| <p> (See [[Hagar]] ; [[Isaac; Abraham]] ) ("God hears"); the name of God is ''''' Εl''''' , "the God of might", in relation to the world at large; not ''''' Jehovah''''' , His name in relation to His covenant people. < /p> <p> ''' 1.''' Born of Hagar when [[Abraham]] was 86 ( Genesis 16:15-16), dwelling at Mature. " Jehovah," in covenant with Abraham her husband, " heard her affliction" in the wilderness whither she had fled from Sarah. The angel of [[ Jehovah]] described [[Ishmael]] in a prophecy which history is continually verifying, "he will be a wild man," [[ Hebrew]] a wild donkey man, i. e. fierce and wild as the donkey of the desert, the type of restless unbridled lawlessness. Job 11: 12; Job 24: 5; "behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, go they forth to their work, rising betimes for a prey (for traveling in the East is at an early hour, to be before the heat): the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children"; i. e., these Bedouin robbers, with the unbridled wildness of the donkey of the desert, go thither. [[ Robbery]] is "their work"; the wilderness which yields no food to other men "yieldeth food for them" by the plunder of caravans. </p> <p> "His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him"; an exact picture of Bedouin life." Many conquerors have marched into the [[Arabian]] wilderness, but they have never been able to catch this wild donkey and to tame him" (Baumgarten). " And he shall dwell in the presence of (in front of ) his brethren, " in close proximity to their kindred races, hovering round, but never mingling with them, never disappearing by withdrawal to some remote region, but remaining in that high table land S. E. of [[Judaea]] to which [[Judea]] may be said to look. Or else "to the E. (for as the orientals faced toward the E. in taking the points of the compass, the front meant the E.) of his brethren." In Job 1: 3 the Arabs are called "the sons of the East." Ishmael was circumcised at 13 ( Genesis 17:25) , at which age Arabs and Muslims therefore still circumcise. </p> <p> Abraham's love for him appears in his exclaiming, upon God's giving the promise of seed by Sarah, then 90, Abraham himself being 100, " Oh that Ishamel might live before Thee!" whether the words mean that he desires that Ishmael ( instead of the seed promised to Sarah) might be heir of the promises, or, as is more consonant with Abraham's faith, that Ishmael might be accepted before God so as to share in blessings. Then God promised: "I have blessed him , . .. twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation" (compare Genesis 25:12-17). See [[Isaac]] on Ishmael's expulsion for "mocking, " and (See [[Hagar]] on Ishmael being called a "child," or "lad" ( Genesis 25:14-15; Genesis 25:17), being at the time 15 or 16; the bread and bottle, but not the child, were "put on her shoulder.") </p> <p> After God's saving them they "dwelt in the wilderness of Paran," the [[El]] Tih, the desert of Israel's wanderings; stretching from the wady [[Arabah]] on the E. to the gulf of [[Suez]] on the W. , and from [[Sinai]] on the S. to [[ Palestine]] on the N. According to eastern usage she, as a parent, chose a wife for her son, an Egyptian, possibly the mother of his 12 sons; rabbinical and [[ Arab]] tradition give him a second wife; the daughter being termed "sister of Nebaioth" implies probably that the other brothers had a different mother. [[Esau]] married his daughter [[Mahalath]] before Ishmael's death, for it is written " Esau went unto Ishmael" ( Genesis 28:9). At 137 Ishmael "died in the presence of all his brethren" ( Genesis 25:17-18); i. e., fulfilling the prediction of the angel of Jehovah to Hagar (see above), Ishmael died, his nomad descendants stretching from [[Havilah] ] S. E. and [[ Shur]] S.W. toward the N.E., i.e. Assyria, in fact traversing the whole Arabian desert from the [[ Euphrates]] to the Red Sea. < /p> < p> Ishmael himself cannot have settled far from Abraham's neighbourhood, for he joined with Isaac in the burial of his father ( Genesis 25: 9) , and burial in the East follows a few hours after death. Ishmael first went into the wilderness of Beersheba, then into that of Paran. " The East country" unto which Abraham sent away his sons by concubines, not to be in the way of Isaac, must therefore have been in those regions ( Genesis 25:6; Genesis 25:18). The people of [[Arabia]] are called " children of the East," Bene Kedem ( Judges 6:3; Job 1:3), in modern times Saracens, i.e. " Easterns" (See [[East]] . ) Ishmael's 12 sons enumerated Genesis 25:13-15 were fathers of tribes, as "their towns and their castles, " or rather "hamlets, " called after them, imply ( Numbers 31:10). These "hamlets" were collections of rude dwellings of stones piled on one another and covered with tent cloths, often ranged in a circle. (See [[Hazeroth]] . ) </p> <p> The Bible does not, as scepticism asserts, state that all the Arabs sprang from Ishmael. Nay, Joktanites and even Cushites in the S. and S. E. form a large element in Arab blood. In all the northern tribes which are of [[Ishmaelite]] descent, the characteristics foretold appear, they are "wild ... their hand against every man, and every man's hand against them"; but in S. Arabia, where Joktanite and other blood exists, these characteristics are less seen. The Ishmaelite element is the chief one of the Arab nation, as the native traditions before Muhammed and the language concur with the Bible in proving. The pagan law of blood revenge necessitates every Arab's knowing the names of his ancestors for four generations, so that the race is well defined. </p> <p> The term" Ishmaelites" was applied in course of time to the Midianites, sprung from Abraham and Keturah, and not from Ishmael, because the [[ Ishmaelites]] being the more powerful tribe gave their name as a general one to neighbouring associated tribes ( Genesis 37: 25; Genesis 37:28; Genesis 37:36; Psalms 83:6) , the nomad tribes of Arabia ( Judges 8: 24). Before Muhammed, religion in the middle and S. of Arabia was fetish and cosmic worship, but in the N. relics of the primitive faith of Ishmael survived, and numbers became Karaite [[Jews]] or held the corrupt form of [[ Christianity]] which was all they knew of it. The dissatisfaction felt with both of these creeds pioneered the way for Muhammed's success. The Arab conquerors have won a hundred thrones and established their Mohamedanism from the [[ Senegal]] to the Indus, from the Euphrates to the Indian Ocean. </p> <p> ' ''2.''' 1 Chronicles 8: 38; 1 Chronicles 9:44. </p> <p> '''3. ''' 2 Chronicles 19:11. </p> <p> '''4.''' 2 Chronicles 23:1. < /p> <p> '''5.''' 