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Genesis 21:8-10 Updated American standard Version (UASV)

⁸And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah Turns against Hagar

⁹But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. ¹⁰So she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.”

We should not view Ishmael, who was about nineteen years old, with Isaac being but a toddler, as simply playing with a child. It was far more, as the next verse implies, it could have been about the heirship. Paul, using allegory spoke of this event, showing that this was more serious than children playing, it was the beginning of persecution, not simple mistreatment. Paul describes it as “he who was born according to the flesh persecuted (Gr. diōkō) him who was born according to the Spirit.” (Gal. 4:29) The Greek rendered persecuted refers to systematic harassment and oppression, and attack. On this K. A. Mathews writes,

The word in our passage (mĕṣaḥēq, piel), however, usually conveys a harmful nuance, and Sarah’s stern and swift reaction agrees that some untoward behavior occurred. Exactly what Sarah witnessed is unstated. That Ishmael publicly ridiculed the name of the toddler or the celebratory events surrounding his birth fits well the negative nuance of the term and the obvious wordplay on the name “Isaac.” The apostle Paul, in reviving this historical memory (Gal 4:29), assumed the passage portrayed harmful behavior (“persecuted the son [Isaac]”).

Expulsion of the slave and her son for teasing the child raises the question of the appropriateness of Sarah’s reaction, especially if the Hebrew should be interpreted as mere children’s play. That Sarah or Abraham was not always above inexcusable behavior is transparent from earlier episodes, but here the verse nuances the action of Ishmael as hostile. We have already noted the negative meaning of the prevalent use of mĕṣaḥēq.^[1]

Isaac receiving constant ridicule from Ishmael and verbal attacks can thus rightfully be called persecution. It, therefore, rightly resulted in the removal of Ishmael and his mother from Abraham’s household.