Trying to Right Ishmael

Gen: 17:18 To God, Abraham said, 'May it be granted that Ishmael live before you!'

17:19 God said, 'Still, your wife Sarah will give birth to a son. You must name him Isaac.. I will keep My covenant with him as an eternal treaty, for his descendants after him.

17:20 I have also heard you with regard to Ishmael. I will bless him, and make him fruitful, increasing his numbers very greatly. He will father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.

17:21 But I will keep My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you this time next year.'

Gen: 21:10 She said to Abraham, 'Drive away this slave together with her son. The son of this slave will not share the inheritance with my son Isaac!'

21:11 This troubled Abraham very much because it involved his son.

21:12 But God said to Abraham, 'Do not be troubled because of the boy and your slave. Do everything that Sarah tells you. It is through Isaac that you will gain posterity.

21:13 But still, I will also make the slave's son into a nation, for he is your child.'

gain posterity
Literally, 'you will be said to have offspring,' or, 'offspring will be considered yours.'

Gen: 22:2 'Take your son, the only one you love - Isaac - and go away to the Moriah area. Bring him as an all-burned offering on one of the mountains that I will designate to you.'

My Tanakh's translation of this verse is:

"And He said, "Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the Land o Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you."

Isaac was the favored son because it was through Isaac that the promise came.

It was, therefore, that Hagar's son (Ishma'el) was already cast out from Abraham's household (Gen: 21:10-12) and disinherited. Thus, Isaac was properly Abraham's "only son" in regards to both family life and inheritance.

bismarck wrote:

"I quickly identified some very troubling inconsistencies with the Jewish version.  For example, although the description of the sending away of Hagar and Ishmael in the Jewish version (Gen 21:9-20b), taken by itself, closely matches the Muslim version, as we mentioned above the context in which the Jewish tale is set is very different from the context of the Muslim account.  As we said, the Muslim version has Hagar fleeing with Ishmael as a nursing babe.  But in the Jewish account, Hagar is not driven away until after Isaac is born (Gen 21:2) and weened (Gen 21:8) which typically happens about the age of 4.  Thus, Ishmael is about 18 years of age � to wit, a fully grown adult male Bedouin." 

so weaning takes place at the agoe of 4?  -according to dr jamal badawi, the muslim polemicist, who was quoted on another thread, it took place at the age of three, so according to him ishmael was a "husky"(!) teenager of 17. this:

http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/feeding/weaning.html

tells another story.  ishmael may have been 15.  in any event we do not know how big he was (as a former teacher i have come across many very small 15 year old boys.  boys do not develop physically as quickly as girls

"But even in the Jewish account, Abraham puts the boy Ishmael on Hagar�s shoulders (Gen 21:14), and Hagar puts the boy under a bush (Gen 21:15)." 

no, abraham does not put the boy on her shoulders, it was the bottle (ie. skin) of water he placed on her shoulder.  she has the skin of water over one shoulder.  she will need one hand to keep this in place.  your scenario has a baby on the other shoulder.  would a mother carry a baby this way?  and what does she do with the bread?  how many hands does the woman have?  no, ishmael walked away with hagar///////------Gen 21: 15 does not say she put the boy under a bush, it says she cast him under the bush.  so mothers have now taken to throwing their babies on the ground? no, he was a teenage boy

" Hagar is probably about 40 years old at this point in the Jewish arrangement: Abraham goes to Egypt where Sarah picks up Hagar (Gen 12:10-20), Abraham comes out and lives in Canaan for 10 years before Hagar gives birth (Gen 16:3), and then Ishmael grows to age 18, so if Hagar was 10-12 years old when Sarah took her as her handmaiden, then 28 years later makes Hagar about 40.  Moreover, Hagar could not have given birth before about age 13, meaning Hagar must be at least 30.  So, we have a 30-40 year old woman giving a piggy-back ride to a fully grown adult Bedouin, one afterwards known as a mighty archer no less, and then just sticking him under a bush or fir tree.  Then, our 18 year old Ishmael cries, and it drives his mother Hagar to distraction, and Almighty God hears his cries.  Now, would an 18 year old adult male Bedouin soon-to-be archer whimper before his mother, even if he was really hungry or thirsty?  To be blunt, an 18 year old man could probably withstand hardship and privation better than a 40 year old woman, and you�d think if one is caring for the other, it would be Ishmael caring for his own mother Hagar.  And even if Ishmael fell ill, you would think that a fully grown adult man would put on a stronger show than crying �like a baby�."

you know, this is just all so typically bismarck, isnt it? - all ifs and buts and maybes.  i dont know why you just cant read whats on the page in front of you.  where does it say that ishmael "cried like a baby" in front of his mother?  or "whimpered"?  it states clearly in v.17 that God heard his voice after his mother had moved "a good way off" - v.16.  ---actually if he did cry in front of his mother, he would not be the first teenage boy to do so, i wouldnt have thought.  but it doesnt actually say he cried at all - it says God heard his voice. it was hagar who lifted up her voice, and wept.  we also do not know how strong hagar was.  remember that she was no lady of leisure, but a servant.  nor do we know how  long she was required to carry ishmael

well i may come back to this later, ive only looked at your first paragraph.