The Story of Ishmael

Read Genesis 25: 1-18

We now return to the story of Ishmael, but also the modern story of the silly Florida pastor who organized an “International Burn the Koran Day” on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary.

First of all, Abraham passed away at the ripe age of 175. Let us first assess the life of Abraham, this man of great faith. He was not a man of upstanding moral character. He did pass his wife off as only a sister to save his own skin, for example. Oh, and he did that twice! But he was a man of great faith, because the more he came to know God, he more he realized that this God does what He says. Because of that, Abraham grew to trust God more, which led up to the pinnacle of the testing of his faith - his sacrifice of Isaac. And now, in his death, he was buried by his loved sons, Isaac and Ishmael. We can presume that the reunion was amicable and not filled with animosity (otherwise, Ishmael would not have come).

I find it interesting that Genesis takes a pause to talk about Ishmael, probably because you’ll hear a lot more about Isaac in the succeeding chapters. As we all know, Ishmael was the father of the Arab peoples of today. Even though there were many tribes post-Ishmael, the last verse records that “they lived in hostility toward all their brothers”. Much later, Muhammed would unite these tribes by force. Unfortunately, Christians of post-9/11 often have interpreted that passage to mean that violence is natural for Muslims... as if violence were completely foreign to Christian understanding! Thus, we have the silly Florida pastor who equated Islam with evil. Be careful of how you read the Bible! Bad interpretations lead to atrocious witness, which has terrible consequences.

So what does the story of Ishmael teach us? Genesis begins to paint a picture of a world split into two categories: God’s people, and those who are not God’s people. This division will strengthen more and more as we proceed towards Joshua. Ishmael, of course, is outside of God’s chosen people. This does not mean he is evil, but rather that God will not be working out His blessings to the nations through him. Indeed, the rest of the Old Testament tells of God blessing the nations through Isaac’s descendants - the nation of Israel. Paul would later expand that to include all people who are spiritual descendants of Isaac - the Church.

If anything this behooves us to live according to the calling that Christ has set for us, because God has entrusted us to be vessels of blessing to be poured out to the nations, that they may come, drink, and find that God is indeed good! Have we, may I ask, been that place where people can do just that - to come, drink, and see that the Lord is good? How, may I ask, can we work together in partnership with the Holy Spirit in order that our youth group can be vessels of blessing?