Patriarchs and matriarchs
Abraham's firstborn, sent into the desert as a boy, whose name means God hears and who found that God did.
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Not typed · why →Abraham's firstborn, sent into the desert as a boy, whose name means God hears and who found that God did.
“And God heard the voice of the boy”
Ishmael was born to Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian servant, when Abraham was eighty-six. Before he was born, the angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring in the wilderness and told her to name him Ishmael, because the LORD had listened to her affliction. Abraham loved him and pleaded, Oh that Ishmael might live before you! God promised to bless him and make him a great nation, though the covenant would come through Isaac.
When Isaac was weaned, Sarah saw Ishmael laughing and demanded that he and his mother be sent away. In the wilderness of Beersheba the water ran out, and Hagar put the boy under a bush so she would not watch him die. God heard the voice of the boy, opened her eyes to a well, and was with him as he grew up. He became an archer in the wilderness of Paran, and years later he and Isaac buried their father together.
And God heard the voice of the boy
Beginning
God hears his mother's affliction.
High point
Abraham pleads for him, and God promises a great nation.
Turning point
With bread and a skin of water.
Low point
God hears the boy and shows a well.
Turning point
He grows up an archer in Paran.
Ending
He and Isaac bury Abraham together.
Starts as a boy sent into the desert. Ends as the father of twelve princes.
Only places Scripture records. Softer, dotted pins are traditional or uncertain sites. Tap a pin for the passage.
Why there's no type here
Ishmael never speaks in Scripture, too little to type him honestly.
Survived the wilderness (). Skilled archer (). Came back to bury his father ().
Mocking or laughing at Isaac (). Foretold to live in conflict with his kin ().
Scripture does not say. Abraham wanted him to live before God ().
Scripture does not say.
The Lord
Where this points to Christ
Paul uses Hagar and Ishmael as a picture of slavery and Isaac as a picture of the promise fulfilled in Christ (). But Genesis shows God's care for the son outside the covenant line too: he heard the boy (). In Jesus, those who were far off have been brought near (), and Ishmael's descendants in Arabia are named among those who heard the gospel at Pentecost ().
Ishmael means God hears. Where do you need to know that God has heard you?
God cared for the one sent away. Who around you feels sent away?
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NextIsaacThe PeacemakerThe quiet son between two loud lives, who dug wells and kept moving rather than fight.
