Kejadian 16:1

The Birth of Ishmael

16:1 Now Sarai, ¹  Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, ²  but she had an Egyptian servant ³  named Hagar. ⁴ 

Kejadian 16:15

16:15 So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, whom Abram named Ishmael. ⁵ 

Kejadian 21:3

21:3 Abraham named his son – whom Sarah bore to him – Isaac. ⁶ 

Kejadian 21:9

21:9 But Sarah noticed ⁷  the son of Hagar the Egyptian – the son whom Hagar had borne to Abraham – mocking. ⁸ 

Kejadian 22:23

22:23 (Now ⁹  Bethuel became the father of Rebekah.) These were the eight sons Milcah bore to Abraham’s brother Nahor.

Kejadian 24:24

24:24 She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom Milcah bore to Nahor. ¹⁰ 

Kejadian 25:12

The Sons of Ishmael

25:12 This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael, ¹¹  whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham.

Kejadian 34:1

Dinah and the Shechemites

34:1 Now Dinah, Leah’s daughter whom she bore to Jacob, went to meet ¹²  the young women ¹³  of the land.

Kejadian 36:4

36:4 Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, Basemath bore Reuel,

Kejadian 44:27

44:27 “Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife gave me two sons. ¹⁴ 

[16:1]  ¹ tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of a new episode in the story.

[16:1]  ² sn On the cultural background of the story of Sarai’s childlessness see J. Van Seters, “The Problem of Childlessness in Near Eastern Law and the Patriarchs of Israel,” JBL 87 (1968): 401-8.

[16:1]  ³ tn The Hebrew term שִׁפְחָה (shifkhah, translated “servant” here and in vv. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8) refers to a menial female servant.

[16:1]  ⁴ sn The passage records the birth of Ishmael to Abram through an Egyptian woman. The story illustrates the limits of Abram’s faith as he tries to obtain a son through social custom. The barrenness of Sarai poses a challenge to Abram’s faith, just as the famine did in chap. 12. As in chap. 12, an Egyptian figures prominently. (Perhaps Hagar was obtained as a slave during Abram’s stay in Egypt.)

[16:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.”

[16:15]  sn Whom Abram named Ishmael. Hagar must have informed Abram of what the angel had told her. See the note on the name “Ishmael” in 16:11.

[21:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “the one born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.” The two modifying clauses, the first introduced with an article and the second with the relative pronoun, are placed in the middle of the sentence, before the name Isaac is stated. They are meant to underscore that this was indeed an actual birth to Abraham and Sarah in fulfillment of the promise.

[21:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “saw.”

[21:9]  ⁸ tn The Piel participle used here is from the same root as the name “Isaac.” In the Piel stem the verb means “to jest; to make sport of; to play with,” not simply “to laugh,” which is the meaning of the verb in the Qal stem. What exactly Ishmael was doing is not clear. Interpreters have generally concluded that the boy was either (1) mocking Isaac (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT) or (2) merely playing with Isaac as if on equal footing (cf. NAB, NRSV). In either case Sarah saw it as a threat. The same participial form was used in Gen 19:14 to describe how some in Lot’s family viewed his attempt to warn them of impending doom. It also appears later in Gen 39:14, 17, where Potiphar accuses Joseph of mocking them.

[21:9]  sn Mocking. Here Sarah interprets Ishmael’s actions as being sinister. Ishmael probably did not take the younger child seriously and Sarah saw this as a threat to Isaac. Paul in Gal 4:29 says that Ishmael persecuted Isaac. He uses a Greek word that can mean “to put to flight; to chase away; to pursue” and may be drawing on a rabbinic interpretation of the passage. In Paul’s analogical application of the passage, he points out that once the promised child Isaac (symbolizing Christ as the fulfillment of God’s promise) has come, there is no room left for the slave woman and her son (who symbolize the Mosaic law).

[22:23]  ⁹ tn The disjunctive clause gives information that is important but parenthetical to the narrative. Rebekah would become the wife of Isaac (Gen 24:15).

[24:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “whom she bore to Nahor.” The referent (Milcah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:12]  ¹¹ sn This is the account of Ishmael. The Book of Genesis tends to tidy up the family records at every turning point. Here, before proceeding with the story of Isaac’s family, the narrative traces Ishmael’s family line. Later, before discussing Jacob’s family, the narrative traces Esau’s family line (see Gen 36).

[34:1]  ¹² tn Heb “went out to see.” The verb “to see,” followed by the preposition בְּ (bÿ), here has the idea of “look over.” The young girl wanted to meet these women and see what they were like.

[34:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “daughters.”

[44:27]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “that two sons my wife bore to me.”