Commentaire sur La Genèse 21:2

למועד אשר דבר אתו Render it as Onkelos translates: “At the appointed time which He had spoken: — the time He had said and appointed. When He had said to him (18:4) “At the set time I will return unto thee”, He scratched a mark in the wall and said to him (Genesis 53:6), “When the sunrays touch this mark next year she will bear a son” (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 59:1).

ותהר ותלד שרה לאברהם בן. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son for Abraham. The Torah needed to mention the pregnancy because we had learned that Sarah did not have a womb. This shows that G'd performed an additional miracle for her (Bereshit Rabbah 53,5). The reason the Torah underlines לאברהם is to make it clear that only this son is to be viewed as an extension of Abraham, not Ishmael, as we read later in 21,12. Even though the Torah described Hagar as bearing a son "for Abraham" (16,15), the fact is that at that time Abraham was still called Abram. Once his name was changed, Abraham was no longer to be referred to by his original name. This means inter alia that Ishmael was not a son of Abraham. Perhaps the statement in Berachot 13 that someone who calls Abraham Abram is guilty of violating a positive commandment is precisely for that reason. Our sages do not want Ishmael characterised as a son of Abraham. Such considerations did not apply to Jacob whose name was changed to Israel as he could comfortably identify with all his sons. I have written some more about this subject on 35,10.

ותהר, seeing that the conception had not been mentioned in the previous verse, the Torah now reports conception and birth as if it had been a consecutive activity. We find a similar construction in Genesis 4,1 ותהר ותלד את קין, “Chavah conceived and gave birth to Kayin.”

At the set-time of which [God] had spoken, etc.: This too is part of the [harsh] speech (dibbur) that came as a punishment. As it would have been good to her that she not give birth for another year, so it would remove the doubt [about the child's paternity]. But because of the punishment, she give birth at that set-time that He had spoken.

למועד אשר דבר אותו אלוקים, “at the appointed time G’d had spoken of.” In this instance the word מועד is a time which G’d announced directly to Avraham when he was about to circumcise himself (compare 17,21) when He said “at this time in the coming year.” It was when Sarai’s name was changed to Sarah and Avram’s name to Avraham.

And she conceived: This verse explains the previous verse - that which is written, "And the Lord took account of Sarah as He had said," since, "Sarah conceived and gave birth." And that which is written, "and the Lord did to Sarah as He had spoken," since it was, "at the set-time of which God had spoken." And likewise did it say in the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 52:13), "I, the Lord, have spoken and I have done' (Ezekiel 37:14) - where did He speak? 'At the set time I will return to you' (Genesis 18:14). 'And I have done' - as it is written, 'and the Lord did to Sarah as He had spoken.'" And it comes out like Rabbi Yehudah [Rabbi Nechemiah] (Bereshit Rabbah 53:5): "'And the Lord took account of Sarah as He had said' - that which He had said in an utterance. 'And the Lord did to Sarah as He had spoken' - that which He had spoken to her though an angel."

The designated time that He spoke... Rashi is answering the question: Why is it written אֹתו? It should be vowelized אִתו, since it was spoken to Avraham. Therefore Rashi explains that אֹתו refers to the designated time. And since it cannot be said that one “speaks” a time, Rashi needed to add the phrase “and set” so that the speaking refers to the setting of the designated time.

