Genesis 21, Matthew 21

DateVersionReading Plan
January 21, 2025ESV (2016)OT/NT Plan 2025 – 2027

Genesis 21

The LORD fulfilled His promise and Sarah conceived and bore a son. Abraham called his name Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. A great feast was held the day that Isaac was weaned, likely when he was about three years old. However, Sarah saw that Ishmael laughing and told Abraham to cast out the slave woman, Hagar, and her son, Ishmael. Abraham was displeased at the dissension but God quelled his displeasure and heed Sarah’s request. Abraham arose the next day, gave Hagar and Ishmael some bread and water and they wandered the wilderness of Beersheba.

When out of water, Hagar put her son under the bushes and said that she did not want to watch the boy die. God heard the voice of the boy and the angel of God called out to Hagar, telling her not to fear and that Ishmael would be made into a great nation. God opened her eyes and she saw a well. She filled the skin with water, gave the boy a drink and the boy grew. Ishmael lived in the wilderness of Paran and Hagar took for him a wife from the land of Egypt.

At the same time, Abimelech (king of Gerar) and his army commander approached Abraham and asked him to swear that he would not deal falsely with Abimelech’s descendants. Abraham agreed but there was later a dispute about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized. Abimelech claimed that he had not heard of it until that day and Abraham gave Abimelech seven eye lambs of the flock. Abimelech asked Abraham what they were for and Abraham said that they were a witness of the well he had dug. The two made a covenant and Abimelech and his army commander returned to the land of the Philistines (likely not the same group that settled in southern Palestine in 1200 BC)

Key Takeaways and Application

The theme of faithfulness emerges as a prominent theme in this chapter. God was faithful to His promise to Sarah in giving her a son in her old age as well as to Hagar in providing her sustenance and making of her son a great nation. Abimelech also requested Abraham’s faithfulness (”hesed” – חֶסֶד) in dealing with his descendants and Abraham responded in kind by giving him ewe lambs and establishing a covenant with him. These events showcase God’s steadfast, unwavering faithful love and of our need as followers of Christ to extend this horizontally with our neighbors.

Matthew 21

In this chapter, Jesus provided a parable of two sons who were called by their father to work in the vineyard. The first son said that he would not but then changed his mind and went. The second son responded to his father that would go but did not follow through. Jesus then asked which of the two sons did the will of the father, to which they replied, “The first.” Jesus told them that tax collectors and prostitutes enter the kingdom before them, confronting them with how John the Baptist had come to them by way of righteousness but only the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. They did not change their minds, continuing in unbelief even after having seen it.

Key Takeaways and Application

It is the lowly whose lives manifest an initial rejection of the gospel but who then later respond with full surrender as they see the emptiness worldly pleasures. By contrast, the self-sufficient respond at first with a seeming desire to surrender but their true motivations are revealed in bankrupt actuality. Jesus came to seek and save the lost—those to whom it has been revealed the depth of their sin and desperate need for salvation in Christ. May we then come to him with empty hands and contrite heart, gratefully receive what He has given us in Himself and answer His call with obedient faith.

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