Genesis 21:14 - Exposition

And Abraham rose up early in the morning ,—hastening to put in force the Divine instructions (cf. Genesis 19:27 ; Genesis 22:8 , Abraham; Genesis 20:8 , Abimelech; Genesis 28:18 , Jacob)— and took bread, and a bottle of water, —the bottle, from a root signifying to enclose (Furst); ἀσκόν ( LXX .), was composed of skin, the material of which the earliest carrying vessels were constructed (cf. Joshua 9:4 , Joshua 9:13 ; 4:19 ; 1 Samuel 16:20 ; Matthew 9:17 ). "The monuments of Egypt, the sculptures of Mesopotamia, and the relics of Herculaneum and Pompeii afford ample opportunities to learn the shape and use of every variety of bottles, often surprising us both by their elegance and costliness" (Kalisch)— and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder ,—the usual place for carrying such vessels among Oriental women. According to Herodotus (2. 35), Egyptian women carried burdens on their shoulders, Egyptian men upon their heads— and the child ,—not placing the child, now a youth of over seventeen years, upon her shoulder ( LXX ; Schumann, Bohlen); but giving him, along with the bottle (Havernick, Kalisch, A Lapide, Ainsworth), or, as well as the bread (Keil, Murphy), to Hagar, not to be carried as a burden, but led as a companion— and sent her away— divorced her by the command of God ( A Lapide); but as Hagar was never recognized by God as Abraham's wife, her sending away was not a case of divorce (Wordsworth)—and she departed (from Beersheba, whither Abraham had by this time removed, and where, in all probability, Isaac had been born), and wandered—i.e. lost her way (cf. Genesis 37:15 )—in the wilderness (the uncultivated waste between Palestine and Egypt) of Beersheba—introduced here by anticipation, unless the incident in Genesis 21:22-33 had previously taken place ( vide on Genesis 21:31 ).