The son of Abraham and Hagar. His name is derived from Shamah, to bear; and El, God. (Gen. 16. 1.)
Ishmael, 1
Ish´mael (heard of God), Abraham’s eldest son, born to him by Hagar; the circumstances of whose birth, early history, and final expulsion from his father’s tents, are related in the articles Abraham, Hagar [see also ISAAC, INHERITANCE]. He afterwards made the desert into which he had been cast his abode, and by attaching himself to, and acquiring influence over, the native tribes, rose to great authority and influence. It would seem to have been the original intention of his mother to have returned to Egypt, to which country she belonged; but this being prevented, she was content to obtain for her son wives from thence. Although their lots were cast apart, it does not appear that any serious alienation existed between Ishmael and Isaac; for we read that they both joined in the sepulchral rites of their father Abraham (Gen 25:9). This fact has not been noticed as it deserves. It is full of suggestive matter. As funerals in the East take place almost immediately after death, it is evident that Ishmael must have been called from the desert to the death-bed of his father; which implies that relations of kindness and respect had been kept up, although the brevity of the sacred narrative prevents any special notice of this circumstance. Ishmael had probably long before received an endowment from his father’s property, similar to that which had been bestowed upon the sons of Keturah (Gen 25:6). Nothing more is recorded of him than that he died at the age of 137 years, and was the father of twelve sons, who gave their names to as many tribes (Gen 17:20; Gen 25:13-16). He had also two daughters, one of whom became the wife of Esau.
It has been shown, in the article Arabia, that Ishmael has no claim to the honor, which is usually assigned to him, of being the founder of the Arabian nation. That nation existed before he was born. He merely joined it, and adopted its habits of life and character; and the tribes which sprung from him formed eventually an important section of the tribes of which it was composed. The celebrated prophecy which describes the habits of life which he, and in him his descendants, would follow, is therefore to be regarded not as describing habits which he would first establish, but such as he would adopt. The description is contained in the address of the angel to Hagar, when, before the birth of Ishmael, she fled from the tents of Abraham:—’Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael (God hears), because the Lord hath heard thine affliction. And he shall be a wild man: his hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him, and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren’ (Gen 16:11-12). This means, in short, that he and his descendants should lead the life of the Bedouins of the Arabian deserts; and how graphically this description portrays their habits, may be seen in the article Arabia, in the notes on these verses in the Pictorial Bible, and in the works of Niebuhr, Burckhardt, Lane, etc.; and, more particularly, in the Arabian romance of Antar, which presents the most perfect picture of real Bedouin manners now in existence. The last clause, ’He shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren,’ is pointedly alluded to in the brief notice of his death, which states that ’he died in the presence of all his brethren’ (Gen 25:17). Of this expression various explanations have been given, but the plainest is the most probable: which is, that Ishmael and the tribes springing from him should always be located near the kindred tribes descended from Abraham.
Ishmael, 2
Ishmael, a prince of the royal line of Judah, who found refuge among the Ammonites from the ruin which involved his family and nation. After the Chaldeans had departed he returned, and treacherously slew the too-confiding Gedaliah, who had been made governor of the miserable remnant left in the land [GEDALIAH]. Much more slaughter followed this, and Ishmael, with many people of consideration as captives, hastened to return to the Ammonites. But he was overtaken near the pool of Gibeon, by Johanan, a friend of Gedaliah, and was compelled to abandon his prey and escape for his life, with only eight attendants, to Baalis, king of the Ammonites, with whom he appears to have had a secret understanding in these transactions: B.C. 588 (Jeremiah 41).
1. Gen 16:1-16 21:1-34, son of Abraham and Hagar, B. C. 1910. He was at first regarded as "the son of the promise;" but after the birth and weaning of Isaac he was driven from his father’s house, at the age of about seventeen, and took with his mother the way to Egypt her native land. Overcome with heat and thirst, and then miraculously relieved, he remained in the wilderness of Paran, took a wife from Egypt, and was the father of twelve sons, heads of Arab tribes. He seems to have become on friendly terms with Isaac, and to have attended at the bedside of their dying father. At his own death, he was one hundred and thirty-seven years old, Gen 25:9,17 .\par The Ishmaelites, his posterity, were said, in the days of Moses, to dwell "from Havilah unto Shur that is before Egypt," that is, in the northwestern part of Arabia. See HAVILAH 2. Subsequently they, with the descendants of Joktan, the fourth from Shem, Gen 10:26-29, and Jokshan, the son of Abraham by Keturah, Gen 25:3, and perhaps also of some of the brethren of Joktan and Jokshan, occupied the whole peninsula of Arabia. See ARABIA. They became very numerous and powerful, according to the divine promise, Gen 17:16 . The prediction also in Gen 16:12, has been fully verified in their history. Located near their "brethren" the Jews, they have always led a roving, wild, and predatory life. To a great degree unchanged, they are to this day the untamed though tributary masters of the desert. See MIDIANITES.\par 2. A prince of Judah, who fled to the Ammonites when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Chaldeans. Soon after, he returned and assassinated Gedaliah the governor and many others; but was obliged to flee for his life, Jer 40:1-41:18.\par
Ish’mael. (whom God hears). The son of Abraham, by Hagar the Egyptian, his concubine; born when Abraham was fourscore and six years old. Gen 16:15-16. (B.C. 1910). Ishmael was the first-born of his father. He was born in Abraham’s house when he dwelt in the plain of Mamre; and on the institution of the covenant of circumcision, was circumcised, he being then thirteen years old Gen 17:26. With the institution of the covenant, God renewed his promise respecting Ishmael.
He does not again appear in the narrative until the weaning of Isaac. At the great feast made in celebration of the weaning, "Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking," and urged Abraham to cast him and his mother out. Comforted by the renewal of God’s promise to make of Ishmael a great nation, Abraham sent them away, and they departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. His mother took Ishmael a wife out of the land of Egypt." Gen 21:9-21 This wife of Ishmael was the mother of the twelve sons and one daughter.