2 Chronicles 10:22. </p> <p> '''6.''' Son of Nethaniah, son of [[Elishama]] of the seed royal of Judah ( Jeremiah 40:7-41; Jeremiah 40:15; 2 Kings 25:23-25). Possibly descended from Elishama, David's son ( 2 Samuel 5:16). During the siege of [[ Jerusalem]] Ishmael had fled to Baalis, king of Ammon, E. of Jordan. Probably Ishmael was of [[Ammonite]] blood on the mother's side, as some [[ Jewish]] kings had Ammonite women in their harem ( 1 Kings 11:1). [[ Baalis]] (called from the idol Baal) his host, urged him to slay [[Gedaliah]] who under the [[Babylonian]] king governed Judaea and the population which had not been carried away. Ishmael 's royal descent fired his envy and ambition; hence, he lent a ready ear to the plot proposed by the ancient foe of Judah. Ishmael as well as the brothers [[Johanan]] and Jonathan, sons of Kareah, had commanded separate bands which watched the issue of the siege from the S. E. side of Jordan; "the forces in the fields, " i.e. the pasture grounds of [[ Moab]] ( Jeremiah 40: 7; Jeremiah 40:13) , the modern Belka. </p> <p> These captains crossed the [[ Jordan]] to pay their respects to Gedaliah at Mizpah, N. of Jerusalem, upon his appointment. In spite of Johanan's open warning of Ishmael's intention, and even private offer to slay Ishmael in order to avert the death of Gedaliah and its evil consequences to the Jewish remnant, the latter in generous unsuspiciousness refused to believe the statement. Thirty days after, in the seventh month Ishmael and "ten men, princes of the king ," at an hospitable entertainment given them by Gedaliah slew him with such secrecy that no alarm was given (compare Psalms 41:9), and then slew the Jews and Chaldeans, the men of war immediately about his person (not the rest, Jeremiah 40: 16) , with him. Jeremiah, who usually was residing there, was providentially elsewhere. No man knew it outside [[ Mizpah]] for a time. </p> <p> So on the second day fourscore devotees with shaven beards, rent clothes, having cut themselves with pagan mutilations ( see Leviticus 19: 27- 28; Deuteronomy 14:1), were seen by Ishmael from the higher ground on which he was , advancing from the N. with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to "the house of the Lord," i.e. to the place where the temple had stood, and which was still sacred. They came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, where such pagan usages prevailed, expressive of sorrow; they hereby indicated their grief at the destruction of the temple and city. Ishmael met them, pretending to weep like themselves, and said, "Come to Gedaliah," as if he were one of his retinue. When they came into the midst of the city, or of the courtyard (Josephus), he closed the entrances and butchered all, except ten who promised, if spared, to show him treasures of wheat, barley, oil, and honey. </p> <p> His greediness and needs overcame his cruelty, or he would not have spared even the ten. The 70 corpses he threw into the pit or cistern made by Asa to have a water supply when [[ Baasha]] was about to besiege the city ( 1 Kings 15:22); as [[ Jehu]] did to Ahaziah's 42 relatives, and as Nana [[Sahib]] did in our own times at Cawnpore. Next he carried off king Zedekiah's daughters, with their eunuchs and Chaldaean guard; and, doubtless being largely reinforced, carried away all the remaining people at Mizpah by way of [[Gibeon]] on the N. (Josephus says by [[Hebron]] round the S. end of the [[Dead]] Sea) toward Ammon, where probably he meant to sell them as slaves ( Jeremiah 41: 10; Jeremiah 41:16). Johnnan pursued and overtook him at the great waters in Gibeon ( 2 Samuel 2:13). His captives gladly "cast about, " i.e. came round and joined Johanan, who slew two of the ten princes ( Jeremiah 41:1-2; Jeremiah 41:15), leaving Ishmael with but eight to escape to Ammon. </p> <p> The result was a panic among the Jewish remnant in Judaea, as Johanan had foreseen when he warned Gedaliah. But now, in spite of Jeremiah's remonstrance from the Lord, he, instead of checking, promoted the panic, and led all the recovered captives , Jeremiah included, into Egypt ( Jeremiah 41:16-17; Jeremiah 41:42; Jeremiah 43:5-7). The calamity, Gedaliah's murder and the consequent dispersion of the Jews, was and is commemorated by the fast of the seventh month ( Zechariah 7:5; Zechariah 8:19), the third of Tisri. Ammon's share in this tragedy was avenged in accordance with the Lord's word ( Jeremiah 49:1-6; Ezekiel 25:1-7). The lessons from the history are, so long as pride, ambition, and revenge are harboured, men will ever scheme afresh to their own hurt. </p> <p> [[ Scarcely]] had Jerusalem paid the awful penalty of her sin than her princes began new plots of violence and bloodshed. Zedekiah's perfidious rebellion had hardly been crushed when Ishmael devised a fresh conspiracy. Nothing short of God's grace can correct the desperate depravity of man. The mystery that men of guileless simplicity fall victims to murderous treachery is one of many proofs that there is an enemy disordering the present world course. Faith looks above the cloud, and sees God ordering all things for the good of His people and for the punishment of the transgressors at the last. </p> <p> The coming judgment will vindicate God's ways, glorify the saints with Christ their King, deliver the earth from the ungodly and Satan their prince, who shall be cast out for ever. Even now one bad man is made the scourge of another. The nemesis of crime is sure to overtake the guilty at last. However cunningly and laboriously he weaves iniquity, the web which was on the point of success is in a moment scattered to the winds by the breath of God, and the victims escape. The only fruit Ishmael derived from his crimes was being forced to flee as an outlaw, bearing about, [[Cain]] like, the murderer's brand, and a self torturing conscience, the earnest of the worm that never dieth. </p> | | <p> ''''' ish´mā̇ ''''' - ''''' el ''''' ( ישׁמעאל , < i> ''' '' yishmā‛ē'l ''''' </i> , " God heareth," or "God may," " shall hear"; Ἰσμαήλ , <i> ''''' Ismaḗl ''''' </i> ): </p> <p> (1) The son of [[ Abraham]] by Hagar, the [[ Egyptian]] slave of his wife Sarah. The circumstances connected with his birth reveal what seems to us to be a very strange practice. It was customary among ancient peoples to correct the natural defect of barrenness by substituting a slave woman. In our narrative, this is shown to be authorized and brought about by the legitimate wife with the understanding that the offspring of such a union should be regarded as her own: "It may be that I shall obtain children by her," literally, "that I shall be builded by her" ( Genesis 16: 2 ). </p> 1. Birth <p> The hopes of [[ Sarah]] were realized, for [[Hagar]] gave birth to a son, and yet the outcome was not fully pleasing to Abraham's wife; there was one serious drawback. As soon as Hagar " saw that she had conceived," her behavior toward her mistress underwent a radical change; she was "despised in her eyes." But for the intervention of the angel of Yahweh, the boy might have been born in Egypt. For, being