According to our previous study, Abraham had sent away both his firstborn son, Ishmael, and Hagar, Ishmael’s mother. He banished them without an inheritance, according to the will of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. Moreover, this also seems to have been the will of God (cp. Genesis 21:10-14). However, one might ask: what became of them, because, for all intents and purposes, this is the last mention of Ishmael, other than his presence at the burial site of his father, Abraham?[1] The text isn’t very clear about his fate, but it does tell us that both he and his mother survived, so that Ishmael went on to become a nation. Nevertheless, Ishmael’s fate is consumed in mystery, yet one might ask, what does it matter? Well, since Paul does conclude that Ishmael and Hagar lived out their lives as allegories of Jerusalem and the Jews, it matters a great deal, especially if Ishmael’s fate points to how God has dealt with the Jews post AD 70!
In this part of our study, we find Ishmael and his mother, Hagar, cast out of Abrahm’s camp and near death, wandering in the wilderness of Beersheba (Genesis 21:14). For all intents and purposes, Ishmael and his mother, Hagar, would have died there in the wilderness, except for the intervention of the Lord. Their water was spent, and they simply wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba (Genesis 21:15-16). The name, Beersheba, comes from the treaty that Abraham made with Abimelech, but, according to the text, the treaty didn’t occur until after Ishmael was banished and disinherited (cp. Genesis 21:22-34). It appears that Moses, when recording these events, used the literary tool of prolepsis to contextualize the place of the couple’s wanderings. It seems Hagar and Ishmael didn’t wander far from Abraham’s camp, perhaps hoping to return.
Previously, when Hagar was pregnant with Ishmael, she fled from Sarah’s cruel treatment in Bethel and was able to reach a fountain in the wilderness of Shur (Genesis 16:7), which is before entering Egypt. So, Hagar knew how to safely return to Egypt, if that was what she desired to do. Therefore, it doesn’t appear that she was lost in the wilderness of Beersheba. Her wanderings seem to imply a hope to be recalled to Abraham’s camp (cp. Genesis 20:1) and to have the blessing of an inheritance restored to her son. When that didn’t happen, and her water ran out, she realized she had placed herself and her son at death’s door.
Nevertheless, the Lord heard Ishmael’s cries, and the Angel of the Lord visited Hagar once more, and he told her that all wasn’t lost, for he would make Ishmael into a great nation (Genesis 21:17-18). Therefore, the Lord showed Hagar a well where they could replenish their water supply and continue in their journey. Ishmael grew up, and the Lord was with him, and he became an archer in the wilderness of Paran, where he dwelt. Moreover, according to the text, they were able to reach Egypt, and there Hagar obtained a wife for her son (Genesis 21:19-21).
So, what does all this mean, if Paul’s allegory (Galatians 4:21-25, 30) continues to be accurate to the present day? For several decades after the Lord banished the Jews and ended his covenant with them, they were without an inheritance, but they continued to hope for reconciliation with the Lord, and have their nation restored to them. However, the Jews were finally driven from Jerusalem completely after the revolt of Bar Kokhba (cir. 132-136 AD). They were sent to wander for centuries in the wilderness of people (the nations; cp. Ezekiel 20:35). The text claims Ishmael dwelt in the wilderness of Paran, which was also the place of Israel’s wanderings, and it was from there that Moses sent out the 12 spies, 10 of whom returned with a bad report about the Promised Land, and wanted to return to Egypt.
Many similar things can be said of parallels between the Jews’ and Ishmael. However, perhaps the most interesting is, speaking of Ishmael: “He will be a wild donkey of a man. He will be hostile to everyone, and everyone will be hostile to him. He will live away from his brothers” (Genesis 16:12). In 1947 the Lord made Israel a nation once more, and, presently, she lives surrounded by her brethren and her hand is against every one of them and the hands of every one of them are against her! Admittedly, one can and often does carry allegories too far. Have I? Maybe! Yet, I cannot help but find the similarities between Ishmael and the Jews following AD 70 extremely interesting.
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[1] There is a reference to him later, in that Esau took one of his daughters for his wife. Other mentions appear only in genealogies, and, of course, there are also other Ishmaels mentioned in Israel’s history. However, Genesis 21 serves as the last real mention of the person, and what he did.
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