Of the later life of Ishmael we know little. He was present with Isaac at the burial of Abraham. He died at the age of 137 years. Gen 25:17-18. The sons of Ishmael peopled the north and west of the Arabian peninsula, and eventually formed the chief element of the Arab nation, the wandering Bedouin tribes. They are now mostly Mohammedans who look to him as their spiritual father, as the Jews look to Abraham. Their language, which is generally acknowledged to have been the Arabic community so called, has been adopted with insignificant exceptions throughout Arabia. The term "Ishmaelite" occur on three occasions: Gen 37:25; Gen 37:27-28; Gen 39:1; Jdg 8:24; Psa 83:6.
2. One of the sons of Azel, a descendant of Saul through Meribbaal or Mephibosheth. 1Ch 8:38; 1Ch 9:44.
3. A man of Judah, father of Zebadiah. 2Ch 19:11.
4. Another man of Judah, son of Jehohanan; one of the captains of hundreds who assisted Jehoiada in restoring Joash to the throne. 2Ch 23:1.
5. A priest of the Bene-Pashur, (that is, sons of Pashur), who was forced by Ezra to relinquish his foreign wife. Ezr 10:22.
6. The son of Nethaniah; a perfect marvel of craft and villainy, whose treachery forms one of the chief episodes of the history of the period immediately succeeding the first fall of Jerusalem. His exploits are related in Jer 40:7; Jer 41:16 with a short summary. During the siege of the city, he had fled across the Jordan where he found a refuge at the court of Baalis.
After the departure of the Chaldeans, Ishmael made no secret of his intention to kill the superintendent left by the king of Babylon and usurp his position. Of this, Zedaliah was warned in express terms by Johanan and his companions, but notwithstanding, entertained Ishmael and his followers at a feast, Jer 41:1, during which Ishmael murdered Gedaliah and all his attendants. The same night, he killed all Zedaliah’s establishment, including some Chaldean soldiers who were there. For two days, the massacre remained entirely unknown to the people of the town. On the second day, eighty devotees were bringing incense and offerings to the ruins of the Temple. At his invitation, they turned aside to the residence of the superintendent, and there Ishmael and his band butchered nearly the whole number: ten only escaped by offering a heavy ransom for their lives.
This done, he descended to the town, surprised and carried off the daughters of King Zedekiah, who had been sent there by Nebuchadnezzar for safety, with their eunuchs and their Chaldean guard, Jer 41:10; Jer 41:16, and all the people of the town, and made off with his prisoners, to the country of the Ammonites. The news of the massacre had by this time got abroad, and Ishmael was quickly pursued by Johanan and his companions. He was attacked, two of his bravos slain, the whole of the prey recovered; and Ishmael himself with the remaining eight of his people, escaped to the Ammonites.
1. Born of Hagar when Abraham was 86 (Gen 16:15-16), dwelling at Mature. "Jehovah," in covenant with Abraham her husband, "heard her affliction" in the wilderness whither she had fled from Sarah. The angel of Jehovah described Ishmael in a prophecy which history is continually verifying, "he will be a wild man," Hebrew a wild donkey man, i.e. fierce and wild as the donkey of the desert, the type of restless unbridled lawlessness. Job 11:12; Job 24:5; "behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, go they forth to their work, rising betimes for a prey (for traveling in the East is at an early hour, to be before the heat): the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children"; i.e., these Bedouin robbers, with the unbridled wildness of the donkey of the desert, go thither. Robbery is "their work"; the wilderness which yields no food to other men "yieldeth food for them" by the plunder of caravans.
"His hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him"; an exact picture of Bedouin life." Many conquerors have marched into the Arabian wilderness, but they have never been able to catch this wild donkey and to tame him" (Baumgarten). "And he shall dwell in the presence of (in front of) his brethren," in close proximity to their kindred races, hovering round, but never mingling with them, never disappearing by withdrawal to some remote region, but remaining in that high table land S.E. of Judaea to which Judea may be said to look. Or else "to the E. (for as the orientals faced toward the E. in taking the points of the compass, the front meant the E.) of his brethren." In Job 1:3 the Arabs are called "the sons of the East." Ishmael was circumcised at 13 (Gen 17:25), at which age Arabs and Muslims therefore still circumcise.
Abraham’s love for him appears in his exclaiming, upon God’s giving the promise of seed by Sarah, then 90, Abraham himself being 100, "Oh that Ishamel might live before Thee!" whether the words mean that he desires that Ishmael (instead of the seed promised to Sarah) might be heir of the promises, or, as is more consonant with Abraham’s faith, that Ishmael might be accepted before God so as to share in blessings. Then God promised: "I have blessed him, ... twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation" (compare Gen 25:12-17).
After God’s saving them they "dwelt in the wilderness of Paran," the El Tih, the desert of Israel’s wanderings; stretching from the wady Arabah on the E. to the gulf of Suez on the W., and from Sinai on the S. to Palestine on the N. According to eastern usage she, as a parent, chose a wife for her son, an Egyptian, possibly the mother of his 12 sons; rabbinical and Arab tradition give him a second wife; the daughter being termed "sister of Nebaioth" implies probably that the other brothers had a different mother. Esau married his daughter Mahalath before Ishmael’s death, for it is written "Esau went unto Ishmael" (Gen 28:9). At 137 Ishmael "died in the presence of all his brethren" (Gen 25:17-18); i.e., fulfilling the prediction of the angel of Jehovah to Hagar (see above), Ishmael died, his nomad descendants stretching from Havilah S.E. and Shur S.W. toward the N.E., i.e. Assyria, in fact traversing the whole Arabian desert from the Euphrates to the Red Sea.
Ishmael himself cannot have settled far from Abraham’s neighbourhood, for he joined with Isaac in the burial of his father (Gen 25:9), and burial in the East follows a few hours after death. Ishmael first went into the wilderness of Beersheba, then into that of Paran. "The East country" unto which Abraham sent away his sons by concubines, not to be in the way of Isaac, must therefore have been in those regions (Gen 25:6; Gen 25:18). The people of Arabia are called "children of the East," Bene Kedem (Jdg 6:3; Job 1:3), in modern times Saracens, i.e. "Easterns"
The Bible does not, as scepticism asserts, state that all the Arabs sprang from Ishmael. Nay, Joktanites and even Cushites in the S. and S.E. form a large element in Arab blood. In all the northern tribes which are of Ishmaelite descent, the characteristics foretold appear, they are "wild ... their hand against every man, and every man’s hand against them"; but in S. Arabia, where Joktanite and other blood exists, these characteristics are less seen. The Ishmaelite element is the chief one of the Arab nation, as the native traditions before Muhammed and the language concur with the Bible in proving. The pagan law of blood revenge necessitates every Arab’s knowing the names of his ancestors for four generations, so that the race is well defined.
