Cato's Hebrew Bible Deconstruction, Day 32 (Genesis 21)

Isaac becomes the favored son by Sarah, and she sends Ishmael and her mother away to the desert; but Elohim stays and helps raise Ishmael. Abraham also strikes a deal with Abimelek, but under duress.

In this chapter, we get an account of Isaac’s birth. This will be extremely important as he will become a key patriarch of the Hebrew people. Isaac is born to Abraham and Sarah when they are very old; Abraham is 100, which makes little sense, but that is what the biblical narrative states.

As Isaac gets older, he gains immense favor from his mother Sarah; but she simultaneously develops disdain for Hagar and Ishmael (remember, this was Sarah’s slave that became Abraham’s mistress when Sarah couldn’t conceive, and her child.)

Despite initially encouraging Abraham to conceive with Hagar, she eventually becomes bitter, and tells Abraham to get rid of her and her bastard son, warning him that Ishmael “will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”

Abraham is troubled by this, because despite Sarah’s disdain toward him, Ishmael is his soon too. He talks to God about it (again, the the New International Version and most other English Bibles switch back and forth between the monikers “God” and “LORD” here, but the Orthodox Jewish Bible refers to him in this entire section as Elohim.)

God/Elohim tells him not to worry and to obey Sarah. He explains that his inheritance will indeed pass through Isaac, just as Sarah had said, but that Ishmael will do okay because he will become the founder of a nation as well.