his distemper, but was only solicitous for his own safety:
he said also, that he was ready to stay with him. Whereupon Abimelech
assigned him land and money; and they coventanted to live together
without guile, and took an oath at a certain well called Beersheba,
which may be interpreted, The Well of the Oath: and so it is named by
the people of the country unto this day.

2. Now in a little time Abraham had a son by Sarah, as God had foretold
to him, whom he named Isaac, which signifies Laughter. And indeed they
so called him, because Sarah laughed when God [25] said that she should
bear a son, she not expecting such a thing, as being past the age of
child-bearing, for she was ninety years old, and Abraham a hundred; so
that this son was born to them both in the last year of each of those
decimal numbers. And they circumcised him upon the eighth day and from
that time the Jews continue the custom of circumcising their sons within
that number of days. But as for the Arabians, they circumcise after the
thirteenth year, because Ismael, the founder of their nation, who
was born to Abraham of the concubine, was circumcised at that age;
concerning whom I will presently give a particular account, with great
exactness.

3. As for Sarah, she at first loved Ismael, who was born of her own
handmaid Hagar, with an affection not inferior to that of her own son,
for he was brought up in order to succeed in the government; but when
she herself had borne Isaac, she was not willing that Ismael should
be brought up with him, as being too old for him, and able to do him
injuries when their father should be dead; she therefore persuaded
Abraham to send him and his mother to some distant country. Now, at the
first, he did not agree to what Sarah was so zealous for, and thought it
an instance of the greatest barbarity, to send away a young child [26]
and a woman unprovided of necessaries; but at length he agreed to it,
because God was pleased with what Sarah had determined: so he delivered
Ismael to his mother, as not yet able to go by himself; and commanded
her to take a bottle of water, and a loaf of bread, and so to depart,
and to take Necessity for her guide. But as soon as her necessary
provisions failed, she found herself in an evil case; and when the water
was almost spent, she laid the young child, who was ready to expire,
under a fig-tree, and went on further, that so he might die while she
was absent. But a Divine Angel came to