The only other incidents of Ishmaers life which are mentioned, are that he and Isaac buried their father after his death (25-' P), and that he himself died at the age of 127 (25" P).
Two expressions in ch. 21 deserve to be briefly oommentci
upon.
(1) p.^KD *n V.8 was a word which lent itself readily to Ha^'- gruiistic expositions. K. Akit>a (on account of it3 use in tin ;j'.|H- n) supposed it to refer to Ishmael's unchostity, U. It^lunael (on account of its use in Ex oli''") to his devotion to ifiolatry ; other Rabbis (on account of the use of p~7 in 2S 21'*, I'r ^tilW) to attempts made by him to shoot his brother {Bere*h\th liabba, (id toe, p. *J54 f. in Wiinsche'a translation ; tlie second explanation also in Jer. ijwrst. ad tr'cn., and in Targ. I'oeud-Jon. ad toe). There were also olliiT stories current among the later .lews respecting Ubmael's insolence towartis his brother, his disputes with him concerning the birthright, etc: see Beer, Leien Abraham' i nach A ii '.'asxutuj derjud. ^age, pp. 49 ff. (where other Ilaggadistic expansions of the narrative of Ishmael's ex- pulsion are also given), i*", (Jl St. Paul, in Oal i^ (i3'«xi>). follows some of these later tnulitions.
(2) 'Flung' (I'/if'-?) in v.i* clearly implies that hitherto Ishmael hod been carried by his mothcr.al though according to lOi'J 2P- " he must have been 15 years old, if not more (see prece<l. col. and note II). .\ttcmpts h.ave been made to remove the inconsis- tency : but it is in reality similar to the one in I'JUff. (as well as others occurring in other parts of Gn) ; lOi'f 21*, the passages which fix the ago of Ishmael, belong to P, whereas the present narrative belongs to u tiitlerent writer, E, who took a dilTerent view of the chronology, and pictured Ishmael as still an infant (cf. V.30 ' and he ffreic up ').
The twelve 'princes' begotten by Ishmael (17"), or, in other words, the twelve eponymous ancestors of the tribes who were reputed to be descended from him, are enumerated in 25'^''* (P) ; Nebaioth, l^Cedar, Adbeel, Mibsaiii, Mishma, Dumali, Massa, yadad, Tima, Jetur, Naphish, and I^edemiih. The first two of these are mentioned several times be- sides in the OT, chiefly as wealthy pastoral or trading tribes (Jer 49«•''^ Is 60', Ezk27-'; cf. Is 42", Jer 2'", Ca 1», Ps 120*), I^edar also (Is 21") as famous for its archers (cf. Gn 21*) ; T(>ma (about 250 miles S.E. of Edom) is mentioned Is 21", Jer 25'^, Job 6'" : Jetur and Naphish appear from 1 Ch 5" to have been neighlmurs of Reuben on the E. of Jordan ; the former in later days moved north- wards, and are known in the Roman a^e as the wild and predatory mountain-tribe of Itura'ans, skilled likewise in "the use of the bow ; for further particulars see the sejinrate names in this Uiction- ary.t The home of Ishmael himself is in Gn 21" the wilderness of Paran, on the S. of Canaan, and no doutit there were Ishmaelites in that ncighliour- hood;:! but the general situation of the trilies descended from him was unnucstionably on the east of Palestine, Edom, and the (iulf of A|>abah, in agreement with the exiin-ssioii in 16" and '25"» (cf. v.*) ' in the frtmt of all his brethren ' : some of these tribes (25") dwelt in fixed villages (n^ijq, cf.
* Cf. the thrvefold allusion to the mcAuing of ' Isaac,' 171^ (P), 15(11 13(.H, JlliE); ice p. 4Si, No. 8.
t C(. also lul. tilascr. Skin* dfr (>«nA, «. Gtogr. ArabKnA Qxn). ii. i-^a.
I Tlif tcriiiH of S-'i'S* ' And they ilwelt from Havfl.vh (prob ably n-Tth-rasl Arabia) unto Shiir thai If in fr>nl of t;g>-|tt,' would includ'- I'l'' wU.l.rm-ssuf Paron. The uell (iind -oni-tu- ary "r) of H<'er - liave iKfn a conini.vn nu-, tin,: pljuTS for UhinacUt, - ". at whici) tlie t>M trailitionN .U~'Ut Ishmael were r . .1 kept alir* (cl. iitade, /.i H, 1»L p. 348 t.V
604
ISHMAEL
ISHMAKL
the ' viJlafjes' of Kedar, Is 42"), others in t^tl-, a peculiar word, denoting, as it seems, the temporary circular encampments of nomad trihes (cf. Nu SI", Ezk 25').* A daughter of Ishmael is also men- tioned, as married uy Esau, in On 28' (where she is called Mahalatli) and 3ff (where her name is given as Basemath) ; no do\ilit this statement points to the fact that certain Edoniite clans (see 30", compared with v.'') had in them an admixture of Ishmaelite blood.
Ishniaelites are mentioned by .1 in Gn 37^' "• ^ 39' (a caravan of Ishniaelites carrying gums from Gilead to Egypt, to whom Joseph is sold by his brethren : the parallel narrative of E speaks of Mir/irniites, 37^-"°), Jg 8'-" (where, as the tennis applied to Midianites, who belon^red to a dillerent branch of the Abrahamid.-E, Gn 25', it seems to be used in a generalized sense, ' not of race, but of mode of life,' to denote itinerant caravan-traders in general), Ps 8.3" ; and individual Ishniaelites are named in 1 Cli 2" (.Jetlier, 'Aniasa's father: read accordingly in 2 S 17-"), 27** (Obil, superin- tendent of David's camels).
The Hebrews classified their neighbours genea- logically according to the nearer or more distant relationship in wliicli they were regarded as stand- ing towards themselves. The Edomites were most closely related to them : they were accordingly the descendants of Esau, the twin-brother of their own immediate ancestor, .Jacob. Moab and Am- mon were descended from Lot, Abraham's nephew. To Nahor, Abraham's brother, are traced twelve Aramaean tribes, — eight to a wife, Milcah, and four to a concubine, Re'umah (22'-"---'). Six tribes (one being Midian), and several sub-tribes, are the descendants of Abraliani, though not by Sarah, the mother of Isaac, or by Hagar, but by a concu- bine, ^eturah (25'"''). And here twelve tribes, spread over different parts of N. Arabia and the country E. of Israel, are traced to Abraham, through a ' handmaid,' Hagar, holding an inter- mediate position between Sarah and J^eturah.t Historical recollections, similarities of language or civilization, t or other characteristics, the exact nature of which we cannot in every case deter- mine, must have guided the Hebrew genealogists in thus forming ethnic groups, and defining the