Abram Hagar and Ishmael

The birth of Ishmael to Hagar takes place before Abram’s name is changed to Abraham (Genesis 16:1-16). In the story, because Sarai is barren, she gives her Egyptian bondwoman, Hagar, to Abram in order that Abram would have an heir[1].

However, with the birth of Ishmael Sarai regrets her action and pleads with Abram to evict Hagar and Ishmael, his first-born son, from the home. It is set at a time when Sarai was barren and before the birth of Isaac. It is the second time that Hagar has encountered Sarai’s wrath and fled from her presence (Genesis 16:1-16) and on both occasions God (or the Angel of the Lord) plays a central role in both saving Hagar and her son and encouraging her that her son will become a great nation.

Abram reluctantly agrees to Sarai’s demands and sends Hagar and his son Ishmael into the wilderness with only water and bread. Hagar bewails that her son will soon die of thirst and God answers her plea and a well of water appears. The story then turns to Ishmael whom God says will become a great nation and later we learn he lives in the wilderness to become a great archer and his mother marries him to an Egyptian woman.

There are many interpretations to the story, and which often focus on the harshness of Sarai and how can the mother of all Israel be so cruel. It is said that the story appears on Rosh Hashanah in order to remind us to be benevolent to mankind at this season of forgiveness. Few of these interpretations focus upon the will of God.

If we look at the gematria of the names:

Ishmael, ישמעאל  spelled: yod-shin-mem-ayin-aleph-lamed = 10+300+40+70+1+30=451

Abram, אברם  spelled: aleph, beth, resh, mem =   1+2+200+40  = 243

Hagar,הגר   spelled: heh, gimmel, resh           =      5+3+200    = 208

Abram + Hagar = 243+208          =                         = 451

Hence, the gematria for Ishmael is 451, the same as for Abram + Hagar.

The relevance of Ishmael in the biblical story tends to be diminished by Rabbis and Hebrew scholars and even regarded with some derision and disdain. However, his importance should not be underestimated, not least because he and generations after him, are blessed by God:

And as for Ishmael, I have heard you; Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he father, and I will make him a great nation (Gen.17:20).

He was circumcised at the age of 13 (Gen. 17:25) (See the significance of 13 in Chapter 1); his daughter is married to Esau, making an alliance between the two families and forming the foundation of the Islamic race. Moreover, when he died, he was one of six personages privileged to carry the term ‘gathered unto his people’ including the three patriarchs and Aaron and Moses. He was also one of the few to carry the term ‘And these are the generations’ (see Chapter 7).

However, more importantly, Ishmael was Joseph’s great, great uncle and it was the Ishmaelites who were instrumental in bringing the Children of Israel down to Egypt at the time of the famine. Utilizing their ‘dual nationality’ because Hagar was Egyptian and that Ishmael married an Egyptian woman, the Ishmaelites became traders between Egypt and Canaan and the agents of transfer by selling Joseph into Egypt.[2] It was because of Ishmaelites that the Hebrew race were saved from famine.

Most important, the Ishmaelite’s action was a catalyst to the fulfillment of the first commandment given to mankind: ‘Be fruitful and multiply’, Hb. pru oo rabu (Genesis 2:28) and the 70 souls that went down to Egypt became 600,000 (Gen. 46:27; Ex. 12:37). It was Ishmael who enabled, albeit unwittingly, God’s promise to Abraham and Jacob to be fulfilled: And your seed shall be as the dust of the earth (Gen. 28:14) and …. Look now toward heaven, and count the stars, if you are able to count them; and he said to him, So shall your seed be (Gen. 15:5). Ishmael was the agent who transformed the family of Jacob into the Hebrew nation.

Moreover, it should be noted that Ishmael was born when Abram was 86 years old (Gem 16:16). Eighty-six is the gematria for God, Elohim, אלהים = aleph -lamed- heh- yod -mem = 1+30+5+10+40= 86, again implying that the birth og Ishmael was no accident, rather it was ordained by God.

But it is also interesting that the word ‘bow’ appears twice in episode of Hagar and Ishmael (out of seven times in the whole Torah): Once when she is about to leave her son to die in the wilderness and sets him a ‘a bowshot’ away from her (Genesis 21:16), and again in Genesis 21:20 where we are told that Ishmael became an archer, Hb. Roveh Keshet, where the word Keshet means bow. Keshet is the same word as ‘rainbow’ that appeared in the sky after the flood in the story of Noah, in which God made a covenant between Heaven and life on earth promising never again to destroy the life (Genesis 10:13). It is spelled koof-shin-taf קשת  = 100-300-400 = 800 where the number 800 is a centane above 8 which is the number representing the physical covenant of the circumcision and in this case 800 indicates a spiritual covenant between Ishmael and God[3]. This statement is very much against the argument of traditional Judaism which regards the seed of Ishmael as an enemy of Israel, yet the context above suggests otherwise: the two sons of Abraham - Ishmael and Isaac - are as the two sons of Isaac – Jacob and Esau. Whilst being diametrically opposite – the Yin and the Yang of mankind, they are necessarily complementary to one another, and the one cannot exist without the other. Rather, for the future sanity of the human race, there is a need for harmony between these two elements.

[1] According to transcriptions found on clay tablets written about mid-nineteenth to eighteenth century BCE, in the region of Mesopotamia where Abraham lived, it was not uncommon, particularly in Nuzi practice, for wives who were barren to give their maidservants to their husband in order to produce heirs.

[2] Unfortunately, the role of the Ishmaelites in human trade perpetuated from this instance right up to the 19th century.