Genesis 21:

Summary: Sarah bears Isaac—He is circumcised—Promises to Abraham preserved through Isaac—Hagar and her son cast out of Abraham’s household—The Lord saves Hagar and Ishmael—Abraham and Abimelech deal honorably with each other.

Personal Reflections: It's late at night, but here's what I think. Once again, we have a situation brought about by mistakes on both sides. The Lord is looking out for everyone though.

Isaac is born. I like that his name means "he laughs" which mirrors Sarah's disbelieving laughter when told she would bear a son, and also shows the joy that Isaac brought to his parents. This also reminds me of a conference talk from October of this year where Joseph B. Wirthlin said that one of the keys to surviving rough times is to laugh. I like to think that Isaac had a really good sense of humor. Maybe as we go throughout talking about Isaac, I'll try to see if I can catch glimpses of it.

Okay, this is a hard chapter. I can't find much LDS commentary on it. The only conference talk that refers to the hard part of the chapter (the part about Hagar and Ishmael being forced to leave) was given in 1995 by Aileen H. Clyde who was second counselor in the General Relief Society presidency, and she doesn't mention who threw Hagar out or why, only the fact that the Lord provided for Hagar in the desert.

I'll link you to David Guzik's commentary, because it's very comprehensive about the matter. I don't agree with a couple things, however. First, did the Lord really agree that Hagar needed to be dismissed from the camp only to appear to her in the desert? I don't know if I believe that Hagar deserves the treatment she gets, no matter what Guzik thinks. If you have any thoughts on the matter, I'd surely appreciate them, as I'm a bit stumped.

I do like the fact that the Lord is still looking out for Hagar. This could mean two different things. Either the Lord looks out for even his wayward children. Or, the Lord is looking out for his righteous children even when unfair and terrible things happen to them. You can look at it either way, depending on what role you see Hagar filling.

Finally, in this chapter there is a treaty signed between Abraham and Abimelech (the same one?) about a well of water. This well came to be known as Beer-Sheba, which means "well of the oath" or "well of seven" (like the lambs that were given as a token of the covenant). Don't let the mention of "grove" fool you in this verse. Abraham didn't make a shrine to Ashtoreth (which is what this term usually signifies) this word is translated from 'eshel which is translated as "tree" elsewhere in scripture, not 'asherah which is the name of the main goddess of the Canaanites.

This account shows that Abraham was a great statesman. Interestingly, Abraham was allowed to interact with many more of the peoples of his time. Later, Israel would be commanded to get rid of the Canaanites.

Note: I am so sorry about how pitiful this post is. It came down to a matter of trying to juggle too many things at the same time. Some day I will come back to this post and fix it, because honestly there is a lot going on here.