• The name occurs also in early Bab. as that of a slave from the land of 'Martu'or the Amorites (Thureau Dangin, Rev. d'Assyr.. 1S97, p. 78) and in ilinx&n (Hommel, Siid.-Arab, Chreetamathie, 117, 135).
t The expression, as 303. For the family being represented under the figure of a house, cf. Ru 4-', Dt 25^, Ex 1-'.
J See especially, on the word here used, Rahlfs, 'il^ UTtd 13^ in den Psalmen (1892), p. (J7 ff. (with numerous illustrationt from Arabic) ; more briefly. Driver, Deut. p. 246. Ol" On SI** ('afflict')-
§ See Trumbull, Kadesh-bamta, p. 64, and cf. Dillm
ISHMAEL
ISHMAEL
50J
Egypt — the angel of J" ' found ' her. He addresses to her three words (16"""): firstly, bidding lier return to her mistress, and 'humble herself* under her hands ; seeondlj, encouraging her to take this stcji by the promise of a numerous seed ; and thirdly, hxing in anticipation the name and char- acter of her future son : 'thou shalt call his name Isliiiiael, because Jehovah hath heard thy allliclion. Anil lie shall be a wild-ass of a man, his hand being against all, and the hand of all being against him : and in front of all his brethren he sliall dwell.' The wild-ass is a wayward, intractable creature, whose home is the j>rairie (see the descripti(m in Job 39''* ; and cf. Hos 8" ' going alone wilfully '). Ishmael, like many of the other characters in Gn, is an impersonation of his descendants ; and the nar- rator draws here a true and picturesque description of the Bedawis,t and of the life led by them to the present day: now, as ever, they are the free and independent sons of the desert, owning no authority save that of their own chief, reckless of life, if occasion demands it, ever ready to plunder the hapless traveller who ventures without permission within their domain. The tribes whom the He- brews thus regarded as descended from Ishmael, dwelt partly, it seems, on the S. of Canaan ; but in the main, as the words ' in the front of all his brethren ' (so 25'"', cf. v.') imply,! their home was on the east of Israel and Edom (see below).
The next allusion to Ishmael is in ch. 17 (P), where, after the promise of a son to Sarah, Abra- ham, incredulous, and still resting his hopes upon Isliniael, utters the cntreatj' on his behalf (17'*), 'Oh that Lshmael might live before tliee!'§ In repiv, God reaffirms Ills promise to Sarah, but adds (witli a play on his name), 'And as for Ishmael, / hitvc heard {.hue : behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly ; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make fiim into a great nation ' (17^; see ■25'-'"). An<I at the end of the chapter, it is stated that Ishmael, being 13 years old (cf. 17^ with 10", both 1'), was circumcised, together with the other male members of Abraham's household.
We again hear of Ishmael some three years aftenvards, when Isaac was weaned || (21''''" E). Sarah ' saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, whom she had borne unto Abraham, playing,' or sporting, jesting (1<J'< 26', Ex 32«, Jg 16"); II her maternal jealousy is excited ; she a second time appeals to her husliand, and bids him, with some peremptoriness, 'cast out' both Ishmael and his slave-mother. Abra- ham, though resenting this demand, — for Ishmael was his lirstborn, and had obviously also (note ' on account of his son ') won his atlection, — is neverthe- less encouraged by God — as may be inferred from v.", in a nocturnal vision or dream — to yield to it : Abraham's genuine ' seed,' the inheritors of the promises, are to be in Isaac's line ; and national greatness elsewhere is in store for Ishmael also. Resigned by these thoughts to the loss of his son, he sends him away with his mother, giving them a modicum of provision to sujiport them on their journey. They wander to and fro over the dry and stony soil of tlie desert about Bccrsheba untU their wat«r is exhausted ; Hagar then, faint and
• The same word (in the rt-flexive conj.) a« in v.*.
t Arab. Wdniri (also bMtitci), a (IwelltT in the badw or op«n plain, opp. to the 'ahl ul-hadari, or ilwellcra in fUed localiliufl (n^nsq); see Ijine, Arab. Lex. pp. 171, 172, &89.
t In accordance with tlic general ftunse of the exprcMlOD : eee %.g. 1 K 11'. Zee U*.
I i.e. under thy eye and care ; cf. Iloe fl^, Jer 30*, If 63*.
I Which may not tiave been till he won two, or even throe jroam old (2 Mao "■'').
1 LXX *«*^#»*« (oddinjr IMrm. '\tnmM T»u uUv Mvtiit), Vulff.
luJen(em. Onk. fl'XIJf (»o 20», Jit l(f»). The rend. ' mocking ' !• unoert&in, though p.nv h«« certainly thl» Mnee when followed by the prep. ? (ol or againit), 30'*- ".
desperate, flings the child down under the shade of one of the bushes, and .seats herself sadly .some little way oU', not wishing to look upon the death of her son. But God 'heard' the voice of the crying child— the word is evidently chosen with allusion to the name Ishm:iel, even if it be not intended as an explanation of its origin (cf. 16" [J], 17-'" [I*]) *, — called out to his mother, reassured her with a fresh promise (see IB'") of Ishmael's future greatne.s.s, and showed her a well of water, which enabled her to revive the d}'in</ lad. Ishmael grew up, made his home in the wilderness on the S. oi Canaan, and became famous as an archer. Hi^ wife, it is added, like his mother, was an Egyptian.