Ishmael
God hears. (1.) Abraham’s eldest son, by Hagar the concubine (Gen 16:15; Gen 17:23). He was born at Mamre, when Abraham was eighty-six years of age, eleven years after his arrival in Canaan (Gen 16:3; Gen 21:5). At the age of thirteen he was circumcised (Gen 17:25). He grew up a true child of the desert, wild and wayward. On the occasion of the weaning of Isaac his rude and wayward spirit broke out in expressions of insult and mockery (Gen 21:9, Gen 21:10); and Sarah, discovering this, said to Abraham, “Expel this slave and her son.” Influenced by a divine admonition, Abraham dismissed Hagar and her son with no more than a skin of water and some bread. The narrative describing this act is one of the most beautiful and touching incidents of patriarchal life (Gen 21:14–16). (See Hagar.)
Ishmael settled in the land of Paran, a region lying between Canaan and the mountains of Sinai; and “God was with him, and he became a great archer” (Gen 21:9–21). He became a great desert chief, but of his history little is recorded. He was about ninety years of age when his father Abraham died, in connection with whose burial he once more for a moment reappears. On this occasion the two brothers met after being long separated. “Isaac with his hundreds of household slaves, Ishmael with his troops of wild retainers and half-savage allies, in all the state of a Bedouin prince, gathered before the cave of Machpelah, in the midst of the men of Heth, to pay the last duties to the ‘father of the faithful,’ would make a notable subject for an artist” (Gen 25:9). Of the after events of his life but little is known. He died at the age of one hundred and thirty-seven years, but where and when are unknown (Gen 25:17). He had twelve sons, who became the founders of so many Arab tribes or colonies, the Ishmaelites, who spread over the wide desert spaces of Northern Arabia from the Red Sea to the Euphrates (Gen 37:25, Gen 37:27, Gen 37:28; Gen 39:1), “their hand against every man, and every man’s hand against them.”
(2.) The son of Nethaniah, “of the seed royal” (Jer 40:8, Jer 40:15). He plotted against Gedaliah, and treacherously put him and others to death. He carried off many captives, “and departed to go over to the Ammonites.”
Named in the Bible
The first 20 of 44 verses
- Genesis 16:11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
- Genesis 16:15 And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
- Genesis 16:16 And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.
- Genesis 17:18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
- Genesis 17:20 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.
- Genesis 17:23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.
- Genesis 17:25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
- Genesis 17:26 In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.
- Genesis 25:9 And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;
- Genesis 25:12 Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bare unto Abraham:
- Genesis 25:13 And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,
- Genesis 25:16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.
- Genesis 25:17 And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people.
- Genesis 28:9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.
- Genesis 36:3 And Bashemath Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebajoth.
- 2 Kings 25:23 And when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.
- 2 Kings 25:25 But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah.
- 1 Chronicles 1:28 The sons of Abraham; Isaac, and Ishmael.
- 1 Chronicles 1:29 These are their generations: The firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth; then Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,
- 1 Chronicles 1:31 Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael.
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
