Trying to Right Ishmael

There are profound differences between the Muslim and Jewish tales of Hagar and Ishmael.  For example, in the Muslim account, Hagar is sent away when Ishmael is still a babe nursing at her breast.  However, the Jewish version delays Hagar�s sending away until Ishmael is about 18 years old.  Therefore, I began to investigate the Jewish version, recorded in Genesis 16-25, to see what it would take to align the Jewish version with the Muslim, in order to see for myself just exactly how different the two stories truly are.

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.  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).  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�.

But we note that viewing the story of Hagar�s Expulsion (Gen 21:9-20b) in the light of the Muslim traditions immediately makes these unseemly details make perfect sense � Hagar is a new mother, nursing her first and only child on her breast, and Hagar�s distress is the frantic torment of a new mother watching her own child suffer in the Sun�s burning heat!  So, we begin to wonder if the tale of Hagar�s expulsion has been moved from its original location.  Indeed, this seems far more probable than the reverse, namely that the Muslims have rearranged their tale of Hagar�s expulsion, because if that were the case, there would be unseemly details in the Muslim account, arising from the fact that Ishmael was really 18 years old, whereas what we see are unseemly details in the Jewish account consistent with Ishmael being a nursing babe.

Another jarring element of the Jewish arrangement of the Hagar and Ishmael stories is the conspicuous 13 year gap between the birth of Ishmael (Gen 16:15) and the Covenant of Circumcision (Gen 17) placed immediately afterwards.  In short, Ishmael is born, then we fast forward 13 years to more important things, and then Ishmael at 13 is circumcised.  Now, to this we must add the fact that Muslim tradition holds that in this 13 year period, so summarily skipped over in the Jewish account, Ishmael (not Isaac as in Genesis ) is spared from sacrifice.  Right or wrong, the Muslim account is again very different from the Jewish account in this important facet of the story.  The Muslims say Ishmael was spared sacrifice when he was about 7 years old � but the Jewish tale attributes the Aborted Sacrifice to Isaac when he was about 7 years old.  When Isaac was 7, Ishmael was 21, so whereas the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael is delayed by 18 years in the Jewish version, the Aborted Sacrifice is delayed by 14 years.  Whichever tale is true, these clear and unambiguous differences cannot be overlooked.  In the case of Hagar�s Expulsion, conspicuous details in the narrative seem to favor the Muslim timing.  Do we see similar conspicuous details in the Sacrifice account that could help us properly date that story element?

First of all, in the account, the son who is spared is called Abraham�s �only son� (Gen 22:2, 12, 15).  Biologically, only Ishmael was ever Abraham�s �only son�.  To my knowledge, Jewish scholars do, in point of fact, claim that the words �only son� show Abraham�s full rejection and disowning of Ishmael, we leaves Isaac as Abraham�s �only [Legal] son�.  But there are three problems with this interpretation.  First, it is unambiguous that interpreting the plain text, which clearly reads �only son�, as actually meaning �only [Legal] son� requires an Allegorical Interpretation of the text, which overlays non-textual traditions over the plain text itself.  Next, even in the Jewish account, both Ishmael and Isaac come together to bury their father (Gen 25:9).  It is not possible that a fully rejected and disowned son would be allowed to bury his non-Father.  Thus again, just as unseemly details arose from the Jewish placement of Hagar�s Expulsion in the Jewish narrative, here too we see unseemly details arise from the Jewish placement (along with the Jewish allegorical interpretations) of the Aborted Sacrifice.  And third, after Abraham�s �only son� is spared by Almighty God through His Angel, Abraham goes to Beersheba (Gen 22:19).  But Beersheba is exactly the place where even the Jewish account acknowledges Hagar and Ishmael settled (Gen 21:14).  Thus, if we briefly allow ourselves to consider that the Jewish tale needs rearrangement, these unseemly details are immediately rectified � of course Abraham returns to Beersheba (with Ishmael), for he has presumably been visiting Hagar, from whom he took Ishmael in the first place, and now Abraham comes back to Hagar bringing her son Ishmael with him.  Once again, there are unseemly details in the Jewish arrangement which vanish when the individual story blocks are rearranged in alignment with Muslim traditions.

What happens if we, purely as an experiment, briefly allow ourselves to rearrange the individual story blocks in Genesis 16-26 to try to see if we can make them agree with the Muslim arrangement.  Is that even possible?

