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Genesis 21 · a question people ask

What was Ishmael doing when Sarah saw him?

Interpretation

The WEB says Sarah saw him "mocking" (21:9). The Hebrew is a form of tsachaq, the verb for laugh in 21:6; in this form Brown-Driver-Briggs glosses it "jest" and "sport, play". Genesis doesn't say more about what he did. Protestants read it in two main ways.

How Christians read it

Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.

He was mocking Isaac

Those who hold this view point to Paul, who writes of this episode, "as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit" (Galatians 4:29). The WEB translates the same form of the verb "mock" in 39:14, "to mock us".

Galatians 4:29 · Genesis 39:14

He was laughing or playing

Those who hold this view point to the verb's range in Genesis: laughing (17:17; 21:6), joking (19:14) and caressing (26:8). They note that Sarah's stated reason is the inheritance: "the son of this servant will not be heir with my son, Isaac" (21:10).

Genesis 17:17 · Genesis 19:14 · Genesis 26:8 · Genesis 21:10

The verses

“Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.””
Genesis 21:6 · World English Bible
“Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.”
Genesis 21:9 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Genesis 21

Genesis 21: As he had said

The LORD did for Sarah exactly as he had said, and Isaac was born when Abraham was one hundred. When Hagar and her son were sent away, God heard the boy, opened Hagar's eyes to a well and was with him as he grew. At Beersheba, the well of the oath, Abraham called on the LORD, the Everlasting God.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions