Genesi 21:16

16 Ed ella se ne andò, e si pose a sedere dirimpetto, di lungi intorno ad una tratta d’arco; perciocchè ella diceva: Ch’io non vegga morire il fanciullo; e sedendo così dirimpetto, alzò la voce e pianse.

Genesi 21:16 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 21:16

And she went and sat her down over against [him], a good way
off
Not being able to bear the sight of her child in his agonies, and, as she apprehended, ready to expire, she went from the place where she had laid him, and sat down under one of the shrubs or trees to shade herself, right over against that where her child was, though at some distance, which is next expressed:

as it were a bowshot;
about as far off from him as an arrow can be shot, or is usually shot out of a bow; according to the Jews this was about half a mile, for they say ^F9 two bowshots make a mile; here she sat waiting what would be the issue, whether life or death, which last she expected:

for she said, let me not see the death of the child;
she could not bear to hear his dying groans, and see him in his dying agonies:

and she sat over against [him], and lift up her voice and wept;
on account of her desolate and forlorn condition, being in a wilderness, where she could get no water, and her child, as she thought, dying with thirst: the Septuagint version is, "and the child cried and wept"; and certain it is, from ( Genesis 21:17 ) , that the child did lift up its voice and cry, but that is not expressed in the text; it is quite clear in the original that it was Hagar and not her son that is said to weep, since the verb is feminine.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 Bereshit Rabba, ut supra. (sect. 53. fol. 47. 4.)

Genesi 21:16 In-Context

14 Abrahamo adunque, levatosi la mattina a buon’ora, prese del pane, ed un bariletto d’acqua, e diede ciò ad Agar, metendoglielo in ispalla; le diede ancora il fanciullo, e la mandò via. Ed ella si partì, e andò errando per lo deserto di Beerseba.

15 Ed essendo l’acqua del bariletto venuta meno, ella gittò il fanciullo sotto un arboscello.

16 Ed ella se ne andò, e si pose a sedere dirimpetto, di lungi intorno ad una tratta d’arco; perciocchè ella diceva: Ch’io non vegga morire il fanciullo; e sedendo così dirimpetto, alzò la voce e pianse.

17 E Iddio udì la voce del fanciullo, e l’Angelo di Dio chiamò Agar dal cielo, e le disse: Che hai, Agar? non temere; perciocchè Iddio ha udita la voce del fanciullo, là dove egli è.

18 Levati, togli il fanciullo, e fortificati ad averne cura; perciocchè io lo farò divenire una gran nazione.