If we attribute the Aborted Sacrifice to Ishmael and put it back in, when Ishmael is 7 by tradition, and we put Sarah�s driving away of Hagar right after Ishmael�s birth, a pattern emerges: Abraham is visiting his son Ishmael roughly every 7 years, for Abraham visits Hagar and Ishmael when his �only son� is spared sacrifice (age 7), and Abraham must go back to Hagar and Ishmael to include his son in his Covenant of Circumcision (age 13).  And interestingly, Muslim tradition also has Abraham visiting Ishmael about every 7 years from Ishmael�s marriage to his 1^st wife forward.  So, interestingly, rearranging the Jewish tale to force it inline with Muslim accounts actually produces a very slick and streamlined picture:

• Hagar gets pregnant (Gen 16:4)
• Sarah is jealous, and drives Hagar away while she is pregnant (Gen 16:5-6)
• Hagar comes back and gives birth, but then Sarah is even more jealous and tells Abraham to choose either her or Hagar (Gen 16:15; Gen 21:9-10)
• Abraham is understandably worried, but agrees to send Hagar & Ishmael away when consoled by God (Gen 21:11-14)
• Abraham visits Ishmael about every 7 years for the rest of his days (Gen 22; Gen 17; Muslim traditions)

Forcing the Jewish account to align with Muslim traditions takes surprisingly little editing, and is mainly rearranging a few blocks of text.  And the story that emerges makes allot of sense, agrees with Muslim accounts, and doesn�t have a 40 year old Hagar toting around 18 year old Ishmael like he weighs 3 lbs, but rather has a new mother of a newborn baby understandably frantic in the wilderness, having been twice now driven away, and about to lose all she still has � her only son!  That is a far more touching portrait, and really dramatizes the scene of the �boy� crying � it�s a newborn baby!! 

And the message that emerges also agrees perfectly with the New Testament message, most clearly shown in the Gospel of John, that Almighty God does not need us to sacrifice our children to Him, but, completely in the reverse, Almighty God so loved the World that he gave His only son for us (from John 3:16)!  That is, Almighty God is the Creator of Life, and has no need for us to undo His work by killing our own children to �appease� of �feed� Him, as for example the Canaanites taught.  Indeed, Almighty God loves us, and so we have no need to live in such fear of Him (see 1 John 4:18) that we kill our own children to placate His Wrath � as, for example, the Canaanites taught, and the Gentiles to whom John addressed his �Gentile Gospel� were subjected to.  In other words, in perfect agreement with the message of the Gospel of John, the message of the Aborted Sacrifice is that Almighty God does not need His Believers (embodied by Abraham) to murder their own children, but rather is the Source of Life who gives us more children (recall God�s Bidding to �be fruitful and multiply� in Gen 1:28)!  That is, Abraham�s unwaivering Belief in his willingness to sacrifice his only begotten son, Ishmael, when no other offspring lived to carry on his name, when he thought that was what Almighty God wanted � in other words, Abraham�s willingness to wipe out his whole bloodline if Almighty God truly so bid it � is exactly what Almighty God reversed in Genesis 22:17a, �I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.�  I cannot overemphasize the power and deep message in this account, revealed only by the Muslim traditions of Hagar, Ishmael and his father Abraham!!  Abraham was willing to wipe out his whole bloodline for Almighty God � but Almighty God not only spared Ishmael, and then gave him Isaac, but even further promised him that his descendants would become as numerous as the stars!!  The power and meaning of this message, revealed by aligning the Jewish accounts with Muslim traditions, and which is in perfect agreement with the Gospel of John, cannot be overstated.

The Lore of Hagar and Ishmael

Endnotes in Brackets []

Genesis 16

Hagar and Ishmael

1 �  And Sara the wife of Abram bore him no children; and she had an Egyptian maid, whose name was Agar.

2  And Sara said to Abram, Behold, the Lord has restrained me from bearing, go therefore in to my maid, that I may get children for myself through her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sara.

3  So Sara the wife of Abram having taken Agar the Egyptian her handmaid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Chanaan, gave her to Abram her husband as a wife to him.

4 �  And he went in to Agar, and she conceived, and saw that she was with child, and her mistress was dishonoured before her.

5  And Sara said to Abram, I am injured by thee; I gave my handmaid into thy bosom, and when I saw that she was with child, I was dishonoured before her. The Lord judge between me and thee.

6  And Abram said to Sara, Behold thy handmaid is in thy hands, use her as it may seem good to thee. And Sara afflicted her, and she fled from her face.

7 �  And an angel of the Lord found her by the fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Sur.

8  And the angel of the Lord said to her, Agar, Sara�s maid, whence comest thou, and wither goest thou? and she said, I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sara.

9  And the angel of the Lord said to her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

10 �  And the angel of the Lord said to her, I will surely multiply thy seed, and it shall not be numbered for multitude.

11  And the angel of the Lord said to her, Behold thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ismael, for the Lord hath hearkened to thy humiliation.

12  He shall be a wild man �[1] and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

9[2] �  And Sarah saw � Hagar the Egyptian, [with] the son whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.

10[3]  then she said to Abraam, Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not inherit [from me�]

12[4]  But God said to Abraam, Let it not be hard before thee concerning the child, and concerning the bondwoman; in all things whatsoever Sarrha shall say to thee, hear her voice...

14 �  And Abraam rose up in the morning and took loaves and a skin of water, and gave them to Agar, and he put the child on her shoulder[5], and sent her away, and she having departed wandered in the wilderness near the well of the oath. {1) Or, near Beersheba}

20a-b  And God was with the child, and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness[6].

