Blessings on the Just and Unjust

Genesis 21:14-21

14 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. 15 And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. 16 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.
    17 And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18 Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.”  19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink. 20 So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21 He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Abraham sent away Ishmael, his son of the bondwoman, with Hagar and only a few provisions.  She took him and set out into the wilderness until they had no more water, and she resigned herself to what appeared to be inevitable death.  Hagar put Ishmael under a bush and sat further off so that she would not see him die, and then she did cry.  Ah, but God who hears listened to Ishmael and spoke to Hagar of how her son would be a great nation someday, which was not an empty promise.  He opened her eyes to see a well so they would not die of thirst, and they drank.  God was with the boy who would be great, yet not the son of promise to Abraham.  He ended up being an archer, which was interesting because his mother had sat him under a bush to die “at a distance of about a bowshot.”  They lived in the wilderness and his mother gave him an Egyptian wife (she was also Egyptian - Genesis 21:9).  What we learn here is that God blesses the just and unjust, and His earthly blessings are not the same as His promised blessings of His chosen people.  His goodness to all is not the same as His promises to all.