Ah, the account of Ishmael - ancestor to the Islamic peoples. This whole incident is rather unfortunate, as it caused strife in Abram's household that has haunted the world even to this day. The pronouncement that Ishmael's "hand will be against everyone, And everyone's hand will be against him" (NAS) is a foreshadowing of, and explanation for, the events we have dealt with even in the last few years. I'm sure that subject could have a whole blog - or many! - dedicated to it, but I think I'll just leave it there.
One interesting side note about this incident is that Sarai was the person who came up with the idea for Abram to sleep with her maidservant, but then as soon as it goes south (and come on, who couldn't see that coming?) she blames Abram. This sounds an awful lot like Adam and Eve, where they both try to shift blame right away. I suppose that is human (sinful) nature, huh?
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Voting on Laws
15 years ago
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RE ch. 15: Thanks, Tony, for the clarification. I'm totally with you on the Word thing now.
Aside: Congrats again on the upcoming baby! I'm looking forward to those days, as well, but not too soon, I hope.
And to business:
I'm sure you didn't quite mean that all of "the Islamic peoples" can be (genetically) traced back here, but for clarity, I shall elaborate. Ishmael had twelve sons who became princes of the area which is now Saudi Arabia (I think I heard this first from Jimmy DeYoung), thus, all Arabs can ultimately be traced back to them. Mohammed, who founded the Islamic faith, was a descendant of Ishmael as well. However, Muslims can be found all over the world these days, in nearly every ethnicity. And all, I'm sure, consider themselves "children of Abraham by faith" as much as we do. Interesting to think, though, that God could have just let Hagar and Ishmael die in the desert. I would be inclined to think that a sacrifice of two people to prevent such future cataclysm (Crusades, jihad, etc.) would be well worth it. Yet God, in His love and wisdom, shows mercy. My only response, as Abram's was, is faith that He has a plan that will ultimately result in His glory and our joy.
One other interesting note is that we are given no indication of time between ch. 15 & 16. Thus, we have no evidence on which to speculate whether Abram didn't tell his wife about the promise or she just got impatient. Either way, I agree fully about the sin nature... the Fall led to some pretty warped perceptions. Part of me wants to argue the felix culpa side, but I think I'll just leave it there.
You are quite right, ecthelion - I should have said Arab Muslims rather than all Islamic peoples. What I was getting at, I suppose, was that Islam was started by descendants of Ishmael; hence his existence and the promise/curse God gave him (that he would be against the world, and the world against him) has resulted in many of the problems in the world today. God is not in the habit of punishing ancestors for the eventual sins of their descendants, though, and in His mercy he took care of Ishmael and his mother.
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