KARIM AND ABOU LEARN ABOUT ABRAHAM AND ISHMAEL
It was late evening when the two friends, Karim and Abou, sat at the
seaside chatting.
“How could Abraham find it in his heart to chase his young son, Ishmael,
away from his house?” Karim asked out of the blue.
“Do you know how old Ishmael was when Abraham sent him and his mother
away?” Abou asked a little surprised.
“No, I don’t. How old was he?” Karim wanted to know.
“The Torah says: ‘Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore him
Ishmael.’ When Abraham was 99 years old, God appeared to Abraham again
and confirmed that he would have a son by Sarah a year later.”1
“So Ishmael was 14 when Isaac was born,” said Karim. “At what stage was he
then sent away?”
“Three years later, at the age of seventeen, when Isaac was weaned.2
It was not the first time that his mother left the house of Abraham.”
“When was the first time?” Karim sounded surprised.
“Here is something very important we must not overlook. Hagar knew it was not only an angel talking to her. She recognized the Living God. She gave Him the name: The One who sees me. It is clear that an angel could not make the promise: ‘I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude.’ Ishmael was the first baby mentioned in the Scriptures who received his name from God before he was born and the meaning of this name is: God Hears. This name would always remind Ishmael and his descendants that God would hear them every time they sincerely cry out to Him for salvation.”
“This is awesome!” said Karim. “But I still think it is very sad that his father sent him away even at the age of 17. Didn’t he love him anymore?”
“Yes, he did. We find a few very significant clues in the story to prove this. When Ishmael was 13 years old, God appeared to Abraham again to confirm the covenant He had made with Abraham before Ishmael was born: ‘A son coming from your own body will be your heir’. 4 Abraham had thought throughout these 13 years that the son God referred to was Ishmael. He loved him and nurtured him. No doubt Abraham had explained to Ishmael the blessing for nations God had promised, would come through his seed. And now God appeared to him again saying Sarah was going to have a son. Abraham realized he had made a mistake. The real covenant boy would only be born a year later.
“Abraham fell face down before God begging: ‘If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!’ 5 Then God answered him: ‘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 father twelve chiefs, and I will make him a great nation.’ 6
“The covenant God made with Abraham was a blood covenant with circumcision as a sign of the closest and most sacred of all contracts between two parties. The Word of God says: ‘Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on that same day’.7 Every word God uses means something. He wanted the world then, and the world thereafter to know that He included Ishmael in this eternal blood covenant.”
“What did this mean?” Karim wanted to know.
“It meant that one day God would shed blood for the eternal salvation of the descendants of Ishmael.”
“Was it wrong for Abraham to take Hagar as his second wife?” Karim asked anxiously.
“Not according to the customs of the time, but according to God’s principles, yes. God never told Abraham to take a second wife. To have more than one wife always causes problems. God intended man to have only one wife in the way He created Eve for Adam in the Garden of Eden. Customs and cultures are not our standards. The laws of God are.”
“And Ishmael? What happened to him after Abraham chased them away?”
“Wait! Not so harsh? I don’t think there was ever any intention of chasing them out of the house! When Sarah asked Abraham to send Ishmael away because Ishmael was mocking at the feast of weaning, the Torah tells us: ...to send him away was very evil in Abraham’s sight, because of his son. God again intervened and told Abraham not to be anxious about Ishmael. He would bless Ishmael. But God immediately put things straight with Abraham: The seed – in the singular referring to a Person (Jesus) -who will bless the nations, will come through Isaac’s descendants”.8
“Was Isaac so much better then?”
“Are the Jews then automatically saved because God chose that line and land?”
“Let’s
continue with the story of Ishmael. Abraham gave Hagar and Ishmael enough
provisions to reach the next well. This well, it appears, Hagar missed.
When she realized they had a problem, she left Ishmael alone and went some
distance away where she sat crying. The angel of the Lord came to her
there and what do you think he said to her?”
“I guess he would say: ‘Don’t cry, Hagar, God hears you!” Karim answered.
