Genesis 16-25: Ishmael was NOT antithetical to Israel
While reading through Genesis and studying Abraham, it was very apparent that Ishmael needed to be studied as well. After taking a closer look, the truths within the story of Ishmael are very profound and answer a lot of questions about him while correcting the misconceptions many of us have. Understanding Ishmael helps to reinforce and develop our understanding of God and the story of salvation.
Conception/Birth of Ishmael
Ishmael’s conception was steeped in sin.
God promised an heir to Abram yet Sarai was barren. After about 11 years from the date of the promise, Sarai suggested that the heir for Abram and Sarai was to be born from Sarai’s Egyptian maidservant, Hagar. Sarai said ‘“it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai’ and conceived a son with Hagar. (Genesis 16:2). After conception, Hagar “looked with contempt on her mistress.” (Genesis 16:4). Sarai saw this disrespect and told Abram he was at fault for this. Abram told her to ‘“do to her as you please.” Sarai dealt harshly with her, and [Hagar] fled from her.’ (Genesis 16:6).
There are a lot of questions to answer by unpacking the story of the conception of Ishmael. The first question we will discuss is, why exactly did Sarai suggest Abram have marital relations with Hagar and then become angry with Hagar? After all, this was all Sarai’s idea.
Historical evidence suggests that in the ancient world, a man’s lawful wife had maternal rights over a child born of a surrogate mother.1 Sarai leaned on their culture to assume she and Abram would receive an heir born from a surrogate, her maidservant. This was appropriate for the culture they lived in, but this was still a disordered idea. The culture was absent of the revelation of God, but this does not suffice as an excuse for Abram and Sarai in particular.
Sarai suggests to Abram that he do this with Hagar, and “Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.” This is an ominous recalling of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when Adam committed the first sin after he “listened to the voice of [his] wife” (Genesis 3:17).2 It is not inherently evil for a man to follow the advice of his wife, however this is a very strong connection between Adam and Abram. They both committed a great sin by listening to the voice of their wife, though, again, it is not inherently bad to heed the suggestion of one’s wife. The point is, the parallels between Adam and Abram show the gravity of the sin.
We can this was a sin from Abram because he knew better. In the preceding chapter, Genesis 15, Abram complains to God “thou hast given me no offspring; and a slave born in my house will be my heir.” (Genesis 15:3). God then responds, “This man shall not be your heir; your own son shall be your heir” (Genesis 15:4). This shows Abram’s fidelity to Sarai because he assumed he would remain childless because Sarai was barren. Abram did not even think about having a child from a surrogate. After Abram referred to the child of a slave, God assured him this heir would be his own son, as in a son from Abram and Sarai, not from anyone else. If Abram was to conceive with a surrogate, God would have alluded to that since Abram already referred to the child of a slave.
We can see in Genesis 16 that both Sarai and Abram were aware the child was to come from them because Sarai thought perhaps a child would be born to her from Hagar. So. Sarai understood the child had to come from the loins of Abram and be lawfully her own child. Thus Sarai also recognized the heir would be a child of Abram and Sarai.
Both Abram and Sarai sinned in this act. Sarai tried to take matters into her own hands by suggesting a surrogate mother and Abram accepted this idea while they both knew it was not in accordance with God’s will. Neither of them pled with the Lord and instead they approached this with a disordered idea that violated everything they knew. They took matters into their own hands.
Now that we understand the workings of Sarai’s suggestion to Abram, we can answer, why did Sarai become angry with Hagar after Abram and Hagar followed Sarai’s advice? This goes back to the disorder. Abram and Sarai made a decision to take action in a disordered way, it is only natural for this to lead to more disorder.
After conceiving Ishmael, Hagar began to look at Sarai with contempt (see Gen 16:4). It is natural for a pregnant mother to become attached to the child in her womb. Hagar knew Sarai was planning to take her child as her own. Although Hagar’s response was only natural, it was disordered because she was not being obedient to Sarai, her mistress, rather, she treated her mistress with contempt. This was the result from a disordered plan. Hagar was in the wrong for acting towards her mistress in this way, which is why Sarai felt wronged. Sarai saw this disordered response from Hagar and said to Abram:
‘“May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my maid to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.’ (Genesis 16:5-6)
Due to the disrespect from Hagar, Sarai became intolerant of her. Abram authorized Sarai to “do with her as [she] sees fit” (Genesis 16:6). Sarai then mistreated Hagar so severely that Hagar fled. The mistreatment must have been very severe to drive a pregnant slave woman to choose to leave than to stay in the security of Sarai. Hagar must have worried for her life otherwise she would not have taken on so great of a risk. Hagar saw a better chance for life by wandering the desert than to stay with her mistress.