dealt with hardly (or humbled) by Sarah, the handmaid fled toward that country. On her way she was told by the angel to return to her mistress and submit herself "under her hands." She obeyed, and the child who was to be as "a wild ass among men" was born when his father was 86 years old ( Genesis 16: 7-16 ). </p> 2. [[Circumcision]] <p> At the age of 13 years the boy was circumcised ( Genesis 17:25 ) in accordance with the [[Divine]] command received by Abraham : " Every male among you shall be circumcised" ( Genesis 17:10 ) . Thus young [[Ishmael]] was made a party to the covenant into which God had entered with the lad's father. The fact that both Abraham and his son were circumcised the same day ( Genesis 17:26 ) undoubtedly adds to the importance of Ishmael's partaking of the holy rite. He was certainly made to understand how much his father loved him and how deeply he was concerned about his spiritual welfare. We may even assume that there was a time when Abraham looked upon Ishmael as the promised seed. His error was made clear to him when God promised him the birth of a son by Sarah. At first this seemed to be incredible, Abraham being 100 years of age and Sarah 90. And yet, how could he disbelieve the word of God? His cherished, though mistaken, belief about Ishmael, his doubts regarding the possibility of Sarah's motherhood, and the first faint glimmer of the real meaning of God's promise, all these thoughts found their expression in the fervid wish: "O that Ishmael might live before thee!" ( Genesis 17:18 ). Gradually the truth dawned upon the patriarch that God s thoughts are not the thoughts of men, neither their ways His ways. But we have no reason to believe that this entire changing of the mental attitude of Abraham toward Ishmael reacted unfavorably on his future treatment of this son "born of the flesh" (compare Genesis 21:11 ). If there were troubles in store for the boy likened by the angel of [[ Yahweh]] to a wild ass, it was, in the main, the youngster's own fault. </p> 3. [[ Banishment]] <p> When Isaac was weaned, Ishmael was about 16 years of age. The weaning was made an occasion for great celebration. But it seems the pleasure of the day was marred by the objectionable behavior of Ishmael. " And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian ... mocking" ( Genesis 21:9 ). Her jealous motherly love had quickened her sense of observation and her faculty of reading the character of children. We do not know exactly what the word used in the [[Hebrew]] for "mocking" really means. The [[ Septuagint]] and the [[ Vulgate]] (Jerome's < i> Latin Bible < /i> , 390-405 ad) render the passage: "When Sarah saw the son of Hagar ... playing with Isaac ," and Paul followed a later tradition when he says: "He that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit" ( Galatians 4: 29 ) . Lightfoot (in his notes to the [[Epistle]] to the Galatians) says: "At all events the word seems to mean mocking, jeering." At any rate, the fact remains that Sarah objected to the bringing up of the son of promise together with the " mocker," and so both mother and son were banished from the tents of Abraham. </p> <p> Now there came a most critical time in the life of young Ishmael. Only some bread and a bottle of water were " put on the shoulder" of Hagar by Abraham when he expelled her with her son. Aimlessly, as it seems, the two walked about in the wilderness of Beersheba. The water was soon spent, and with it went all hope and energy. The boy, being faint with thirst and tired out by his constant walking in the fierce heat of the sun, seemed to be dying. So his mother put him rapidly down in the shade of some plant. (We do not share the opinion of some writers that the narrative of Genesis 21:8 represented Ishmael as a little boy whom his mother had carried about and finally flung in the shade of some shrub. Even if this passage is taken from a different source, it is certainly not in conflict with the rest as to the age of Ishmael. ) After this last act of motherly love - what else could she do to help the boy? - she retired to a place at some distance and resignedly expected the death of her son and perhaps her own. </p> <p> For the 2nd time in her life, she had a marvelous experience. " God heard the voice of the lad" and comforted the unhappy mother most wonderfully. Through His angel He renewed His former promise regarding her son, and then He showed her a well of water. The lad's life was saved and, growing up, he became in time an archer. He lived in the wilderness of [[ Paran]] and was married by his mother to an Egyptian wife ( Genesis 21: 21 ) . </p> 4. His [[Children]] <p> When Abraham died, his exiled son returned to assist his brother to bury their father ( Genesis 25: 9 ). In the same chapter we find the names of Ishmael 's 12 sons ( Genesis 25:12 ) and a brief report of his death at the age of 137 years ( Genesis 25:17 ). According to Genesis 28:9 he also had a daughter, Mahalath, whom [[ Esau]] took for his wife; in [[ Genesis]] 36:3 her name is given as Basemath. </p> 5. Descendants <p> The character of Ishmael and his descendants (Arabian nomads or Bedouins) is very accurately and vividly depicted by the angel of Yahweh: "He shall be as a wild ass among men; his hand shall be against every man, and every man' s hand against him" ( Genesis 16: 12 ). These nomads are, indeed, roaming the wilds of the desert, jealous of their independence, quarrelsome and adventurous. We may well think of their progenitor as of a proud, undaunted and rugged son of the desert, the very counterpart of the poor boy lying half dead from fatigue and exposure under the shrub in the wilderness of Beersheba. </p> 6. In the New [[Testament]] <p> The person and the history of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, "born after the flesh," is of special interest to the student of the New Testament because Paul uses him, in the Epistle to the Galatians, as a type of those [[ Jews]] who cling to the paternal religion in such a manner as to be unable to discern the transient character of the Old Testament institutions, and especially those of the [[ Mosaic]] law. By doing so they could not be made to see the true meaning of the law, and instead of embracing the grace of God as the only means of fulfilling the law, they most bitterly fought the central doctrine of [[ Christianity]] and even persecuted its advocates. Like Ishmael, they were born of Hagar, the handmaid or slave woman; like him, they were Abraham's sons only "after the flesh, " and their ultimate fate is foreshadowed in the casting out of Hagar and her son. They could not expect to maintain the connection with the true Israel, and even in case they should acclaim Christ their [[ Messiah]] they were not to be the leaders of the church or the expounders of its teachings ( Galatians 4: 21-28 ). </p> <p> (2) The son of [[ Nethaniah]] ( Jeremiah 40:8 through 41:18; compare 2 Kings 25:23-25 ). It is a dreary story of jealousy and treachery which Jeremiah has recorded in chapters 40, 41 of his book. After the destruction of [[Jerusalem]] and the deportation of the better class of [[Jewish ]] citizens, it was necessary to provide for some sort of a government in the depopulated country. Public order had to be restored and maintained; the crops of the fields were endangered and had to be taken care of . It was thus only common political prudence that dictated to the king of [[Babylon]] the setting up of a governor for the remnant of Judah. He chose Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, for the difficult position. The new officer selected for his place of residence the city of Mizpah, where he was soon joined by Jeremiah. All the captains of the Jewish country forces came to [[Mizpah]] with their men and put themselves under Gedaliah's orders ( Jeremiah 40: 13 ). Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of [[ Elishama]] "of the seed royal" ( 2 Kings 25: 25 ) was among their number - all of which must have been rather gratifying to the new governor. But he was destined to be cruelly disappointed. A traitor was among the captains that had gathered around him. Yet the governor might have prevented his dastardly scheme. Johnnan, the son of Kareah, and other loyal captains warned him of the treachery of Ishmael, telling him he was induced by Baalis, the [[Ammonite]] king, to assassinate the governor. But the governor's faith in Ishmael was not to be shaken; he even looked upon Johanan's report as false and calumnious ( Jeremiah 40:16 ). </p> <p> About 2 months after the destruction of Jerusalem, Ishmael was ready to strike the mortal blow. With 10 men he came to Mizpah, and there, at a banquet given in his honor, he killed Gedaliah and all the Jews and [[ Chaldeans]] that were with him. He succeeded in keeping the matter secret, for, 2 days after the horrible deed, he persuaded a party of 80 pious Jews to enter the city and killed all but 10 of them, throwing their bodies into a pit. These men were coming from the ruins of the [[ Temple]] with the offerings which they had intended to leave at Jerusalem. Now they had found out, to their great distraction, that the city was laid waste and the Temple destroyed. So they passed by Mizpah, their beards shaven, their clothes rent, and with cuts about their persons ( Jeremiah 41: 5 ). We may, indeed, ask indignantly, Why this new atrocity? The answer may be found in the fact that Ishmael did not kill all of the men. He spared 10 of them because they promised him some hidden treasures. This shows his motive. He was a desperate man and just then carrying out a desperate undertaking. He killed those peaceful citizens because of their money, and money he needed to realize his plans. They were those of a traitor to his country, inasmuch as he intended to deport the inhabitants of Mizpah to the land of his high confederate, the king of the Ammonites. Among the captives were Jeremiah and the daughters of the Jewish king. But his efforts came to naught. When Johnnan and the other captains were told of Ishmael's unheard-of actions, they immediately pursued the desperate adventurer and overtook him by the "great waters that are in Gibeon." Unfortunately, they failed to capture Ishmael; for he managed to escape with eight men to the Ammonites. See, further, [[Gedaliah]] . </p> <p> (3) A descendant of [[ Benjamin]] and the son of [[Azel]] ( 1 Chronicles 8:38; compare 1 Chronicles 9:44 ). </p> <p> (4) The father of [[Zebadiah]] who was "the ruler of the house of Judah, in all the king's (Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 19:8 ) matters" ( 2 Chronicles 19:11 ). </p> <p> (5) The son of Jehohanan, and a "captain of hundreds," who lived at the time of [[Jehoiada]] and [[Joash]] ( 2 Chronicles 23:1 ). </ p> <p> (6) One of the sons of [[ Pashhur]] the priest. He was one of those men who had married foreign women and were compelled to "put away their wives" ( Ezra 10: 22 ). </p> |
| <p> (Heb. Yishmael', '''''יַשְׁמָעֵאל''''' '', Heard By God;'' Sept. '''''Ι᾿Σμαήλ''''' , Joseph. '''''Ι᾿Σμάηλος''''' ), the name of several men. </p> <p> '''1.''' Abraham's eldest son, born to him by the concubine Hagar ( Genesis 16:15; Genesis 17:23). (See Abraham); (See Hagar). </p> <p> It may here be remarked that the age attributed to him in Genesis 21:14 is not inconsistent with Genesis 17:25 (see Tuch, ''Comm.'' p. 382). The story of his birth, as recorded in Genesis 16, is in every respect characteristic of Eastern life and morals in the present age. The intense desire of both Abraham and Sarah '''''‘''''' for children; Sarah's gift of Hagar to Abraham as wife; the insolence of the slave when suddenly raised to a place of importance; the jealousy and consequent tyranny of her high-spirited mistress; Hagar's flight, return, and submission to Sarah-for all these incidents we could easily find parallels in the modern history of every tribe in the desert of Arabia. The origin of the name Ishmael is thus explained. When Hagar fled from Sarah, the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness in the way of Shur '''''…''''' and he said, "Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael ( '''''‘''''' God hears'), because the Lord hath heard thy affliction" ( Genesis 16:11). Hagar had evidently intended, when she fled, to return to her native country. But when the angel told her of the dignity in store for her as a mother, and the power to which her child, as the son of the great patriarch, would attain, she resolved to obey his voice, and to submit herself to Sarah ( Genesis 16:10-13). </p> <p> '''1.''' Ishmael was born at Mamre, in the eighty-sixth year of Abraham's age, eleven years after his arrival in Canaan, and fourteen before the birth of Isaac ( Genesis 16:3; Genesis 16:16; Genesis 21:5). B.C. 2078. No particulars of his early life are recorded, except his circumcision when thirteen years of age ( Genesis 17:25). B.C. 2065. His father was evidently strongly attached to him; for when an heir was promised through Sarah, he said, "Oh that Ishmael might live before thee!" ( Genesis 17:18). Then were renewed to Abraham in more definite terms the promises made to Hagar regarding Ishmael: "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 21:20). Before this time Abraham seems to have regarded his first-born child as the heir of the promise, his belief in which was counted unto him for righteousness ( Genesis 15:6); and although that faith shone yet more brightly after his passing weakness when Isaac was first promised, his love for Ishmael is recorded in the narrative of Sarah's expulsion of the latter: "And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son" ( Genesis 21:11). </p> <p> Ishmael seems to have remained in a great