And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
Ver. 20. And God was with the lad, &c.] The fountain of Hagar, saith a divine, lying between Bared and Kadesh Barnea, was afterwards called the well of the living God; and seemeth mystically to represent baptism, the laver of regeneration. For the Church, like Hagar with her son Ishmael, travelling through the wilderness of this world, is pressed with a multitude of sins and miseries, &c. Wherefore they, joining together in prayer, crave to be refreshed with the water of life. For Hagar signifieth a pilgrim. Ishmael, a man whom the Lord heareth; who, travelling together with his mother the Church in this world, fighteth against the enemies thereof, and shooteth the arrows of faith against all infernal and cruel beasts and lusts. Thus he. a
a Itinerar. Script., fol. 95.