Genesis 21:18

18 Get up, go and pick him up, and comfort him. I will make a great nation out of his descendants."

Genesis 21:18 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 21:18

Arise, lift up the lad
She had set herself down at some distance, and now she is bid to rise up and go to the place where she had left her son, and raise aim up from the ground, on which he lay along:

and hold him in thine hand:
or take hold on him with thine hand, and hold him up with it, he being so weak that he could not sit up without being supported:

for I will make him a great nation:
which is a renewal of a promise before made both to her and to Abraham, ( Genesis 16:10 ) ( 17:20 ) ( 21:13 ) ; and by this Hagar is assured that he would recover and live, and become a man and the father of children, who in time would become a great nation; (See Gill on Genesis 16:10), (See Gill on Genesis 17:20), (See Gill on Genesis 21:13), this shows that the Angel of God here speaking is God himself, or a divine Person, since none but he could make him a great nation.

Genesis 21:18 In-Context

16 and sat down about a hundred yards away. She said to herself, "I can't bear to see my child die." While she was sitting there, she began to cry.

17 God heard the boy crying, and from heaven the angel of God spoke to Hagar, "What are you troubled about, Hagar? Don't be afraid. God has heard the boy crying.

18 Get up, go and pick him up, and comfort him. I will make a great nation out of his descendants."

19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. She went and filled the leather bag with water and gave some to the boy.

20 God was with the boy as he grew up; he lived in the wilderness of Paran and became a skillful hunter.