Genesis 21:15

15 And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs.

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 Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed."
14 So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.
15 And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs.
16 Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, "Let me not see the death of the boy." So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.
17 And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.