Ishmael and Isaac
In 1910 BC, Abraham's wife, Sarah, frustrated with her inability to have a child and impatient with God's timing, asked Abraham to give her a child through their Egyptian maidservant 'Hagar'.
"Now Sarai, Abrams wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar so she said to Abram, "The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." (
Genesis 16:1-2)
Hagar, servant that she was, submitted to being used this way. But her pregnancy gave birth to strong feelings of superiority toward Sarah. During Hagar's pregnancy, friction began to develop between Sarah and Hagar and when Hagar could no longer endure it, she fled into the desert. There God instructed her to return to Sarah, promising, "I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude" (
Genesis 16:10). Into this tense, atmosphere Ishmael was born and for 13 years Abraham thought Ishmael's birth had fulfilled God's promise (Ishmael would become the progenitor of today's Arab world - the Arabs are an Ishmaelite3 race).
When Abraham reached 99 years of age, God appeared to him and announced that his wife Sarah would bear him a son and that they would call him Isaac. And it would be through Isaac that God would establish His covenant (Isaac became the father of the Israelites). Abraham struggled with this because he loved Ishmael dearly and desired that he be his heir and receive the birthright blessings. (
Gen 17:18) "O that Ishmael might live before thee!" But the birthright was denied to Ishmael.
"And I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall come from her." Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Will a child be born to a man 100 years old? And will Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child?" And Abraham said to God, Oh that Ishmael might live before Thee (meaning he was first born)! But God said, "No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him." (
Genesis 17:16-19)
After the birth of Isaac, Hagar and Ishmael were sent away at Sarah's insistence,
(
Gen 21:10) "Cast out this bondwoman and her son," Sarah demanded. Sarah was adamant that Ishmael should not inherit along with Isaac. God instructed Abraham to do as Sarah desired, but he reassured Abraham that, (
Gen 21:13) also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed." But God also knew what kind of people Ishmael's descendants would be when He spoke prophetically to Hagar saying,
(
Genesis 16:12) And he will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren, literally, he shall defy all his kinsmen.
Genesis 25:18), His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the border of Egypt, as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers and to this day Arab hands have been against every man and every man's against theirs and they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.”
Ishmael was not a spirit of implacable hatred and murder against Isaac, but rather one of envy and rivalry. Ishmael's position in the family had been radically altered by Isaac's birth. This had wounded his proud spirit, and provoked him into a jealousy. And time has not softened this spirit of envy either. Attitudes and historical perspectives are often transmitted from father to son and from generation to generation. The effects of the domestic rivalry in the household of Abraham are still being felt to this day in the on-going Arab-Israeli conflict.
In time, Ishmael became the father of 12 sons (his descendants are called Ishmaelites) whose names are recorded in
Genesis 25:13-16. Ishmael also had a daughter named Mahalath (Bashemath), who would later marry his half-brother Isaac's eldest son Esau, (Esau's descendants were known as Edomites).