22 And it cometh to pass at that time that Abimelech speaketh -- Phichol also, head of his host -- unto Abraham, saying, `God `is' with thee in all that thou art doing;
23 and now, swear to me by God here: thou dost not lie to me, or to my continuator, or to my successor; according to the kindness which I have done with thee thou dost with me, and with the land in which thou hast sojourned.'
24 And Abraham saith, `I -- I do swear.'
25 And Abraham reasoned with Abimelech concerning the matter of a well of water which Abimelech's servants have taken violently away,
26 and Abimelech saith, `I have not known who hath done this thing, and even thou didst not declare to me, and I also, I have not heard save to-day.'
27 And Abraham taketh sheep and oxen, and giveth to Abimelech, and they make, both of them, a covenant;
28 and Abraham setteth seven Lambs of the flock by themselves.
29 And Abimelech saith unto Abraham, `What `are' they -- these seven lambs which thou hast set by themselves?'
30 And he saith, `For -- the seven lambs thou dost accept from my hand, so that it becometh a witness for me that I have digged this well;'
31 therefore hath he called that place `Beer-Sheba,' for there have both of them sworn.
32 And they make a covenant in Beer-Sheba, and Abimelech riseth -- Phichol also, head of his host -- and they turn back unto the land of the Philistines;
33 and `Abraham' planteth a tamarask in Beer-Sheba, and preacheth there in the name of Jehovah, God age-during;
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,