Genesis 21:15

15 And when the water was finished from the skin, she put the child under one of the bushes.

Genesis 21:15 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 21:15

And the water was spent in the bottle
It was all drank up by them, being thirsty, having wandered about some time in a wilderness, where they could not replenish their bottle: the Jewish writers say F5 that when Hagar came into the wilderness, she began to wander after the idols of the house of Pharaoh her father, and immediately the water ceased from the bottle, or was drank up by Ishmael, being seized with a burning fever:

and she cast the child under one of the shrubs;
not from off her shoulder, but out of her hand or bosom; being faint through thirst, he was not able to walk, and she, being weary in dragging him along in her hand, perhaps sat down and held him in her lap, and laid him in her bosom; but, imagining he was near his end, she laid him under one of the shrubs in the wilderness, to screen him from the scorching sun, and there left him; the Greek version is, "under one of the fir trees", and so says Josephus F6: some Jewish writers F7 call them juniper trees; and some make this to be Ishmael's own act, and say, that, being fatigued with thirst, he went and threw himself under the nettles of the wilderness F8, see ( Job 30:7 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F5 Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c. 30.) Targ. Jon. in loc.
F6 Antiqu. l. 1. c. 12. sect. 3.
F7 Bereshit, ut supra. (sect. 53. fol. 47. 4.)
F8 Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c. 30.)

Genesis 21:15 In-Context

13 And I will also make the son of the slave woman into a nation, for he is your offspring."
14 Then Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave [it] to Hagar, putting [it] on her shoulder. And he sent her away with the child, and she went, wandering about in the wilderness, in Beersheba.
15 And when the water was finished from the skin, she put the child under one of the bushes.
16 And she went and {she sat a good distance away}, for she said, "Let me not see the child's death." So she sat away from him and lifted up her voice and wept.
17 And God heard the cry of the boy and the angel of God called to Hagar from the heavens and said to her, "{What is the matter} Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the cry of the boy {from where he is}.
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