בן לזקניו, indem Sara in den Worten, mit welchem sie das ganze Hochgefühl einer beglückten Mutter und die ganze Tiefe der Bedeutsamkeit dieses Glückes Raw Hirsch on Genesis 21: 7 ausdrückt, ebenfalls wiederholt: כי ילדתי בן לוקניו, so ist dieser Ausdruck wohl schwerlich bloß in dem Sinne zu verstehen, dass ihm ein Sohn in hohem Alter geboren worden. Es findet sich der ähnliche Ausdruck Kap.37, 3 von Josef: וישראל אהב את יוסף מכל בניו כי בן זקנים הוא לו, auch dort kann es nicht füglich in diesem Sinne genommen werden. Josef war kaum sieben Jahre jünger als Reuben und nicht mehr als um ein, zwei Jahre jünger, als die ihm unmittelbar vorhergehenden Söhne. In ב"ר wird beides durch מלמד שהיה זיו איקונין שלו דומה לו erläutert, wörtlich: der Glanz seines Angesichtes habe dem Vater geglichen. Bei Josef spricht sich noch eine andere Auffassung dahin aus: שכל הלכות שמסרו שם ועבר מסרן לו, alle Jakob gewordenen Überlieferungen habe er ihm übergeben. זקֻנים sind die Jahre, in welchen dem Manne der Gedanke an das nicht mehr ferne Scheiden von der Erde näher tritt, in welchen er sich daher nach der jüngeren Menschensprosse sehnt, auf welche er die geistigen Errungenschaften seines Lebens vererben könne, die ihn ersetzen und in welcher er geistig fortleben werde. Das Kind, das ein solcher geistiger Stellvertreter des seinem Scheiden sich nahenden Greises zu werden verspricht, den der Vater für ein solches Ziel sich zu erziehen vermag, ist ein בן לזקניו, und ein solcher war ja Jizchak seiner ganzen Bestimmung nach, und dass er ein solcher zu werden versprach, das, meint das Wort der Weisen, blitzte dem kleinen Geschöpfe schon aus dem Geiste seines Kindergesichtchens, in welchem die hochbeglückte Mutter den verjüngten Abraham erblickte.

ותהר ותלד, “she conceived, became pregnant and gave birth.” The reason why both stages are mentioned is that just as conceiving-becoming pregnant was painless, so her giving birth was also painless.

למועד אשר דבר, at the appointed time He had spoken of. According to Rashi, this refers to 18,14. According to Rashi, based on Tanchuma, Avraham scratched a line in the sundial in order to check in due course whether Yitzchok would be born at that hour of day. (or to when she would become pregnant). If so how could we have a disagreement in the Talmud as to whether Yitzchok was born in Nissan or in Tishrey? Seeing that both Nissan and Tishrey share the same equinox this is quite possible.

In his old age. That his [Yitzchok’s] facial features were similar to his [Avraham’s].

לאברהם, as G’d had said “אשר תלד לך שרה,” “whom Sarah will bear for you.” This is a customary form of syntax, as for instance in 16,15 ותלד הגר לאברהם בן, or Exodus 21,4 וילדה לו בנים ובנות, and many similar examples. A woman is considered similar to the earth in this respect, i.e. just as the earth yields fruit for its owners, so a woman produces children for her husband after he had planted his seed in her. The child was named after its father.

לזקוניו. In his old age. The Torah adds this word and does not content itself with the more appropriate לזקנתו, because, as I wrote earlier, there was an element of the divine soul missing in Isaac at the time he was born. Isaac had only been equipped with a soul which originated in the female emanations. The repetition of the words denoting birth in verses 2 and 3, are an allusion to the eventual birth of another soul during another stage of Abraham's old age. [לזקוניו, literally: "in his old ages." Ed.] In order for someone in this world to receive something, such as an additional dimension to his soul, it is essential that the one from whom the something new is imparted has prepared himself suitably prior to imparting it. This is a concept that kabbalists are familiar with. If Isaac had possessed only the "female" soul at the time of the עקדה, the fact that he himself was ready to receive an additional soul would not have sufficed. The Torah wrote here ותלד…לזקוניו, to indicate she gave birth "twice." When Abraham offered his son on the altar this was his preparation for the "second" birth of Isaac.

לזקוניו, the Torah writes this so that we better understand why Sarah had laughed when she had heard the prophecy in 18,12 and had said that her husband was too old to sire children. Another reason for the expression לזקוניו is to inform us that whereas Sarah had regained her youth at that time and had ovulated again after having ceased to do so for many years, Araham did not experience any rejuvenation, but sired a child in spite of not shedding signs of old age. There are some words in the Hebrew language which always appear in the plural mode, זקונים is one of them, so are נעורים and בתולים.

A simpler explanation of the plural לזקוניו, would see in that word the old age of both Isaac's father and mother respectively. This would reflect Sarah's having spoken about both אחרי בלותי…ואדני זקן (18,12).

אשר דבר אותו, the word אותו here is the same as if the Torah had written עמו, “with him.”