Ishmael--Not the Child of Promise

All through the Old Testament we see the development of the family of Jesus Christ. Beginning from Adam, we follow the lineage through Noah, then Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, later to King David and right on down to Jesus himself. But one interesting side branch of the family is Ishmael. Let's look at the story a little closer.

Abraham and wife Sarah couldn't have a child, so Sarah offered her handmaiden to Abraham to bear him a son. The son, Ishmael, was born. Note what Genesis 16:10-12 says: "Then the Angel of the Lord said to her (Hagar), 'I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.' And the Angel of the Lord said to her: 'Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction. He shall be a wild man (some translations say "a wild donkey of a 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.' " Later, God caused Sarah to have a son, Isaac, to be born in her old age. But the summary point of all this is that Isaac, the son of Abraham's true wife, is the son of Promise, and Ishmael is not. This was God's choice.

So following Ishmael, which is our emphasis for this blog, we find in Genesis 17:20-21, where God is speaking to Abraham, "And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year."

Back to the son of Promise thought, we see that God promised, starting in Genesis 12 to Abraham, that through the seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth would be blessed. This promise was fulfilled in the person of Jesus who was a descendant of Abraham, through his seed, Isaac, and beyond. But Ishmael, the poor rejected son, was promised a great nation, too, with 12 princes. They became the Arab nations (first named so in 2 Chronicles:17:11). For more information on these two branches of Abraham, look in the summary given in Galatians 4:21-31.

So we learn from the Bible and from history that Ishmael and his 12 sons formed the Arab nations, located primarily to the East of Israel, which is still true today. And they still don't get along; and they still act like "wild men" sometimes. And Muslim peoples today claim Abraham as their father through the lineage of Ishmael. Wow! That was involved...yet fun. See you next week.