Genesis 21:1 The Lord came to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him. 3 Abraham named his son who was born to him—the one Sarah bore to him—Isaac. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
The Lord kept his promise to Abraham, just as he keeps all his promises. This helps us to see God will keep his promises to us as well. Abraham also did everything he was commanded to in regards to Isaac.
Genesis 21:6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7 She also said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him in his old age.”
"Everyone who hears will laugh with me." This laughter is not because the event is funny, but that it is unbelievable or incredible. If your grandmother, who was 90 years old, came and told you she just gave birth to a baby boy, would you not laugh and ask if she were kidding you!
Genesis 21:8 The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son mocking—the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave with her son, for the son of this slave will not be a coheir with my son Isaac!”
Sarah did not want Isaac to have competition with Ishmael for his father's inheritance.
Genesis 21:11 Now this was a very difficult thing for Abraham because of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be concerned about the boy and your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac. 13 But I will also make a nation of the slave’s son because he is your offspring.”
Abraham loved both his sons and did not want Ishmael to leave. God gave Abraham a promise concerning Ishmael, that he too would be a great nation like his brother. God told Abraham it would be ok for him to turn out Ishmael, for he too would prosper.
Genesis 21:14 Early in the morning Abraham got up, took bread and a waterskin, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her and the boy away. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beer-sheba. 15 When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I can’t bear to watch the boy die!” So as she sat nearby, she wept loudly.
Hagar and Ishmael were sent away. I wonder if Abraham tried to comfort her at all by telling her the promise God had given him concerning Ishmael? If so, this passage would show she did not believe, but if he did not, then her out crying is very understandable. Who wants to watch their only child die?
Genesis 21:17 God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What’s wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy from the place where he is. 18 Get up, help the boy up, and support him, for I will make him a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the waterskin and gave the boy a drink. 20 God was with the boy, and he grew; he settled in the wilderness and became an archer. 21 He settled in the Wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
The angel of the Lord told her the promise for Ishmael and led her to a well so they could drink. God saved them in the wilderness so that his promise could be fulfilled
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