Who was Ishmael?

Question

Who was Ishmal ( i'm referring to the one in the Bible) and what did he do?

Answer 1

Ishmael was the first son of Abraham, according to the islamic tradition, it was he who was supposed to be sacrified. According to tradition, he is the common ancestor of all Arabic tribes. The prophet Mohammad is said to be a descendant of Ishmael.

From the Bible:
"25:9 And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre; 25:10 The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.

25:11 And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahairoi.

25:12 Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bare unto Abraham: 25:13 And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, 25:14 And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, 25:15 Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah: 25:16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.

25:17 And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people.

25:18 And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren."

In the Qur'an
"And mention, in the Book, Moses; verily, he was sincere, and was an apostle,-a prophet. We called him from the right side of the mountain; and we made him draw nigh unto us to commune with him, and we granted him, of our mercy, his brother Aaron as a prophet. And mention, in the Book, Ishmael; verily, he was true to his promise, and was an apostle, a prophet; and he used to bid his people prayers and almsgiving, and was acceptable in the sight of his Lord."

Answer 2

He was Abraham's first son. He was from a slave woman Hagaar, i believe. He was the father of a great nation. He was not the child of the promise from God though. That title went to his younger half brother, Isaac. Isaac went on to father Jacob whose 12 sons became the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel. The line of Ishmael and the line of Isaac have always been at odds with each other, but they are related through Abraham.

Answer 3

Ishmael was Abram and Sarai's first son. It is important to note that unlike modern Western readers' interpretation, Ishmael was in fact considered the legitimate first born son of Abram and Sarai. In the ancient Near East, if a woman could not have children, the law allowed her to give her husband her slave girl to have children for her. In the Bible, taking Hagar was not Abram's idea, it was Sarai's idea. Sarai wanted to have a son, and since she was barren, this was the accepted course of action. It is like modern women having IVF.

However, problems arose because in that culture a woman's status was tied to her ability to produce children, and Hagar let pride get to her and she became arrogant towards her mistress. This caused strife in the family, and Sarai abused Hagar, who ran away to the desert with Ishmael. You can read what happened in Genesis 16
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=16&version=31&context=chapter

In the next chapter, 17, God makes a covenant with Abraham and his descendants, of which the sign is circumcision. Ishmael is therefore circumcised under that covenant, when he is 13 years old. God promises to also establish the covenant also with a son that Sarah will bear to Abraham.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=17&version=31;

In Genesis 21 conflict and rivalry arises between Sarah and Hagar or perhaps between Ishmael and Isaac, and Abraham is told by an angel to listen to Sarah and send Hagar and Ishmael away, and that Ishmael will become a great nation, but Abraham's offspring will be reckoned through Isaac. There follows the story of how God miraculously saves Hagar and Ishmael when their water runs out in the desert
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=21&version=31&context=chapter

In Genesis 25 we have the news that Abraham took another wife after Sarah died and had other sons whom he sent away from Isaac. The 12 tribes of Ishmael are also listed.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=25&version=31&context=chapter

The Arabs are descended from Ishmael but Ishmael did not start Islam, Islam was started by the prophet Mohammed in the sixth century AD.

The idea that the birth of Ishmael was a great disaster is not supported by the Bible. The Bible presents Ishmael as one of the sons of Abraham with whom God established his covenant. the descendants of Ishmael and Isaac came into conflict, but this was not inevitable nor was it God's will, any more than the other tribal conflicts like the Israelites and the Moabites and Ammonites and Edomites, or the wars between Judah and Israel. Such conflicts are due to human failings.

Also, there is a misconception that the Quran says that it was Ishmael who Abraham put on the altar of sacrifice. The Quran simply says it was Abraham's son (Sura 37:99-111). Later tradition says it was Ishmael, but this is not in the Quran.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/quran/03703.htm

Answer 4

Abraham couldn't have a baby by his wife Sarah.
It was common in that primative society to use the slave girls in the household to get children if your wife couldn't get pregnant.
Jacob had numerous wives, concubines and slave girls.
Abraham really didn't he feared hurting Sarah who loved him dearly it is a beautiful love story.
But wanting a son he allow Sarah to talk him into having a son by Hagar the egyptian maid servant. Hagar had a son by Abraham, Ishmeal. Then when Abraham began to love his son.
Hagar and her son became abusive to Sarah. There is no record he ever touched Hagar again sexually.
Then Sarah got pregnant and had Isaac, there son together.
So she sent Hagar and her son away. She had a right to do that Hagar was her maid servant. As bad as slavery is that was the law. Abraham provided for Hagar and her son but the two boys lineage has fought to this day.
Isaac was the father to the Jewish nation.
Ismeal was the father to the Arabian nation.
If only Sarah would have known the problems she was to cause by allowing that to happen.
Next to Eve eating the fruit in the garden of Eden that was probably the next worst decision a woman made.

Answer 5

Bible Version: Ismael was the son of Abraham by his wife Sarah's handmaiden. It was Sarah's poorly thought-out plan to help God to fulfill his promise to give Abraham a son, by encouraging him to impregnate her servant. God meant for the Son of The Promise (Isaac) to be through Sarah, an old lady, and therefore by a certifiable miracle. The birth of the real promise Isaac revealed the foolishness of Sarah's plan, and she then changed her mind regarding her own wisdom, soon forcing Abraham to drive his son Ismael and his mother away from the family. The moral of the story: Don't get ahead of God and try to force his impossible promises to come through via your cockamamie plans. The family feud that resulted is the source of all the hatred nowadays in the Middle East, in my opinion.
Koran version: I haven't read it myself, but a Muslim friend said that the story is told the opposite way; Isaac is the illegitimate son and Ismael is the Son of the Promise in the Koran.

Answer 6

Abraham was married to Sarah. God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, and then Abraham was 88 and Sarah was 87, or somewhere around there, and Sarah was barren. Sarah was anxious for God's commandment to be filled, and told Abraham to have a kid with his servant lady. He did, and that son was Ishmael. Later Sarah became pregnant at 98 to the birth of Issac

Answer 7

Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Haggar
He practiced archery

Answer 8

Ishmael is Abrahams b*stard son. The son of Hagar, Sarah's servant.

After Abraham was promised a son, by God, He had to wait 25 years for that to happen! that's a long......... time to wait!

So Sarah, being that she was past the age of childbirth, told Abraham to sleep with Hagar: that way, she can be a mother to Abraham's son.
Long story short.... Hagar mocked and scorned Sarah; Sarah got mad and had Abraham kick them out of their household.

Sarah's action was a bad idea! Do you know why??? Because of, by trying to help God, Sarah opened a pandora's box that remains a big problem in the world today.

Sarah, after 25 years of waiting, conceived and bore Issac aka Israel (Israelites are Issac's desendants)

and Ishmael's desendants are................the people we refer to as Arabs today!

Hence, a little history lesson on the hatered between Arabs and Jews

Moral of the story: God does not need your help to fulfil his promises and prophecies, do not try to help God coz it will only lead to disaster.

Answer 9

Abraham's son by Haggar, their handmaid. He was poking Isaac for fun so he was expelled from the land. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul shows that this was more serious than childish play, for he describes Ishmael as persecuting Isaac! (Galatians 4:29)

Answer 10

he was abraham's son through hagar. he was the half-brother of isaac. according to the bible, in which G-d promises that ishmael will father a great nation, he was the father of the arabs. therefore the muslims consider themselves to be the descendants of ishmael.