ISHMAEL IN THE BIBLE

ISHMAEL IN THE BIBLE Kader Faisi According to the Genesis the Story of Ishmael is as follows: Abraham married Sarah, who was a barren women. So she gave Abraham her handmaid, Hagar, to be his wife according to the legal Jewish custom of polygamous marriages. " And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife."[ King James Bible. Genesis: 16:3] And according to Genesis: 16, after Hagar became pregnant with Ishmael, Sarah felt that Hagar despised her, so she dealt with her harshly until she was forced to escape from it. But the Angel of God appeared to Hagar and told her to return and submit to Sarah. Abraham was 86 when Ishmael was born. He was 99 when Ishmael was 13. So he was the only son of Abraham at that time. Now , God promises to establish his covenant with all of Abraham's "seed": " And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." [King James Bible. Genesis: 17:7-8] God blessed Abraham with a second son , Isaaq when he was 100. At that time Ishmael was 14. Isaaq was born to him through Sarah. Because of Sarah's jealousy that Ishmael may inherit with her own son Isaaq, she had Abraham cast out Hagar and Ishmael and send them to the wilderness of Paran. Abraham obeyed the order of Sarah and cast the "bondwoman" and her son in the desert . This incident was occurred after Isaaq was weaned: " And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned." [King James Bible. Genesis: 21:8] According to the Bible Scholars the babies were weaned about the age of 3. This makes Ishmael 17 when the incident occurred. But what we see in the narration of Genesis a small baby not a full grown teenager. Please read these parts: "And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bow shot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink." [King James Bible. Genesis: 21:14-19] Thus, Genesis describes Ishmael as a small child in hands of his mother, who was feared his death in want of drinking water! What I have to ask my Christian scholars and friends is to submit a satisfactory explanation on these narrations of Bible. -------------