To explain the origin and use of one group of divine antagonists against Israel, we must go back to a critical point in God’s Word. In order for God to keep His word to make from Abraham a great nation, He had to give him at least one son. Years went by. Abraham’s wife Sarah was barren, but Abraham had failed to consider the fact that the source of the promise had not changed. If he had the source of the promise, God, the fulfillment of the promise would remain secure.
The bareness of his wife, coupled with their old age, created much anxiety in both Abraham and Sarah. The fulfillment of the promise seemed hopeless, so out of their reach. Out of frustration, Sarah sought to help God out. Do we not do that sometimes? Rather than depending on God’s faithfulness, Sarah encouraged Abraham to father a son by her Egyptian slave, Hagar.
We need to keep in mind where Hagar came from. Abraham and Sarah had experienced a serious famine while living in the land of Canaan. It was a great time for this couple to realize that their God was in charge of the weather. He sends the rain, and He withholds the rain. All of creation is in His sovereign hand. It was imperative that they learn in times of testing to trust God to meet their needs. This was God’s perfect will.
But Abraham stepped out of that will for him. He took Sarah on a trip down into Egypt, where he knew there would be plenty of food. Rather than trust God to do what he could not do, he took it on himself to meet his family’s needs.
While in Egypt, Pharaoh took Sarah into his harem. God stepped in to protect His chosen family. He disciplined Pharaoh in a way that let the king know that he had overstepped his bounds. He must not touch that woman. Pharaoh realized that Abraham was God’s man. He made Abraham leave, but he showered him with gifts.
One of these gifts was the handmaid named Hagar. Abraham received this gift when he was out of fellowship with the living God. He left Egypt, but he brought a little Egypt back with him. This gift was not going to be good.
Fast-forward a few years and resume Sarah’s dilemma. She just did not realize that to be patient and wait for God’s timing was the right thing to do. God’s timing is always perfect, and when we wait upon the Lord, that time is never lost. Sarah felt that maybe God would tweak His plan somehow and give Abraham the promised son through this slave girl.
Abraham wrongly listened to the voice of his wife and fathered a son with Hagar, whom he named Ishmael. The righteous God of the Bible does not condone adultery, and that is exactly what this was. Adultery is wrong, no matter what the government or politicians say. God says it is wrong. No matter how we attempt to rationalize it or spin it, it is still wrong. Sarah told Abraham, in this case, that it was right (Genesis 12:10).
God, in His perfect time, supernaturally gave Abraham and Sarah a son who was conceived from their own bodies: Isaac. Though a serious act of adultery had been committed, there are no accidents with God. He is never caught off-guard. He had a purpose for this event, even though it was brought about in a sinful way.
As the boys grew, it became apparent that they were different. There was a built-in aggression from Ishmael toward Isaac. We are introduced to this antagonism by the true matriarch, Sarah: “And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing” (Genesis 21:9).
This was no ordinary horseplay between two brothers who loved each other. It was hazing with a divine purpose. There was a built-in antagonism from Ishmael toward Isaac. Ishmael and his mother realized that they were not a highly regarded part of Abraham’s family. Ishmael evidently took vengeance upon Isaac at every private opportunity.
Sarah insisted that Abraham cast out the bondwoman and her son. Why? “For the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son” (Genesis 21:10). What a cruel thing to say. Abraham was understandably upset. He loved Ishmael as any father would love a son from his own flesh. God stepped into the picture and told Abraham to listen to his wife. What reason did God give? He said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That was all the explanation that God deemed necessary.
Paul picked up on this same scene in his short letter to the Galatians:
But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what does the Scripture say? ‘Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. (Galatians 4:29–30)
Paul recognized that this ongoing antagonism was continuing between Isaac (the Jews) and Ishmael (the Arabs). During Paul’s day, the Ishmaelite Arabs were greatly increasing in number, but during the process, the same persecution exhibited by Ishmael toward his younger brother was continuing in the conflict between the Arabs and the Jews.
This persecution has increased through the centuries. One day, it will peak and be used by God in an amazing way to help motivate the Jews to cry out for their Messiah to return. And He will return.
God said that Ishmael would be a “wild donkey of a man.” Literally, the Hebrew reads “a wild ass of a man,” who would be a constant source of conflict with everyone that he would meet:
He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. (Genesis 16:12)
The Hebrew word for “wild donkey” is the word pere. It is from this word pere that the English word pariah comes. Ishmael could be volatile and undisciplined. The Arab descendants from Ishmael have demonstrated that this prophecy is now being fulfilled.
Job 24:5–10 says that a wild donkey has to eat, but he does not work for his food. He steals it, and then he destroys those who produce food. Then everyone starves to death.
Jeremiah said that a wild donkey sniffs the wind in her passion. This means that wild donkeys do not recognize marriage boundaries or social relationships. The Arabs made up the early raiders who robbed and pillaged the caravans in the ancient world. The Arabs are also famous for their inability to sustain long-term relationships (Jeremiah 2:24).
A wild donkey roams the desert, recognizing no authority, and is totally undisciplined. The wild donkey is a law unto himself. Ishmael would have a large number of children and grandchildren. All of them would be as wild and arrogant as he was. Ishmael’s descendants would make their own laws and would not be controlled by anyone. They would never have true friends or be a true friend. They would tend to put down and belittle any authority. They would be filled with inordinate competition and would be unrestrained, unregulated, and undisciplined.
Ishmaelite Arabs feel that they are in competition with everyone. This competitive spirit is fueled by jealousy. Arabs understands the West’s principles, but we do not understand their pretense. Every person and nation will respond to Arab aggression with aggression against them. The sons of Ishmael will bring out the worst in everyone they meet and, most importantly to our point, the Jews.