AT THE SET TIME OF WHICH GOD HAD SPOKEN TO HIM. The reference is to the angel who had asked, *Where is Sarah thy wife?*¹ The same angel also returned to Abraham, for he had promised to do so.² (Gen. 18:10). I.E. points out that the angel kept his word even though this is not recorded in Scripture.

footnotes: ¹ Gen. 18:9. ² I will certainly return unto thee when the season cometh round; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son

[ISAAC.] God never added any letter to Isaac’s name; neither did He ever change it, for God Himself commanded Abraham to call his son Isaac.³

footnotes: ³ Abraham’s name received an additional letter (Gen. 17:5). Jacob’s name was changed to Israel (Gen. 32:29). Isaac was the only one of Israel’s three patriarchs not to have his name changed.

MAKING SPORT. Ishmael was acting as a boy is wont to act. Sarah was jealous because he was older than her son.

ON ACCOUNT OF HIS SON. Odot means account of.

AND A BOTTLE OF WATER. Chemet (bottle) is a vessel. It is possibly made out of skin or wood. Chamatekha (thy venom) in That puttest thy venom (chamatekha) thereto (Hab. 2:15)⁴ (thy venom) as thy vessel. is analogous. Many are amazed at Abraham’s behavior. They ask, how could Abraham chase his son out of his house? How could he send away mother and child empty handed? Where was his kindness? However, I am amazed at those who are amazed at Abraham, for Abraham acted according to God’s dictates.⁵ (v. 12). Had he acted contrary to Sarah’s wishes and given money to Hagar, then he would have transgressed God’s command. However, ultimately, after Sarah’s death, he gave gifts to Ishmael’s children.⁶

footnotes: ⁴ I.E. renders chamatekha ⁵ God had told Abraham, in all that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice ⁶ Gen. 25:6. The children of the concubines included Ishmael. As long as Sarah lived Abraham was bound to obey her with regard to Ishmael. After her death he was free to show his concern for Ishmael, and he did.

BREAD AND A BOTTLE OF WATER. He gave the bread and bottle of water to Hagar and placed them upon her shoulder. He then told her, “Take your son with you,” and he sent her away. It is possible that Abraham gave Hagar some gold and silver, although this is not mentioned in Scripture. Abraham at that time lived in Gerar. He gave Hagar enough bread and water to last her till she reached Beersheba.⁷ However, Hagar did not know the way and strayed in the wilderness of Beersheba. Ishmael became ill from lack of water. She took him to her bosom⁸ (Cherez). and when she saw that he was dying of thirst, she cast him under one of the shrubs.

footnotes: ⁷ I.E. assumes that Beersheba was Hagar’s destination and that Abraham gave her enough provisions to last her till she got there. He did not simply cast her out into the desert (Weiser). ⁸ I.E. previously noted that Hagar did not carry Ishmael. He therefore has to explain and she cast the child

UNDER ONE OF THE SHRUBS. One of the trees.⁹

footnotes: ⁹ To provide him with shade (Krinsky).

AS IT WERE A BOWSHOT. Ki-metachave (as it were a shot) is not found elsewhere in the Bible. Its definition is known.¹⁰ It means the distance an arrow travels after being shot.

footnotes: ¹⁰ Weiser.

AN ARCHER. Compare, Call together the archers (rabbim) against Babylon (Jer. 50:29). Although roveh (archer) in our verse and rabbim (archers) (in Jer. 50:29) come from different roots, they mean the same thing.¹¹ ; in Jeremiah it is resh, bet, bet. We find a similar case with the words sarar and sarah (ruled over),¹² (bear rule) comes from the root sin, resh, resh ; in Hos. 12:4 sarah (he strove or ruled over) comes from the root sin, resh, heh (Krinsky). also the words ravah and ravav, both of which mean increased.¹³ is resh, bet, heh. The root of ravav is resh, bet, bet.

footnotes: ¹¹ The root of archer in our verse is resh, bet, heh ¹² In Es. 1:22 sorer ¹³ The root of ravah

ARCHER. Kashat (archer) is an adjective. Compare, gannav (thief).¹⁴ is a bow, kashat an archer. That this is the case can be seen from its vocalization of a pattach kamatz. This vocalization indicates an adjective, as seen from the word gannav. Hence roveh is not in the construct with kashat. The verse is to be read: he was a shooter, an archer (Krinsky).

footnotes: ¹⁴ Keshet

HAVE I EVEN HERE SEEN HIM THAT SEETH ME?¹⁵ The angel first appeared to her here.¹⁶

footnotes: ¹⁵ This phrase is taken from Gen. 16:13. Some suggest that there is a scribal error in our text and that this comment has been misplaced from 16:13. However, see next note. ¹⁶ That is, she came to the same place where the angel had first appeared to her after she had been cast out by Sarah when pregnant with Ishmael (Chap. 16). Perhaps the original reading in I.E. was: and he dwelt in the wilderness, the place where she (his mother) once said, “Have I even here seen Him that seeth me” (Weiser).

THAT THOU WILT NOT DEAL FALSELY WITH ME. Tishkor (thou wilt deal falsely) is a kal. This is the only place in the Bible that this word appears in the kal.

MY SON’S SON. Nechdi is to be rendered the son of my son.

WHAT MEAN THESE. Hennah (these) is feminine.

BY THEMSELVES. Levaddanah (by themselves) is spelled with a heh at the end of the word. This is the only place in Scripture where the word is so written.

A WITNESS. Le-edah means a witness. It should be noted that the word for oath (shevu’ah) comes from the word for seven (shivah).¹⁷ comes from shivah, Abraham called the place be’ersheva, rather than be’er shevu’ah. I will elaborate on this point in my comments on the term oh hishavah shevu’ah (or sweareth an oath).¹⁸

footnotes: ¹⁷ The number seven has a mystical meaning. An oath is somehow connected to this mystery. It is for this reason that Abraham took seven ewe lambs (Weiser). Since shevu’ah ¹⁸ For some reason I.E. did not elaborate on this in his comments on Num. 30:3. See Weiser. Also see I.E.’s comments on Zech. 4:10.

A TAMARISK-TREE. Eshel (a tamarisk tree) is a tree.¹⁹ to mean an inn (Sotah 10a), hence I.E.’s comment. The word va-yitta (and he planted) which precedes it is also proof of this.²⁰ is a tree, our verse also indicates the same.

footnotes: ¹⁹ Cf. I Sam. 22:6. Some of the Talmudic sages interpret eshel ²⁰ Aside from the fact that we know from other sources that eshel