fallen upon him and his house, through the medium of his intercession. In this way God proved to the Philistine king, on the one hand, that He suffers no harm to befall His prophets (Psa 105:15), and to Abraham, on the other, that He can maintain His covenant and secure the realization of His promise against all opposition from the sinful desires of earthly potentates. It was in this respect that the event possessed a typical significance in relation to the future attitude of Israel towards surrounding nations.
Chap. 21
verses 1-7
BIRTH OF ISAAC. EXPULSION OF ISHMAEL. ABIMELECH’S TREATY WITH ABRAHAM. CHAP. XXI.
Vers. 1-7. Birth of Isaac. — Jehovah did for Sarah what God had promised in chap. xvii. 6 (cf . xviii. 14) : she conceived, and at the time appointed bore a son to Abraham, when he was 100 years old. Abraham gave it the name of Jizchak (or Isaac), and circumcised it on the eighth day. The name for the promised son had been selected by God, in connection with Abraham’s laughing (chap. xvii. 17 and 19), to indicate the nature of his birth and existence. For as his laughing sprang from the contrast between the idea and the reality; so through a miracle of grace the birth of Isaac gave effect to this contrast between the promise of God and the pledge of its fulfilment on the one hand, and the incapacity of Abraham for begetting children, and of Sarah for bearing them, on the other; and through this name, Isaac was designated as the fruit of omnipotent grace working against and above the forces of nature. Sarah also, who had previously laughed with unbelief at the divine promise (xviii. 12), found a reason in the now accomplished birth of the promised son for laughing with joyous amazement; so that she exclaimed, with evident allusion to his name, “ A laughing hath God prepared for me; every one who heart it will laugh to me” (i.e. will rejoice with me, in amazement at the blessing of God which has come upon me even in my old age), and gave a fitting expression to the joy of her heart, in this inspired tristich (ver. 7): “ Who would have mid unto Abraham: Sarah is giving suck; for I have born a son to his old age.” מִלֵּל֙ is the poetic word for ####, and מִ֤י before the perfect has the sense of — whoever has said, which we should express as a subjunctive ; cf. 2 Kings 20:9; Ps. 11:3, etc.
