And God said unto Abraham
Either by an articulate voice, or by an impulse on his mind,
suggesting to him what he should do, being no doubt in great
perplexity how to conduct between his wife and his son, but God
determines the case for him, and makes him easy: let it not
be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because
of
the bondwoman:
that is, let not the motion displease thee, which Sarah has made,
to turn out the bondwoman and her son; let not thine affection to
the one and to the other hinder compliance with it; do not look
upon it as an ill thing, or as an hard thing; it is but what is
right and proper to be done, and leave the bondwoman and her son
to me; I will take care of them, be under no concern for them and
their welfare: in all that Sarah hath said unto thee,
hearken to her voice;
the Targum of Jonathan adds, for she is a prophetess: and indeed
in this affair she spoke under a spirit of prophecy, according to
the will of God; at least what she said became a divine oracle,
and is called the Scripture, ( Galatians
4:30 ) ; for the word "all" here must be restrained to what
she had said concerning Hagar and Ishmael, and their ejection,
and not to be extended to everything she had said, or should say
to Abraham, to which he was always to be attentive: whereas on
the other hand, it became her, as a wife, to hearken and be
obedient to the voice of her husband: but in this particular
Abraham is bid to listen to her, and do accordingly, for the
following reason, for in Isaac shall thy seed be
called;
he, and those that descended from him, should be called and
reckoned the seed of Abraham more especially; and Abraham's seed
in his life should inherit the land of Canaan, given to him and
his seed for an inheritance: and this is a good reason why the
bondwoman and her son should be cast out, that they or their
offspring might not inherit the land with Isaac, or his
descendants; and particularly from Abraham in his line, and not
in the line of Ishmael, should the Messiah spring, that seed in
whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed; and
therefore a separation was necessary, that this might abundantly
appear.