Genesis 21:13

13 And I will make a nation of the son of your servant-woman, because he is your seed.

Genesis 21:13 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 21:13

And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation,
&c.] A great nation, as is promised, ( Genesis 17:20 ) ; and such the Ishmaelites and Saracens have been, and the Turks now are, the descendants of Ishmael. The Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it, a people of thieves, or a thieving people; as were the Saracens, and who are thought to have that name from the Arabic word "sarac" ^F25, to thieve; though they would have it derived from Sarah: but it is not agreeable to the promise of God to Abraham, that when for his comfort he is told that his son Ishmael and his descendants should become a great nation, that they should be described as a company of thieves and robbers; and especially when the reason of the promise is given,

because he [is] thy seed;
or thy son; here the word "seed" is again used of a single individual; see ( Genesis 4:25 ) ( Galatians 3:16 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 <arabic> "furatus fuit, furto abstulit", Golius, col. 1167. Castel. col. 2626.

Genesis 21:13 In-Context

11 And this was a great grief to Abraham because of his son.

12 But God said, Let it not be a grief to you because of the boy and Hagar his mother; give ear to whatever Sarah says to you, because it is from Isaac that your seed will take its name.

13 And I will make a nation of the son of your servant-woman, because he is your seed.

14 And early in the morning Abraham got up, and gave Hagar some bread and a water-skin, and put the boy on her back, and sent her away: and she went, wandering in the waste land of Beer-sheba.

15 And when all the water in the skin was used up, she put the child down under a tree.