measure under the charge of his mother, who, knowing his destiny, would doubtless have him trained in such exercises as would fit him for successfully acting the part of a desert prince. Indulged in every whim and wish by a fond father, encouraged to daring and adventure by the hardy nomads who fed and defended his father's flocks, and having a fitting field on that southern border-land for the play of his natural propensities, Ishmael grew up a true child of the desert-a wild and wayward boy. The perfect freedom of desert life, and his constant intercourse with those who looked up to him with mingled feelings of pride and affection as the son and heir-apparent of their great chief, tended to make him impatient of restraint, and overbearing in his temper. The excitement of the chase '''''—''''' speeding across the plains of [[Beersheba]] after the gazelles, and through the rugged mountains of [[Engedi]] after wild goats, and bears, and leopards, inured him to danger, and trained him for war. Ishmael must also have been accustomed from childhood to those feuds which raged almost incessantly between the "trained servants" of Abraham and their warlike neighbors of Philistia, as well as to the more serious incursions of roving bands of freebooters from the distant East. Such was the school in which the great desert chief was trained. Subsequent events served to fill up and fashion the remaining features of Ishmael's character. He had evidently been treated by Abraham's dependents as their master's heir, and Abraham himself had apparently encouraged the belief. The unexpected birth of Isaac, therefore, must have been to him a sad and bitter disappointment. And when he was afterwards driven forth, with his poor mother, a homeless wanderer in a pathless wilderness; when, in consequence of such unnatural harshness, he was brought to the very brink of the grave, and was only saved from a painful death by a miracle; when, after having been reared in luxury, and taught to look forward to the possession of wealth and power, he was suddenly left to whi a scanty and uncertain subsistence by his sword and bow - we need scarcely wonder that his proud spirit, revolting against injustice and cruelty, should make him what the angel had predicted, "a wild-ass man; his hand against every man, and every man's hand against him" (Genesis 16:32). </p> <p> '''2.''' The first recorded outbreak of Ishmael's rude and wayward spirit occurred at the weaning of Isaac. B.C. 2061. On that occasion Abraham made a great feast after the custom of the country. In the excitement of the moment, heightened probably by the painful consciousness of his own blighted hopes, Ishmael could not restrain his temper, but gave way to some insulting expressions or gestures of mockery. Perhaps the very name of the child, Isaac (" ''Laughter"),'' and the exuberant joy of his aged mother, may have furnished subjects for his untimely satire. (See Isaac). Be this as it may, Sarah's jealous eye and quick ear speedily detected him; and she said to Abraham, "Expel this slave and her son; for the son of this slave shall not be heir with my son, with Isaac" ( Genesis 21:10). Now Abraham loved the boy who first, lisping the name "father," opened in his heart the gushing fountain of paternal affection. The bare mention of such an unnatural act made him angry even with Sarah, and it was only when influenced by a divine admonition that he yielded. The brief account of the departure of Hagar, and her journey through the desert, is one of the most beautiful and touching pictures of patriarchal life which has come down to us: "And Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread, and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the lad ( '''''הִיֶלֶד''''' ), and sent- her away;. and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. And when the water was spent in the skin, she placed the lad under one of the shrubs. And she went and sat down opposite, at the distance of a bowshot; for she said, I will not see the death of the lad. And she sat opposite, and lifted up her voice and wept" ( Genesis 21:14-16). </p> <p> Isaac was born when Abraham was a hundred years old ( Genesis 21:5), and as the weaning, according to Eastern usage, probably took place when the child was about three years old, Ishmael himself must have been then about sixteen years old. The age of the latter at the period of his circumcision, and at that of his expulsion, has given occasion for some literaty speculation. A careful consideration of the passages referring to it fails, however, to show any discrepancy between them. In Genesis 17:25, it is stated that he was thirteen years old when he was circumcised; and in 21. 14 (probably two or three years later) "Abraham took bread, and a bottle- of water, and gave [it] unto Hagar, putting [it] on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away." Here it is at least unnecessary to assume that the child was put on her shoulder the construction of the Hebrew (mistranslated by the Sept., with whom seems to rest the origin of the question) not requiring it; and the sense of the passage renders it highly improbable: Hagar certainly carried the bottle on her shoulder, and perhaps the bread: she could hardly have also thus carried a child. Again, these passages are quite irreconcilable with Genesis 17:20 of the last quoted chapter, where Ishmael is termed '''''הִנִּעִר''''' , A.. "lad" (comp., for use of this word, Genesis 34:19; Genesis 37:2; Genesis 41:12). It may seem strange to some that the hardy, active boy, inured to fatigue, should have been sooner overcome by thirst than his mother; but those advanced in life can bear abstinence longer than the young, and, besides, Ishmael had probably exhausted his strength in vain attempts to gain a supply of food by his bow. Again Hagar is saved by a miracle: "God heard the voice of the lad .. and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water" ( Genesis 41:17; Genesis 41:19). And again the cheering promise is renewed to her son, "I will make of him a great nation" ( Genesis 41:18). </p> <p> '''3.''' The wilderness of Paran, lying along the western side of the Arabah, between Canaan and the mountains of Sinai, now became the home of Ishmael (see Baumgarten, ''Comm.'' I, 1, 22): "And God was with him, and he became a great archer" ( Genesis 41:20). Some of the border tribes with which the shepherds of Abraham were wont to meet and strive at the wells of Gerar, Beersheba, and [[En-Mishpat]] probably received and welcomed the out cast to their tents. A youth of his warlike training and daring spirit would soon acquire a name and a high position among nomads. (See Prokesch, Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 46.) His relationship to Abraham also would add to his personal claims. It would seem to have been the original intention of his mother to