Bible Strands
Genesis 21:10
and she said to Abraham, “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Sarah speaks to Abraham immediately after observing Ishmael mocking Isaac, demanding he remove Hagar and her son from the household. This occurs at the moment Isaac is weaned and the two sons' statuses become irreconcilable.
The words — The command גָּרֵ֛שׁ (ga.Resh) literally means "drive out," establishing a permanent removal from the family line. Sarah anchors the demand in כִּ֣י (ki), meaning "for," stating the factual condition that the slave woman’s son cannot share Isaac’s inheritance.
The thread — The distinction between the expelled son and the promised heir runs directly into Galatians 4:22 and John 8:35. The irreversible nature of the separation anticipates the warning in 1 John 2:19 regarding those who depart from the covenant community.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that inheritance follows declared promise, not human arrangement or biological proximity. It demands acceptance that covenant boundaries are fixed by divine declaration, not negotiated by family sentiment.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
Cross-references
- John 8:35 A slave does not remain in the house forever, but a son remains forever.
- Galatians 4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.
- 1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us.
- Genesis 36:6 Later, Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the people of his household, along with his livestock, all his other animals, and all the property he had acquired in Canaan, and he moved to a land far away from his brother Jacob.
- 1 Peter 1:4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you,
- Genesis 25:19 This is the account of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac,
- Matthew 8:11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
- Matthew 22:13 Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
- Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God freely granted it to Abraham through a promise.
- Galatians 4:7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.