Ishmael


In the biblical Book of Genesis, Ishmael was the first son of Abraham. His mother was Hagar, the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah. He died at the age of 137.
Within Islam, Ishmael is regarded as a prophet and the ancestor of the Ishmaelites and patriarch of Qaydār.

Etymology

The name "Yishma'el" existed in various ancient Semitic cultures, including early Babylonian and Minæan. In the Amorite language, it is attested as yaśmaʿ-ʾel. It is a theophoric name translated literally as "God has hearkened", suggesting that "a child so named was regarded as the fulfillment of a divine promise".

Genesis narrative

The Genesis narrative sees the account of Ishmael's life through the.

Birth

The birth of Ishmael was planned by Abraham's first wife, who at that time was known as Sarai. She and her husband Abram sought a way to have children in order to fulfill the Abrahamic covenant that was established in. Sarai was 75 years old and had yet to bear a child. She had the idea to offer her Egyptian handmaiden Hagar to her husband so that they could have a child by her. Abraham slept with Hagar and she begat a child.
File:François-Joseph Navez - Agar et Ismaël dans le désert.jpg|thumb|A depiction of Hagar and her son Ishmael in the desert by François-Joseph Navez
Hagar began to show contempt for Sarai so Sarai blamed Abraham for it. Abraham told Sarai to handle the matter as she saw fit, after which Sarai mistreated Hagar and Hagar fled to the desert, where she met the Angel of the Lord on the road to Shur. describes the naming of Ishmael and God's promise to Hagar concerning Ishmael and his descendants. This occurred at the well of Beer-lahai-roi, and the Angel of the Lord said to her, "Behold, you are with child / And shall bear a son; / You shall call him Ishmael, / For the Lord has paid heed to your suffering." The Angel commanded Hagar, "Return to your mistress and submit to her."
Abraham was blessed so that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. God would make of Ishmael a great nation because he was of the seed of Abraham. However, God told Hagar that her son would be living in conflict with his relatives. When Ishmael was born, Abraham was 86 years old.

Inheritance, rights and the first circumcision

When he was 13 years old, Ishmael was circumcised at the same time as all other males in Abraham's household, becoming a part of the covenant in a mass circumcision. His father Abram, given the new name "Abraham", then 99, was circumcised along with the others.
At the time of the covenant, God informed Abraham that his wife Sarah would give birth to a son, whom he was instructed to name Isaac. God told Abraham that He would establish his covenant through Isaac, and when Abraham inquired as to Ishmael's role, God answered that Ishmael has been blessed and that he "will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget and I will make him a great nation." God also mentioned that "He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be over everyone, And everyone's hand will be against him; And he will live in the presence of his brethren."
A year later, Ishmael's half-brother Isaac was born to Abraham by his wife Sarah when she was 90 years old, after she had ceased showing any signs of fertility.
On the day of feasting during which Abraham celebrated the weaning of Isaac, Ishmael was "mocking" or "playing with" Isaac and Sarah asked Abraham to expel Ishmael and his mother, saying: "Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac." Her demand was painful for Abraham, who loved Ishmael. Abraham agreed only after God told him that "in Isaac your seed shall be called" and that God would "make a nation of the son of the bondwoman" Ishmael, since he was a descendant of Abraham, God having previously told Abraham "I will establish My covenant with ", while also making promises concerning the Ishmaelite nation.
At the age of 14, Ishmael was freed along with his mother. The Lord's covenant made clear Ishmael was not to inherit Abraham's house and that Isaac would be the seed of the covenant: "Take your son, your only son, whom you love and go to the region of Moriah."
Abraham gave Ishmael and his mother a supply of bread and water and sent them away. Hagar entered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba where the two soon ran out of water and Hagar, not wanting to witness the death of her son, set the boy some distance away from herself, and wept. "And God heard the voice of the lad" and sent his angel to tell Hagar, "Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation." And God "opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water", from which she drew to save Ishmael's life and her own. "And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer."

