tent her away” do not state that Abraham gave her Ishmael also to carry. For ךְאֶת־הַיֶּ֔לֶד does not depend upon שַ֛֗ם and הַמַּ֖יִ because of the copula ך but upon יקּה, the leading verb of the sentence, although it is separated from it by the parenthesis " putting it upon her shoulder." It does not follow from these words, therefore, that Ishmael is represented as a little child. Nor is this implied in the statement which follows, that Hagar, when wan- dering about in the desert, " cast the boy under one of the shrubs,” because the water in the bottle was gone. For יֶּלֶד like נַעַד does not mean an infant, but a boy, and also a young man (iv. 23); — Ishmael must have been 15 or 16 years old, as he was 14 before Isaac was born (cf. ver. 5, and 16:16); — and וַתַּשְׁלֵ֣ךְ “to throw,” signifies that she suddenly left hold of the boy, when he fell ex- hausted from thirst, just as in Matt. 15:30 ῥίπτειν is used for laying hastily down. Though despairing of his life, the mother took care that at least he should breathe out his life in the shade, and she sat over against him weeping, “in the distance as archers,” i.e. according to a concise simile very common in He- brew, as far off as archers are accustomed to place the target. Her maternal love could not bear to see him die, and yet she would not lose sight of him. — Vers. 17 sqq. Then God heard the voice (the weeping and crying) of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “ What aileih thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the boy, where he is” (בַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר for בִּמְק֞וֹם אֲשֶׁ֥ר , 2Sam. xv. 21), i.e. in his helpless condition : “ arise, lift up the lad” etc. It was Elohim, not Jehovah, who heard the voice of the boy, and appeared as the angel of Elohim, not of Jehovah (as in chap. xvi. 7), because, when Ishmael and Hagar had been dismissed from Abraham's house, they were removed from the superintendence and care of the covenant God to the guidance and providence of God the ruler of all nations. God then opened her eyes, and she saw what she had not seen before, a well of water, from which she filled the bottle and gave her son to drink. — Ver. 20. Having been miraculously saved from perishing by the angel of God, Ishmael grew up under the protection of God, settled in the wilderness of Paran, and “ became as he grew tip an archer.” Although preceded by יִּגְדָּ֑ל, the רֹבֶ֥ה) is not tautological; and there is no reason for attributing to it the meaning of “archer,” in which sense רָבַב alone occurs in the one passage Gen. 49:23. The desert of Paran
