Saturday, September 15, 2007

Genesis 21-Ishmael - a separate nation

Ishmael - a separate nation

This was promised earlier

Gen 16:11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
Gen 16:12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

Gen 17:7 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.
Gen 17:8 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.
Gen 17:9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.

Gen 17:18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
Gen 17:19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
Gen 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
Gen 17:21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

Gen 21:14 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.
Gen 21:15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

She sent the child under a shrub, to shelter him from the heat. The child was not a baby, but 16 yrs old.

Gen 21:16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: 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.

Hagar was very upset and this upset Ishmael. Ishmael had been the favorite of Abraham and now he was thrown out into the hot wilderness. He too cried out, perhaps in prayer or feeling his mother's anguish, he cried too. They both were beside themselves with fear.

Gen 21:17 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.

Psa 102:17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.

The angel heard the voice of the lad, not a babies cry. Hagar was weeping, and God heard the voice of Ishmael, a son of Abraham. He had made a promise of blessings and of a great nation through Ishmael.

Gen 21:18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.

lad : a boy, lad, servant, youth, retainer

Word usage: young man 76, servant 54, child 44, lad 33, young 15, children 7, youth 6, babe 1, boys 1, young 1

Take hold on him with thine hand, and hold him up with it, he being so weak that he could not sit up without being supported:

Gen 21:19 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.

Isa 41:17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
Isa 41:18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

Muslim View

Muslims, have a very similar narration of the same sequence of events in the Qur'an. However, in the Qur'an, the details differ from the narration of the Old Testament. Muslims respect Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Isaac, and Ishmael (pbut) as very decent, moral and pious people. Muslims believe that the prophet Abraham (pbuh) received a revelation from God to take Hagar and her BABY, Ishmael, to a barren desert in Northern Arabia (Paran), more specifically to the future location of Makkah, and to leave them there. When Abraham began to leave, Hagar called out to him "where are you leaving us?" After repeating the question three times she asked him "Did God command you to do this?" Abraham answered "yes." So Hagar said: "Then He will not forsake us." When Hagar and her baby ran out of water she began to fear for her baby's life and took to running back and forth between the two hills of "Al-Safa" and "Al-Marwa" in search of water. Meanwhile, God sent an angel who caused water to gush out of the earth for them. This became the water of the well of "Zamzam" which the pilgrims of Makkah drink from today. Once water was found in this place the Bedouins began to settle there and it became the city of Makkah. Centuries later, Muhammad (pbuh), the prophet of Islam, was born to the descendants of Ishmael. The rites of hastening between the two hills of "Al-Safa" and "Al-Marwa" have been preserved in the Muslim's yearly pilgrimage to Makkah even to this day.The reason for Hagar's journey was not Sarah's jealousy, Ishmael's mockery, or the racial superiority of Sarah. It was only the command of God, pure and simple.

Muslim Questioning the Bible?

It now becomes evident that sometime after God sent down the Old Testament, someone decided that they did not want the Arab descendants of Ishmael to be included in God's covenant with Abraham. They wanted it exclusive to the Jewish branch of his descendants. Therefore, the Old Testament was "corrected" in order to show that God's intent was that His covenant be with the Jews only.

Solution; write their own "holy book", the Quaran.

Gen 21:20 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.

The wilderness required skill, God was with him and made him an archer, so that he could animals to eat.

Gen 21:21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

Egypt is a type of the world. Hagar came from Egypt and was a slave. She was a bond woman and not free. Abraham did not marry Hagar, although because of relations she was as a wife.

Gen 16:3 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.

The word used for wife is also translated, female or woman.

God sees the sexual union as becoming one flesh.

1 Cor 6:16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

Putting away Hagar was as a bill of divorce.

She had no legitimate claim to the covenant which God gave through Abraham and Sarah. Isaac was a miracle birth. Ishmael was an act of human will and flesh. The seed of Abraham and Sarah would lead to Jesus, son of man(David), Son of God. The seed of Ishmael would lead to Mohammad. The message of Muslims is death to the infidels, carried out by violence. The Message of the Christian is life in Christ through the cross of Calvary. A christian seeks to convert unbelievers through the power of prayer and seeks peace with God and other people.

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