Ishmael

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

(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.

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.

"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.

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.")

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.

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.)

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.

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.

2.  1 Chronicles 8:38;  1 Chronicles 9:44.

3.  2 Chronicles 19:11.

4.  2 Chronicles 23:1.

5.  2 Chronicles 10:22.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Ishmael. 1. The son of Abraham by Hagar. His name, which means ‘May God hear,’ was decided upon before his birth (  Genesis 16:11 ). As in the case of the history of his mother, three documentary sources are used by the narrator. J [Note: Jahwist.] supplied   Genesis 16:4-14 , E [Note: Elohist.]   Genesis 21:8-21 , whilst Padds such links as   Genesis 16:15 f.,   Genesis 17:18-27 ,   Genesis 25:7-10;   Genesis 25:12-17 . For the story of his life up to his settlement in the wilderness of Paran, the northern part of the Sinaitic peninsula, see Hagar. At the age of thirteen he was circumcised on the same day as his father (  Genesis 17:25 f.). In Paran he married an Egyptian wife, and became famous as an archer (  Genesis 21:20 f.). No other incident is recorded, except that he was associated with his step-brother in the burial of their father (  Genesis 25:9 ), and himself died at the age of 137 (  Genesis 25:17 ).

Ishmael had been resolved into a conjectural personification of the founder of a group of tribes; but the narrative is too vivid in its portrayal of incident and character, and too true in its psychological treatment, to support that view. That there is some idealization in the particulars is possible. Tribal rivalry may have undesignedly coloured the presentment of Sarah’s jealousy. The little discrepancies between the documents point to a variety of human standpoints, and are as explicable upon the implication of historicity as upon the theory of personification. The note of all the recorded passions and promptings is naturalness; and the obvious intention of the narrative, with the impression produced upon an uncommitted reader, is that of an attempt at actual biography rather than at the construction of an artificial explanation of certain relationships of race.

In regard to the so-called Ishmaelites , the case is not so clear. Ishmael is represented as the father of twelve sons (  Genesis 25:12-16 ,   1 Chronicles 1:29-31 ), and the phrase ‘twelve princes according to their nations’ (cf.   Genesis 17:20 ) almost suggests an attempt on the part of the writer at an exhibition of his view of racial origins. A further complication arises from the confusion of Ishmaelites and Midianites (  Genesis 37:28 ff.,   Judges 8:24;   Judges 8:26 ), though the two are distinguished in the genealogies of   Genesis 25:1;   Genesis 25:4;   Genesis 25:13 . Branches of the descendants of the two step-brothers may have combined through similarity of habit and location, and been known sometimes by the one name, and sometimes by the other; but there was clearly no permanent fusion of the two families. Nor is it possible to say whether at any time a religious confederation of twelve tribes was formed under the name of Ishmael, or if the name was adopted, because of its prominence, for the protection of some weaker tribes. The scheme may have even less basis in history, and be but part of an ethnic theory by which the Hebrew genealogists sought to explain the relationships of their neighbours to one another, and to the Hebrews themselves. A dozen tribes, scattered over the Sinaitic peninsula and the districts east of the Jordan, because of some similarity in civilization or language, or in some cases possibly under the influence of correct tradition, are grouped as kinsmen, being sons of Abraham, but of inferior status, as being descended from the son of a handmaid. That the differences from the pure Hebrew were thought to be strongly Egyptian in their character or source, is indicated by the statement that Ishmael’s mother and his wife were both Egyptians. The Ishmaelites soon disappear from Scripture. There are a few individuals described as of that nationality (  1 Chronicles 2:17;   1 Chronicles 27:30 ); but in later times the word could be used metaphorically of any hostile people (  Psalms 83:6 ).

2. A son of Azel, a descendant of Saul through Jonathan (  1 Chronicles 8:38;   1 Chronicles 9:44 ). 3. Ancestor of the Zebadiah who was one of Jehoshaphat’s judicial officers (  2 Chronicles 19:11 ). 4. A military officer associated with Jehoiada in the revolution in favour of Joash (  2 Chronicles 23:1 ). 5. A member of the royal house of David who took the principal part in the murder of Gedaliah (  Jeremiah 41:1-2 ). The story is told in   Jeremiah 40:7 to   Jeremiah 41:15 , with a summary in   2 Kings 25:23-26 . It is probable that Ishmael resented Nebuchadnezzar’s appointment of Gedaliah as governor of Judæa (  Jeremiah 40:5 ) instead of some member of the ruling family, and considered him as unpatriotic in consenting to represent an alien power. Further instigation was supplied by Baalis, king of Ammon (  Jeremiah 40:14 ), who was seeking either revenge or an opportunity to extend his dominions. Gedaliah and his retinue were killed after an entertainment given to Ishmael, who gained possession of Mizpah, the seat of government. Shortly afterwards he set out with his captives to join Baalis, but was overtaken by a body of Gedaliah’s soldiers at the pool of Gibeon (  Jeremiah 41:12 ), and defeated. He made good his escape (  Jeremiah 41:15 ) with the majority of his associates; but of his subsequent life nothing is known. The conspiracy may have been prompted by motives that were in part well considered, if on the whole mistaken; but it is significant that Jeremiah supported Gedaliah (  Jeremiah 40:6 ), in memory of whose murder an annual fast was observed for some years in the month Tishri (  Zechariah 7:5;   Zechariah 8:19 ). 6. One of the priests persuaded by Ezra to put away their foreign wives (  Ezra 10:22; cf. Ismael , 1E  Esther 9:22 ).

R. W. Moss.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ish'mael. (whom God hears). The son of Abraham, by Hagar the Egyptian, his concubine; born when Abraham was fourscore and six years old.  Genesis 16:15-16. (B.C. 1910). Ishmael was the first-born of his father. He was born in Abraham's house when he dwelt in the plain of Mamre; and on the institution of the covenant of circumcision, was circumcised, he being then thirteen years old  Genesis 17:26. With the institution of the covenant, God renewed his promise respecting Ishmael.

He does not again appear in the narrative until the weaning of Isaac. At the great feast made in celebration of the weaning, "Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking," and urged Abraham to cast him and his mother out. Comforted by the renewal of God's promise to make of Ishmael a great nation, Abraham sent them away, and they departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. His mother took Ishmael a wife out of the land of Egypt."  Genesis 21:9-21 This wife of Ishmael was the mother of the twelve sons and one daughter.

Of the later life of Ishmael we know little. He was present with Isaac at the burial of Abraham. He died at the age of 137 years.  Genesis 25:17-18. The sons of Ishmael peopled the north and west of the Arabian peninsula, and eventually formed the chief element of the Arab nation, the wandering Bedouin tribes. They are now mostly Mohammedans who look to him as their spiritual father, as the Jews look to Abraham. Their language, which is generally acknowledged to have been the Arabic community so called, has been adopted with insignificant exceptions throughout Arabia. The term "Ishmaelite" occur on three occasions:  Genesis 37:25;  Genesis 37:27-28;  Genesis 39:1;  Judges 8:24;  Psalms 83:6.

2. One of the sons of Azel, a descendant of Saul through Meribbaal or Mephibosheth.  1 Chronicles 8:38;  1 Chronicles 9:44.

3. A man of Judah, father of Zebadiah.  2 Chronicles 19:11.

4. Another man of Judah, son of Jehohanan; one of the captains of hundreds who assisted Jehoiada in restoring Joash to the throne.  2 Chronicles 23:1.

5. A priest of the Bene-Pashur, (that is, sons of Pashur), who was forced by Ezra to relinquish his foreign wife.  Ezra 10:22.

6. The son of Nethaniah; a perfect marvel of craft and villainy, whose treachery forms one of the chief episodes of the history of the period immediately succeeding the first fall of Jerusalem. His exploits are related in  Jeremiah 40:7;  Jeremiah 41:16 with a short summary. During the siege of the city, he had fled across the Jordan where he found a refuge at the court of Baalis.

After the departure of the Chaldeans, Ishmael made no secret of his intention to kill the superintendent left by the king of Babylon and usurp his position. Of this, Zedaliah was warned in express terms by Johanan and his companions, but notwithstanding, entertained Ishmael and his followers at a feast,  Jeremiah 41:1, during which Ishmael murdered Gedaliah and all his attendants. The same night, he killed all Zedaliah's establishment, including some Chaldean soldiers who were there. For two days, the massacre remained entirely unknown to the people of the town. On the second day, eighty devotees were bringing incense and offerings to the ruins of the Temple. At his invitation, they turned aside to the residence of the superintendent, and there Ishmael and his band butchered nearly the whole number: ten only escaped by offering a heavy ransom for their lives.

