Page images
PDF
EPUB

11. And Abrabam faid, Becaufe I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place: and they will flay me for my wife's fake.

11. The fear of God, &c. This fear of God being the great reftraint upon men's lufts and paffions:

By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil, Prov. 16. 6. 12. And yet indeed the is my fifter: fbe is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and fhe became my wife.

12. She is my fr fter: And Lot is called his brother, ch.13. 8. Sarah was the daughter of Haran,

who died before Terah, (ch. 11. 28.) Sarah (her Father being dead) might well be faid to be the Daughter of Terah, Abraham's Father, and confequently his Sifter. Grandchildren among the Eastern people were reputed and called the Children of their Grand-fathers or Grand-mothers, Gen. 31.28. and 46, 18, 25, 1 Kings 15. 10. Not the daughter of my Mother: Haran and Abraham not having the fame Mother.

13. And it came to pass, when God caufed me to wander from my father's houfe that I faid unto her, This, is thy kindness which thou shalt fhew unto me: at every place whither we shall come, fay of me, He is my brother.

13:

And it came, &c. In these words

he lets Abimelech agreed upon onely at know that it was not agreed upon onely at his coming to Gerar, to impofe upon him, but feveral years before that.

14. And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and men-fervants, and women-fervants, and gave them unto Abra: ham, and restored him Sarah his wife.

16. Brother: As

15. And Abimelech faid, Behold, my land is before thee; dwell where it pleaseth thee. 16. And unto Sarah he faid, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of filver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus fhe was reproved.

[ocr errors]

Sarah had called him.
A thousand pieces of
Silver Or, a thon-
fand Shekels, as the
Chaldee hath it. A
Shekel of Silver is of

our

our Money two fhillings and four pence farthing, and a lit tle more. Behold he is to thee a covering of the eyes: i.e. Abraham thy Husband fhall be to thee as a covering of the Eyes. Those Women who are veiled or covered are not exposed as the uncovered to the view and unchaft defires of those who see them; An Husband may be very fitly called, as Abraham is here, a veil or covering of the Eyes. Agreeably hereunto we find that married Women were covered with a veil, Gen. 24.65. And that veil was a fign of fubjection, 1 Cor. 11. 10. Perhaps Sarah had left off her veil that the might not be thought Abraham's Wife. How ever Abimelech puts her in mind that she was a Wife, (which we yet express by being under Coverture,) and that therefore the ought not to expofe her felf to thofe that were with her, or to any others. Thus fhe was reproved: Thefe feem to be the words of Mofes, not Abimelech. In which he tells us how Abimelech reproved Sarah.

17: So Abraham prayed unto 17. Prayed: As God and God bealed Abimelech, was faid, v.7. and his wife, and his maid fervants, and they bare children.

18. For the LORD had faft clofed up all the wombs of the boufe bf Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.

18. Sarah: To whom God had pro

mifed a Son by Abra ham, ch. 17. 19. And

whom he therefore

protected from being violated by Abimelech, (v. 3, 17.) he having taken her, (u. 2.)

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

The birth and circumcifion of Ifaac. The joy of Sarah thereupon. Hagar and Ifhmael are fent away by Abraham. Hagar in great diftrefs is relieved. Abraham and Abimelech enter into Covenant: The place where this was done called Beerfheba, Abraham plants à Grove.

H 2

1. And

I.

2108. A1
AND the LORD vifited

1896.

Sarah as he had faid, and

the LORD did unto Sarah as he
had spoken.

Visited: The

word de

notes the Providence of God whereby he fulfills what he be

fore hath faid. And fometimes it is to be understood of Evils which are to be inflicted, Exod. 20.5. At other times it denotes the bestowing Mercies as here, and Pfal. 8. 4. Spoken: viz. Ch. 17. 19. and ch. 18. 10. where we have mention of the promised bleffing, and of the time when it fhould be fulfilled. And we have an account of the fulfilling of all this in the following words.

2. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a fon in his old age, at the fet time of which God had fpo

ken to him.

