Bede : And when Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian playing, she said to Abraham: "Expel this slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac." Some manuscripts have: "The son of Hagar the Egyptian playing with her son Isaac," which does not appear in the Hebrew; but whether he was playing with Isaac or in the presence of Isaac, Sarah did not want the son of the slave woman to be a playmate to her son; she did not want him, whom the old woman had received in promise, to be unworthy of the promises and heavenly blessing by the ignoble examples or associations of a bastard; therefore the Apostle did not hesitate to call this play persecution. For one persecutes his brother not only by pursuing him with swords, hatred, or insults, but also by trying to divert him from the rectitude of his purity with playful or silly conversations; hence also the Psalmist says: "The wicked have told me fables, but not as your law, O Lord; all your commandments are truth; the wicked have persecuted me, help me" (Psalms 118:85). And he himself, because he loved the law of the Lord and the commandments of truth, tolerated the storytellers as persecutors; and therefore he implored divine help to overcome them; the Apostle, moreover, clearly shows what each of Abraham's sons typically demonstrates, writing to the Galatians: "It is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman; but the one by the slave woman was born according to the flesh; the one by the free woman through the promise, which things are spoken allegorically. For these are the two testaments; one indeed from Mount Sinai giving birth to bondage, which is Hagar. For Sinai is a mountain in Arabia, which corresponds to the present Jerusalem, and is in bondage with her children; but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all" (Galatians 4:22). When he says that the son of the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but the son of the free woman through the promise, he openly implies that the former was born by natural custom; the latter was given by the promise signifying grace. For Ishmael was born as men are born through the usual natural sexual intercourse; therefore it is said according to the flesh; not that these are not the blessings of God, but where it was necessary to signify the gift of God, because grace is given to men undeservedly by God's generosity; it was fitting to give a son in a way that was not owed to the workings of nature. Therefore, Isaac was not born to Abraham according to the flesh, but from the promise, not because he was not produced by flesh, but because he was received from utter despair, and unless the promising God had been present, an old man would not have dared to hope for any offspring from the old wife's womb. The Apostle, explaining this law, adds: "Now we, brothers, are children of the promise like Isaac; but as then the one born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so also now" (Galatians 4:28); he does not condemn the Old Testament as contrary to the New, lest he confirms by his authority the mad doctrine of the Manichees, God forbid; for the apostles and evangelists would not be preferred in any way over Moses and the prophets who composed the Old Testament, of whose shared grace of spirit and faith he says elsewhere: "But having the same spirit of faith, as it is written: 'I believed, therefore I spoke,' we also believe, therefore we also speak" (2 Corinthians 4:13); but he surely reproves those who understand the spiritual law carnally, who seek temporal benefits and a temporal kingdom from the Lord by observing the law, not eternal goods in heaven; he blames those who trust that the letter of the law without assisting grace is sufficient for salvation, which is characteristic of the Jews, about whom he also says: "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God" (Romans 10:13); he rejects them and concludes that they are persecutors of the faithful, who, with the Gospel shining, and the grace of the New Testament clearly revealed by the Incarnation of the Lord throughout the world, nonetheless contend that circumcision, sacrifices, and legal ceremonies are necessary for those baptized in Christ; against whom his intention especially watched as he wrote this, as the well-considered text of this entire Epistle openly teaches, finally as he attaches to the words we have set out. But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave woman and her son; for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman." So then, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman, with the freedom by which Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you (Gal. 4:30). By these words, it is clearly shown that it is not the Scriptures nor the writers of the Old Testament that are to be cast out of the boundaries of the Church as if they were the slave woman and her son; but it is the carnal observance of that same Testament, after the grace and freedom of the Gospel has shone forth through Christ, that he says will cease, and faithfully fulfilled by the heirs of the New Testament in a spiritual sense. For this is how it is to be understood what the Lord says in the Gospel: "For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot, not one tittle, will pass from the law until all things are accomplished" (Matt. 5:18); which means that the things which the law and the prophets clearly speak of concerning the faith of the truth, or works of justice, and purification of heart, in order to see God, should always be accepted literally; but whatever was commanded to be observed carnally by a carnal people, such as circumcision itself, the offering of sacrifices, the daily cleaning from persistent leprosy, not only of men but also of houses and clothing, and countless such things, these should have been observed literally until the times of the Lord's Incarnation. But from the time when the Lord, rising from the dead, opened the minds of the disciples to understand the Scriptures, and to discern clearly the mysteries of prophecy in their full light, though these should be read in the Church on account of the authority of the prophecy, they should be observed spiritually and not carnally because of the clarity of grace; although the early Church in Jerusalem also observed many of the ceremonies of the law according to the letter, even among those who from the Gentiles were called to the faith and who were Judaizing, until the Church had spread far and wide throughout the world, and began to have priests and teachers from the Gentiles, who had no concern for Jewish observances but only delighted in listening to the apostolic and evangelical decrees with Christian simplicity; to this ecclesiastical disposition most beautifully corresponds the figure of the children of Abraham; for before Isaac was born, Abraham and Sarah rejoiced over Ishmael as their only son, as one who had not yet shown any pride or levity in mind or behavior, because before the Lord's Incarnation and the revelation of grace, even the spirituals rejoiced in the law, as the people kept that same law with sincere heart devotion according to the letter. And rightly so; for the same people did not resist grace, nor did they prefer the law to the Gospel; but faithfully followed the precepts of justice they had received. But after Isaac was born and not yet weaned, the love for Ishmael began to wane, as the parents rejoiced over the birth of Isaac, their mutual son, although they did not entertain any thoughts of expelling Ishmael and his mother yet, because, when the grace of the Gospel was already revealed, and the apostles were preaching Christ, the Church of believers rejoiced, the teachers themselves rejoiced over the promise of the kingdom of God bestowed upon them, but they did not immediately strive to reject the observance of circumcision and the sacrifices of the law as superfluous. For they knew that these were constituted by God, and could not reject them as harmful suddenly, especially since the infant Church was still tender and almost like an infant being nourished among such customs. But after Isaac was weaned, Sarah saw the son of the slave woman mocking, and decided that he must be cast out with his mother, because after the Church of the Gentiles grew strong in the faith of Christ, some came from Judea, carnal in mind, as if truly sons of the slave woman, not yet made free in the spirit of grace for Christ, teaching the brothers and saying: "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved" (Acts 15:1), which was more mocking and vanity than the truth of the Gospel; indeed, it was a significant persecution to want to reduce those who were already enjoying the gift of revealed light back into the shadows of figurative representations; hence, the grace-filled mother promptly decided through the council of the apostles that this doctrine with its advocates was to be cast out. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron) Ephrem the Syrian : Then the time came for Isaac to be born, and milk flowed in the breasts of the old woman. On the day of the great feast that Abraham prepared when he circumcised and weaned Isaac, Sarah noticed Ishmael playing. But Sarah also saw how much Ishmael shared the characteristics of his mother, for just as Sarah was despised in the eyes of Hagar, so too did Ishmael mock her son, and she thought, "If he acts thus to my son while I am still alive, perhaps [Abraham] will make him coheir with my son when I die and even give him two parts according to [the laws of] the firstborn." — COMMENTARY ON Genesis 18:1 Jerome : (Chapter 21, Verse 9) And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she bore to Abraham, playing. What follows, with his son Isaac, is not present in the Hebrew. Therefore, this is interpreted in two ways by the Hebrews: either that she made idols out of play, according to what is written elsewhere: The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play (Exodus 32:6); or that she claimed the rights of the firstborn against Isaac, as if he were older, through play and jest. Indeed, Sara, upon hearing this, could not bear it; and this is confirmed by her own words, saying: Cast out this bondwoman and her son. For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son Isaac. — Hebrew Questions on Genesis John Chrysostom : See, I ask you, dearly beloved, in this instance once again Sarah not