Genesis 21:1-21 NKJV
21 And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac. 4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.” 7 She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”
8 So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.
9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. 10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.” 11 And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son.
12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. 13 Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.”
14 So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. 15 And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. 16 Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.
17 And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18 Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.”
19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink. 20 So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21 He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
The name “Isaac” means “laughter” in Hebrew, and it’s with good reason that Abraham gave him that name. Both Abraham and Sarah had laughed in disbelief when God first told them they would have a child in their old age. But when Isaac was finally born, according to God’s promise, they laughed for joy.
Isaac was the first offspring of Abraham to be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth, making him a pattern of the long-awaited Offspring of Abraham, the Lord Jesus, who was also circumcised on the eighth day, marking Him as the true Heir of all the promises made to Abraham, and as the One who would bring mankind the laughter of joy from sins forgiven, peace with God, and eternal life through faith in Christ Jesus.
But there is an especially bad kind of laughter highlighted in today’s reading, too. When it says in v.9 that Ishmael “scoffed” (NKJV) or that he was “laughing” (ESV), it’s from the same Hebrew verb as Isaac’s name. But the form of the verb used here means to laugh at someone, to make fun of him. In this case, the fifteen or sixteen-year-old Ishmael was laughing at little Isaac.
Sarah foresaw the trouble that her family would face, going forward, if Ishmael and Isaac were allowed to grow up together. She pleaded with Abraham to “cast out the bondwoman and her son,” and the Lord commanded Abraham to do as she said, in this case. His plan for redeeming lost mankind centered around Isaac and the people who be descended from him. A lifelong struggle between Isaac and Ishmael would not help God’s plan of redemption through Christ, who would be the Offspring of Isaac. The Lord continued to provide for Hagar and Ishmael, but His plan of salvation would be through Isaac.
St. Paul points back to this account in Galatians 4, where He compares Hagar to Mt. Sinai and to the earthly Jerusalem that had, by then, rejected Jesus as the Christ and was persecuting Christians as Ishmael had persecuted Isaac. Christians, he says, are like Isaac, born of the free woman, born for freedom in Christ. Let that fact fill you with the best kind of laughter! Let us pray: Father in heaven, we thank you for adopting even us into your family through Holy Baptism. Amen.