Genesis 21:12

Gen 21:12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

Ver. 12. In all that Sarah hath said unto thee, &c.] The wife then is to be hearkened to when she speaks reason. Samson’s mother had more faith than her husband: {Jdg 13:23} and Priscilla is sometimes set before Aquila. Paul’s hearers at Philippi were only women at first. {Act 16:13} And St Peter tells Christian wives that they may win their husbands to Christ by their "chaste conversation coupled with fear". {1Pe 3:1} "The Scripture" is said to "say" what Sarah here saith. {Gal 4:30}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The promised seed shall be counted from Isaac, and not from Ishmael, Rom. 9:7; Heb. 11:18.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

in all that Sarah hath said--it is called the Scripture (Gal 4:30).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 12. In Isaac shall thy seed be called.] Here God shows the propriety of attending to the counsel of Sarah; and lest Abraham, in whose eyes the thing was grievous, should feel distressed on the occasion, God renews his promises to Ishmael and his posterity.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. In all that Sarah hath said unto thee. I have just said that although God used the ministry of Sarah in so great a matter, it was yet possible that she might fail in her method of acting. He now commands Abraham to hearken unto his wife, not because he approves her disposition, but because he will have the work, of which he is Himself the Author, accomplished. And he thus shows that his designs are not to be subjected to any common rule, especially when the salvation of the Church is concerned. For he purposely inverts the accustomed order of nature, in order that he may prove himself to be the Author and the Perfecter of Isaac’s vocation. But because I have before declared, that this history is more profoundly considered by Paul, the sum of it is here briefly to be collected. In the first place, he says, that what is here read, was written allegorically: not that he wishes all histories, indiscriminately to be tortured to an allegorical sense, as Origin does; who by hunting everywhere for allegories, corrupts the whole Scripture; and others, too eagerly emulating his example, have extracted smoke out of light. And not only has the simplicity of Scripture been vitiated, but the faith has been almost subverted, and the door opened to many foolish dotings. The design of Paul was, to raise the minds of the pious to consider the secret work of God, in this history; as if he had said, What Moses relates concerning the house of Abraham, belongs to the spiritual kingdom of Christ; since, certainly, that house was a lively image of the Church. This, however, is the allegorical similitude which Paul commends. Whereas two sons were born to Abraham, the one by a handmaid, the other by a free woman; he infers, that there are two kinds of persons born in the Church; the faithful, whom God endues with the Spirit of adoption, that they may enjoy the inheritance; and hypocritical disciples, who feign themselves to be what they are not, and usurp, for a time, a name and place among the sons of God. He therefore teaches, that there are certain who are conceived and born in a servile manner; but others, as from a freeborn mother. He then proceeds to say, that the sons of Hagar are they who are generated by the servile doctrine of the Law; but that they who, having embraced, by faith, gratuitous adoption, are born through the doctrine of the Gospel, are the sons of the free woman. At length he descends to another similitudes in which he compares Hagar with mount Sinai, but Sarah with the heavenly Jerusalem. And although I here allude in few words to those things which my readers will find copiously expounded by me, in the fourth chapter to the Galatians Galatians 4:1; yet, in this short explanation, it is made perfectly clear what Paul designs to teach. We know that the true sons of God are born of the incorruptible seed of the word: but when the Spirit, which gives life to the doctrine of the Law and the Prophets, is taken away, and the dead letter alone remains, then that seed is so corrupted, that only adulterous sons are born in a state of slavery; yet because they are apparently born of the word of God, though corrupted, they are, in a sense, the sons of God. Meanwhile, none are lawful heirs, except those whom the Church brings forth into liberty, being conceived by the incorruptible seed of the gospel. I have said, however, that in these two persons is represented the perpetual condition of the Church. For hypocrites not only mingle with the sons of God in the Church, but despise them, and proudly appropriate to themselves all the rights and honors of the Church. And as Ishmael, inflated with the vain title of primogeniture, harassed his brother Isaac with his taunts; so these men, relying on their own splendor, reproachfully assail and ridicule the true faith of the simple: because, by arrogating all things to themselves, they leave nothing to the grace of God. Hence we are admonished, that none have a well-grounded confidence of salvation, but they who, being called freely, regard the mercy of God as their whole dignity. Again, the Spirit furnishes the consciences of the pious with strong and effective weapons against the ferociousness of those who, under a false pretext, boast that they are the Church. We see that it is no new thing, for persons who are nothing but hypocrites to occupy the chief place in the Church at God. Wherefore, while at this day, the Papists proudly exult, there is no reason why we should be disturbed by their empty and inflated boasts. As to their glorying in their long succession, it just means as much as if Ishmael were proclaiming himself the firstborn. It is, therefore necessary to discriminate between the true and the hypocritical Church. Paul describes a mark, which they are never able, with their cavils, to obliterate. For as large bottles are broken with a slight blast; so by this single word, all their glory is extinguished, ‘the sons of the handmaid shall not be eternal inheritors.’ In the meantime their insolence is to be patiently borne, so long as God shall loosen the rein to their tyranny. For the Apostles, formerly, were oppressed by the Jewish hypocrites of their age, with the same reproaches which these men now cast upon us. In the same way, Ishmael triumphed over Isaac, as if he had obtained the victory. Wherefore, we must not wonder, if our own age also has its Ishmaelites. But lest such indignity should break our spirits, let this consolation perpetually occur to us, that they who hold the preeminence in the Church, will not always remain within it.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(12) In Isaac shall thy seed be called—Heb., in Isaac there shall be called to thee a seed: that is, the seed that shall especially be accounted thine, and which, as such, shall inherit the promises, will be that sprung from Isaac.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. And God said] It is revealed to Abraham by night (Gen_21:14), that compliance with Sarah’s demand will be overruled to fulfil the destiny of Hagar’s child. The Israelite tradition, according to the comparatively low moral standard of its time, especially in connexion with the conditions of slave concubinage and its domestic results, attributed to the voice of God a command that in our ears sounds unfeeling and cruel.