tolerating the brashness of Ishmael and unable to put up equably with the maidservant's son being reared with Isaac. So just as she previously wished to check Hagar's arrogance and in her extreme irritation had her sent packing, so in this case too she wanted to nip Ishmael's forwardness in the bud. Not bearing to see the son born of grace and of the very gift of God being reared along with that of the Egyptian maidservant, she said to Abraham, "Send away the maidservant and her son: surely the son of the maidservant will not share the inheritance with my son?" Since she realized that she herself was in fact in extreme old age, and she saw the patriarch was well on (after all, they were both advanced in years), she was afraid that in the event of their sudden passing Ishmael would, on the score of his being born of an association of the patriarch, endeavor to thrust himself into his father's inheritance and become a sharer of it with Isaac. Hence she said, "Send away from here the maidservant and her son." Let her learn at this stage, she is saying, that the son of the maidservant has nothing in common with my son, Isaac. It is, in fact, not fair that the slave's son should be reared with that of the mistress, my son. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 46.2 Origen of Alexandria : But for the meantime let us return to the point from which we digressed. Abraham rejoices "and makes a great feast on the day on which he weaned Isaac his son from milk." After these things Isaac plays, and he plays with Ishmael. Sarah is indignant that the son of the slave-woman plays with the son of the free-woman, and she judges that play to be a ruin, gives counsel to Abraham, and says: "Cast out the slave-woman and her son. For the son of the slave-woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac." How these things ought to be understood, I will not now expound. The Apostle discoursed thus, saying: "Tell me, you who have read the law, have you not heard the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one of the slave-woman, and one of the free-woman. But he indeed who was of the slave-woman was born according to the flesh; but he who was of the free-woman, through the promise. Which things are allegorical." What then? Was Isaac not "born according to the flesh"? Did Sarah not bear him? Was he not circumcised? This very thing, that he played with Ishmael, did he not play in the flesh? For this is what is marvelous in the Apostle's understanding, that of things which cannot be doubted to have been done according to the flesh, he says that these are "allegorical"; so that we may know what is to be done in the rest, and especially in those things in which the historical narrative seems to indicate nothing worthy of the divine law. Ishmael therefore is born the son of the slave-woman "according to the flesh." But Isaac, who was "the son of the free-woman," is not born "according to the flesh," but "according to the promise." And the Apostle says of them that "Hagar begot into servitude" the carnal people; but Sarah, who was free, begot a people who is not "according to the flesh," but has been called into liberty, with which "liberty Christ freed him." For he himself said: "if the Son shall free you, you shall be truly free." But let us see what the Apostle adds to these things in his exposition: "but as then," he says, "he who was according to the flesh persecuted him who was according to the spirit, so also now." See how the Apostle teaches us that in all things the flesh is opposed to the spirit, whether that carnal people is opposed to this spiritual people, or even among ourselves, if anyone is still carnal, he is opposed to the spiritual. For you too, if you live "according to the flesh" and conduct yourself "according to the flesh," are a son of Hagar and therefore are opposed to those who live "according to the spirit." Or even if we search within ourselves, we find "the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these opposed to one another in turn," and we find "a law in our members warring against the law of our mind and leading us captive in the law of sin." Do you see how great are the battles of the flesh against the spirit? There is still yet another battle, more violent than almost all these, namely that those who understand the law "according to the flesh" are opposed to those who perceive "according to the spirit" and persecute them. Why? Because "the animal man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God. For it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually discerned." And you therefore, if you have in yourself "the fruit of the spirit, which is joy, love, peace, patience," can be Isaac, not "born according to the flesh," but "according to the promise," and you are "the son of the free-woman," if however you too can say according to Paul: "for walking in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty unto God for the destruction of fortifications), destroying counsels and every height that exalts itself against the knowledge of God." If you can be such that even that saying of the Apostle may worthily be fitted to you, which says: "but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if