Isaac is weaned, and Ishmael is seen laughing—or mocking. Sarah demands: "Cast out this slave woman with her son." Abraham is distressed, but God tells him to listen to Sarah. So Hagar is sent away again—this time with her teenage son. When the water runs out, she puts Ishmael under a bush, unable to watch him die. And then: "God heard the voice of the boy." Ishmael means "God hears." Even in exile, even in the wilderness, God hears. He opens Hagar's eyes to a well. Ishmael survives, becomes an archer, fathers twelve princes. Not the child of promise, but not abandoned either.

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