to "grave" · verb — perfect passive indicative, 3rd person singular
that
ὅτιhoti
G3754
demonstrative · conjunction
Abraham
ἈβραὰμAbraam
G11
Abraham · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
had
ἔσχεν,eschen
G2192
to hold (used in very various applications · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
two
δύοduo
G1417
"two" · adjective — numeral, indeclinable
sons
υἱοὺςhuious
G5207
a "son" (sometimes of animals) · noun — accusative plural masculine
one
ἕναhena
G1520
one · adjective — accusative singular masculine
by
ἐκek
G1537
literal or figurative · preposition
bondmaid
παιδίσκηςpaidiskēs
G3814
a girl · noun — genitive singular feminine
other
ἕναhena
G1520
one · adjective — accusative singular masculine
by
ἐκek
G1537
literal or figurative · preposition
freewoman
ἐλευθέρας.eleutheras
G1658
unrestrained (to go at pleasure) · adjective — genitive singular feminine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 16:15 And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
Genesis 21:10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with…
Genesis 16:2-4 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtai…
Genesis 21:1-2 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Galatians 4:21–end
In these verses the apostle illustrates the difference between believers who rested in Christ only and those judaizers who trusted in the law, by a comparison taken from the story of Isaac and Ishmael. This he introduces in such a manner as was proper to strike and impress their minds, and to convince them of their great weakness in departing from the truth, and suffering themselves to be deprived of the liberty of the gospel: Tell me, says he, you that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? He takes it for granted that they did hear the law, for among the Jews it was wont to be read in their public assemblies every sabbath day; and, since they were so very fond of being under…
(Gen 16:3-16; Gen 21:2).
Abraham--whose sons ye wish to be (compare Rom 9:7-9).
a bond maid . . . a free woman--rather, as Greek, "the bond maid . . . the free woman."
Adam Clarke on Galatians 4:22
For it is written - Viz. in Gen 16:15; Gen 22:1, etc., that Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac; the one; Ishmael, by a bond maid, Hagar; the other, Isaac, by a free woman, Sarah.
John Gill on Galatians 4:22
For it is written,.... In Genesis 16:15
that Abraham had two sons, not two sons only; for besides the two referred to, he had six more, Genesis 25:2 but it being only pertinent to the apostle's purpose to take notice of these two, he mentions no more, though he does not deny that he had any more. These two sons were Ishmael and Isaac:
the one by a bondmaid. Ishmael was by Hagar, Sarah's servant, who represented the covenant the Jewish nation was under the bondage of.
The other by a free woman. Isaac was by Sarah, Abraham's proper and lawful wife, who was mistress of the family, and represented in figure the covenant, and Gospel church state, and all believers, Gentiles as well as Jews, as…
He returns again to Abraham, not in the way of repetition, but, inasmuch as the Patriarch's fame was great among the Jews, to show that the types had their origin from thence, and that present events were pictured aforetime in him. Having previously shown that the Galatians were sons of Abraham, now, in that the Patriarch's sons were not of equal dignity, one being by a bondwoman, the other by a free-woman, he shows that they were not only his sons, but sons in the same sense as he that was freeborn and noble. Such is the power of Faith.
But why enlarge on such a subject? When the very apostle whom our heretics adopt, interprets the law which allows an unmuzzled mouth to the oxen that tread out the corn, not of cattle, but of ourselves; and also alleges that the rock which followed (the Israelites) and supplied them with drink was Christ; teaching the Galatians, moreover, that the two narratives of the sons of Abraham had an allegorical meaning in their course; and to the Ephesians giving an intimation that, when it was declared in the beginning that a man should leave his father and mother and become one flesh with his wife, he applied this to Christ and the church.
"Abraham had two sons." He wishes to show that those who are Abraham's offspring by physical kinship, that is, the Jews, are related by flesh, while those who are brought into Abraham's offspring by faith, that is, the Christians, are offspring of Abraham by promise. But even then, he says, the son according to the flesh, Ishmael, was cast out, just as now his fleshly kin, the Jews, have been. And he calls the son according to the promise, Isaac, who remained inside, just as now, he says, the kin according to the promise, the Christians. Do you see that the law knows how to expel those who belong to it alone, that is, the Jews?
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Heaven — (1.) Definitions. The phrase “heaven and earth” is used to indicate the whole universe (Gen. 1:1; Jer. 23:24; Acts 17:24). According to the Jewish notion there were three heavens, (a) The firmament,…
Sarah — Princess, the wife and at the same time the half-sister of Abraham (Gen. 11:29; 20:12). This name was given to her at the time that it was announced to Abraham that she should be the mother of the…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Galatians 4:21-26
Galatians 4:21-26
21. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
21. Dicite mihi, qui sub Lege vultis esse, Legem non auditis?
22. For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
22. Scriptum est enim, quod Abraham duos filios habuit; unum ex ancilla, alterum ex libera.
23. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
23. Sed qui erat ex ancilla, secundum carnem erat genitus: qui vero ex libera, per promissionem.
24. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
24. Quae…
The son of the slave wife was Ishmael, born to Sarah’s servant Hagar (see Gen 16:15). Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham in a human attempt to obtain the heir (see Gen 16:1-4) that God had promised (see Gen 15:1-6). Sarah’s son, Isaac, was the son of the freeborn wife (see Gen 21:2-3); he was miraculously conceived as God’s own fulfillment of his promise (see Gen 17:15-21).
