What Does Genesis 21:2 Mean?
For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.THE KEY
The Hebrew for “set time” also means an appointment, so the birth is the moment the spoken word meets Sarah’s life.
THE MEANING
Age does not set the limit in this verse: Sarah conceives and bears Abraham a son at the appointed time. The spoken word takes form in life, so fulfillment appears as an event, not only as something said.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what has not happened by now must be too late.
THE ROOT
מוֹעֵד
mo'ed
GROWS FROM
י־ע־ד
y-ʿ-d
To appoint, designate, or set a meeting.
“Set time” can sound like a date on a calendar, but מוֹעֵד (mo’ed, appointed time or meeting) also names an appointed occasion. Its root gives the timing a sense of an appointment reaching its designated moment.
ALSO GROWS
ya'ad: To appoint, designate, or meet.
יָעַד
The appointed time in the verse is connected to the act of setting an occasion.
edah: An assembly or congregation.
עֵדָה
This branch connects the root of appointment with a gathering, giving “set time” the sense of an occasion people meet for.
דִּבֶּר
dibber
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak or utter; the related noun names a word, matter, or thing.
The verse’s “spoken” belongs to the same root as דָּבָר (davar, word or matter). Hebrew holds speech and the matter spoken together, so God’s words here are joined to the concrete event that follows.
ALSO GROWS
davar: A word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
It links the speech God gave Abraham with the event that becomes real in Sarah’s life.
dibber: Spoke or uttered.
דִּבֶּר
This is the verb used in the verse: the birth is tied directly to what God had spoken.
THE PATTERN
What is spoken reaches an appointed moment and becomes an event.
Is any word too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will turn back to you, at this season of life, and Sarah will have a son.For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and at the end it will breathe and not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it. Because it will surely come, it will not stay behind.But when the time was filled, God sent out his Son, come from a woman, come under the instruction.THE THREAD
Is any word too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will turn back to you, at this season of life, and Sarah will have a son.Both verses use מוֹעֵד (mo’ed, appointed time or meeting). Genesis 18:14 names the appointment; Genesis 21:2 shows it arriving as Sarah’s son.
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