The term" Ishmaelites" was applied in course of time to the Midianites, sprung from Abraham and Keturah, and not from Ishmael, because the Ishmaelites being the more powerful tribe gave their name as a general one to neighbouring associated tribes (Gen 37:25; Gen 37:28; Gen 37:36; Psa 83:6), the nomad tribes of Arabia (Jdg 8:24). Before Muhammed, religion in the middle and S. of Arabia was fetish and cosmic worship, but in the N. relics of the primitive faith of Ishmael survived, and numbers became Karaite Jews or held the corrupt form of Christianity which was all they knew of it. The dissatisfaction felt with both of these creeds pioneered the way for Muhammed’s success. The Arab conquerors have won a hundred thrones and established their Mohamedanism from the Senegal to the Indus, from the Euphrates to the Indian Ocean.
3. 2Ch 19:11.
4. 2Ch 23:1.
5. 2Ch 10:22.
6. Son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama of the seed royal of Judah (Jer 40:7-41;Jer 40:15; 2Ki 25:23-25). Possibly descended from Elishama, David’s son (2Sa 5:16). During the siege of Jerusalem Ishmael had fled to Baalis, king of Ammon, E. of Jordan. Probably Ishmael was of Ammonite blood on the mother’s side, as some Jewish kings had Ammonite women in their harem (1Ki 11:1). Baalis (called from the idol Baal) his host, urged him to slay Gedaliah who under the Babylonian king governed Judaea and the population which had not been carried away. Ishmael’s royal descent fired his envy and ambition; hence, he lent a ready ear to the plot proposed by the ancient foe of Judah. Ishmael as well as the brothers Johanan and Jonathan, sons of Kareah, had commanded separate bands which watched the issue of the siege from the S.E. side of Jordan; "the forces in the fields," i.e. the pasture grounds of Moab (Jer 40:7; Jer 40:13), the modern Belka.
These captains crossed the Jordan to pay their respects to Gedaliah at Mizpah, N. of Jerusalem, upon his appointment. In spite of Johanan’s open warning of Ishmael’s intention, and even private offer to slay Ishmael in order to avert the death of Gedaliah and its evil consequences to the Jewish remnant, the latter in generous unsuspiciousness refused to believe the statement. Thirty days after, in the seventh month Ishmael and "ten men, princes of the king," at an hospitable entertainment given them by Gedaliah slew him with such secrecy that no alarm was given (compare Psa 41:9), and then slew the Jews and Chaldeans, the men of war immediately about his person (not the rest, Jer 40:16), with him. Jeremiah, who usually was residing there, was providentially elsewhere. No man knew it outside Mizpah for a time.
So on the second day fourscore devotees with shaven beards, rent clothes, having cut themselves with pagan mutilations (see Lev 19:27-28; Deu 14:1), were seen by Ishmael from the higher ground on which he was, advancing from the N. with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to "the house of the Lord," i.e. to the place where the temple had stood, and which was still sacred. They came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, where such pagan usages prevailed, expressive of sorrow; they hereby indicated their grief at the destruction of the temple and city. Ishmael met them, pretending to weep like themselves, and said, "Come to Gedaliah," as if he were one of his retinue. When they came into the midst of the city, or of the courtyard (Josephus), he closed the entrances and butchered all, except ten who promised, if spared, to show him treasures of wheat, barley, oil, and honey.
His greediness and needs overcame his cruelty, or he would not have spared even the ten. The 70 corpses he threw into the pit or cistern made by Asa to have a water supply when Baasha was about to besiege the city (1Ki 15:22); as Jehu did to Ahaziah’s 42 relatives, and as Nana Sahib did in our own times at Cawnpore. Next he carried off king Zedekiah’s daughters, with their eunuchs and Chaldaean guard; and, doubtless being largely reinforced, carried away all the remaining people at Mizpah by way of Gibeon on the N. (Josephus says by Hebron round the S. end of the Dead Sea) toward Ammon, where probably he meant to sell them as slaves (Jer 41:10; Jer 41:16). Johnnan pursued and overtook him at the great waters in Gibeon (2Sa 2:13). His captives gladly "cast about," i.e. came round and joined Johanan, who slew two of the ten princes (Jer 41:1-2; Jer 41:15), leaving Ishmael with but eight to escape to Ammon.
The result was a panic among the Jewish remnant in Judaea, as Johanan had foreseen when he warned Gedaliah. But now, in spite of Jeremiah’s remonstrance from the Lord, he, instead of checking, promoted the panic, and led all the recovered captives, Jeremiah included, into Egypt (Jer 41:16-17; Jer 41:42; Jer 43:5-7). The calamity, Gedaliah’s murder and the consequent dispersion of the Jews, was and is commemorated by the fast of the seventh month (Zec 7:5; Zec 8:19), the third of Tisri. Ammon’s share in this tragedy was avenged in accordance with the Lord’s word (Jer 49:1-6; Eze 25:1-7). The lessons from the history are, so long as pride, ambition, and revenge are harboured, men will ever scheme afresh to their own hurt.
Scarcely had Jerusalem paid the awful penalty of her sin than her princes began new plots of violence and bloodshed. Zedekiah’s perfidious rebellion had hardly been crushed when Ishmael devised a fresh conspiracy. Nothing short of God’s grace can correct the desperate depravity of man. The mystery that men of guileless simplicity fall victims to murderous treachery is one of many proofs that there is an enemy disordering the present world course. Faith looks above the cloud, and sees God ordering all things for the good of His people and for the punishment of the transgressors at the last.
The coming judgment will vindicate God’s ways, glorify the saints with Christ their King, deliver the earth from the ungodly and Satan their prince, who shall be cast out for ever. Even now one bad man is made the scourge of another. The nemesis of crime is sure to overtake the guilty at last. However cunningly and laboriously he weaves iniquity, the web which was on the point of success is in a moment scattered to the winds by the breath of God, and the victims escape. The only fruit Ishmael derived from his crimes was being forced to flee as an outlaw, bearing about, Cain like, the murderer’s brand, and a self torturing conscience, the earnest of the worm that never dieth.
