he had one point of contention with Abimelech.

  • Apparently, some of Abimelech’s servants had seized a well that Abraham dug.

  • Abraham gave Abimelech 7 ewe lambs as a “witness” that the well belonged to him.

  • Having settled the matter, Abraham and Abimelech made a covenant of peace.

  • The location of their treaty became known as Beersheba.

APPLICATION:

• God doesn’t overlook people who the world considers insignificant.

• Hagar was a slave; many people wouldn’t have cared what happened to her after she was put out of her master’s house… but God cared.

• Repeatedly in the scriptures, we see God’s kindness towards people who are typically categorized into the “lower-class.”

• When Jesus came to the earth, He didn’t spend His time with the elites of society, He spent the balance of His time with the common people.

• You don’t have to be special in the eyes of your society to be special in the eyes of God.