This was a very sinful act by Sarai and serves to show sin is not isolated to the sinners or the act. Sarai and Abram coordinated this sin of adultery with both of them full well knowing that this was not how things were supposed to be done. This sin then perpetuated as shown by Hagar’s disrespect of Sarai after the conception of Ishmael as well as Sarai’s ill treatment in response after Abram gave her permission to mistreat the mother carrying his child. Everyone had forsaken their God-given responsibilities to each other. Hagar was to be obedient and respectful to Sarai, her superior. Sarai was to be respectful and loving towards her subordinate. And Abram was to be a father, in the image and likeness of God, and take care of those under his care and to take this role seriously. All of them failed due to the sin that originally set off this story.
Hagar runs off
After Hagar flees from Abram and Sarai, “The angel of the Lord then found Hagar by a spring of water…on the way to Shur”, in the direction of Egypt, her homeland (Genesis 16:7).3Hagar conversed with the angel. The angel of the Lord told her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her.” ‘The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ishmael; because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”’ (Genesis 16:10-12). Hagar then said “Thou art a God of seeing”; for she said, “Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?”(Genesis 16:13). Hagar returned and gave birth to a son. Abram gave him the name of Ishmael.
Who is this angel of the Lord? There are various beliefs. We are accustomed to hearing the word “angel” and picturing a beautiful human with great white feathery wings, however that is not always the case. The word “angel” means “messenger”, so this was a messenger of the Lord. We can work to identify this messenger by reading more on the interaction. The angel of the Lord says “I will so greatly multiply your descendants.” This angel, this messenger, spoke in the first person stating that he will do something. It is often believed that this angel is not a created angel because created beings cannot act in such a way. Because of this, many people believe this messenger is actually Jesus Christ pre-incarnate. A created angel cannot act in this manner, but the Son of God would most definitely make a statement of what He will do for someone.4
We can see that Hagar understood this to be God incarnate because she said “Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?” (Genesis 16:13). She recognized upon seeing Him that this angel, this messenger, was God Himself.
This passage also shows that God incarnate asked Hagar questions. This was not due to His own ignorance, since He is omniscient, instead He asked questions for Hagar’s sake so she could see the truth of what she spoke and that which He addressed. When Hagar said she was fleeing from Sarai, she knew internally it was because she was disobedient due to the disorder. God responds by instructing her to “Return to your mistress, and submit to her.” (Genesis 16:9). He gave her the instruction to return to Sarai while amending her life by submitting to her and not acting in contempt towards her.
Hagar returns to Sarai
After returning to Sarai, Hagar gives birth to Ishmael. Ishmael’s brother Isaac is conceived when Ishmael is about thirteen years old. Later on, when Ishmael is about seventeen years old, Sarah saw Ishmael playing with her son Isaac who was about three years old at the time. After witnessing this, Sarah tells Abraham to “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” (Genesis 21:10). Abraham was displeased about this but God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the lad and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your descendants be named. And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” (Genesis 21:12-13). The next morning, Abraham gave bread and a skin of water to Hagar and Ishmael, then sent them away. They end up parched after running out of water but God saves Hagar and Ishmael.
This seems like a harsh reaction from Sarah. Offhand it seems that she saw them playing and decided she didn’t want Ishmael to be an heir of Abraham’s and so, from God’s command, Abraham sent them into certain death.
The first aspect we need to work on comprehending is why Sarah chose to send Hagar and Ishmael away. In this passage, the Hebrew word used for “playing” translates to “laughing” but in the negative sense, such as “laughing at,” meaning Ishmael and Isaac were not playing together, instead, Ishmael was laughing at, or taunting or mocking Isaac, a three-year-old child.5 This understanding of the text is also shown by Saint Paul when he wrote “he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit” (Galatians 4:29). The one born of the flesh is Ishmael and the one born according to the Spirit is Isaac. Paul shows that the understanding was this interaction was of persecution towards Isaac, not about play. Seeing a seventeen-year-old young man taunt a three-year-old child would be very upsetting indeed. Sarah saw Ishmael mocking/persecuting Isaac and wanted him and Hagar cast out.
