6 And Sarah said, God has made me laugh: all that hear will laugh with me.
Exult, thou barren, that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and shout for joy, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith Jehovah.
And Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall [a child] be born to him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear?
And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am become old, shall I have pleasure, and my lord old? And Jehovah said to Abraham, Why is this, that Sarah laughs, saying, Shall I indeed bear, when I am become old? Is [any] matter too wonderful for Jehovah? At the time appointed I will return to thee, at [this] time of the year, and Sarah shall have a son. And Sarah denied, saying, I did not laugh; for she was afraid. And he said, No; but thou didst laugh.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with rejoicing: then said they among the nations, Jehovah hath done great things for them.
He maketh the barren woman to keep house, [as] a joyful mother of sons. Hallelujah!
And thou shalt say in thy heart, Who hath borne me these, seeing I had lost my children and was desolate, an exile, and driven about? and who hath brought up these? behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?
And he shall be to thee joy and rejoicing, and many shall rejoice at his birth.
And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he has looked upon the low estate of his bondmaid; for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For the Mighty One has done to me great things, and holy [is] his name; and his mercy [is] to generations and generations to them that fear him. He has wrought strength with his arm; he has scattered haughty [ones] in the thought of their heart. He has put down rulers from thrones, and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent away the rich empty. He has helped Israel his servant, in order to remember mercy, (as he spoke to our fathers,) to Abraham and to his seed for ever.
And her neighbours and kinsfolk heard that [the] Lord had magnified his mercy with her, and they rejoiced with her.
A woman, when she gives birth to a child, has grief because her hour has come; but when the child is born, she no longer remembers the trouble, on account of the joy that a man has been born into the world. And ye now therefore have grief; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one takes from you.
For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break out and cry, thou that travailest not; because the children of the desolate are more numerous than [those] of her that has a husband. But *ye*, brethren, after the pattern of Isaac, are children of promise.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 21
Commentary on Genesis 21 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 21
In this chapter we have,
Gen 21:1-8
Long-looked-for comes at last. The vision concerning the promised seed is for an appointed time, and now, at the end, it speaks, and does not lie; few under the Old Testament were brought into the world with such expectation as Isaac was, not for the sake of any great person eminence at which he was to arrive, but because he was to be, in this very thin, a type of Christ, that seed which the holy God had so long promised and holy men so long expected. In this account of the first days of Isaac we may observe,
Gen 21:9-13
The casting out of Ishmael is here considered of, and resolved on.
Gen 21:14-21
Here is,
Gen 21:22-32
We have here an account of the treaty between Abimelech and Abraham, in which appears the accomplishment of that promise (ch. 12:2) that God would make his name great. His friendship is valued, is courted, though a stranger, though a tenant at will to the Canaanites and Perizzites.
Gen 21:33-34
Observe,