Genesis 21:14

Bread, and a bottle. The word “bread” in Hebrew is a collective term for all kinds of food. The “bottle,” a goat’s skin, must have held sufficient water to last from one well to the next. Upon her previous flight Hagar seems to have set out for her home in Egypt (ch. 16:7), and perhaps intended to do so now. Abraham’s generous nature and his love for Ishmael certainly led him to make adequate provision for their journey. It seems that an emergency arose later only because they had missed their way and were wandering aimlessly about in the wilderness until their water was spent. This is implied by the word “wandered,” from a Hebrew verb that means “to err,” “to wander,” “to go astray” (see Ps. 119:176; Isa. 53:6). It was not in the purpose of God for Hagar and Ishmael to return to Egypt, for His promise concerning the boy could not be fulfilled there. The wandering in the desert was apparently a providence of God for (see Acts 17:26).

And the child. This phrase suggests that Hagar had to carry Ishmael as well as the food and water. The fact that Ishmael was now about 17 years old (see on Gen. 21:8, 9) makes it clear that she could not have carried him. The text must therefore mean that Abraham placed some of the provisions upon Hagar’s shoulder and some upon Ishmael’s.

The expulsion of one of his sons must have meant intense suffering for Abraham (see v. 11). But, mindful of his own responsibility for the situation that had developed, he resigned himself to the revealed will of God in the matter. The fate of Hagar and Ishmael seems harsh in the extreme, but this they had made inevitable by their attitude toward Isaac. Had they been willing to accept a subordinate role, they might perhaps have remained in Abraham’s home until Ishmael was grown. Then Ishmael might have gone forth, married, and with a share of his father’s wealth. How often an ill-considered course of action means not only the forfeit of blessings it is our privilege to enjoy but needless suffering as well (see Jer. 5:25).

The wilderness of Beer-sheba. Beer-sheba, the major city of the northern Negeb, the semiarid southland, was the center of various caravan roads leading from trans-Jordan to the coast and from Palestine to Egypt. The wilderness was south of the city.