Ishmael (ísh’ma-el), whom God heareth. 1. The son of Abraham by Hagar, and the ancestor of Arabian tribes, generally called "Ishmaelites." Gen 25:12-18; 1Ch 2:17; 1Ch 18:3. Previous to his birth Hagar was informed by an angel what would be the character of her son, and that his posterity would be innumerable. Gen 16:11. When Hagar was banished to the wilderness, God directed her to a fountain, and renewed his promise to make him a great nation. Ishmael married an Egyptian woman, and dwelt in the wilderness, Gen 16:12; he was distinguished for lawless predatory habits, as his descendants have always been. Gen 21:20-21. So rapidly did Ishmael’s family multiply, that in a few years afterwards they are spoken of as a trading nation. Gen 37:25; Gen 39:1. Isaac and Ishmael amicably met at the burial of their father. Gen 25:9. Ishmael died, perhaps in battle, at the age of 137 years. He was the father of twelve sons, who gave their names to as many tribes, who dwelt in the wilderness, from Havilah unto Shur. Gen 17:20. The prophecies concerning him, Gen 16:12; Gen 17:20; Gen 21:13; Gen 21:18, confirm the Bible; being literally carried out for nearly 4000 years to the present day. Ishmael no doubt became a wild man of the desert, the progenitor of the roaming Bedouin tribes of the East, so well known as robbers to this day that travellers through their territory must be well armed and hire a band of robbers to protect them against their fellow-robbers. Ishmael is also the spiritual father of the Mohammedans, who are nothing but bastard Jews. They apply to themselves the promise of a large posterity given to Ishmael. Gen 21:13; Gen 18:2. A prince of the royal family of Judah, who murdered the governor Gedaliah, with several of the Hebrews and Chaldeans who were attached to him. He fled to the Ammonites. Jer 40:7-16; Jer 41:1-18. There are six persons of this name mentioned in the Scriptures.
Sarai, Abram’s wife, was barren (Gen 11:30). Impatient at the long delay of the promise, Sarah agreed for Abram to cohabit with her maid Hagar, and as a result Ishmael was born eleven years after Abram and Sarah entered Canaan (Gen 16:1-16). He was finally cast out of Abram’s house at Sarah’s request and the Lord’s approval, for Abram’s Descendants were to be counted from Isaac (Gen 21:1-21).
[Ish’mael]
1. Son of Abraham and Hagar the bondmaid of Sarah. Before he was born, when Hagar ran away because of the severity of her mistress, the angel of the Lord appeared to her, and told her to return to her mistress: her seed should be numberless, and she was to call her son’s name Ishmael, which signifies ’El shall hear.’ He would be a wild man, his hand would be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. Abraham prayed that Ishmael might live before God, but typically he represents the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, hence though God answered that He would bless Ishmael, and multiply him exceedingly, he should also beget twelve princes, and God would make him a great nation; yet the covenant should be established with Isaac. When Ishmael was thirteen years old Abraham circumcised him, and all the men of his house. In this act Abraham acknowledged in faith that the blessing asked for his natural seed could not be had through the strength of the flesh: all the mercies of God are secured in resurrection.
At the ’great feast’ when Isaac, the child born after the Spirit, was weaned, Ishmael mocked, and Sarah besought Abraham to cast out both mother and son. This was grievous to Abraham, but God, having approved the suggestion, he rose early in the morning, and providing them with some bread and a bottle of water he sent them away. The water was soon consumed, and Hagar in despair placed Ishmael under a shrub, and departed so as not to see him die. The angel of God called to her, showed her a well, and the child was saved. God was with the lad, for he was the seed of Abraham; he dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer. At first he was located in the wilderness of Beer-sheba and afterwards at Paran, a region between Canaan and mount Sinai. His mother chose a woman of Egypt for his wife. His twelve sons are recorded, and their ’towns ’ and ’castles,’ or encampments, according to their nations, are spoken of. Ishmael was present at the burial of his father and lived 137 years. Gen 16:11-16; Gen 17:18-26; Gen 25:9-17; Gen 28:9; Gen 36:3; 1Ch 1:28-31.
The Bedouin Arabs are doubtless the descendants of Ishmael. They are wild men in the sense of their love of freedom, dwelling in tents, and riding over the desert, spear in hand. They truly are ’against every man,’ robbing every one when they can do so with safety to themselves. The Bedouins will not admit their descent from Ishmael; they refer his descendants to the Most (or mixed) Arabians, because Ishmael’s mother was an Egyptian. The Bedouins claim to have descended from Joktan, son of Eber. Gen 10:25.
2. Son of Azel, a descendant of Saul. 1Ch 8:38; 1Ch 9:44.
3. Father of Zebadiah a ruler under Jehoshaphat. 2Ch 19:11.
4. Son of Jehohanan, and one of the ’captains of hundreds’ who assisted in setting Joash on the throne. 2Ch 23:1.
5. Priest who had married a strange wife. Ezr 10:22.
6. Son of Nethaniah, of the ’seed royal,’ but of what family is not known. His craft and ferocity show that he was unworthy of a throne. He treacherously slew Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the cities of Judah, and all the Jews that were with him in Mizpah. He followed up this crime by the cruel and treacherous murder of eighty men from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, who were bringing gifts to the temple, only ten being spared. He then carried away captive all that were left in Mizpah, and departed to go over to the Ammonites; but Johanan the son of Kareah, and those with him, rescued the captives. Ishmael escaped and is heard of no more. 2Ki 25:23-25; Jer 40:8-16; Jer 41:1-18.
By: Isidore Singer, M. Seligsohn, Richard Gottheil, Hartwig Hirschfeld
—Biblical Data:
Eldest son of Abraham by his concubine Hagar; born when Abraham was eighty-six years of age (Gen. xvi. 15, 16). God promised Abraham that His blessing should be upon Ishmael, who, He foretold, would beget twelve princes and would become a great nation (Gen. xvii. 18, 20). Ishmael was circumcised at the age of thirteen (Gen. xvii. 23-26). When Sarah saw Ishmael mocking her son Isaac, his brother, younger by fourteen years, she insisted that Abraham cast out Ishmael and his slave-mother. Abraham reluctantly yielded, having provided them with bread and a bottle of water. Ishmael was about to die of thirst when an angel showed his mother a well, repeating to her at the same time that Ishmael would become a great nation. Ishmael dwelt in the wilderness, apparently, of Beer-sheba, where he became a skilful archer; later he settled in the wilderness of Paran, where his mother took him a wife from Egypt (Gen. xxi. 8-21). Both Ishmael and Isaac were present at the burial of their father, Abraham. Ishmael died at the age of 137. He had twelve sons, ancestors of twelve tribes that dwelt "from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest to Assyria" (Gen. xxv. 9-18).
