Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
God hears. (1.) Abraham’s eldest son, by Hagar the concubine (Gen. 16:15; 17:23). He was born at Mamre, when Abraham was eighty-six years of age, eleven years after his arrival in Canaan (16:3; 21:5). At the age of thirteen he was circumcised (17:25). He grew up a true child of the desert, wild and wayward. On the occasion of the weaning of Isaac his rude and wayward spirit broke out in expressions of insult and mockery (21:9, 10); and Sarah,
discovering this, said to Abraham, “Expel this slave and her son.” Influenced by a divine admonition, Abraham dismissed Hagar and her son with no more than a skin of water and some bread. The narrative describing this act is one of the most beautiful and touching incidents of patriarchal life (Gen. 21:14-16). (See HAGAR.) Ishmael settled in the land of Paran, a region lying between Canaan and the mountains of Sinai; and “God was with him,
and he became a great archer” (Gen. 21:9-21). He became a great desert chief, but of his history little is recorded. He was about ninety years of age when his father Abraham died, in connection with whose burial he once more for a moment reappears. On this occasion the two brothers met after being long separated. “Isaac with his hundreds of household slaves, Ishmael with his troops of wild retainers and half-savage allies, in all the state of
a Bedouin prince, gathered before the cave of Machpelah, in the midst of the men of Heth, to pay the last duties to the ‘father of the faithful,’ would make a notable subject for an artist” (Gen. 25:9). Of the after events of his life but little is known. He died at the age of one hundred and thirty-seven years, but where and when are unknown (25:17). He had twelve sons, who became the founders of so many Arab tribes or colonies, the
Ishmaelites, who spread over the wide desert spaces of Northern Arabia from the Red Sea to the Euphrates (Gen. 37:25, 27, 28; 39:1), “their hand against every man, and every man’s hand against them.” (2.) The son of Nethaniah, “of the seed royal” (Jer. 40:8, 15). He plotted against Gedaliah, and treacherously put him and others to death. He carried off many captives, “and departed to go over to the Ammonites.”
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
(whom God hears).
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898) & Schaff's Bible Dictionary
ISH'MAEL (whom God hears). 1. The son of Abraham by Hagar. Previous to his birth, when his mother, being ill-treated by Sarah, had fled from the house, the angel of the Lord announced to her that her seed should be innumerable, and that her offspring should be of a belligerent and wild disposition: "He will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man's hand, and every man's hand against him." Gen 16:12. Ishmael was circumcised at the age of
13. Gen 17:25. Subsequently, the jealousy of Sarah was aroused by Ishmael's mocking at Isaac, Gen 21:9, and she demanded that the offender and his mother be sent away from the home. Abraham, granting Sarah's request, sent the bondwoman and her son off, after supplying them with water and bread. Departing, they went off into the wilderness of Beer-sheba. The stock of water became exhausted, and the lad, overcome with fatigue and thirst, sunk down,
apparently to die. God appeared for their deliverance, directed Hagar to a fountain of water, and renewed his promise to make of him a great nation. Ishmael remained in the wilderness and became a hunter. Gen 21:13-20. At length he married an Egyptian woman, and so rapidly did his progeny multiply that in a few years afterward they are spoken of as a trading nation. Gen 37:25. The last we see of the first-born son of Abraham is at the cave of
Machpelah, where he joins with Isaac in interring the remains of his father. Gen 25:9. Ishmael no doubt became a wild man of the desert, the progenitor of the roaming Bedouin tribes of the East, so well known as robbers to this day that travellers through their territory must be well armed and hire a band of robbers to protect them against their fellow-robbers. Ishmael is also the spiritual father of the Mohammedans, who are nothing but bastard
Jews. They apply to themselves the promise of a large posterity given to Ishmael. Gen 21:13, Gen 21:18. A descendant of Saul. 1 Chr 8:38; 1 Chr 9:44. A Judite. 2 Chr 19:11. A Judite, one of the captains who assisted Jehoiada to set Joash on the throne, 2 Chr 23:1. A priest who had a foreign wife. Ezr 10:22. Ishmael, "the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal "of Judah, murdered, at Mizpah, Gedaliah, the governor of Judyea,
appointed by Nebuchadnezzar, who, although warned by Johanan, had unsuspiciously received him. Every circumstance contributed to increase the baseness of the deed — the generous incredulity of Gedaliah, the fact that the murder took place immediately after a feast given by Gedaliah to Ishmael and other prominent Jews who had conspired with him, and the slaughter of all the attendant Jews and also of some Chaldaean soldiers. The secrecy of the
deed was so profound that the town knew nothing of it until the second day, when Ishmael hypocritically received eighty devotees who came bearing offering and incense to the house of the Lord, and murdered all but ten of them, who purchased their lives by promise of money. This carnival of blood being over, Ishmael surprised the town and carried away to the Ammonites the inhabitants, including the daughters of Zedokiah. But Johanan followed him,
met him in battle at "the great waters" — probably the Pool of Gibeon — defeated him, rescued the prisoners, and compelled Ishmael to flee to the Ammonites. See Jer 41; 2 Kgs 25:23, 2 Kgs 25:25. See also Gedaliah. The motives of Ishmael were partly corrupt, since he had been tampered with by Baalis, king of the Ammonites, and partly mistaken patriotism, bitter hatred, and craven fear of the Chaldaeans.
Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869)
God that hears