How are the promises concerning Abraham’s two sons carried forward?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Sara bears Isaac at the promised time, and Abraham names and circumcises him. Agar and Ismael are sent away, but God hears the boy, provides water, and repeats the promise of a great nation. The chapter closes with Abraham and Abimelech’s agreement about kindness and a well.

Chapter breakdown

The Lord visited Sara as promised and fulfilled his word. She conceived and bore Abraham a son in her old age at the foretold time. Abraham named him Isaac. Challoner’s note explains Isaac as “laughter.” Abraham circumcised him on the eighth day, as God had commanded. Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born.

Sara said that God had made laughter for her and that whoever heard would laugh with her. She asked who would have believed that Abraham would hear of Sara nursing a son borne to him in his old age. The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day of weaning. Sara saw the son of Agar the Egyptian playing with Isaac.

Sara told Abraham to send away the bondwoman and her son, saying that her son would not inherit with Isaac. Abraham was deeply troubled for his son. God told him not to be troubled concerning the boy and the bondwoman, and to listen to all that Sara had said, because his descendants would be called through Isaac. God would also make the bondwoman’s son a great nation because he was Abraham’s descendant.

Abraham rose in the morning, put bread and a bottle of water on Agar’s shoulder, entrusted the boy to her, and sent her away. She wandered in the wilderness of Bersabee. When the water was gone, she placed the boy under one of the trees. She went away and sat facing him at a distance of about a bowshot, saying she would not watch him die. Sitting there, she wept aloud.

God heard the boy’s voice. An angel of God called to Agar from heaven, asked what she was doing, and told her not to fear: God had heard the boy where he was. She was to rise, take up the boy, and hold him by the hand, because God would make him a great nation. God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. She filled the bottle and gave the boy water to drink.

God was with the boy. He grew, lived in the wilderness, and became a young man and an archer. He lived in the wilderness of Pharan, and his mother chose a wife for him from Egypt.

At that time Abimelech and Phicol, the general of his army, told Abraham that God was with him in everything he did. They asked him to swear by God that he would not harm Abimelech, his descendants or family, and would show the same kindness to him and the land where Abraham had lived as a stranger. Abraham agreed to swear. He also complained to Abimelech about a well his servants had taken by force. Abimelech said that he did not know who had done it, had not been told by Abraham, and had heard of it only that day.

Abraham gave Abimelech sheep and oxen, and they made an agreement. Abraham set aside seven female lambs. When Abimelech asked why, Abraham said that accepting them would be testimony that Abraham had dug the well. The place was called Bersabee because they both swore there. Challoner explains the name as “the well of oath.” They made an agreement for the well of oath.

Abimelech and Phicol returned to the land of the Palestines. Abraham planted a grove in Bersabee and called on the name of the Lord, the eternal God. He lived as a stranger in the land of the Palestines for many days.

The story inside

The two sons’ paths are distinguished without dropping either promise. Isaac is born to Sara at the foretold time, named by Abraham, and circumcised at eight days. After Sara demands the other son’s departure, Abraham is troubled. God tells him to listen to her and explains that the descendants will be called through Isaac, but also promises a great nation to Agar’s son because he is Abraham’s descendant. The wilderness account then shows the danger after departure: the water runs out, Agar moves away rather than watch the boy die, and she weeps. The answer identifies the voice God hears as the boy’s. The angel repeats the promise of a nation, and Agar sees the well, refills the bottle, and gives him water. The later account of his growth, archery, residence in Pharan, and wife from Egypt carries his story beyond the immediate rescue. The chapter’s well agreement is a separate episode with its own named witnesses and testimony.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The birth account links promise with specific acts and dates. Sara bears the son at the foretold time; Abraham names him Isaac, circumcises him at eight days, and is 100 at his birth. Sara’s words about laughter and the weaning feast complete the family account. Keeping these details shows the fulfilment as the chapter records it.
2
Departure does not cancel the promise concerning Agar’s son. God gives Abraham a reason to follow Sara’s instruction and separately promises the other son a great nation. In the wilderness God hears the boy, and Agar is shown water. The account names her distress and his rescue without inventing ages, insults or later national rivalry.
3
The agreement includes a particular dispute and proof. Abraham swears to kindness, raises the servants’ seizure of the well, gives sheep and oxen, and sets apart seven female lambs as testimony that he dug it. The oath explains Bersabee’s name. These details are needed alongside the family episodes, rather than reducing the ending to a generic peace treaty.

