21:6,7
“God has brought me laughter”. Earlier Sarah had laughed in unbelief, and the name Isaac must have seemed like a rebuke from God. Now Sarah laughs with joy, and the name is a reminder of how God has transformed the situation. What God has done is utterly ridiculous, it should never have happened, it was utterly impossible. Yet, it is what God has done. Note how much of Sarah’s thinking over the twenty five years was wrong. She thought she would never have a child. She thought that Abraham sleeping with the maid was a good idea, when God said they would have a child she thought it laughably impossible. We need to trust in God and not lean on our own understanding (Prov 3:5,6).
21:8-10
The child grew and was weaned, this would be when he was about three year old. On that day Braham held a great feast to celebrate. At this point it became apparent that Ishmael was mocking Isaac. Sarah told Abraham to get rid of Ishmael, seeing that he would never share in the inheritance with Isaac. Great play is made of this in Galatians 4:21-30. Ishmael, or rather Hagar, is seen as representing salvation by human effort. Isaac, or Sarah, represents salvation based on the promise of God and the grace of God. Human effort will always mock and abuse salvation by grace.
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