—In Rabbinical Literature:
The name of Ishmael is an allusion to God's promise to hear (
) the complaints of Israel whenever it suffered at the hands of Ishmael (Gen. R. xlv. 11). Abraham endeavored to bring up Ishmael in righteousness; to train him in the laws of hospitality Abraham gave him the calf to prepare (Gen. R. xlviii. 14; comp. Gen. xviii. 7). But according to divine prediction Ishmael remained a savage. The ambiguous expression 
in Gen. xxi. 9 (see Hagar) is interpreted by some rabbis as meaning that Ishmael had been idolatrous; by others, that he had turned his bow against Isaac. According to the interpretation of Simeon b. Yoḥai, Ishmael mocked those who maintained that Isaac would be Abraham's chief heir, and said that as he (Ishmael) was the first-born son he would receive two-thirds of the inheritance (Tosef., Sotah, v. 12, vi. 6; Pirḳe R. El. xxx.; Gen. R. liii. 15). Upon seeing the danger to Isaac, Sarah, who had till then been attached to Ishmael (Josephus, "Ant." i. 12, § 3), insisted that Abraham cast out Ishmael. Abraham was obliged to put him on Hagar's shoulders, because he fell sick under the spell of the evil eye cast upon him by Sarah (Gen. R. liii. 17).
Ishmael, left under a shrub by his despairing mother, prayed to God to take his soul and not permit him to suffer the torments of a slow death (comp. Targ. pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. xxi. 15). God then commanded the angel to show Hagar the well which was created on Friday in the week of Creation, in the twilight (comp. Ab. v. 6), and which afterward accompanied the Israelites in the wilderness (Pirḳe R. El. xxx.). But this was protested against by the angels, who said: "Why should Ishmael have water, since his descendants will destroy the Israelites by thirst?" (comp. Yer. Ta'an. iv. 8; Lam. R. ii. 2). God replied: "But now he is innocent, and I judge him according to what he is now" (Pirḳe R. El. l.c.; Gen. R. l.c.; et al.). Ishmael married a Moabitess named 'Adishah or 'Aishah (variants "'Ashiyah" and "'Aifah," Arabic names; Targ. pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. xxi. 21; Pirḳe R. El. l.c.); or, according to "Sefer ha-Yashar" (Wayera), an Egyptian named Meribah or Merisah. He had four sons and one daughter. Ishmael meanwhile grew so skilful in archery that he became the master of all the bowmen (Targ. pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. xxi. 20; Gen.R. liii. 20). Afterward Abraham went to see Ishmael, and, according to his promise to Sarah, stopped at his son's tent without alighting from his camel. Ishmael was not within; his wife refused Abraham food, and beat her children and cursed her husband within Abraham's hearing. Abraham thereupon asked her to tell Ishmael when he returned that an old man had asked that he change the peg of the tent. Ishmael understood that it was his father, took the hint, and drove away his wife. He then married another woman, named Faṭimah (Peḳimah; Targ. pseudo-Jonathan l.c.), who, when three years later Abraham came again to see his son, received him kindly; therefore Abraham asked her to tell Ishmael that the peg was good.
Ishmael then went to Canaan and settled with his father (Pirḳe R. El. l.c.; "Sefer ha-Yashar," l.c.). This statement agrees with that of Baba Batra (16a)—that Ishmael became a penitent during the lifetime of Abraham. He who sees Ishmael in a dream will have his prayer answered by God (Ber. 56a).
Bibliography:
Beer, Leben Abraham's nach Auffassung der Jüdischen Sage, pp. 49 et seq., Leipsic, 1859.
S. M. Sel.—In Arabic Literature:
For the history of Ishmael, according to Mohammedan legend, see Jew. Encyc. i. 87, s.v. Abraham in Mohammedan Iegend; and Hagar. It may be added here that Ishmael is designated a prophet by Mohammed: "Remember Ishmael in the Book, for he was true to his promise, and was a messenger and a prophet" (Koran, xix. 55). Ishmael is, therefore, in Mohammedan tradition a prototype of faithfulness. He was an arrow-maker, and a good hunter. As a prophet, he had the gift of performing miracles. He converted many heathen to the worship of the One God. He left twelve sons. His son Kedar is said to have been an ancestor of Mohammed. Ishmael is reputed to have lived one hundred and thirty years; he was buried near the Kaaba. His posterity, however, became pagan, and remained so until they were brought back to Islam by Mohammed.
ISHMAEL.—1. The son of Abraham by Hagar. His name, which means ‘May God hear,’ was decided upon before his birth (Gen 16:11). As in the case of the history of his mother, three documentary sources are used by the narrator. J
Ishmael had been resolved into a conjectural personification of the founder of a group of tribes; but the narrative is too vivid in its portrayal of incident and character, and too true in its psychological treatment, to support that view. That there is some idealization in the particulars is possible. Tribal rivalry may have undesignedly coloured the presentment of Sarah’s jealousy. The little discrepancies between the documents point to a variety of human standpoints, and are as explicable upon the implication of historicity as upon the theory of personification. The note of all the recorded passions and promptings is naturalness; and the obvious intention of the narrative, with the impression produced upon an uncommitted reader, is that of an attempt at actual biography rather than at the construction of an artificial explanation of certain relationships of race.
