Friday 13 November, 2015

12 Here is the story of the family line of Abraham’s son Ishmael. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael by Abraham. Hagar was Sarah’s slave from Egypt. 13 Here are the names of the sons of Ishmael. They are listed in the order they were born. Nebaioth was Ishmael’s oldest son. Then came Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 16 All of them were Ishmael’s sons. They were rulers of 12 tribes. They all lived in their own settlements and camps. 17 Ishmael lived a total of 137 years. Then he took his last breath and died. He joined the members of his family who had already died. 18 His children settled in the area between Havilah and Shur. It was near the eastern border of Egypt, as you go toward Ashur. Ishmael’s children weren’t friendly toward any of the tribes related to them.

Ishmael had twelve sons who became the founders of twelve tribes. Ishmael lived a long life of 135 years. The descendants of Ishmael lived in open hostility towards all their relatives.

From this passage we can see that God remained true to his promises to both Abraham and Hagar. God did make a nation from Ishmael because he was Abraham’s son. We also see that God honoured the prayer of Hagar who cried out to God in the desert for her son’s life. God said the boy would live and he sure lived a full and fruitful life. It is interesting to note that there was always angst amongst the family when it came to Ishmael and it continued to future generations.

Dear God, thank you for keeping your promises to your people. Amen

Written by Ainslie Woods