"He will be a wild man; his hand (will be) against every man
and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of
all his brethren." (Genesis 16:12)
Turning to an Encyclopaedia, we read that
"Arab" is a name loosely applied to all the Arabic-speaking
peoples of the Near and Middle East, but restricted by ethnologists to
the basic Semitic stock of the Arabian peninsula, where many of the
nomadic tribes have preserved their identity after thousands of years of
internecine war and migration into Iraq, Syria and Africa. It is also
used both inside and outside the Islamic world as synonymous with
Bedouin, the Nomadic Arab as distinct from the town dweller.
Arabians are of two stocks: those of the uplands of the south-west
corner of the Arabian peninsular, and the group located in northern and
central Arabia "and often alleged to be descendants of
Ishmael, son of Abraham. To this day almost every Arab tribe claims to
be descended from one or other of these two stocks" (Encyclopaedia
Britannica, 1967).
As rainfall is scanty and precarious, the desert cities can only be
near springs, wells or along the coast. The settled population lives by
agriculture, chiefly gardens of date palms, or they are go-betweens
buying camels, sheep, wool or animal oil from the tribes and exporting
to neighbouring countries such as Egypt, Syria or Iraq.
In the south-west mountainous regions spices are the principal
exports, and it is known that wealthy Arab kingdoms there were settled at
least a thousand years before Christ.
Sons of Hagar and Keturah
Dr. William Smith, in his Dictionary of the Bible, puts
forward evidence to show that Joktanites settled in the south-west of
the Arabian peninsular. As Jokshan was a son of Keturah this would make
the stock Abrahamic, but not through Ishmael, son of Hagar. Sheba and
Dedan, both ancient kingdoms in south-west Arabia, were also the names
of the sons of Jokshan.
The Bedouin has to be constantly on the move to find pasture for
their livestock and the black goatskin tents are a feature of the life
of wandering. Set up against a hillock for protection from wind and
sand, the tents look tiny against the immensity of space and the
undulations of hill and valley seen as far as the eye can reach. Through
the centuries the nomadic Arabs have spent their time raiding, hunting
and fighting. They have endured severe physical hardship and, even until
after World War 1, terrorised Central Arabia and surrounding
territories.
Hebron, city of Hebrew patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The
lower part of the construction of the mosque seen in the
middle centre dates from the original memorial building constructed over
the Cave of Machpelah in the time of Herod the Great. In the sixth
century A.D. Justinian turned it into a church, which was rebuilt as a
mosque in later times
Descent Through Ishmael
There can be little doubt that the Palestinian Arab is descended
from Abraham through Ishmael, as pilgrims to the Holy Land will agree.
They are proud of their ancestry and delight to tell visitors that they
are decended from Abraham, the friend of God.
The mosque that now stands at Hebron was first built by Herod the
Great, before our Lord was born, as a mausoleum for the bodies of
Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah. The building is
over the cave of Machpelah, the cave which was in the field of Ephron,
the Hittite, when Abraham sought for a place to bury his wife Sarah
(Gen. 23). The Arabs know this and, in spite of the passage of
centuries, and invading armies entering, settling and disappearing from
the land, the knowledge remains and, what is more important, the actual
place remains to be seen by all.
When Abraham himself died, the record in the Book of Genesis states
that Ishmael was present with his half-brother, Isaac, at the service of
burial. "Then Abraham gave up the ghost and died in a good
old age, an old man, and full (of years); and was gathered to his
people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of
Machpelah, in the field of Ephron" (Gen. 25:8-9).
When Isaac came to die, Esau was with Jacob at the burial. Jacob died
in Egypt but his body was embalmed and returned to his own land escorted
by a very great company of his own people and Egyptians. Thus the
burial-place was known to all surrounding nations.
"A Wild Man"
Certain aspects of Ishmael's character were described to his mother
before he was born. It will be remembered that when Hagar found that she
was pregnant she scorned her mistress, Sarai, for her barrenness. Sarai,
in her turn, afflicted her maid until Hagar fled from her presence
towards her own country of Egypt. Then, while resting in the wilderness
of Shur, by a well of water, the angel of the Lord found her. She was
alone and desperately unhappy but the Lord heard her affliction and sent
His messenger to strengthen and inform her of what he intended to do for
her child:
"I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not
be numbered for multitude. ... Behold, thou (art) with
child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael (God shall
hear); because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild
man; his hand (will be) against every man, and every man's hand against
him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren' (Gen.
16:10-12).
In the strength of the Lord's promise, Hagar returned to her mistress
and gave birth to her son. "And Abram called his son's name,
which Hagar bore, Ishmael" (Gen. 16:15). "A wild
man" does not mean in the sense of a wild beast but rather in the
way a free animal runs wild. In Ferrar Fenton's translation it is
"a free man" and James Moffatt makes it "a wild-ass of a
man," which is the literal translation. His very freedom and
independence have put the Arab in the position of opposing those with a
more settled way of life. Abraham, too, is given information about his
first-born: "And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold, I
have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him
exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will
make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with
Isaac" (Gen. 17:20-21).
At the time of this revelation Ishmael was thirteen years of age and
Isaac not yet born. It is worth noting that Abraham's new name was only
given him when he was ninety-nine years of age and that with it came the
promise of a son by Sarah. When Ishmael was born of Hagar, the
bond-woman, his name was still Abram (High Father).
