In considering Abraham’s sons, we would like to look at Isaac and Ishmael in the light of their history and in the light of what they represent. We know, of course, that Abraham had others sons by Keturah, but since Isaac and Ishmael are the prominent ones, we will reflect on them a little.
After God had called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees and made promises to him, Abram reminded the Lord (Gen. 15:3) that He had not given him any heir. He almost complains that “a son of my house will be mine heir” [that is, one of his servants] (Gen. 15:3 JND). God’s response was that “he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir” (Gen. 15:4). Although it would be some time before this promise was fulfilled, yet here was God’s word that there would be a child born by promise. Sad to say, the lapse of years caused Abram and Sarai’s faith to fail, and Abram acted on Sarai’s suggestion that he take her Egyptian maid Hagar as his wife and have a child by her. As it was with Abram, so it may be in our own lives; we often find that we fail in the very thing that is normally our strong point. Moses failed in his meekness, Job failed in his patience, and we find that Abram, noted all through the Word of God for his faith, failed in this very thing. It is in our strong points that we have to be most on guard, for self-confidence can make us leave the path of dependence on the Lord.
Ishmael
The result of this union was the birth of Ishmael, a full fourteen years before Isaac was born. His character was predicted before he was born, for the Lord told Hagar that he would be “a wild-ass of a man, his hand against every man, and every man’s hand against him” (Gen. 16:12 JND). But the time came when the true son of promise was born, and at the feast when Isaac was weaned, Ishmael is found mocking. Sarah asked that he and his mother be sent away, and when the Lord assured Abraham that this was the right thing to do, he sends them away. We read that Ishmael became an archer, dwelling in the wilderness. He eventually married a wife from Egypt and had twelve sons. It is also recorded that Esau married a daughter of Ishmael, as well as his other wives who were Hittites.
Ishmael and his descendants (probably the Bedouin Arabs) have been a thorn in the side of Israel all down through the ages, and their character answers to that prophesied of him. They were evidently allied with the Midianites in their oppression of Israel during Gideon’s time, and as time went on, the various tribes that descended from his twelve sons were likely assimilated gradually into other ethnic groups. But God knows where they are, and they are mentioned in Psalm 83 as being allied with other nations that take counsel against Israel, saying, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation” (Psa. 83:4). It is well-known that this feeling is prevalent among many of the Arab people today and is not restricted to those descended from Ishmael.
The Descendants of Ishmael
There are several things to be noticed in all of this. First of all, we must be clear that not all those known as Arabs are descendants of Ishmael. The Syrians and those in Iraq, for example, are not descended from Ishmael. Also, the lack of good records so long ago, combined with the mingling of various tribes and peoples over the centuries, has blurred some of the distinctions between various Arab groups. However, many so-called Arabs in the Middle East do claim to be descendants of Ishmael. Most important, it is claimed that Mohammed was an Ishmaelite, although this is highly questionable. Not only is it claimed that he descended from Abraham through Ishmael, but also preeminence is claimed for Ishmael’s family, inasmuch as he was Abraham’s firstborn as to time. It is claimed that Ishmael was the child of promise, not Isaac, and that the Jews have corrupted Scripture to make it appear to be Isaac. It is alleged that he, and not Isaac, was offered on the altar on Mount Moriah. An appeal has even been made to Deuteronomy 21:15-17, where the law states that a firstborn son must always be given the double portion in the inheritance, even if he were the son of the wife that was hated. Thus one scripture is used to discredit another.
On the one hand, we see the havoc and trouble that a lack of faith has caused, and that decisions made thousands of years ago affect the world even today. It is a solemn lesson for us, for while our decisions may not affect the world for centuries, they often have far-reaching effects. Let us order our lives in faith and in the fear of God. Yet God has firmly decreed that “in Isaac shall thy seed be called” (Gen. 21:12), for he was the child of promise. Those who oppose this will be found to be fighting against God. God may allow the king of the north to overrun the land of Israel in a coming day, but it remains that any confederacy that purposes “that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance” (Psa. 83:4) is doomed to judgment. “Let them be put to shame, and perish: that men may know that Thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the Most High over all the earth” (Psa. 83:17-18). Islam claims to believe and respect the early books of the Old Testament, yet in the name of promoting predominance for Ishmael and ultimately for Islam, the Koran contradicts much of the Word of God. Most seriously, the Lord Jesus Christ is relegated merely to be a great prophet and is not owned as the eternal Son of God. All who oppose God’s purposes concerning His Son will come to ruin.
The Son of Promise
Any doubt as to Isaac’s being the son of promise is put to rest in the New Testament, where Paul uses Isaac and Ishmael as a picture of the new and old covenants respectively. Ishmael, born of a “bondmaid” and “born after the flesh,” typifies the old covenant under law. This covenant, given at Mount Sinai, put Israel under a law that they could not keep, and thus “gendereth to bondage.” Isaac was born to Sarah, a “freewoman,” and was “by promise.” He typifies the new covenant under Christ, where the blessings are by grace and not dependent on man. As believers today, we come under the blessing of the new covenant, although the church is not in a covenant relationship with God. Thus the instruction to us is, “Cast out the bondwoman and her son,” for “we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free” (Gal. 5:30-31). The believer is not under law, but under grace.
However, there is something more to be noticed in this allegory. If the unbelieving descendants of Ishmael will come under God’s judgment for their implacable hatred of Israel, then God will surely judge unbelieving Israel, too. The Jews who go on in unbelief today take great pride in their descent from Abraham, as children of promise, just as did the Pharisees during the time that our Lord was on earth. However, in taking their place under the old covenant, they are spiritually like Ishmael, although they would no doubt be horrified by the comparison. “Jerusalem which now is ... is in bondage with her children” (Gal. 4:25). Having rejected their Messiah, the unbelieving Jews remain under the curse of a broken law and will not escape God’s righteous judgment simply because they are the children of promise. Rather, they will experience the most awful judgment from the Lord in the great tribulation, for they are more responsible than others.
But then, after they have been through that terrible ordeal, during which time God will preserve some of them, He will bring them back into blessing in their land. This time, however, it will be on the ground of grace and the work of Christ, for they will not be able to claim any blessing on their own merit. In that day all will be compelled to own them as God’s people, for “all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed” (Isa. 61:9).
W. J. Prost