Genesis 16:13-16

She called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?” Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

Hagar bore a son for Abram. Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Because of this incident, the spring where Hagar was found by God has got a special name. Some of this language may sound a bit strange to us in today’s English. The part where it talks about the name of the well when it says “Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered” could be translated like this: “So now, there’s a well there called Beer Lahai Roi. Check it out. It’s between Kadesh and Bered.” The fact that Genesis is suggesting that people know about and see the well and it’s name is more confirmation that Genesis is a historical record.
A merely symbolic document, or one that is trying to cover for inaccuracies, would probably not tell you to check things out.

So Hagar went back and had her baby when Abram was 86. We can see that human genetics were pretty good at that time. Obviously, something has changed since then since people rarely live that long, let alone start families. This definitely doesn’t confirm evolution. I hear a lot about how people are living longer these days but when you look at the lifespan of people like Noah and Abram it doesn’t sound that convincing. It sounds more like a reason to deny people their Social Security. The cost of health care is more revealing about the true condition of our modern genes.

It was Abram that named Ishmael. It is clear that he loved him and was very happy to have a son. God loves everyone He creates and no one is a mistake to Him. God knew and planned on the fact that Ishmael would be born even though it was not under the right human circumstances. God loves everyone and wants to have a personal relationship with each one of us. It doesn’t depend on our parents and what they have done, and there is no biblical reason for people to mistreat others because of the sins of their parents. This is a fallen world as we have read and no one is without sin and shame. It is only by self-righteousness that we attempt to make ourselves look better than other sinners and God doesn’t respect that as we see here.