Bereshis 21:15

15 And the mayim in the skin was done, and she cast the yeled under one of the bushes.

Bereshis 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.)

Bereshis 21:15 In-Context

13 And also of the ben haamah will I make a nation, because he is thy zera.
14 And Avraham rose up early in the boker, and took lechem, and a skin of mayim, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the yeled, and sent her away; and she departed, and wandered in the midbar of Beer-Sheva.
15 And the mayim in the skin was done, and she cast the yeled under one of the bushes.
16 And she went off, and sat down about a bowshot away: for she thought, Let me not see the mot hayeled. And she sat there nearby, and lifted up her voice, and wept.
17 And Elohim heard the voice of the na’ar; and the Malach Elohim called to Hagar out of Shomayim, and said unto her, Mah lach, Hagar? fear not; for Elohim hath heard the voice of the na’ar where he is.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.