Genesis 21

Many sounds in this chapter!

God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.

Isaac the long awaited one finally arrives. Abraham and Sarah laughed previously but now the sound of their laughter takes on flesh as Isaac not only their laugh but God’s.

However the sound of laughter very quickly seems to die out quickly. Sarah sees Isaac being mocked. And Abraham seemingly unable to make a decision sends Hagar and Ishmael off into the desert.

she lifted up her voice and wept

The water is over and Hagar can’t bear to see her child like this.

And God heard the voice of the boy

The boy? But wasn’t it Hagar who was weeping? We can ask whether God was not listening to Hagar. However there is another way to hear this. Hagar and the boy become one voice in their distress. The cry has mingled together. The cry is the connection to God.

And God, whom Hagar has named ‘the one who sees’ now opens Hagar’s eyes. Hagar the abandoned, foreign, slave, woman is a sound in the wilderness heard and seen by God. The tree fell in the forest and it was heard.

Back to the vacillating Abraham and he now swears an oath with Abimelech, the one he lied to. The sound is part of their contract. Can the one who lied be trusted? Maybe this is why the sheep have to be given. The flesh is more trusted than the word.