1Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken. 2Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 4Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him. 6Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7She said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”
8The child grew and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. 10Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this servant and her son! For the son of this servant will not be heir with my son, Isaac.”
11The thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight on account of his son. 12God said to Abraham, “Don’t let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your servant. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For your offspring will be named through Isaac. 13I will also make a nation of the son of the servant, because he is your child.” 14Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a container of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15The water in the container was spent, and she put the child under one of the shrubs. 16She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, “Don’t let me see the death of the child.” She sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. 17God heard the voice of the boy.
The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him with your hand. For I will make him a great nation.”
19God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the container with water, and gave the boy a drink.
20God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and as he grew up, he became an archer. 21He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother got a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
22At that time, Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his army spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do. 23Now, therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son. But according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me, and to the land in which you have lived as a foreigner.”
24Abraham said, “I will swear.” 25Abraham complained to Abimelech because of a water well, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away. 26Abimelech said, “I don’t know who has done this thing. You didn’t tell me, and I didn’t hear of it until today.”
27Abraham took sheep and cattle, and gave them to Abimelech. Those two made a covenant. 28Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. 29Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs, which you have set by themselves, mean?”
30He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well.” 31Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because they both swore an oath there. 32So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Abimelech rose up with Phicol, the captain of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. 33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God. 34Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines many days.
In the Jewish community throughout the world, when a boy (and now Bat Mitzpah for a girl) reaches the age of 13, he becomes a son of the commandment, a man under the law. At this time celebrations are held in his (her) honor and reading from the Torah scroll.
What is the origin of this practice? It is difficult to trace in the Hebrew Scriptures, and most likely occurred in the Middle Ages. Nonetheless, there is certain precedents that eventuated in the current practice.
In Genesis 21:8,[1] at the weaning of Isaac there was a great feast. Celebrations at special occasions may give rise to special practices like the Bar Mitzpah.
In Numbers 1:2-3 [2] (and elsewhere) every male upon reaching twenty years of age was numbered, and qualified for military service.
A more likely precedent for the matter of age is found in Genesis 17:25,[3] when Ishmael became thirteen he was circumcised.
We may have an example of the practice of Bar Mitzpah, in that Jesus at 12 years of age (Luke 2:41-47)[4] sat for three days among the teachers of Israel, listening and asking questions. All were amazed at his learning. Others at 12 years of age were considered to be ready for obedience to the law, as found in the writings of Josephus, when he spoke of King Amon showed his piety (Antiquities X.4.1) and of the prophet Samuel at 12 years of age began to prophesy (Antiquities V.10.4).
It is interesting that in many Christian circles, the so-called age of accountability has been viewed to be around the age of 12 or 13, when a person has moral responsibility, though I am uncertain when this perspective began.
[1] "The child grew and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned."
[2] "Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, “Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, every male, one by one, from twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go out to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall count them by their divisions."
[3] "Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin."
[4] "His parents went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast; 43 and when they had fulfilled the days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. Joseph and his mother didn’t know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the company, they went a day’s journey; and they looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45 When they didn’t find him, they returned to Jerusalem, looking for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the middle of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. 47 All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers."