destroying Sodom, so Avraham pleads with Hashem on their behalf. The other two angels head towards Sodom planning on destroying it. Lot invites them in to his house and shortly after, the wicked people of Sodom come to Lot’s house demanding for him to hand over his guests. He refused, and when the people of Sodom were about to hurt him, the angels struck all the people with blindness. They then revealed to Lot why they had come - - to save him and his family. Lot’s wife got turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back after being specifically told not to. Lot and his two daughters take refuge in a cave. They are convinced that the world is going to end. In order to give birth, they get their father drunk and lie with him. Moav and Amon are born.
Avraham moves but he must lie and say that Sarah was his sister instead of saying that he was his wife because he was afraid that the king would kill him. Was Avraham completely sure that Avimelech was going to kill him? Avraham knew that there was no fear of God in Gerar, because when he came, they asked about his wife instead of asking about his arrangements. He knew that Avimelech was going to kill him in order to get Sarah as a wife, so he said that they were siblings. As expected, Avimelech takes Sarah as his wife. Hashem comes to him in a dream and threatens him. He gives Sarah back. Avimelech asks Avraham why he had lied to him and Avraham answers, “There is but no fear of God in this place and they will slay me because of my wife,” he goes on to explain that Sarah really is his sister. Avimelech was not interested in whether Sarah was Avraham’s sister or not, all he wanted to know was why Avraham didn’t tell him that he was married to Sarah. If that’s the case, then why did Avraham add that they were truly siblings? He wanted everyone to know, that even in a life threatening situation, `he still tells the truth instead of lying. Rashi goes on to point out, that instead of expressing his truthfulness, it seems like he is expressing his falsity by stating again that Sarah was his sister when she really was his niece. Rashi explains, that “sister” can be used instead of “niece.”
A little while later, Yitzchak is born. Sarah told Avraham to banish Hagar and her son (who was also Avraham’s son). “This matter greatly distressed Avraham regarding his son.” Rashi explains, that if it only said, “This matter greatly distressed Avraham,” then we could infer that Avraham is upset that he is sending Hagar and Yishmael away. Since it says, “regarding his son,” it means that he was upset to hear, that Yishmael had gone forth with his evil behavior. It still seems cruel when we see how Sarah treated Hagar and her son to the extent of banishing them. In order to see that the reason for banishing them wasn’t just plain cruelty, we must look at the core of the problem: Yishmael. He was a bad influence on Yitzchak. It is natural for a younger brother to look up to the older brother. Yitzchak would look up to Yishmael but the only problem was that Yishmael was a bad influence! Sarah saw Yishmael ,מְצַחֵק”, meaning, mocking. Rashi explains that this world implies that Yishmael was worshipping idols, assaulting women and, it implies that Yishamel is associated with murder. He would say to Yitzchak, “I am the firstborn son, I am entitled to a double share of the inheritance,” Yismael would quarrel with Yitzchak and they would go out into the field, Yishmael would take his bow and shoot arrows at Yitzchak. He would shoot them, intending to kill and claim that it was only a joke. He was a danger to Yitzchak both spiritually and physically. Yitzchak was the father of the Jewish people! He couldn’t live with his life in jeopardy and be influenced like his brother. Sarah isn’t that cruel; she just wants to shield her son. Is it still hard to picture Sarah as a victim? Or can you just not forget what she did? Isn’t Hagar the victim? She is being kicked out of her home, how can she possibly be the cruel one? She isn’t a mean person; it’s just her son who is bad, right? Rachel Levmore explains, when the water ran out and her son was dying, she put him down and went of to cry. Why did she move away from her dying son? Perhaps she went away to pray for her son? We might think this, but the answer is no! She went away to cry about her own pains and miseries. A mother should hold her child in her arms and comfort them. “She cast the child under one of of the bushes.” She didn’t gently put her son down to look for water, she basically threw him down. She didn’t want to face what was happening. אַל אֶרְאֶה “‘בְּמוֹת הַיָּלֶד וַתֵּשֶׁב מִנֶּגֶד וַתִּשָּׂא אֶת קֹלָהּ וַתֵּבְךְּ (Gen. 21:15-16).“Let me not look on as the child dies. And sitting thus afar, she raised her voice, wailing.” We can see from here that she didn’t care about her child as much as a mother should. When it comes down to it, she is selfish and cares only about herself.
Hashem hears the cries of the dying boy. Hashem answers Yishmael not Hagar. Rashi learns from here, that the prayers of a sick person are more effective then the prayers of others on their behalf. At this point in time, he didn’t do anything that bad yet so Hashem saves him even though he would do many bad things to Bnei Yisrael in the future. Hashem only judges us on the deeds that we do in the present time, not with the deeds that we are destined to do. We didn’t hear about Yishmael’s crying because it focuses on Hagar crying when her son was in more pain then she was. Hashem shows her a well of water and instructs her to pick up her son and hold his hand. This should be a natural instinct for her. Hashem says to her,
קוּמִי שְׂאִי אֶת הַנַּעַר וְהַחֲזִיקִי אֶת יָדֵךְ בּוֹ כִּי לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל אֲשִׂימֶנּוּ:
“Rise, pick up the lad and grasp your hand upon him, for I shall make him into a great nation.”(Gen. 21:17-18). Hashem needs to teach her how to be a mother. Yishmael grows up and becomes an archer. If we compare Yishmael’s behavior to Yitzchak’s, we see how much the parents affect what you become. The parsha ends when Hashem tests Avraham and commands him to sacrifice his son. We would think that Yitzchak resisted but on the contrary he did it willingly. This shows how special Avraham and his son are. They both have complete trust in Hashem- blind trust. If Avraham could trust Hashem when he tells him to sacrifice his only son, then we should be able to trust Hashem in things that effect us much less. Avraham raises his knife but a call from heaven stops him, and a ram is offered in his place. This is known as Akedet Yitzchak.