Ishmael

Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar, was the ancestor of various Arab tribes. Though not the chosen heir, he was still blessed by God.

Ishmael was the first son of Abraham, born to him through Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian maidservant (Gen 16:15). His birth came after Sarah, who was barren, had given Hagar to Abraham to bear a child on her behalf. God spoke to Hagar, telling her to name the child Ishmael, meaning "God hears" (Gen 16:11).

As he grew, Ishmael became a skilled archer (Gen 21:20). When Isaac was born to Sarah, she insisted that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away (Gen 21:10). God confirmed this action but promised to make Ishmael a great nation (Gen.21.13,18). Ishmael settled in the wilderness of Paran and married an Egyptian woman (Gen 21:21).

Ishmael had twelve sons who became tribal rulers (Gen 17:20; 25.13-16). He lived to be 137 years old (Gen 25:17). Ishmael and Isaac together buried their father Abraham (Gen 25:9).

Ishmael's descendants, the Ishmaelites, are mentioned as traders who purchased Joseph from his brothers (Gen 37:25-28; 39.1). They are also noted as skilled archers (Isa 21:17) and as enemies of Israel (Psa 83:6). One of David's warriors, Zebadiah, was the son of an Ishmaelite (1Ch 2:17; 27.30).

Ishmael represents the ancestors of various Arab tribes. His story illustrates God's faithfulness to His promises, even to those not chosen for the primary covenant line.

Abraham’s eldest son, by Hagar the concubine (Gen. 16:15; 17:23). He was born at Mamre, when Abraham was eighty-six years of age, eleven years after his arrival in Canaan (16:3; 21:5). At the age of thirteen he was circumcised (17:25). He grew up a true child of the desert, wild and wayward. On the occasion of the weaning of Isaac his rude and wayward spirit broke out in expressions of insult and mockery (21:9, 10); and Sarah, discovering this, said to Abraham, “Expel this slave and her son.” Influenced by a divine admonition, Abraham dismissed Hagar and her son with no more than a skin of water and some bread. The narrative describing this act is one of the most beautiful and touching incidents of patriarchal life (Gen. 21:14-16).

Ishmael settled in the land of Paran, a region lying between Canaan and the mountains of Sinai; and “God was with him, and he became a great archer” (Gen. 21:9-21). He became a great desert chief, but of his history little is recorded. He was about ninety years of age when his father Abraham died, in connection with whose burial he once more for a moment reappears. On this occasion the two brothers met after being long separated. “Isaac with his hundreds of household slaves, Ishmael with his troops of wild retainers and half-savage allies, in all the state of a Bedouin prince, gathered before the cave of Machpelah, in the midst of the men of Heth, to pay the last duties to the ‘father of the faithful,’ would make a notable subject for an artist” (Gen. 25:9). Of the after events of his life but little is known. He died at the age of one hundred and thirty-seven years, but where and when are unknown (25:17). He had twelve sons, who became the founders of so many Arab tribes or colonies, the Ishmaelites, who spread over the wide desert spaces of Northern Arabia from the Red Sea to the Euphrates (Gen. 37:25, 27, 28; 39:1), “their hand against every man, and every man’s hand against them.”