2[7]  And he said, Take thy son, the beloved one, whom thou hast loved �� [Ishmael], and go into the high land, and offer him there for a whole�burnt�offering on one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

19  And Abraam returned to his servants, and they arose and went together to the well of the oath; and Abraam dwelt at the well of the oath.[8] {that is, Beersheba}

23 �  And Abraam took Ismael his son[9], and all his home�born servants, and all those bought with money, and every male of the men in the house of Abraam, and he circumcised their foreskins in the time of that day, according as God spoke to him.

20c And [Ishmael][10] became an archer.

21 And he dwelt in the wilderness, and his mother took him a wife out of Pharan of Egypt.[11]

22 �  And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech spoke, and Ochozath {1} his friend, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, to Abraam, saying, God is with thee in all things[12], whatsoever thou mayest do. {1) Not in the Heb. friend of bridegroom, or attendant at marriage}

9  And Isaac and Ismael his sons buried him in the double cave[13], in the field of Ephron the son of Saar the Chettite, which is over against Mambre:

17  And these are the years of the life of Ismael, a hundred and thirty�seven years[14]; and he failed and died, and was added to his {1} fathers. {1) Gr. family}

18  And he dwelt from Evilat to Sur, which is opposite Egypt, until one comes to the Assyrians; he dwelt in the presence of all his brethren[15].

I'm not sure I made one point clear, namely, why I think Ishmael has been wronged by the present ordering of the story blocks of Hagar and Ishmael in the Jewish OT.  Let me summarize with one point.

Look at Genesis 21.  Here's the breakdown:

1. Birth of Isaac (1-8)
2. Hagar & Ishmael Sent Away (9-21)
3. Treaty at Beersheba (22-34)

Now, read how the 3rd block, the Treaty at Beersheba, opens (line 22), immediately after Hagar & Ishmael are sent away:

At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do."

See the message?  Abraham "disowns" Ishmael, as my understanding of Jewish tradition tells me...

and straight away we are told that "God is with Abraham in everything he does".  That is, Abraham "disowns" Ishmael, and it is God Willed and God Praised.  Right or wrong, wrong or right, that is an extreme disrespect to Ishmael.  He is disowned, and his expulsion is sanctioned by Almighty God.  Right or wrong, that is a hardcore slap in Ishmael's face -- you are such a worthless son, that Almighty God demands you be expelled!  That is exactly and precisely what I understand the message to be.  That is a hardcore dis, put in the mouth of Abraham, against his own bloodson Ishmael.

Now, watch how the passage reads in my re-ordering of these passages:

1. Birth of Isaac (1-8)
2. --------------------
3. Treaty at Beersheba (22-34)

Now, in my re-arrangement, Isaac is born, Abraham is blessed by Almighty God with new life in his family, and then Abimelech and Phicol say, "God is with you in all you do."  See the difference?  Almighty God's stamp of total utter complete approval is no longer applied to Ishmael's Expulsion...  but Isaac's Birth.

God's Blessing of Isaac's Birth, in my ordering, is now a re-iteration of God's promised Blessing of Abraham in Genesis 22:16-18, to make his offspring as numerous as the grains of sand on Earth and the Stars in Heaven.  See the difference?  In my ordering, Isaac's birth is seen as total utter complete proof that Almighty God really is with Abraham, and giving him more offspring, just as Almighty God said He would do in Gen 22:16-18.

God's Sanction, in my ordering, is now a blessing to the Blood of Abraham (Isaac) instead of a curse to the Blood of Abraham (Ishmael).

Right or wrong, that is a big difference.

I am all for it, Bismarck. A great injustice had been done to Ishmael and I appreciate your efforts.

Ishmael was the First Born of Abraham. God of OT, for some unknown reasons, was always partial and preferred the First Born, according to the Bible.  

Perhaps, in your research, you would like to add that God Almighty heard the cries of Hagar and the infant Ishmael. That is why he was given the name "For he was heard by God". There was no one with that name before Ishmael got it.   From then on the Lord God was always with him while he grew. Do you happen to know what is the meaning of Issac? Please let me know, if you do.

21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a abondmaid�, the other by a freewoman.

23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.

24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to a bondage, which is bAgar�.

25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

26 But aJerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

27 For it is written, aRejoice�, thou bbarren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.

28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the achildren� of promise.

29 But as then he that was born after the aflesh bpersecuted� him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? aCast� out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.

31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

If this is not the formula for human slavery what is ?

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 - 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. 

Bismarck,

What strikes me is that God was with the boy Ishmael, the First Born of Abraham while he grew but not with the Second Born of the free woman.

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: [QUOTE=bmzsp]Also, with all due respect, I do believe that the OT always favors the younger son, not the elder.  Jacob is favored over Esau, Joseph is favored over Reuben and the other 10 elder brothers, Ephraim is favored over Manasseh.  The younger son is favored.  I think that is a true statement, and scholarly accurate reading of the OT.

Thanks Bismarck, I think there is some truth in this. But why it runs that way?