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 41:10;  Jeremiah 41:16, and all the people of the town, and made off with his prisoners, to the country of the Ammonites. The news of the massacre had by this time got abroad, and Ishmael was quickly pursued by Johanan and his companions. He was attacked, two of his bravos slain, the whole of the prey recovered; and Ishmael himself with the remaining eight of his people, escaped to the Ammonites.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

1. Son of Abraham and Hagar the bondmaid of Sarah. Before he was born, when Hagar ran away because of the severity of her mistress, the angel of the Lord appeared to her, and told her to return to her mistress: her seed should be numberless, and she was to call her son's name Ishmael, which signifies 'El shall hear.' He would be a wild man, his hand would be against every man, and every man's hand against him. Abraham prayed that Ishmael might live before God, but typically he represents the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, hence though God answered that He would bless Ishmael, and multiply him exceedingly, he should also beget twelve princes, and God would make him a great nation; yet the covenant should be established with Isaac. When Ishmael was thirteen years old Abraham circumcised him, and all the men of his house. In this act Abraham acknowledged in faith that the blessing asked for his natural seed could not be had through the strength of the flesh: all the mercies of God are secured in resurrection.

At the 'great feast' when Isaac, the child born after the Spirit, was weaned, Ishmael mocked, and Sarah besought Abraham to cast out both mother and son. This was grievous to Abraham, but God, having approved the suggestion, he rose early in the morning, and providing them with some bread and a bottle of water he sent them away. The water was soon consumed, and Hagar in despair placed Ishmael under a shrub, and departed so as not to see him die. The angel of God called to her, showed her a well, and the child was saved. God was with the lad, for he was the seed of Abraham; he dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer. At first he was located in the wilderness of Beer-sheba and afterwards at Paran, a region between Canaan and mount Sinai. His mother chose a woman of Egypt for his wife. His twelve sons are recorded, and their 'towns ' and 'castles,' or encampments, according to their nations, are spoken of. Ishmael was present at the burial of his father and lived 137 years.  Genesis 16:11-16;  Genesis 17:18-26;  Genesis 25:9-17;  Genesis 28:9;  Genesis 36:3;  1 Chronicles 1:28-31 .

The Bedouin Arabs are doubtless the descendants of Ishmael. They are wild men in the sense of their love of freedom, dwelling in tents, and riding over the desert, spear in hand. They truly are 'against every man,' robbing every one when they can do so with safety to themselves. The Bedouins will not admit their descent from Ishmael; they refer his descendants to the Most (or mixed) Arabians, because Ishmael's mother was an Egyptian. The Bedouins claim to have descended from Joktan, son of Eber.   Genesis 10:25 .

2. Son of Azel, a descendant of Saul.  1 Chronicles 8:38;  1 Chronicles 9:44 .

3. Father of Zebadiah a ruler under Jehoshaphat.  2 Chronicles 19:11 .

4. Son of Jehohanan, and one of the 'captains of hundreds' who assisted in setting Joash on the throne.  2 Chronicles 23:1 .

5. Priest who had married a strange wife.  Ezra 10:22 .

6. Son of Nethaniah, of the 'seed royal,' but of what family is not known. His craft and ferocity show that he was unworthy of a throne. He treacherously slew Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the cities of Judah, and all the Jews that were with him in Mizpah. He followed up this crime by the cruel and treacherous murder of eighty men from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, who were bringing gifts to the temple, only ten being spared. He then carried away captive all that were left in Mizpah, and departed to go over to the Ammonites; but Johanan the son of Kareah, and those with him, rescued the captives. Ishmael escaped and is heard of no more.  2 Kings 25:23-25;  Jeremiah 40:8-16;  Jeremiah 41:1-18 .