“Excellent! The Scripture says: ‘And He said to her, ‘What ails you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy, there where he is’.9 Don’t forget Ishmael means ‘God hears’. God even today hears the sincere cries for salvation of the descendants of Ishmael. There after God showed Hagar the well of water near them that saved their lives.”
“The fact that they were chased away and were lost in the desert must have had a very strong influence on the young boy,” Karim said.
“Yes, no doubt the sadness, rejection, bitterness and pain lie deeply embedded in the roots of the nation that descended from him. But again God hears them and will provide the healing water. As Jesus once called out at a feast in Jerusalem: ‘If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive’.” 10.
What did God mean by the 12 chiefs he promised to Ishmael.?” Karim asked.
“Do you know
that Abraham died at the age of 175 and the Torah says that ‘Isaac
and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Mach-pe’lah’.11
This was 62 years after Ishmael was sent away. Ishmael was 89 by
then and his half brother Isaac 75.”
“It is a pity that the descendants of the two brothers do not see eye to eye today. They seem to miss that they are both included in the promise of salvation for the nations,” says Karim.
1 Gen 16:16; 17:1,19; 2 Gen 21:8-14; 3 Gen 16:7-13; 4 Gen 15:4; 5 Genesis 17:18; 6 Gen 17:20. 7 Gen. 17:26; 8 Gen 21:10-13; 9 Gen 21:17; 10 John 7:37-39; 11 Gen 25:9; 12 Rom 10:11-13.
“Before
Ishmael was born. According to the Torah, Hagar fell pregnant with
Ishmael and began to despise her mistress. So Sarah mistreated her and
Hagar fled, but God Himself intervened and sent Hagar back to Abraham’s
house. We must read the whole story in Genesis Chapter 16: The angel of the LORD met
Hagar at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur and
said, "Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you
going?" She answered, "I am running away from my mistress." He said, "Go back to her and
be her slave." Then he
said, "I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to
count them. You are going to
have a son, and you will name him Ishmael, because the LORD has heard your cry
of distress. But your son
will live like a wild donkey; he will be against everyone, and everyone will be
against him. He will live apart from all his relatives." Hagar asked herself, "Have I
really seen God and lived to tell about it?" So she called the LORD, who
had spoken to her, "A God Who Sees.”’3
“Here is something very important we must not overlook. Hagar knew it was not only an angel talking to her. She recognized the Living God. She gave Him the name: The One who sees me. It is clear that an angel could not make the promise: ‘I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude.’ Ishmael was the first baby mentioned in the Scriptures who received his name from God before he was born and the meaning of this name is: God Hears. This name would always remind Ishmael and his descendants that God would hear them every time they sincerely cry out to Him for salvation.”
“This is awesome!” said Karim. “But I still think it is very sad that his father sent him away even at the age of 17. Didn’t he love him anymore?”
“Yes, he did. We find a few very significant clues in the story to prove this. When Ishmael was 13 years old, God appeared to Abraham again to confirm the covenant He had made with Abraham before Ishmael was born: ‘A son coming from your own body will be your heir’. 4 Abraham had thought throughout these 13 years that the son God referred to was Ishmael. He loved him and nurtured him. No doubt Abraham had explained to Ishmael the blessing for nations God had promised, would come through his seed. And now God appeared to him again saying Sarah was going to have a son. Abraham realized he had made a mistake. The real covenant boy would only be born a year later.
“Abraham fell face down before God begging: ‘If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!’ 5 Then God answered him: ‘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 father twelve chiefs, and I will make him a great nation.’ 6
“The covenant God made with Abraham was a blood covenant with circumcision as a sign of the closest and most sacred of all contracts between two parties. The Word of God says: ‘Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on that same day’.7 Every word God uses means something. He wanted the world then, and the world thereafter to know that He included Ishmael in this eternal blood covenant.”
“What did this mean?” Karim wanted to know.
“It meant that one day God would shed blood for the eternal salvation of the descendants of Ishmael.”
“Was it wrong for Abraham to take Hagar as his second wife?” Karim asked anxiously.
“Not according to the customs of the time, but according to God’s principles, yes. God never told Abraham to take a second wife. To have more than one wife always causes problems. God intended man to have only one wife in the way He created Eve for Adam in the Garden of Eden. Customs and cultures are not our standards. The laws of God are.”