in Isaac shall thy seed be called] Lit. “in Isaac shall seed be called to thee.” LXX ἐν Ἰσαὰκ κληθήσεταί σοι σπέρμα, which is quoted in Rom_9:7 and Heb_11:18. The meaning is that in Isaac and in his descendants Abraham will have those who will be called by his name.

Isaac is to be the father of the “children of promise.” He stands, therefore, in the allegory (Gal_4:27-28), in contrast with him “that was born after the flesh” (i.e. Ishmael). Isaac stands for those “born after the spirit.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation,.... A great nation, as is promised, Gen 17:20; and such the Ishmaelites and Saracens have been, and the Turks now are, the descendants of Ishmael. The Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it, a people of thieves, or a thieving people; as were the Saracens, and who are thought to have that name from the Arabic word "sarac" (y), to thieve; though they would have it derived from Sarah: but it is not agreeable to the promise of God to Abraham, that when for his comfort he is told that his son Ishmael and his descendants should become a great nation, that they should be described as a company of thieves and robbers; and especially when the reason of the promise is given:

because he is thy seed; or thy son; here the word "seed" is again used of a single individual; see Gen 4:25.

(y) "furatus fuit, furto abstulit", Golius, col. 1167. Castel. col. 2626.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Thus Abraham had better authority for his divorce from Hagar than he had for his marriage with her, Gen 16:2.

Thy seed, to wit, the promised Seed, the heir of thy estate, covenant, and promises, the progenitor of my church and people, and particularly of the Messias.

Called, i.e. reputed and valued, both by me and other men. The words may be thus rendered, by Isaac shall thy seed be; for to be called is ofttimes put for to be, as Isa 1:26; 47:1,5; Mt 5:9,19.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. In Isaac shall thy seed be called — Literally, In Isaac shall there be called to thee a seed. The meaning evidently is, that the promised seed should spring, not from Ishmael but from Isaac. First, the promise came to Adam; then to Noah; then, in select succession, to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And God said unto Abraham, probably in a dream, or night vision (vide Ver. 14)Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; who was never recognized by God as Abraham"s wife (cf. Gen_16:8) in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice. Though Sarah"s counsel was approved by God, it does not follow that her conduct was. On a former occasion Abraham"s hearkening unto Sarah"s voice had led to sin; (Gen_16:2) this time it would lie exactly in the line of duty. For in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Literally, in Isaac shall seed (i.e. posterity) be called to thee; meaning neither, by Isaac shall thy seed be called, or named" (Hofmann, Kalisch, Ainsworth), nor, "in Isaac shall thy seed be called into existence" (Dreschler); but, "in Isaac shall there be posterity to thee which shall pass as such," i.e. be called or recognized as such (Keil); or, more simply, "in Isaac," i.e. in the line of Isaac, "shall be called to thee a seed," i.e. a seed par excellence, the seed already promised (Bleek, Delitzsch, Rosenm Alford, Murphy).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Do not be grieved because of the lad, and because of your servant woman

"Do not be upset about the boy and your handmaid"

Listen to her words in all she says to you about this matter

"Do everything that Sarah says to you about them"

it is through Isaac that your descendants will be named

The phrase "will be named" means those born through Isaac are the ones God considers to be the descendants that he promised Abraham. This can be stated in active form. AT: "Isaac is the one who will be the forefather of the descendants I promised to give you" (See: Active or Passive)

I will also make the son of the servant woman into a nation

The word "nation" means God will give him many descendants so that they become a great nation of people. AT: "I will make the servant woman's son also become the father of a great nation" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

God

Abraham

Sarah

servant

Isaac

descend

nation

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

שמע בקולה HEARKEN UNTO HER VOICE — we may infer that Abraham was inferior to Sarah in respect of prophecy (Exodus Rabbah 1:1).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ויאמר...על הנער ועל אמתך, G’d knew that Avraham was not only displeased about Sarah’s request to expel Ishmael, but he was also chagrined at being asked to expel Hagar, his maid-servant. [described here as his servant rather than as Sarah’s servant. Ed.] Even though the Torah had only spelled out that Avraham had felt aggrieved on account of his son (verse 11), the reason why our text had mentioned only his son was that he was his principal concern. He was prepared to quarrel with Sarah about the future of his son, whereas he was not prepared to make the continued presence of Hagar an issue between them. G’d, however, knew how he really felt concerning Hagar.

כל אשר תאמר, this was not a carte blanche for Sarah except in the matter of Ishmael and Hagar. The point was that Ishmael was not to share in Avraham’ s heritage. כי ביצחק יקרא לך זרע, the promise I had given to you in 17,8 applies only to Yitzchok as he is the seed specifically yours.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.