Descendants

After roaming the wilderness for some time, Ishmael and his mother settled in the Desert of Paran, where he became an expert in archery. Eventually, his mother found him a wife from the land of Egypt. They had twelve sons each of whom became a tribal chief in one of the regions from Havilah to Shur. His sons:
  1. Nebaioth
  2. Kedar, father of the Qedarites, a northern Arab tribe that controlled the area between the Persian Gulf and the Sinai Peninsula. According to tradition, he is the ancestor of the Quraysh tribe, and thus, ancestor of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
  3. Adbeel
  4. Mibsam
  5. Mishma
  6. Dumah
  7. Massa
  8. Hadad
  9. Tema
  10. Jetur
  11. Naphish
  12. Kedemah
Ishmael also had one known daughter, Mahalath or Basemath, the third wife of Esau.
Abraham's corpse was not buried until Ishmael was sent news and after his arrival at the burial. Ishmael died at the age of 137.

Family tree

In various traditions

s and academics in the field of source criticism believe that the stories of Ishmael belong to the three strata of J, or Yahwist source, the P, or Priestly source, and the E, or Elohist source. For example, the narration in is of J type and the narration in is of E type. Genesis 25 would have been added during the Persian Period by the Priestly source, who attributed the known Ishmaelite Tribes as the names of the sons of Ishmael, although the narrative and name of Ishmael himself preceded this.
Jewish and Islamic traditions consider Ishmael to be the ancestor of Arabs.

Judaism

According to the Book of Genesis, in the Hebrew Bible, Isaac rather than Ishmael was the true heir of the Abrahamic tradition and covenant, while at the same time being blessed by God with a great nation.
In some traditions Ishmael is said to have had two wives, one of them named Aisha. This name corresponds to the Muslim tradition for the name of Muhammad's wife. This is understood as a metaphoric representation of the Muslim world with Ishmael.
Rabbinical commentators in the Midrash Genesis Rabbah also say that Ishmael's mother Hagar was the Pharaoh's daughter, making Ishmael the Pharaoh's grandson. This could be why Genesis 17:20 refers to Ishmael as the father of 12 mighty princes. According to Genesis 21:21, Hagar married Ishmael to an Egyptian woman, and if Rabbinical commentators are correct that Hagar was the Pharaoh's daughter, his marriage to a woman she selected could explain how and why his sons became princes.
According to other Jewish commentators, Ishmael's mother Hagar is identified with Keturah, the woman Abraham sought out and married after Sarah's death. It is suggested that Keturah was Hagar's personal name, and that "Hagar" was a descriptive label meaning "stranger". This interpretation is discussed in the Midrash and is supported by Rashi, Gur Aryeh, Keli Yakar, and Obadiah of Bertinoro. Rashi argues that "Keturah" was a name given to Hagar because her deeds were as beautiful as incense, and that she remained chaste from the time she was separated from Abraham.
It is also said that Sarah was motivated by Ishmael's sexually frivolous ways because of the reference to his "making merry", a translation of the Hebrew word "Mitzachek". This was developed into a reference to idolatry, sexual immorality or even murder; some rabbinic sources claim that Sarah worried that Ishmael would negatively influence Isaac, or that he would demand Isaac's inheritance on the grounds of being the firstborn. Regarding the word "Mitzachek" The Jewish Study Bible by Oxford University Press says this word in this particular context is associated with "Playing is another pun on Isaac's name. Ishmael was 'Isaacing', or 'taking Isaac's place'." Others take a more positive view, emphasizing Hagar's piety, noting that she was "the one who had sat by the well and besought him who is the life of the worlds, saying 'look upon my misery'".
In Rabbinic 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. Abraham endeavored to bring up Ishmael in righteousness; to train him in the laws of hospitality Abraham gave him the calf to prepare. But according to divine prediction Ishmael remained a savage. The ambiguous expression in Gen. xxi. 9 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 was the first-born son he would receive two-thirds of the inheritance. Upon seeing the danger to Isaac, Sarah, who had till then been attached to Ishmael, 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.
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. God then commanded the angel to show Hagar the well which was created on Friday in the week of Creation, in the twilight, and which afterward accompanied the Israelites in the wilderness. But this was protested against by the angels, who said: "Why should Ishmael have water, since his descendants will destroy the Israelites by thirst?". God replied: "But now he is innocent, and I judge him according to what he is now". Ishmael married a Moabitess named 'Adishah or 'Aishah ; or, according to "Sefer ha-Yashar", 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. 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, 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. This statement agrees with that of Baba Batra —that Ishmael became a penitent during the lifetime of Abraham. He who sees Ishmael in a dream will have his prayer answered by God.