3. And Abraham called the name of his fon, that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Ifaac.

2. At the fet-time: And thus Ifaac was by promise, Gal. 4.

23.

3. Ifaac: According to God's appointment, ch. 17. v. 19.

4. And Abraham circumcifed his fon Ifaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him.

5. And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his fon Ifaac was born unto him.

6. And Sarah faid, God hath made me to laugh, fo that all that hear, will laugh with me.

[blocks in formation]

6. To laugh: Or, rejoice, according to the Chaldee, 4.54.1. Laugh with me: Or, rejoice with me.

7. Children: Or, a Child by an EnalLage ufual in these Writings, See ch. 46. 15, 23. ch. 36. 25.

[blocks in formation]

9. And Sarah faw the Son of Hagar the Egyptian, which fhe had born unto Abraham, mock ing.

9. Mocking: i. e.' Deriding and infulting as the elder brother over Ifaac, and poffibly deriding his

Piety, and contending about the Inheritance alfo, (v. 10.) and that with violence used, (for fo the Hebrew word fignifies, 2 Sam. 2. 14.) which the Apostle calls Perfecution, Gal. 4. 29.

10. Wherefore fhe faid unto Abraham, Caft out this bond-woman and her fon; for the son of this bond-woman fhall not be heir with my fon, even with Ifaac.

10. She faid: And God approved it, (v. 12.) and the Apoftle fays that the Scripture faith, Caft out the bond-woman,

&c. Gal.4.30. Be heir: Or, fhall not inherit, and fhall confequently be reputed not as a Son, but as a Servant, Gal.4.7. Joh. 8 35. Gen. 22. 2. Heb. 11. 17.

11. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's fight, becaufe of his fon.

11. Very grievous?

It was fo from that love which he bare unto Ishmael; Be

caufe of his Son, fays the Text. See ch. 17. 18. He fhewed no fuch grief upon offering up Ifaac, (ch.22.2, 3.) Because there God commanded him, this was Sarah's requeft: And here, when God fignified his pleasure, (v. 12.) we do not find that he was grieved at it.

12. And God faid unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy fight, because of the lad, and becaufe of thy bond-woman. In all that Sarah hath faid unto thee, bearken unto her voice: for in Ifaac fhall thy feed be called.

12. In Ifaac Shall thy feed be called: i.c. The promised Seed (to.whom the great tioned ch. 12. 3. and bleffing belongs,mench. 18. 18.) fhall not defcend from Ishmael,

but from Ifaac, Rom. 3. 7,8. Gen. 28.4.

13. And also of the son of the bond woman will I make a nation, because he is thy feed.

[blocks in formation]

14. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar (putting it on her fhoulder) and the child, and fent her away: and fhe departed, and wan dered in the wilderness of BeerSheba.

15. And the water was spent in the bottle, and fhe caft the child under one of the fhrubs.

under the fhade of

14. Child: Or. Lad, as he is called, (v. 18.) He being now Eighteen years old.[vid.Hieron.quaft. in Genef. Beer-fhe

ba: So called afterward, (v. 31.)

15. Caft him: The child being faint and ready to perifh, (v. 16.) fhe laid him a tree or fhrub.

16. And she went and fat her down over against him, a good way off, as it were a bow fhot: for fhe faid, Let me not fee the death of the child. And she fat over against him, and lift up her voice and wept.

17. And God beard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and faid unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not for God bath heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18. Arife, lift up the lad, and bold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.

17. The voice of the Lad: Who cried as well as his Mother, though it be not mentioned before.

18. Hold him in thy band: Or, ftrengthen thy hand upon him. Hebr. i, e. Take care

of him. Thus Jofephus does understand it, [Antiq. l. 1. c. 13.] that fhe was commanded to take care to nourish him and bring him up.

19. And God opened her eyes, and the faw a well of water; and She went and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

19. Opened her eyes: Whatever hindred her from feeing it before, God did now discover to her a Well of water.

20. And

« PreviousContinue »