“And Ishmael? What happened to him after Abraham chased them away?”
“Wait! Not so harsh? I don’t think there was ever any intention of chasing them out of the house! When Sarah asked Abraham to send Ishmael away because Ishmael was mocking at the feast of weaning, the Torah tells us: ...to send him away was very evil in Abraham’s sight, because of his son. God again intervened and told Abraham not to be anxious about Ishmael. He would bless Ishmael. But God immediately put things straight with Abraham: The seed – in the singular referring to a Person (Jesus) -who will bless the nations, will come through Isaac’s descendants”.8
“Was Isaac so much better then?”
“No,
it has nothing to do with who is good and who is bad. The prophet Isaiah says
all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment (Is 64:6). God chose the
line of Isaac and the land of Israel with a plan. Through this line and
in that small country the Saviour for all mankind was to be born and there in
the centre of this world, Jesus will return as King to judge the world.”
“Are the Jews then automatically saved because God chose that line and land?”
“No,
not at all. Nobody can earn salvation through good works. The Jews
today have to accept Jesus as their Saviour the same way all the other nations
have to accept him. As a matter of fact the apostle Paul says the
following in Romans 11:25: ‘I want you to understand this mystery, brethren:
a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles
come in…’ In these last days we can expect a great number of the
descendants of Ishmael to understand who Jesus really is.”
“I guess he would say: ‘Don’t cry, Hagar, God hears you!” Karim answered.
“Excellent! The Scripture says: ‘And He said to her, ‘What ails you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy, there where he is’.9 Don’t forget Ishmael means ‘God hears’. God even today hears the sincere cries for salvation of the descendants of Ishmael. There after God showed Hagar the well of water near them that saved their lives.”
“The fact that they were chased away and were lost in the desert must have had a very strong influence on the young boy,” Karim said.
“Yes, no doubt the sadness, rejection, bitterness and pain lie deeply embedded in the roots of the nation that descended from him. But again God hears them and will provide the healing water. As Jesus once called out at a feast in Jerusalem: ‘If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive’.” 10.
What did God mean by the 12 chiefs he promised to Ishmael.?” Karim asked.
“Ishmael
had 12 sons. God mentioned them all in the Scriptures. You can read the
story of the 12 sons and where they went to live in Genesis 25 from verse 13 –
17. They spread out from Egypt to Arabia and further on. Ishmael’s
descendants are exceedingly blessed in numbers as God had said. But the
most important blessing is the promise of Salvation through the blood of Jesus
Christ, the only worthy Saviour, because He was without sin.
“It is a pity that the descendants of the two brothers do not see eye to eye today. They seem to miss that they are both included in the promise of salvation for the nations,” says Karim.
“Yes,
it is a pity,” said Abou. “But it is not too late. Anyone can enter
into this covenant at anytime. In prayer you simply confess to God that
you are a sinner and that you cannot save yourself. You then enter into the
covenant by asking Jesus to come into your life and be your personal
Saviour. At this point God accepts you in the covenant through the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus then sends His Holy Spirit to live His
life in you. The Holy Spirit will now bear witness to your own human
spirit that you have entered into the covenant and become a child of God.
Anyone may pray this prayer. It does not matter to which nation you belong
because this blessing is for all the nations. The Scripture says ‘No
one who believes in him will be put to shame. For there is no distinction
between Jew and Greek (gentile); the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his
riches upon all who call upon him. For, every one who calls upon the name
of the Lord will be saved’. 12
“The
bottom line of this story about Ishmael is summed up in one short
sentence: GOD SEES, GOD HEARS and GOD CARES for the descendants of
Ishmael. He loves you and HE wants you to be saved!
1 Gen 16:16; 17:1,19; 2 Gen 21:8-14; 3 Gen 16:7-13; 4 Gen 15:4; 5 Genesis 17:18; 6 Gen 17:20. 7 Gen. 17:26; 8 Gen 21:10-13; 9 Gen 21:17; 10 John 7:37-39; 11 Gen 25:9; 12 Rom 10:11-13.
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