And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do". (Gen 21,22)

Abimelech first had a conflict with Abraham when he rebuked him for the way he had treated him (out of fear, Abraham concealed that Sarah was his wife, and when Abimelech took her into his harem, God scared him with a death threat if he has sex with her). From the above verse, we can better understand why Abraham was afraid at the time: "...and Phichol, the captain of his army." Abimelech was practically just a tribal leader of Gerar, but he also had his own army with a certain command structure, so it was not just a few people. When Abraham came to reside in their territory, he was clearly in the minority and acted accordingly in fear, but we've covered that before.

So, after God's intervention, Abimelech was afraid to harm Abraham, but his attitude towards him was certainly not entirely friendly. Rather, it could be described as "respect from a proper distance." But that is precisely why his observation that "God is with you, Abraham, in all that you do" is so valuable. If Abimelech had been his friend, he would have inclined to say only positive things to him and to view reality in a somewhat distorted way, as is usually the case with friends. At those we like we excuse a lot of things. But when a person who doesn't love us says something positive about us, then we can be sure it's true. So the Council of Constance senselessly condemned John Hus for heresies, but could not deny him (as it stated) that he lived a very virtuous life. Surely there can be no doubt about this, if even his enemies acknowledged it! 

Abimelech's observation that God is with Abraham "in all things" demonstrates the extent of the greatness of God's blessing upon this man of God. Abimelech understood only that part of it which was outwardly visible, and could therefore reach the minds of the Gentiles. In other words, he measured God's favor by earthly success. He clearly seems not to have any idea of that far more precious part which is found in the inner man, when he is filled with a living relationship with God.

As for Abraham, I personally conclude that after his long road on the path of discipleship, this inner part was already much more important for him and far more valued.

So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. (Gen 21,20)

It is not easy for us to understand that God often blesses things that are not of His will. Even things that He would not approve of. I don't mean ones that are directed against Him, or that are straight out of hell in nature. But He will bless many decisions, actions, activities that He did not initiate, did not intend, simply because they were carried out by His own people on earth.

Scripture tells us that "God was with the boy." What does that mean? Nothing more and nothing less than that God's hand protected him to grow up. Back then a human life hung by a thread, and the circumstances in which its thread might be broken by sickness or violence were many more than today. Ishmael was not a worshiper of God and a bearer of His blessings on earth in the sense that Isaac later was. We do not know if he believed in the God of Abraham (and did not abandon faith in Him after he was cast out by Abraham). If he did, we have no idea if and how his faith manifested itself. So we know that "God was with the boy", but we no longer know whether "the boy was with God". Rather, we can believe that Ishmael's faith merged with the religion of the surrounding tribes, resulting in yet another of the many mixtures of true faith and pagan superstition that have filled the earth from time immemorial.  

To be blessed like Ishmael is certainly good. But it is a blessing that ends with its recipient, does him good, but is not enough to continue to bless the earth through him. Ishmael was not thinking of anything like this, and his restless nature certainly wasn't up to it. He had become a hunter, the head of the tribe, and the people around certainly had respect of him, perhaps even fear. But we can't really imagine him being a light to others in their quest for God, as Abraham was. How often we are concerned only with God blessing us, simply to make us well. Yes, it's good when that happens. It's a time to enjoy, to rejoice. But if we don't want to stop here and want to move on, we need to get from Ishmael to Isaac in our thinking. To not just want to be comfortable (albeit with God), but to seek which thing is sovereignly God's so that we can enter into it and become a blessing to this earth. 

This river of blessing flows from a source we do not possess. So the only way to take from its fullness and give forth is to enter into it.

And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept. ... Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. (Gen 21,15-16.19)

For the second time Hagar is on her way from her masters. The first time she fled of her own free will, now she is banished. And each time, God's messengers stop her on her way and rescue her. The first time, they sent her back because the little child would have perished otherwise. Now they help her find water, without which she will soon die in the desert. 

Was Hagar the reason God and his angels have her in their sights and will not let her fall in her most difficult moments? Did she have such a personal relationship with Him that God guided her with His hand much more than other people? It doesn't seem so. God is clearly not coming for her sake, but for Ishmael's sake. And one might say, not for Ishmael, who was not in God's original plan, but for Abraham. So great is God's respect for his friend, so seriously does he take him, with his pros and his faults, that God will take care of his son, just because he is Abraham's.

In the moments of crisis, we are much like Hagar. We are weighed down by a difficult situation, our minds so preoccupied with an insurmountable problem that we no longer see what God is offering us and what is often so close at hand. We need to tear the veil from our eyes, and suddenly everything is different.

Jesus once said to pay attention to how we hear. But on the journey of discipleship, how we see is equally important. So often we need "ointment to rub on our eyes to see"! (Rev 3:18) 

Not only to see the truth, but often also the hope.

But God said to Abraham, "Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed." So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. (Gen 21,12-14)

When we read about such treatment of people, we think it corresponds more to an effort to get them out of the way forever than dealing with one's own son. After all, Abraham was, as we know from earlier, "very rich." He could easily have furnished Hagar and Ishmael with provisions on several camels, and placed his servants at his command for escort and protection, and yet he does not seem to have done anything that would have saved them with certainty from perishing.

Such a proceeding was contrary to the custom of the time. He might therefore have counted on the fact that if Hagar and Ishmael eventually found refuge with the surrounding tribes, it would not make him popular with them (to put it mildly). What kind of man drives his own son into the desert? Abraham enjoyed respectability with the neighboring tribes, not only because of the supernatural intervention of his God with Abimelech, but generally by the way he conducted himself among them, keeping his farm, keeping the agreements he made, etc. If, after much deliberation, he decided to take such a drastic step, there must have been something fundamental behind it.

Ishmael must have been perhaps 15-16 years old at this point. For we know that he was 13 years older than Isaac, who had just been weaned, which was common only after a few years. (This is also why I choose the text correction "he put it on her shoulders" instead of "he put the child on her shoulders" in the quoted text.) Ishmael was by this time already physically mature and apparently capable of anything. 

Abraham eventually gave in to Sarah's insistence, but apparently it wasn't just because she drove him to do so. We know that he was very distressed about it; he was about to do something he didn't quite want to. Sarah's request was so strange to him that he eventually sought God on the matter. 

From all this we may conclude that the reason for the situation, namely, Ishmael's action towards Isaac, was indeed extremely serious, and his jealousy towards the child obviously dangerous. Peaceful coexistence was unfortunately out of possibility here. Ishmael had to go away.