IMohammed's descent from Ishmael is totally lost, for an unknown number of generations, to 'Adni'in, of the twenty-first generation before the prophet: from him downwards the latter's descent is, if we may believe the genealogists, fairly proved. But we have evidence far more trustworthy than that of the genealogists; for, while most of the natives of Arabia are unable to trace up their pedigrees, it is scarcely possible to find one who js ignorant of his race, seeing that his very life often depends upon it. The law of blood-revenge necessitates his knowing the names of his ancestors f(jr four genera- tions, but no more ; and this law, extending from time immemorial, ha3 made any confusion of race almost im- possible. This law, it should be remembered, is not a law of Mohammed, but an old pagan law that he en- deavored to suppress, but coidd not. In casting doubt on the prophet's pedigree, we must add that this cannot affect the proofs of the chief element of the Arab nation being Ishmaelitish (and so, too, the tribe of Kureysh, of whom was Mohammed). Although partly mixed with Joktanites, they are more mixed with Keturahites, etc.; the characteristics of the Joktanites, as before remarked, are widely different from those of the Ishmaelites; and, whatever theories may be adduced to the contrary, we believe that the Arabs, from physical characteristics, language, the concurrence of native traditions {before Mohammedanism made them untrustworthy), and the testimony of the Bible, are mainly and essentially Ish- maelitish.— Kitto ; Smith.
2. The father (or ancestor) of Zebadiah, which latter was '• ruler of the house of Judah" under Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xix, 11). B.C. cir. 900.
3. Son of Jehohanan, and captain of a '•hundred" under the regency of Jehoiada (2 Chron. xxiii, 1). B.C. 877.
4. One of the six sons of Azel, of the tribe of Benja- min (1 Chron. viii, 38 ; ix, 44). B.C. ante 588.
5. The son of Nethaniah, whose treachery forms one of the chief episodes of the history of the period imme- diately succeeding the first fall of Jerusalem (Jer. xl, 7- xli, 15, with a short summary in 2 Kings xxv, 23-25). B.C. 587. His full description is " Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal" of Judah (Jer. xli, 1 ; 2 Kings xxv, 25). Whether by this is intended that he was actually a son of Zedekiah^ or of one of the later kings, or, more generally, that he had royal blood in his veins— perhaps a descendant of EU- shama, the son of David (2 Sam. v, 16)— we cannot tell. Jerome ((2«. Hebr. on 2 Chron. xxviii, 7) interprets this expression as meaning " of the seed of Molech." He gives the same meaning to the words " the king's son" applied to Maaseiah in the above passage. The ques- tion is an interesting one, and has recently been revived by Geiger {Urschrift, etc., p. 307). who extends it to other passages and persons. See Molech. Jerome (as
above) further says — perhaps on the strength of a tra- dition— that Ishmael was the son of an Egyptian slave, Gera : as a reason why the " seed royal" should bear the meaning he gives it. During the siege of the city he had, like many others of his countrymen (Jer. xl, 11), fled across the Jordan, where he found a refuge at the court of Baalis, then king of the Bene-Ammon (Jo- sephus, Ant. x, 9, 2). Ammonitish women were some- times found in the harems of the kings of Jerusalem (1 Kings xi, 1), and Ishmael may have been thus related to the Ammonitish court on his mother's side. At any rate, he was instigated by Baalis to the designs which he accomplished but too successfully (Jer. xl, 14 ; Jo- seph us, Ant. x, 9, 3). Several bodies of Jews appear to have been lying under arms in the plains on the south- east of the Jordan, during the last days of Jerusalem, watching the progress of affairs in Western Palestine, commanded by "princes" (D'^niu), the chief of Avhom were Ishmael, and two brothers, Johanan and Jonathan, sons of Kareah. Immediately after the departure of the Chaldajan army these men moved across the Jordan to pay their respects to Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had left as superintendent (T^pS) of the prov- ince. Gedaliah had taken up his residence at Mizpah, a few miles north of Jerusalem, on the main road, where Jeremiah the propliet resided with him (xl, C). The house would apjiear to have been isolated from the rest of the town. We can discern a high inclosed court- yard and a deep well within its precincts. The well was certainly (Jer. xli, 9 ; comp. 1 Kings xv, 22), and the whole residence was probably, a relic of the military works of Asa, king of Judah. Ishmael made no secret of his intention to kill the superintendent and usurp his position. Of this Gedaliah was warned in express terms by Johanan and his companions; and Johanan, in a secret interview, foreseeing how irreparable a mis- fortune Gedaliah's death would be at this juncture (xl, 15), offered to remove the danger by killing Ishmael. This, however, Gedaliah, a man evidently of a high and unsuspecting nature, would not hear of (xl, 16; and see the amplification in Josephus, Ant. x, 9, 3). They all accordingly took leave. Thirty days after (Josephus, Ant. X, 9, 4), in the seventh month (Jer. xli, 1), on the third day of the month— so says the tradition— Ishmael again appeared at Mizpah, this time accompanied by ten men, who were, according to the Hebrew text, "princes of the king" (Tj^'aij ''2'j), thougli this is omitted by the Sept. and by Josephus. Gedaliah en- tertained them at a feast (xli, 1). According to the statement of Josephus, this was a very lavish entertain- ment, and Gedaliah became much intoxicated. It must have been a private one, for before its close Ishmael and his followers had murdered Gedaliah and all his attend- ants with such secrecy that no alarm was given outside the room. The same night he killed all Gedaliah's establishment, including some Chaldjean soldiers who were there. Jeremiah appears fortunately to have been absent, and, incredible as it seems, so well had Ishmael taken his precautions, that for two daj-s the massacre remained perfectly unknown to the people of the town. On the second day Ishmael perceived from his elevated position a large party coming southwards along the main road from Shechem and Samaria. He went out to meet them. They proved to be eighty devotees, who, with rent clothes, and with shaven beards, muti- lated bodies, and other marks of heathen devotion, and weeping (Sept.) as they went, were bringing incense and offering's to the ruins of the Temple. At his invitation they turned aside to the residence of the superintend- ent. Here Ishmael put into practice the same strata- gem which, on a larger scale, was employed by Jlehe- met Ali in the massacre of the Slamelukes at Cairo in 1806. As the unsuspecting pilgrims passed v ithin the outer gates (Sept. court-gurd) he closed the entrances behind them, and there he and his band butchered the whole number : ten only escaped by the offer of heavy