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Ishmael (ísh'ma-el ), whom God heareth. 1. The son of Abraham by Hagar, and the ancestor of Arabian tribes, generally called "Ishmaelites."  Genesis 25:12-18;  1 Chronicles 2:17;  1 Chronicles 18:3. Previous to his birth Hagar was informed by an angel what would be the character of her son, and that his posterity would be innumerable.  Genesis 16:11. When Hagar was banished to the wilderness, God directed her to a fountain, and renewed his promise to make him a great nation. Ishmael married an Egyptian woman, and dwelt in the wilderness,  Genesis 16:12; he was distinguished for lawless predatory habits, as his descendants have always been.  Genesis 21:20-21. So rapidly did Ishmael's family multiply, that in a few years afterwards they are spoken of as a trading nation.  Genesis 37:25;  Genesis 39:1. Isaac and Ishmael amicably met at the burial of their father.  Genesis 25:9. Ishmael died, perhaps in battle, at the age of 137 years. He was the father of twelve sons, who gave their names to as many tribes, who dwelt in the wilderness, from Havilah unto Shur.  Genesis 17:20. The prophecies concerning him,  Genesis 16:12;  Genesis 17:20;  Genesis 21:13;  Genesis 21:18, confirm the Bible; being literally carried out for nearly 4000 years to the present day. Ishmael no doubt became a wild man of the desert, the progenitor of the roaming Bedouin tribes of the East, so well known as robbers to this day that travellers through their territory must be well armed and hire a band of robbers to protect them against their fellow-robbers. Ishmael is also the spiritual father of the Mohammedans, who are nothing but bastard Jews. They apply to themselves the promise of a large posterity given to Ishmael.  Genesis 21:13;  Genesis 18:2. A prince of the royal family of Judah, who murdered the governor Gedaliah, with several of the Hebrews and Chaldeans who were attached to him. He fled to the Ammonites.  Jeremiah 40:7-16;  Jeremiah 41:1-18. There are six persons of this name mentioned in the Scriptures.

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

Of several men named Ishmael in the Bible, the best known is the son born to Abraham through his Egyptian slave-girl, Hagar. He was born as a result of Abraham and Sarah’s failure of faith, when, feeling that Sarah could not produce the son God had promised them, they arranged for Abraham to produce the son through Hagar ( Genesis 16:1-3).

In New Testament times, Paul saw this as a picture of those who try to achieve salvation through law-keeping instead of through faith in Jesus Christ. As Ishmael was the child of a slave-girl, so they are the children of slavery. They are in bondage to the law instead of being free people in Christ ( Galatians 4:21-26).

Concerning Ishmael, God promised that he would grow into a fiery independent desert-dweller, and would produce a notable line of descendants ( Genesis 16:11-12;  Genesis 17:20). But he was not the son that God had promised to Abraham as the one through whom he would build his covenant people. God’s promises would be fulfilled through Isaac, the son who was later born to Abraham and Sarah ( Genesis 17:15-19).

When conflict arose between Sarah and Hagar, Hagar and Ishmael were forced to leave Abraham’s household and establish their own independent existence ( Genesis 21:8-21). In New Testament times, Paul saw the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael as an illustration that slaves of the law have no place in a family (the church) where people have the freedom of sons and through faith inherit God’s promises ( Galatians 4:28-31).

Ishmael grew up to be a tough desert-dweller, as God had foretold ( Genesis 21:20; cf.  Genesis 16:12). He married an Egyptian ( Genesis 21:21), and one of his daughters married Isaac’s son, Esau ( Genesis 28:9). There was a temporary reunion between Isaac and Ishmael at the funeral of their father ( Genesis 25:7-10).

Many of the tribal peoples who grew up in the region around Canaan were descended from Ishmael ( Genesis 25:12-18). Even today many of the Arab peoples claim descent from him.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

1.  Genesis 16:1-16   21:1-34 , son of Abraham and Hagar, B. C. 1910. He was at first regarded as "the son of the promise;" but after the birth and weaning of Isaac he was driven from his father's house, at the age of about seventeen, and took with his mother the way to Egypt her native land. Overcome with heat and thirst, and then miraculously relieved, he remained in the wilderness of Paran, took a wife from Egypt, and was the father of twelve sons, heads of Arab tribes. He seems to have become on friendly terms with Isaac, and to have attended at the bedside of their dying father. At his own death, he was one hundred and thirty-seven years old,  Genesis 25:9,17 .

The Ishmaelites, his posterity, were said, in the days of Moses, to dwell "from Havilah unto Shur that is before Egypt," that is, in the northwestern part of Arabia. See Havilah 2. Subsequently they, with the descendants of Joktan, the fourth from Shem,  Genesis 10:26-29 , and Jokshan, the son of Abraham by Keturah,  Genesis 25:3 , and perhaps also of some of the brethren of Joktan and Jokshan, occupied the whole peninsula of Arabia. See  Genesis 17:16 . The prediction also in  Genesis 16:12 , has been fully verified in their history. Located near their "brethren" the Jews, they have always led a roving, wild, and predatory life. To a great degree unchanged, they are to this day the untamed though tributary masters of the desert. See Midianites .