Ishmael's Twelve Sons
Undoubtedly there was an urge in Ishmael to seek the wild, free, desert
places. When he and his mother were sent away from Abraham and Sarah,
after the birth of the child of promise, Isaac, he dwelt in the
wilderness of Paran, married an Egyptian and begat the twelve sons as
predicted. A daughter's name is also given who married her cousin, Esau.
In the wilderness Ishmael became an archer.
The names of his twelve sons are recorded in Genesis 25
and, also, that his people dwelt from "Havilah unto Shur,"
that is, from the wilderness near Egypt right across to the centre of
the Arabian peninsular. Three at least of the princes gave their names
to a place or district, Kedar, Dumah and Tema. Kedar, the second son,
seems particularly well known and the name of a great tribe of the Arabs
(see Wm. Smith's Bible Dictionary and Scripture maps). The
name is used by some as a universal name for the Bedouin Arabs.
Isaiah, the prophet, refers to "the glory of Kedar" (Isaiah
21:13-17) and describes them as archers and mighty men. The Psalmist
implies that Kedar is one of those that hates peace and is for war and
strife (Psa. 120). Ezekiel includes Arabia and all the princes of Kedar
amongst the merchants of Dedan, Sheba and Raamah (Ezekiel 27:21).
Jeremiah, when denouncing Israel for immorality, uses the illustration
of an Arabian sitting in the wilderness as though it were a common sight
in his day "In the ways hast thou sat for them (thy lovers), as the
Arabian in the wilderness" (3:2).
The Midianites
Perhaps it would be true to say that our earliest memory of Ishmaelites
is in the story of Joseph and his brothers when the boy was drawn up
from the pit and sold to the caravan of merchantmen on their way to
Egypt. The Authorised Version states: "Behold, a company of
Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm
and myrrh, going to carry (it) down to Egypt" (Gen 37:25).
Through Reuben, who wanted to save his young brother's life, and Judah,
who saw he could make a profit out of the transaction, the sons of Jacob
agreed to sell Joseph to the merchants for twenty pieces of silver. In
verse 36 comes the statement: "The Midianites
sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, (and)
captain of the guard."
Why Midianites? The name is used as though it is an alternative name
for Ishmaelite. But Midian was a son of Keturah (not Hagar, as was
Ishmael), which makes the tribe from Abraham, not, strictly speaking, of
Ishmael. The same mixture occurs in the Book of Judges, when
Midianites were defeated by Gideon and it is explained that they had
golden earrings "because they were Ishmaelites" (8:24).
It would seem that, because Ishmael and Midian were half-brothers,
Midian as the younger took on the name of Ishmael on occasions, perhaps
using it as a family name.
The enemy of Israel at that time against Gideon and his three hundred
men were "Midianites ... Amalekites, and the
children of the east, ... they came up with their cattle and their
tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; (for) both they and
their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to
destroy it" (Judges 6:3-5).
A Bedouin on his camel in the wilderness
Nomadic Tribes
The description is of nomadic tribes and makes it clear that the desert
dwellers to the east and south of Canaan, who opposed Israel at the time
of the Judges, were Abrahamic tribes, descendants of Hagar, Keturah and
Esau-Edom. (Abraham had sent the sons of the concubines away to the
east.)
The list of plunder taken in the war of Gideon, together with that
taken by Moses when fighting Midianites two centuries earlier, is
remarkable: gold, silver, brass, iron, tin and lead, jewels of gold,
chains and bracelets, rings, earrings and tablets, ornaments and
collars, purple raiment, chains that were about the camels' necks. "We
have here a wealthy Arab nation living by plunder, delighting in finery,
and, where forays were impossible, carrying on the traffic southwards
into Arabia, the land of gold - if not naturally, by trade - and across
to Chaldaea, or into the rich plains of Egypt" (Wm. Smith's
Dictionary of the Bible.)
Neither should the camels be overlooked. In war they must have been a
frightening sight. A camel may plod along slowly when loaded with
merchandise but racing camels can cover the ground at great speed and,
undoubtedly, their riders were able to make surprise attacks, gather
their booty quickly, and be away before the terrified defenders had
gathered their wits.
When Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh made war against the
Hagarites, Jetur, Nephish (all of Ishmael) and Nodab in the days of
Saul, they captured fifty thousand camels and a hundred
thousand men, as well as two hundred and fifty thousand sheep and two
thousand asses (1 Chron. 5:18-22).
Enough has been written to show that desert or Bedawee tribes have
much in common, whether living in Old Testament days or the twentieth
century AD. There is not, perhaps, the tribal warfare now and travellers
tell much of the hospitality and generosity of the desert, and an
obvious desire to be friendly. But, still, there is a love of liberty
and a fierce independence, which will brook no interference with their
chosen way of life.
Finally, the Lord said that Ishmael should "dwell in the
presence of all his brethren," and here it must be remembered that
Keturah's sons were as much his half-brothers as Isaac. Ishmael did just
that and "died in the presence of all his brethren" (Gen.
25:18). Promise of possession of the land which was made to Abraham by
covenant, was not passed to Ishmael. His descendants, together with
their brethren, have dwelt on the face of the land, and still do,
according to the prediction of God.
Courtesy: National Message