however the Spirit of God dwells in you," you therefore too, if you are such, are not "born according to the flesh," but "according to the spirit through the promise," and you will be an heir of the promises, according to what has been said: "heirs indeed of God, but co-heirs with Christ." You will not be a co-heir of him who "was born according to the flesh," but a co-heir of Christ, because "even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we no longer know him so." — HOMILIES ON Genesis 7.2 Origen of Alexandria : And yet, according to the things that are written, I do not see what moved Sarah to order the son of the slave-woman to be expelled. He was playing with her son Isaac. What harm had he done or what injury, if he was playing? As though this ought not to have been even pleasing at that age, that the son of the slave-woman should play with the son of the free-woman. Then next I also wonder at the Apostle, who pronounced this play a persecution, saying: "but as then he who was according to the flesh persecuted him who was according to the spirit, so also now," since indeed no persecution of Ishmael stirred up against Isaac is recorded; unless it be this one play of infancy alone. But let us see what Paul understood in this play and at what Sarah was indignant. Above, expounding spiritually, we placed Sarah in the position of virtue. If therefore the flesh, whose person Ishmael bears, who is born according to the flesh, flatters the spirit, which is Isaac, and deals with him in enticing deceptions, if it allures with delights, softens with pleasures, this sort of play of the flesh with the spirit offends Sarah most of all, who is virtue, and Paul judges enticements of this sort to be a most bitter persecution. And you therefore, O hearer of these things, do not think that persecution alone which occurs when by the fury of the gentiles you are compelled to sacrifice to idols; but if perchance the pleasure of the flesh allures you, if the enticement of lust plays with you, flee these, if you are a son of virtue, as the greatest persecution; for this reason too the Apostle says: "flee fornication." But also if injustice flatters you, so that "receiving the person of the powerful" and bent by favor toward him you bear a judgment that is not right, you ought to understand that under the appearance of play you suffer a flattering persecution from injustice. Indeed, throughout the individual kinds of malice, even if they are soft and delicate and like play, count it a persecution of the spirit, because in all these things virtue is offended. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 7.3 Origen of Alexandria : There are therefore two sons of Abraham, "one of the slave-woman and one of the free-woman," yet both are sons of Abraham, although both are not also of the free-woman. Therefore he too who is born of the slave-woman does not indeed become heir with the son of the free-woman, yet he receives gifts and is not dismissed empty. He too receives a blessing, but "the son of the free-woman" receives the promise. That one too is made "into a great nation," but this one into a people of adoption. Spiritually therefore all indeed who come through faith to the knowledge of God can be called sons of Abraham; but among these there are some who cleave to God out of love, others out of dread and fear of the judgment to come. Whence also the Apostle John says: "he who fears is not perfect in love; but perfect love casts out fear." That one therefore who "is perfect in love" is both born of Abraham and is "the son of the free-woman." But he who keeps the commandments not with perfect love, but with dread of future punishment and fear of torments, is indeed himself also a son of Abraham, and receives gifts himself too, that is, the reward of his work (because also "he who shall give only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, his reward shall not perish"), yet he is inferior to that one who is perfect not in servile fear, but in the liberty of love. Something of this kind the Apostle also shows, when he says: "as long indeed as the heir is a little one, he differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all, but he is under guardians and stewards, until the time appointed by the father." A "little one" therefore is he who is nourished with "milk" and "is without share in the word of righteousness" and cannot receive the "solid food" of divine wisdom and the knowledge of the law, who cannot "compare spiritual things with spiritual," who cannot yet say: "but when I became a man, I put away the things that were of a little one." That one therefore "differs nothing from a servant." But if, "leaving the word of the beginning of Christ," he is borne toward perfection and "seeks the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, not the things that are upon the earth" and "contemplates not the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen," nor in the divine scriptures follows "the letter that kills," but "the spirit that gives life": he will be without doubt of those who do not receive "the spirit of servitude again in fear, but the spirit of adoption, in which they cry Abba, Father." — HOMILIES ON Genesis 7.4