return to Egypt, to which country she belonged; but this being prevented, she was content to obtain for her son wives from thence ( Genesis 21:9-21; on which latter verse the [[Targum]] of Jonathan adds traditionally that he divorced his first wife Adisha, and then married an Egyptian Phatima). His mother, accordingly, as soon as she saw him settled, took for him an Egyptian wife-one of her own people, and thus completely separated him from his Shemitic connections. This wife of Ishmael is not elsewhere mentioned; she was, we must infer, an Egyptian; and this second infusion of Hamitic blood into the progenitors of the Arab nation, Ishmael's sons, is a fact that has generally been overlooked. No record is made of any other wife of Ishmael, and failing such record, the Egyptian was the mother of his twelve sons and daughter. This daughter, however, is called the "sister of Nebajoth" ( Genesis 28:9), and this limitation of the parent-age of the brother- and sister certainly seems to point to a different mother for Ishmael's other sons. The Arabs, probably borrowing from the above Rabbinical tradition, assert that he twice married; the first wife being an Amalekite, by whom he had no issue; and the second a Joktanite, of the tribe of Jurhum ''(Mir-Dt Et-Zemdn, Ms,'' quoting a tradition of [[Mohammed]] Ibn-Is-hak). Though Ishmael joined the native tribes of Arabia, his posterity did not amalgamate with them. The Joktanites have left traces of their names and settlements chiefly in the southern and southeastern parts of the peninsula, while the Ishmaelites kept closer to the borders of Canaan (see Forster's [[Geography]] of Arabia, 1, 77. sq.). </p> <p> '''4.''' Although their lots were cast apart, it does not appear that any serious alienation existed between Ishmael and Isaac; for when Abraham died, we read that "his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah." The rival brothers then met, in the vale of Mamre, at their father's tomb ( Genesis 25:9). B.C. 1989. (The [[Talmud]] states ''[Baba Bathra,'' 16] that prior to Abraham's death Ishmael had forsaken the nomadic mode of life.) That must have been a strange and deeply interesting scene at the burial of the great patriarch. All his own old "trained servants." with Isaac, the peaceful shepherd chief, at their head, were assembled there; while Ishmael, surrounded by the whole body of his wild retainers and allies, as was and still is the custom of Bedawy sheiks, stood there too. As funerals in the East take place almost immediately after death, it is evident that Ishmael must have been called from the desert to the death-bed of his father, which implies that relations of kindness and respect had been kept up, although the brevity. of the sacred narrative prevents any special notice of this circumstance. Ishmael had, probably, long before received an endowment from his father's property similar to that which had been bestowed upon the sons of [[Keturah]] ( Genesis 25:6). </p> <p> '''5.''' Of Ishmael's personal history after this event we know nothing. The sacred historian gives us a list of his twelve sons, tells us that Esau married his daughter Mahalath, the sister of [[Nebajoth]] ( Genesis 28:9), and sums up the brief simple sketch in these words: "These are the years of the life of Ishmael, a hundred and thirtyseven years; and he died, and was gathered to his people" (Genesis 25, 17). B.C. 1941. Where he died, or where he was buried, we know not. </p> <p> '''6.''' It has been shown, in the article ARABIA, that Ishmael had no claim to the honor, which is usually assigned to him, of being the founder of the Arabian nation. That nation existed before he was born. He merely joined it, and adopted its habits of life and character; and the tribes which sprung from him formed eventually an important section of the tribes of which it was composed. (See also Hottinger, ''Hist. Orient.'' p. 210.) At this period the Arabian desert appears to have been thinly peopled by descendants of Joktan, the son of Eber, "whose dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar, a mount of the east" ( Genesis 10:25-30). The Joktanites, or ''Bene-Kahtan,'' are regarded by Arab historians as the first and most honorable progenitors of the Arab tribes (D'Herbelot, ''Bibliotheque Orientale, S.V.'' Arabes). (See Joktan). </p> <p> Ishmael had twelve sons: Nebajoth, Kedar, Abdeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. To the list of them, the sacred historian appends ( Genesis 25:16) an important piece of information: "These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, ''By Their Cities'' ( '''''חצריהם''''' , "fortified towns"), ''And Their Camps'' ( '''''טירתם''''' ); twelve ''Princes According To Their Nations"'' ( '''''לאמתם''''' ). Every one of the twelve sons of Ishmael, therefore, like the children of Jacob, was the head of a tribe, and the founder of a distinct colony or camp. In this respect the statements in the Bible exactly accord with the ancient traditions and histories of the Arabs themselves. Native historians divide the Arabs into two races: 1. ''Pure Arabs,'' descendants of Joktan; and, 2. ''Mixed Arabs,'' descendants of Ishmael. Abulfeda gives a brief account of the several tribes and nations which descended from both these original stocks ''(Historia Anteislamica,'' ed. Fleischer, p. 180, 191 sq.). Some of the tribes founded by sons of Ishmael retained the names of their founders, and were well known in history. The Nabathceans, who took possession of [[Idumaea]] in the 4th century B.C., and constructed the wonderful monuments of Petra, were the posterity of Nebajoth, Ishmael's eldest son. (See Nabathieans). </p> <p> The descendants of [[Jetur]] and [[Naphish]] disputed with the [[Israelites]] possession of the country east of the Jordan, and the former, described by [[Strabo]] as '''''Κακοῦργοι''''' '''''Πάντες''''' ( Genesis 16:2), gave their name to a small province south of Damascus, which it bears to this day. SEE [[Iturea]] </p> <p> The black tents of [[Kedar]] were pitched in the heart of the Arabian desert, and from their abundant flocks they supplied the marts of [[Tyre]] ( Jeremiah 2:10; Isaiah 60:7; Ezekiel 27:21). The district of [[Tema]] lay south of Edom, and is referred to by both Job and Isaiah ( Job 6:19; Isaiah 21:14; Forster's ''Geogr. Of Arabia,'' 1, 292; Heeren's ''Historical Researches,'' 2, 107). [[Dumah]] has left his name to a small province of Arabia. Since the days of Abraham the tents of the Ishmaelites have been studded along the whole eastern confines of Palestine, and they have been scattered over Arabia from the borders of Egypt to the banks of the Euphrates. As friends and foes, as oppressors and oppressed-but ever as freemen-the seed of Ishmael have "dwelt in the presence of their brethren." </p> <p> Of this last expression various explanations have been given, but the