Genesis 21:12 Commentary and Bible Study

God said to Abraham, ‘Listen to her.’ That is not quite how it is put in the Authorised Version, but it is exactly the same: ‘Hearken to her voice’, ‘Listen to her’. The apostle Peter says in 1 Peter 3:6 that she was a godly woman, and she called Abraham ‘lord’, and she did as he was told, but do not think that means, she did it on every occasion and without thinking. There were times when she knew the word of God, and she knew that this had to come to an end in order to obey the word of God. In this case Abraham, whom she called lord, was prevaricating and delaying, and God said to Abraham, ‘She is right. Listen to her. That is exactly what I have said.’ Whatever Sarah has said, listen to her. That is a good motto for husbands in every age. Listen to your wife. You are the head of the home, but listen to your wife. You have got mutuality here. In this case Sarah is quite right; this is the Lord's will.‘For in Isaac shall thy seed be called.’ That last phrase proves that the issue was that Hagar and Ishmael did not accept that Isaac was the heir and the seed. This was the crucial issue. Sarah saw it, but Abraham would not face up to it. It had been wrong for Abraham to allow circumstances that led to the birth of Ishmael, and yet there is going to be a blessing somewhere else away from the family of God's people, even for Ishmael.Isn't it curious? Chapter 20 speaks of God's unseen provision for Abraham, which he did not foresee, that he would be guided to one of the few places on earth where there was a godly ruler, and yet he was not providing a proper and a suitable environment for Isaac, his son and heir. He was hoping to get away with bringing up saints and sinners under the same roof, in the same family, in the same church, as it were. What God had provided for him, he was not preparing for his own, and so he is reproved for that.