In regard to the so-called Ishmaelites, the case is not so clear. Ishmael is represented as the father of twelve sons (Gen 25:12-16, 1Ch 1:29-31), and the phrase ‘twelve princes according to their nations’ (cf. Gen 17:20) almost suggests an attempt on the part of the writer at an exhibition of his view of racial origins. A further complication arises from the confusion of Ishmaelites and Midianites (Gen 37:28 ff., Jdg 8:24; Jdg 8:26), though the two are distinguished in the genealogies of Gen 25:1; Gen 25:4; Gen 25:13. Branches of the descendants of the two step-brothers may have combined through similarity of habit and location, and been known sometimes by the one name, and sometimes by the other; but there was clearly no permanent fusion of the two families. Nor is it possible to say whether at any time a religious confederation of twelve tribes was formed under the name of Ishmael, or if the name was adopted, because of its prominence, for the protection of some weaker tribes. The scheme may have even less basis in history, and be but part of an ethnic theory by which the Hebrew genealogists sought to explain the relationships of their neighbours to one another, and to the Hebrews themselves. A dozen tribes, scattered over the Sinaitic peninsula and the districts east of the Jordan, because of some similarity in civilization or language, or in some cases possibly under the influence of correct tradition, are grouped as kinsmen, being sons of Abraham, but of inferior status, as being descended from the son of a handmaid. That the differences from the pure Hebrew were thought to be strongly Egyptian in their character or source, is indicated by the statement that Ishmael’s mother and his wife were both Egyptians. The Ishmaelites soon disappear from Scripture. There are a few individuals described as of that nationality (1Ch 2:17; 1Ch 27:30); but in later times the word could be used metaphorically of any hostile people (Psa 83:6).
2. A son of Azel, a descendant of Saul through Jonathan (1Ch 8:38; 1Ch 9:44). 3. Ancestor of the Zebadiah who was one of Jehoshaphat’s judicial officers (2Ch 19:11). 4. A military officer associated with Jehoiada in the revolution in favour of Joash (2Ch 23:1). 5. A member of the royal house of David who took the principal part in the murder of Gedaliah (Jer 41:1-2). The story is told in Jer 40:7 to Jer 41:15, with a summary in 2Ki 25:23-26. It is probable that Ishmael resented Nebuchadnezzar’s appointment of Gedaliah as governor of Judæa (Jer 40:5) instead of some member of the ruling family, and considered him as unpatriotic in consenting to represent an alien power. Further instigation was supplied by Baalis, king of Ammon (Jer 40:14), who was seeking either revenge or an opportunity to extend his dominions. Gedaliah and his retinue were killed after an entertainment given to Ishmael, who gained possession of Mizpah, the seat of government. Shortly afterwards he set out with his captives to join Baalis, but was overtaken by a body of Gedaliah’s soldiers at the pool of Gibeon (Jer 41:12), and defeated. He made good his escape (Jer 41:15) with the majority of his associates; but of his subsequent life nothing is known. The conspiracy may have been prompted by motives that were in part well considered, if on the whole mistaken; but it is significant that Jeremiah supported Gedaliah (Jer 40:6), in memory of whose murder an annual fast was observed for some years in the month Tishri (Zec 7:5; Zec 8:19). 6. One of the priests persuaded by Ezra to put away their foreign wives (Ezr 10:22; cf. Ismael, 1Es 9:22).
R. W. Moss.
The son of Abraham and the Egyptian Agar. In his boyhood he and his mother were sent into the wilderness by Abraham at the request of Sara his wife, a request to which he was directed by God to accede. Ismael was saved by Divine intervention from perishing of drought, lived in the wilderness of Parau, became famous as an archer, and married an Egyptian wife. The Arabs regard themselves as his descendants.
(Sept. ’Ismaél; Vulg. Ismahel, in 1 Chronicles 1:28, 20, 31).The son of Abraham and Agar, the Egyptian. His history is contained in parts of Gen., xvi-xxv, wherein three strata of Hebrew tradition (J, E, P) are usually distinguished by contemporary scholars. The name "Ismael", which occurs also in early Babylonian and in Minæan, was given to the child before its birth (Genesis 16:11), and means: "may God hear". As Sarai, Abram’s wife, was barren, she gave him, in accordance with the custom of the time, her handmaid, Agar, as concubine, in order to obtain children through her. Agar’s conception of a child soon led to her flight into the wilderness, where the angel of Yahweh appeared to her, bade her to return to her mistress, and fixed the name and character of her future son. After her return to Bersabee, she brought forth Ismael to Abram, who was then eighty-six years old (xvi). Ismael was very dear to the aged patriarch, as is shown by his entreaty of God in Ismael’s behalf, when the Almighty promised him a son through Sara. In answer to this earnest entreaty, God disclosed to Abraham the glorious future which awaited Ismael: "As for Ismael, I have also heard thee. Behold, I will bless him, and increase, and multiply him exceedingly: he shall beget twelve chiefs, and I will make him a great nation." Ismael was not the destined heir of the covenant; yet, as he belonged to Abraham’s family, he was submitted to the rite of circumcision when the patriarch circumcised all the male members of his household. He was then a lad of thirteen (xvii). Abraham’s tender love towards Ismael manifested itself on another occasion. He resented Sara’s complaint to him, when, on the great festival given at the weaning of Isaac, she requested Agar’s and Ismael’s summary dismissal because she "had seen the son of Agar the Egyptian playing with [or mocking] Isaac her son". Ismael was Abraham’s own "son", and indeed his first- born. At this juncture, God directed Abraham to accede to Sara’s request, comforting him with the repeated assurance of future national greatness for Ismael. Whereupon the patriarch dismissed Agar and Ismael with a modicum of provision for their journey. As their scanty provision of water was soon exhausted, Ismael would have certainly perished in the wilderness, had not God shown to Agar a well of water which enabled her to revive the dying lad.According to God’s repeated promise of future greatness for Agar’s son, Ismael grew up, lived in the wilderness of Paran, became famous as an archer, and married an Egyptian wife (xxi, 8-21). He became the father of twelve chiefs, whose names and general quarters are given in Gen., xxv, 12-16. Only one daughter of Ismael is mentioned in Holy Writ, where she is spoken of as one of Esau’s wives (cf. Genesis 28:9; 36:3). The last incident known of Ismael’s career is connected with Abraham’s burial, in which he appears associated with Isaac (xxv, 9). Ismael died at the age of one hundred and thirty-seven, "and was gathered unto his people" (xxv, 17).In his Epistle to the Galatians (iv, 21, sqq.) St. Paul expands allegorically the narrative of Ismael and Isaac, urging upon his readers the duty of not giving up their Christian freedom from the bondage of the Law. Of course, in so arguing, the Apostle of the Gentiles did not intend to detract in any way from the historical character of the narrative in Genesis. With regard to the various difficulties, literary and historical, suggested by a close study of the Biblical account of Ismael’s life, suffice it to say that each and all will never cause a careful and unbiased scholar to regard that account otherwise than as portraying an ancient historical character, will never induce him to treat otherwise than as hypercritical every attempt, by whomsoever made, to resolve Ismael into a conjectural personality of the founder of a group of Arabic tribes. And this view of the matter will appear most certain to any one who compares the Biblical narrative with the legends concerning Ismael which are embodied in the Talmud, the Targum, and the other rabbinical works; while the latter are plainly the result of puerile imagination, the former is decidedly the description of an ancient historical figure.-----------------------------------See bibliography to ISAAC, to which may be added, DRIVER in HASTINGS, Dict. of the Bible, s. v. Ishmael; SELIGSOHN in The Jewish Encyclopedia, s. v. Ishmael. FRANCIS E. GIGOT Transcribed by WGKofron With thanks to St. Mary’s Church, Akron, Ohio The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIIICopyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
(1) The son of Abraham by Hagar, the Egyptian slave of his wife Sarah. The circumstances connected with his birth reveal what seems to us to be a very strange practice. It was customary among ancient peoples to correct the natural defect of barrenness by substituting a slave woman. In our narrative, this is shown to be authorized and brought about by the legitimate wife with the understanding that the offspring of such a union should be regarded as her own: “It may be that I shall obtain children by her,” literally, “that I shall be builded by her” (Gen 16:2).