plainest is the most probable; which is, that Ishmael and the tribes springing from him should always be located near the kindred tribes descended from Abraham. This was a promise of benefit in that age of migration, when Abraham himself had come from beyond the Euphrates, and was a stranger and sojourner in the land of Canaan. There was thus, in fact, a relation of some importance between this promise and the promise of the heritage of Canaan to another branch of Abraham's offspring. It had seemingly some such force as this-The heritage of Canaan is, indeed destined for another son of Abraham; but still the lot of Ishmael, and of those that spring from him, shall never be cast far apart from that of his brethren. This view is confirmed by the circumstance that the Israelites did, in fact, occupy the country bordering on that in which the various tribes descended from Abraham or [[Terah]] had settled-the Ishmaelites, Edomites, Midianites, Moabites, Ammonites, etc. Most interpreters find in this passage a promise that the descendants of Ishmael should never be subdued. But we are unable to discover this in the text; and, moreover, such has not been the fact, whether we regard the Ishmaelites apart from the other Arabians, or consider the promise made to Ishmael as applicable to the whole Arabian family. The Arabian tribes are in a state of subjection at this moment; and the great Wahaby confederacy among them, which not many years ago filled Western Asia with alarm, is now no longer heard of. </p> <p> The prophecy which drew their character has been fulfilled with equal minuteness of detail. "He shall be a wild ass of a man ( '''''פֶּרֶא''''' '''''אָדָם''''' ); his hand against every man, and every man's hand against him." This means, in short, that he and his descendants should lead the life of the Bedouins of the Arabian deserts; and how graphically this description portrays their habits may be seen in notes on these verses in the Pictorial Bible, and in the works of Niebuhr, Burckhardt, Lane, etc.; and, more particularly, in the Arabian romance of Antar, which presents the most perfect picture- of real Bedouin manners now in existence. A recent commentator on the passage has illustrated the prophecy with equal force and beauty. "The character of the Ishmaelites, or the Bedouins, could not be described more aptly or more powerfully. Against them alone time seems to have no sickle, and the conqueror's sword no edge. They have defied the softening influence of civilization, and mocked the attacks of the invader. Ungovernable and roaming, obeying no law but their spirit of adventure, regarding all mankind as their enemies, whom they must either attack with their spears or elude with their faithful steeds, and cherishing their deserts as heartily as they despise the constraint of towns and communities, the Bedouins are the outlaws among the nations. Plunder is legitimate gain, a daring robbery is praised as valor" (Kalisch, ad loc.). (See Ishmaelite). </p> <p> '''7.''' The notions of the Arabs respecting Ishmael ''(Ismail)'' are partly derived from the Bible, partly from the Jewish Rabbins. and partly from native traditions. The origin of many of these traditions is obscure, but a great number may be ascribed to the fact of Mohammed's having, for political reasons, claimed Ishmael for his ancestor, and striven to make out an impossible pedigree; while both he and his followers have, as a consequence of accepting this assumed descent, sought to exalt that ancestor. Another reason may be safely found in Ishmael's acknowledged headship of the naturalized Arabs, and this cause existed from the very period of his settlement. (See Arabia). </p> <p> Yet the rivalry of the Joktanite kingdom of Southern Arabia, and its intercourse with classical and medieval Europe, the wandering and unsettled habits of the Ishmaelites, their having no literature, and, as far as we know, only a meager oral tradition, all contributed, till the importance it acquired with the promulgation of El-Islam, to render our knowledge of the Ishmaelitic portion of the people of Arabia, before Mohammed, lamentably defective. That they maintained, and still maintain, a patriarchal and primitive form of life, is known to us. Their religion, at least in the period immediately preceding Mohammed, was in Central Arabia chiefly the grossest fetishism, probably learnt from aboriginal inhabitants of the land; southwards it diverged to the cosmic worship of the Joktanite Himyerites (though these were far from being exempt from fetishism), and northwards (so at least in ancient times) to an approach to that true faith which Ishmael carried with him, and his descendants thus gradually lost. This last point is curiously illustrated by the numbers who, in Arabia, became either Jews (Karaites) or [[Christians]] (though of a very corrupt form of Christianity), and by the movement in search of the faith of the patriarchs which had been put forward, not long before the birth of Mohammed, by men not satisfied with [[Judaism]] or the corrupt form of Christianity with which alone they were acquainted. This movement first aroused Mohammed, and was afterwards the main cause of his success. </p> <p> The Arabs believe that Ishmael was the first-born of Abraham, and the majority of their doctors (but the point is in dispute) assert that this son, and not Isaac, was offered by Abraham in sacrifice. The scene of this sacrifice is Mount '''''‘''''' Armafat, near' Mecca, the last holy place visited by pilgrims, it being necessary to the completion of pilgrimage to be present at a sermon delivered there on the 9th of the Mohammedan month Zu-l- Hejjeh, in commemoration of the offering, and to sacrifice a victim on the following evening after sunset, in the valley of Mini. The sacrifice last mentioned is observed throughout the Muslim world, and the day on which it is made is called "The Great Festival" (Lane's Mod. Egypt. Ch. 3). Ishmael, say the Arabs, dwelt with his mother at Mekkeh, and both are buried in the place called the "Hejr," on the north-west (termed by the Arabs the north) side of the Kaabeh, and enclosed by a curved wall called tlJ, "Hatim." Ishmael was visited at Mekkeh by Abraham, and they together rebuilt the temple, which had. been destroyed by a flood. At Mekkeh, Ishmael married a daughter of Mudad or El-Mudad, chief of the Jokanite tribe Jurhum, and had thirteen children (Mir-at ez-Zemdn, MS.), thus agreeing with the Biblical number, including the daughter. </p> <p> Mohammed's descent from Ishmael is totally lost, for an unknown number of generations, to '''''‘''''' Adnan, 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 is 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 for four generations, but no more; and this law, extending from time immemorial, has made any confusion of race almost impossible. This law, it should be remembered, is not a law of Mohammed, but an old pagan law that he endeavored to suppress, but could not. In casting doubt en 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 Ishmaelitish. </p> <p> '''2.''' The father (or ancestor) of Zebadiah, which latter was "ruler of the house of Judah" under [[Jehoshaphat]] ( 2 Chronicles 19:11).. B.C. cir. 900. </p> <p> '''3.''' Son of Jehohanan, and captain of a '''''‘''''' hundred" under the regency of- Jehoiada ( 2 Chronicles 23:1). B.C. 877. </p> <p> '''4.''' One of the six sons of Azel, of the tribe of [[Benjamin]] ( 1 Chronicles 8:38; 1 Chronicles 9:44). B.C. ante 588. </p> <p> '''5.''' The son of Nethaniah, whose treachery forms one of the chief episodes of the history of the period immediately succeeding the first fall of Jerusalem ( Jeremiah 40:7; Jeremiah 41:15, with a short summary, in 2 Kings 25:23-25). B.C. 587. His full description is "Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal" of Judah ( Jeremiah 41:1; 2 Kings 25:25). 