Test your recall

How does the chapter connect Isaac’s birth with the earlier promise and preserve the separate promise for Agar’s son during his wilderness danger?

Show answer

Sara bears Isaac at the time God had foretold, and Abraham names and circumcises him as commanded. When Sara asks that Agar and her son leave, God distinguishes Isaac’s line while also promising to make Agar’s son a great nation. In the wilderness, their water runs out and Agar fears the boy’s death. God hears him, repeats the nation promise, and opens Agar’s eyes to a well, where she obtains water for him.

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 2163–2181
Genesis Chapter 21 Isaac is born. Agar and Ismael are cast forth. 21:1. And the Lord visited Sara, as he had promised: and fulfilled what he had spoken. 21:2. And she conceived and bore a son in her old age, at the time that God had foretold her. 21:3. And Abraham called the name of his son, whom Sara bore him, Isaac. Isaac.... This word signifies laughter. 21:4. And he circumcised him the eighth day, as God had commanded him, 21:5. When he was a hundred years old: for at this age of his father, was Isaac born.
Lines 2183–2193
21:6. And Sara said: God hath made a laughter for me: whosoever shall hear of it will laugh with me. 21:7. And again she said: Who would believe that Abraham should hear that Sara gave suck to a son, whom she bore to him in his old age? 21:8. And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast on the day of his weaning. 21:9. And when Sara had seen the son of Agar, the Egyptian, playing with Isaac, her son, she said to Abraham:
Lines 2195–2205
21:10. Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son Isaac. 21:11. Abraham took this grievously for his son. 21:12. And God said to him: Let it not seem grievous to thee for the boy, and for thy bondwoman: in all that Sara hath said to thee, hearken to her voice: for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 21:13. But I will make the son also of the bondwoman a great nation, because he is thy seed.
Lines 2207–2216
21:14. So Abraham rose up in the morning, and taking bread and a bottle of water, put it upon her shoulder, and delivered the boy, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Bersabee. 21:15. And when the water in the bottle was spent, she cast the boy under one of the trees that were there. 21:16. And she went her way, and sat over against him a great way off, as far as a bow can carry, for she said: I will not see the boy die: and sitting over against, she lifted up her voice and wept.
Lines 2218–2226
21:17. And God heard the voice of the boy: and an angel of God called to Agar from heaven, saying: What art thou doing, Agar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the boy, from the place wherein he is. 21:18. Arise, take up the boy, and hold him by the hand, for I will make him a great nation. 21:19. And God opened her eyes: and she saw a well of water, and went and filled the bottle, and gave the boy to drink.
Lines 2228–2232
21:20. And God was with him: and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became a young man, an archer. 21:21. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Pharan, and his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
Lines 2234–2248
21:22. At the same time Abimelech, and Phicol the general of his army, said to Abraham: God is with thee in all that thou dost. 21:23. Swear therefore by God, that thou wilt not hurt me, nor my posterity, nor my stock: but according to the kindness that I have done to thee, thou shalt do to me, and to the land wherein thou hast lived a stranger. 21:24. And Abraham said: I will swear. 21:25. And he reproved Abimelech for a well of water, which his servants had taken away by force. 21:26. And Abimelech answered: I knew not who did this thing: and thou didst not tell me, and I heard not of it till today.
Lines 2250–2266
21:27. Then Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech: and both of them made a league. 21:28. And Abraham set apart seven ewelambs of the flock. 21:29. And Abimelech said to him: What mean these seven ewelambs which thou hast set apart? 21:30. But he said: Thou shalt take seven ewelambs at my hand: that they may be a testimony for me, that I dug this well. 21:31. Therefore that place was called Bersabee; because there both of them did swear. Bersabee.... That is, the well of oath. 21:32. And they made a league for the well of oath.
Lines 2268–2274
21:33. And Abimelech and Phicol, the general of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Palestines. But Abraham planted a grove in Bersabee, and there called upon the name of the Lord God eternal. 21:34. And he was a sojourner in the land of the Palestines many days.