1. Birth
The hopes of Sarah were realized, for Hagar gave birth to a son, and yet the outcome was not fully pleasing to Abraham’s wife; there was one serious drawback. As soon as Hagar “saw that she had conceived,” her behavior toward her mistress underwent a radical change; she was “despised in her eyes.” But for the intervention of the angel of Yahweh, the boy might have been born in Egypt. For, being dealt with hardly (or humbled) by Sarah, the handmaid fled toward that country. On her way she was told by the angel to return to her mistress and submit herself “under her hands.” She obeyed, and the child who was to be as “a wild ass among men” was born when his father was 86 years old (Gen 16:7-16).
2. Circumcision
At the age of 13 years the boy was circumcised (Gen 17:25) in accordance with the Divine command received by Abraham: “Every male among you shall be circumcised” (Gen 17:10). Thus young Ishmael was made a party to the covenant into which God had entered with the lad’s father. The fact that both Abraham and his son were circumcised the same day (Gen 17:26) undoubtedly adds to the importance of Ishmael’s partaking of the holy rite. He was certainly made to understand how much his father loved him and how deeply he was concerned about his spiritual welfare. We may even assume that there was a time when Abraham looked upon Ishmael as the promised seed. His error was made clear to him when God promised him the birth of a son by Sarah. At first this seemed to be incredible, Abraham being 100 years of age and Sarah 90. And yet, how could he disbelieve the word of God? His cherished, though mistaken, belief about Ishmael, his doubts regarding the possibility of Sarah’s motherhood, and the first faint glimmer of the real meaning of God’s promise, all these thoughts found their expression in the fervid wish: “O that Ishmael might live before thee!” (Gen 17:18). Gradually the truth dawned upon the patriarch that God s thoughts are not the thoughts of men, neither their ways His ways. But we have no reason to believe that this entire changing of the mental attitude of Abraham toward Ishmael reacted unfavorably on his future treatment of this son “born of the flesh” (compare Gen 21:11). If there were troubles in store for the boy likened by the angel of Yahweh to a wild ass, it was, in the main, the youngster’s own fault.
3. Banishment
When Isaac was weaned, Ishmael was about 16 years of age. The weaning was made an occasion for great celebration. But it seems the pleasure of the day was marred by the objectionable behavior of Ishmael. “And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian ... mocking” (Gen 21:9). Her jealous motherly love had quickened her sense of observation and her faculty of reading the character of children. We do not know exactly what the word used in the Hebrew for “mocking” really means. The Septuagint and the Vulgate (Jerome’s Latin Bible, 390-405 ad) render the passage: “When Sarah saw the son of Hagar ... playing with Isaac,” and Paul followed a later tradition when he says: “He that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit” (Gal 4:29). Lightfoot (in his notes to the Epistle to the Galatians) says: “At all events the word seems to mean mocking, jeering.” At any rate, the fact remains that Sarah objected to the bringing up of the son of promise together with the “mocker,” and so both mother and son were banished from the tents of Abraham.
Now there came a most critical time in the life of young Ishmael. Only some bread and a bottle of water were “put on the shoulder” of Hagar by Abraham when he expelled her with her son. Aimlessly, as it seems, the two walked about in the wilderness of Beersheba. The water was soon spent, and with it went all hope and energy. The boy, being faint with thirst and tired out by his constant walking in the fierce heat of the sun, seemed to be dying. So his mother put him rapidly down in the shade of some plant. (We do not share the opinion of some writers that the narrative of Gen 21:8 represented Ishmael as a little boy whom his mother had carried about and finally flung in the shade of some shrub. Even if this passage is taken from a different source, it is certainly not in conflict with the rest as to the age of Ishmael.) After this last act of motherly love - what else could she do to help the boy? - she retired to a place at some distance and resignedly expected the death of her son and perhaps her own.
For the 2nd time in her life, she had a marvelous experience. “God heard the voice of the lad” and comforted the unhappy mother most wonderfully. Through His angel He renewed His former promise regarding her son, and then He showed her a well of water. The lad’s life was saved and, growing up, he became in time an archer. He lived in the wilderness of Paran and was married by his mother to an Egyptian wife (Gen 21:21).
4. His Children
When Abraham died, his exiled son returned to assist his brother to bury their father (Gen 25:9). In the same chapter we find the names of Ishmael’s 12 sons (Gen 25:12) and a brief report of his death at the age of 137 years (Gen 25:17). According to Gen 28:9 he also had a daughter, Mahalath, whom Esau took for his wife; in Gen 36:3 her name is given as Basemath.
5. Descendants
The character of Ishmael and his descendants (Arabian nomads or Bedouins) is very accurately and vividly depicted by the angel of Yahweh: “He shall be as a wild ass among men; his hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him” (Gen 16:12). These nomads are, indeed, roaming the wilds of the desert, jealous of their independence, quarrelsome and adventurous. We may well think of their progenitor as of a proud, undaunted and rugged son of the desert, the very counterpart of the poor boy lying half dead from fatigue and exposure under the shrub in the wilderness of Beersheba.