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 Elishama, the son of David ( 2 Samuel 5:16) '''''—''''' we cannot tell. [[Jerome]] ''(Qu. Hebr.'' on 2 Chronicles 28:7) 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 question is an interesting one, and has recently been revived by Geiger (Urschriff, etc., p. 307), who extends it to other passages and-persons. '''''—''''' (See [[Molech]]). </p> <p> Jerome (as above) further says-perhaps on the strength of a tradition 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 ( Jeremiah 40:11), fled across the Jordan, where he found a refuge at the court of Baalis, then king of the Bene- Ammon (Josephus, ''Ant. 10:'' 9, 2). Ammonitish women were sometimes found in the harems of the kings of Jerusalem ( 1 Kings 11:1), 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 ( Jeremiah 40:14; Josephus, ''Ant.'' 10:9, 3). Several bodies of Jews appear to have been lying under arms in the plains on the southeast of the Jordan, during the last days of Jerusalem, watching the progress of affairs in Western Palestine, commanded by "princes" ( '''''שָׂרַים''''' ), the chief of whom were Ishmael, and two brothers, Johanan and Jonathan, sons of Kareah. Immediately after the departure of the Chaldean army these men moved across the Jordan to pay their respects to Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had left as superintendent ( '''''פקיד''''' ) of the province. Gedaliah had taken up his residence at Mizpah, a few miles north of Jerusalem, on the main road where Jeremiah the prophet resided with him ( Jeremiah 40:6). The house would appear to have been isolated from the rest of the town. We can discern a high-enclosed courtyard and a deep well within its precincts. The well was certainly ( Jeremiah 41:9; comp. 1 Kings 15:22), 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 misfortune Gedaliah's death would be at this juncture ( Jeremiah 40:15), offered to remove the danger by killing Ishmael. This, however, Gedaliah, a man evidently of a high and unsuspecting nature, would not hear of ( Jeremiah 40:16; and see the amplification in Josephus, Ant. 10:9, 3). They all accordingly took leave. Thirty days after (Josephus, Ant. 10:9, 4), in the seventh month ( Jeremiah 41:1), 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" ( '''''רִבֵּי''''' '''''הִמֶּלֶךְ''''' ), though this is omitted by the Sept. and by Josephus. Gedaliah entertained them at a feast ( Jeremiah 41:1). </p> <p> According to the statement of Josephus, this was a very lavish entertainment, 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 Chaldean 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 days 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, mutilated bodies, and other marks of heathen devotion, and weeping (Sept.) as they went, were bringing incense and offerings to the ruins of the Temple. At his invitation they turned aside to the residence of the superintendent. Here Ishmael put into practice the same strata-gem which, on a larger scale, was employed by Mehemet Ali in the massacre of the [[Mamelukes]] at [[Cairo]] in: 1806. As the unsuspecting pilgrims passed within the outer gates (Sept. court-yard) he closed the entrances behind them and there he and his band butchered the whole number ten only escaped by the offer of heavy ransom for their lives. The seventy corpses were then thrown into the well, which (as in the [[Sepoy]] massacre at Cawnpore) was within the precincts of the house, and which was completely filled with the bodies. It was the same thing that had been done by Jehu-a man in some respects a prototype of Ishmael, with the bodies of the-forty-two relatives of [[Ahaziah]] ( 2 Kings 10:14). This done, he descended to the town, surprised and carried off the daughters of king Zedekiah, who had been sent there by Nebuchadnezzar for safety, with their eunuchs and their Chaldean guard ( Jeremiah 41:14; Jeremiah 41:16), and all the people of the town, and made off with his prisoners to the country of the Ammonites Which road he took is not quite clear; the Hebrew text and Sept. say by Gibeon, that is north; but Josephus, by Hebron; round the southern end of the Dead Sea. The news of the massacre had by this time got abroad; and Ishmael was quickly pursued by Johanan and his companions. </p> <p> Whether north or south, they soon tracked him and his unwieldy booty, and found them reposing by some copious waters ( '''''רִבַּים''''' '''''מִיַם''''' ). He was attacked, two of his bravoes slain, the whole of the prey recovered, and Ishmael himself, with the remaining eight of his people, escaped to the Ammonites, and thenceforward passes into the obscurity from which it would have been well if he had never emerged. Johanan's foreboding was fulfilled. The result of this tragedy was an immediate panic. The small remnants of the Jewish commonwealth-the captains of the forces, the king's daughters, the two prophets Jeremiah and Baruch, and all the men, women, and children-at once took flight into Egypt ( Jeremiah 41:17; Jeremiah 43:5-7), and all hopes of a settlement were for the time at an end. The remembrance of the calamity was perpetuated by a fast the fast of the seventh month ( Zechariah 7:5; Zechariah 8:19), which is to this day strictly kept by the Jews on the third of Tisri. (See Reland, ''Antiq. 4:'' 10: Kimchi on Zechariah 7:5). The part taken by Baalis in this transaction apparently brought upon his nation the denunciations both of Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 49:1-6) and the more distant Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 25:1-7), but we have no record to-show him these predictions were accomplished. (See Gedaliah). </p> <p> '''6.''' One of the "sons" of Pashur, who divorced his [[Gentile]] wife after the [[Exile]] ( Ezra 10:22). B.C. 459. </p>
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