translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: GEN

label: NET study note

text: The Hebrew verb translated “visit” ( פָּקַד , paqad ) often describes divine intervention for blessing or cursing; it indicates God’s special attention to an individual or a matter, always with respect to his people’s destiny. He may visit (that is, destroy) the Amalekites; he may visit (that is, deliver) his people in Egypt. Here he visits Sarah, to allow her to have the promised child. One’s destiny is changed when the Lord “visits.” For a more detailed study of the term, see G. André, Determining the Destiny (ConBOT).


text: Just as God had commanded him to do . With the birth of the promised child, Abraham obeyed the Lord by both naming ( Gen 17:19 ) and circumcising Isaac ( 17:12 ).


text: Sarah’s words play on the name “Isaac” in a final triumphant manner. God prepared “laughter” ( צְחֹק , ysÿkhoq ) for her, and everyone who hears about this “will laugh” ( יִצְחַק , yitskhaq ) with her. The laughter now signals great joy and fulfillment, not unbelief (cf. Gen 18:12-15 ).


text: Children were weaned closer to the age of two or three in the ancient world, because infant mortality was high. If an infant grew to this stage, it was fairly certain he or she would live. Such an event called for a celebration, especially for parents who had waited so long for a child.


text: A bowshot would be a distance of about a hundred yards (ninety meters).


text: God heard the boy’s voice . The text has not to this point indicated that Ishmael was crying out, either in pain or in prayer. But the text here makes it clear that God heard him. Ishmael is clearly central to the story. Both the mother and the Lord are focused on the child’s imminent death.


text: Here the verb heard picks up the main motif of the name Ishmael (“God hears”), introduced back in chap. .


text: The wilderness of Paran is an area in the east central region of the Sinai peninsula, northeast from the traditional site of Mt. Sinai and with the Arabah and the Gulf of Aqaba as its eastern border.


text: God is with you . Abimelech and Phicol recognized that Abraham enjoyed special divine provision and protection.


text: This well . Since the king wanted a treaty to share in Abraham’s good fortune, Abraham used the treaty to secure ownership of and protection for the well he dug. It would be useless to make a treaty to live in this territory if he had no rights to the water. Abraham consented to the treaty, but added his rider to it.


text: The name Beer Sheba ( בְּאֵר שָׁבַע , bÿ ’ er shava ’) means “well of the oath” or “well of the seven.” Both the verb “to swear” and the number “seven” have been used throughout the account. Now they are drawn in as part of the explanation of the significance of the name.


text: The verb forms a wordplay with the name Beer Sheba .


text: The Philistines mentioned here may not be ethnically related to those who lived in Palestine in the time of the judges and the united monarchy. See D. M. Howard, “Philistines,” Peoples of the Old Testament World , 238.


text: The planting of the tamarisk tree is a sign of Abraham’s intent to stay there for a long time, not a religious act. A growing tree in the Negev would be a lasting witness to God’s provision of water.