6. In the New Testament
The person and the history of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, “born after the flesh,” is of special interest to the student of the New Testament because Paul uses him, in the Epistle to the Galatians, as a type of those Jews who cling to the paternal religion in such a manner as to be unable to discern the transient character of the Old Testament institutions, and especially those of the Mosaic law. By doing so they could not be made to see the true meaning of the law, and instead of embracing the grace of God as the only means of fulfilling the law, they most bitterly fought the central doctrine of Christianity and even persecuted its advocates. Like Ishmael, they were born of Hagar, the handmaid or slave woman; like him, they were Abraham’s sons only “after the flesh,” and their ultimate fate is foreshadowed in the casting out of Hagar and her son. They could not expect to maintain the connection with the true Israel, and even in case they should acclaim Christ their Messiah they were not to be the leaders of the church or the expounders of its teachings (Gal 4:21-28).
(2) The son of Nethaniah (Jer 40:8 through 41:18; compare 2Ki 25:23-25). It is a dreary story of jealousy and treachery which Jeremiah has recorded in chapters 40, 41 of his book. After the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of the better class of Jewish citizens, it was necessary to provide for some sort of a government in the depopulated country. Public order had to be restored and maintained; the crops of the fields were endangered and had to be taken care of. It was thus only common political prudence that dictated to the king of Babylon the setting up of a governor for the remnant of Judah. He chose Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, for the difficult position. The new officer selected for his place of residence the city of Mizpah, where he was soon joined by Jeremiah. All the captains of the Jewish country forces came to Mizpah with their men and put themselves under Gedaliah’s orders (Jer 40:13). Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama “of the seed royal” (2Ki 25:25) was among their number - all of which must have been rather gratifying to the new governor. But he was destined to be cruelly disappointed. A traitor was among the captains that had gathered around him. Yet the governor might have prevented his dastardly scheme. Johnnan, the son of Kareah, and other loyal captains warned him of the treachery of Ishmael, telling him he was induced by Baalis, the Ammonite king, to assassinate the governor. But the governor’s faith in Ishmael was not to be shaken; he even looked upon Johanan’s report as false and calumnious (Jer 40:16).
About 2 months after the destruction of Jerusalem, Ishmael was ready to strike the mortal blow. With 10 men he came to Mizpah, and there, at a banquet given in his honor, he killed Gedaliah and all the Jews and Chaldeans that were with him. He succeeded in keeping the matter secret, for, 2 days after the horrible deed, he persuaded a party of 80 pious Jews to enter the city and killed all but 10 of them, throwing their bodies into a pit. These men were coming from the ruins of the Temple with the offerings which they had intended to leave at Jerusalem. Now they had found out, to their great distraction, that the city was laid waste and the Temple destroyed. So they passed by Mizpah, their beards shaven, their clothes rent, and with cuts about their persons (Jer 41:5). We may, indeed, ask indignantly, Why this new atrocity? The answer may be found in the fact that Ishmael did not kill all of the men. He spared 10 of them because they promised him some hidden treasures. This shows his motive. He was a desperate man and just then carrying out a desperate undertaking. He killed those peaceful citizens because of their money, and money he needed to realize his plans. They were those of a traitor to his country, inasmuch as he intended to deport the inhabitants of Mizpah to the land of his high confederate, the king of the Ammonites. Among the captives were Jeremiah and the daughters of the Jewish king. But his efforts came to naught. When Johnnan and the other captains were told of Ishmael’s unheard-of actions, they immediately pursued the desperate adventurer and overtook him by the “great waters that are in Gibeon.” Unfortunately, they failed to capture Ishmael; for he managed to escape with eight men to the Ammonites. See, further, GEDALIAH.
(3) A descendant of Benjamin and the son of Azel (1Ch 8:38; compare 1Ch 9:44).
(4) The father of Zebadiah who was “the ruler of the house of Judah, in all the king’s (Jehoshaphat, 2Ch 19:8) matters” (2Ch 19:11).
(5) The son of Jehohanan, and a “captain of hundreds,” who lived at the time of Jehoiada and Joash (2Ch 23:1).
(6) One of the sons of Pashhur the priest. He was one of those men who had married foreign women and were compelled to “put away their wives” (Ezr 10:22).
Firstborn son of Abraham by Sarah’s Egyptian maidservant, Hagar. According to both Muslim and Jewish tradition, he is the ancestor of the Arabs.
Of several men named Ishmael in the Bible, the best known is the son born to Abraham through his Egyptian slave-girl, Hagar. He was born as a result of Abraham and Sarah’s failure of faith, when, feeling that Sarah could not produce the son God had promised them, they arranged for Abraham to produce the son through Hagar (Gen 16:1-3).
In New Testament times, Paul saw this as a picture of those who try to achieve salvation through law-keeping instead of through faith in Jesus Christ. As Ishmael was the child of a slave-girl, so they are the children of slavery. They are in bondage to the law instead of being free people in Christ (Gal 4:21-26).
Concerning Ishmael, God promised that he would grow into a fiery independent desert-dweller, and would produce a notable line of descendants (Gen 16:11-12; Gen 17:20). But he was not the son that God had promised to Abraham as the one through whom he would build his covenant people. God’s promises would be fulfilled through Isaac, the son who was later born to Abraham and Sarah (Gen 17:15-19).
When conflict arose between Sarah and Hagar, Hagar and Ishmael were forced to leave Abraham’s household and establish their own independent existence (Gen 21:8-21). In New Testament times, Paul saw the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael as an illustration that slaves of the law have no place in a family (the church) where people have the freedom of sons and through faith inherit God’s promises (Gal 4:28-31).
Ishmael grew up to be a tough desert-dweller, as God had foretold (Gen 21:20; cf. Gen 16:12). He married an Egyptian (Gen 21:21), and one of his daughters married Isaac’s son, Esau (Gen 28:9). There was a temporary reunion between Isaac and Ishmael at the funeral of their father (Gen 25:7-10).
Many of the tribal peoples who grew up in the region around Canaan were descended from Ishmael (Gen 25:12-18). Even today many of the Arab peoples claim descent from him.