2. A prince of Judah, who fled to the Ammonites when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Chaldeans. Soon after, he returned and assassinated Gedaliah the governor and many others; but was obliged to flee for his life,  Jeremiah 40:1-41:18 .

Easton's Bible Dictionary

The son of Nethaniah, "of the seed royal" ( Jeremiah 40:8,15 ). 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."

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Ishmael'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/i/ishmael.html. 1897.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 16:11 Genesis 16:12  Genesis 21:20Abraham

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

The son of Abraham and Hagar. His name is derived from Shamah, to bear; and El, God. ( Genesis 16:1)

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Yishmael', יַשְׁמָעֵאל , heard by God; Sept. Ι᾿σμαήλ, Joseph. Ι᾿σμάηλος ), the name of several men.

1. Abraham's eldest son, born to him by the concubine Hagar ( Genesis 16:15;  Genesis 17:23). (See Abraham); (See Hagar).

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).

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).

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).

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).

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).

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.).

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).

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.

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).

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).

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.

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."

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.

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).

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

3. Son of Jehohanan, and captain of a ‘ hundred" under the regency of- Jehoiada ( 2 Chronicles 23:1). B.C. 877.

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.

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).

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).

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.

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).

6. One of the "sons" of Pashur, who divorced his Gentile wife after the Exile ( Ezra 10:22). B.C. 459.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Ishmael, 1

Ish´mael (heard of God), Abraham's eldest son, born to him by Hagar; the circumstances of whose birth, early history, and final expulsion from his father's tents, are related in the articles Abraham, Hagar [see also Isaac, [[Inheritance].]] He afterwards made the desert into which he had been cast his abode, and by attaching himself to, and acquiring influence over, the native tribes, rose to great authority and influence. It would seem to have been the original intention of his mother to have returned to Egypt, to which country she belonged; but this being prevented, she was content to obtain for her son wives from thence. Although their lots were cast apart, it does not appear that any serious alienation existed between Ishmael and Isaac; for we read that they both joined in the sepulchral rites of their father Abraham . This fact has not been noticed as it deserves. It is full of suggestive matter. 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 . Nothing more is recorded of him than that he died at the age of 137 years, and was the father of twelve sons, who gave their names to as many tribes . He had also two daughters, one of whom became the wife of Esau.

It has been shown, in the article Arabia, that Ishmael has 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. The celebrated prophecy which describes the habits of life which he, and in him his descendants, would follow, is therefore to be regarded not as describing habits which he would first establish, but such as he would adopt. The description is contained in the address of the angel to Hagar, when, before the birth of Ishmael, she fled from the tents of Abraham:—'Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael (God hears), because the Lord hath heard thine affliction. And he shall be a wild man: his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him, and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren' . 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 the article Arabia, in the 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. The last clause, 'He shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren,' is pointedly alluded to in the brief notice of his death, which states that 'he died in the presence of all his brethren' . Of this 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.

Ishmael, 2

Ishmael, a prince of the royal line of Judah, who found refuge among the Ammonites from the ruin which involved his family and nation. After the Chaldeans had departed he returned, and treacherously slew the too-confiding Gedaliah, who had been made governor of the miserable remnant left in the land [[[Gedaliah].]] Much more slaughter followed this, and Ishmael, with many people of consideration as captives, hastened to return to the Ammonites. But he was overtaken near the pool of Gibeon, by Johanan, a friend of Gedaliah, and was compelled to abandon his prey and escape for his life, with only eight attendants, to Baalis, king of the Ammonites, with whom he appears to have had a secret understanding in these transactions: B.C. 588 (Jeremiah 41).

Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia

Sarai, Abram's wife, was barren ( Genesis 11:30 ). Impatient at the long delay of the promise, Sarah agreed for Abram to cohabit with her maid Hagar, and as a result Ishmael was born eleven years after Abram and Sarah entered Canaan ( Genesis 16:1-16 ). He was finally cast out of Abram's house at Sarah's request and the Lord's approval, for Abram's Descendants were to be counted from Isaac ( Genesis 21:1-21 ).

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

The son of Abraham and the handmaid Hagar, cast out of Abraham's household at 15; he became skilful with the bow, and founded a great nation, the Arabs; for the offering of Isaac on Moriah the Arabs substitute the offering of Ishmael on Arafat, near Mecca; Mahomet claimed descent from him; he gives name in modern life to a social outcast driven into antagonism to social arrangements.