The second aspect is that God would provide for Ishmael and make Ishmael a great nation. There was no need for Abraham to worry because Ishmael would be protected by God. To better understand this, we must unpack the promises made to Ishmael.
The promises with Ishmael
Before Hagar returns to Sarai, the Lord made her a promise;
“I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ishmael; because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” (Genesis 16:10-12)
For many people, this is read as an antithesis to Israel and a punishment for Abram and Sarai’s actions with Hagar, however we can gain some more insight into this by referring to the covenant with Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 17. God said:
“As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear” (Genesis 17:20-21)
God promised to deliver similar promises to Ishmael, however the covenant will be established with Isaac. This promise is repeated again in Genesis 21 after Hagar and Ishmael are sent away from Abraham and Sarah.
“I will make him a great nation.” (Genesis 21:18)
These promises are fulfilled in Genesis 25 when Ishmael’s genealogy records the twelve sons of Ishmael. The prophecy in Genesis 16:12 is fulfilled when the nation of Ishmael “settled over against all his people” (genesis 25:18).
As I mentioned earlier, a first read of the story of Ishmael may make it seem as though Ishmael is the antithesis of Israel and a punishment for Abram’s actions. We read that Ishmael will also be blessed with twelve sons who will form a great nation (Genesis 17:20 and 21:18) who will be so great in number that would not be able to be counted (Genesis 16:10) and they will be opposed to his kinsmen, who are Isaac and his descendants (Genesis 16:12 and Genesis 25:18).
We also read later on that the Ishmaelites are the ones who sold Joseph, one of Israel’s sons, to the Egyptians (Genesis 39:1). This in particular holds some irony. Sarai is described to have “dealt harshly” with Hagar when Ishmael was conceived. The original word used for “dealt harshly” also translates to “oppressed” as shown in Genesis 15:13. The irony is that Sarai “oppressed” Hagar, the mother of Ismael, and then the Ishmaelites sold Joseph into slavery, an action that ultimately led to the Israelites becoming “oppressed” as slaves to Egypt.
We can also refer to Jewish tradition which holds that Ishmael is the father of the Arabs.6 Islam is believed to have come from the Arabs, who attribute themselves as sons of Abraham through Ishmael which are those who surrounded the Jews and gave birth to Islam.7
Looking at all this, it seems as though God used Ishmael as a punishment and antithesis to Israel for Abram’s actions, however we must look more closely at everything to understand what is actually going on. We have to differentiate between God’s promises, prophecy, and actions from human will.
God made promises when He said that He will greatly multiply Ishmael’s descendants, bless him and make him fruitful, and a great nation. We can see these are God’s promises because God says “I will” indicating God is telling of something He Himself will do.
God spoke prophecies when he said Ishmael shall be “a wild ass of a man” who shall be the father of twelve princes with every man against him while he “dwells against all his kinsmen.” This was a foretelling of the future come and not God causing this future to happen. When the Ishmaelites sold Joseph to Egypt, it was not God using the Ishmaelites to punish the Israelites, rather it was the free will of the Ishmaelites that fulfilled the prophecy they were to be against their kinsmen.
We see this type of free will in the origins of Islam. God did not promise a prophet through Ishmael, meaning, there is nothing here indicating that God caused for Mohammed to found Islam as a means of punishing Israel. Rather, a false prophet arose from Ishmael’s descendants leading to Islam, showing the truth in the prophecy that Ishmael would dwell against all his kinsmen with the hand of every man against him.8 It is a prophecy rather than God causing Islam to come from Ishmael as some form of punishment for Israel.
The ”great nation” of Ishmael is often understood as in terms of the multitude of descendants, who are believed to live in the Middle East and North Africa9 However, there are also many other people intermingled in the Arabian Peninsula meaning not all the Arabs trace back to Ishmael. We see descendants of Joktan (Gen 10:26-29) who is a descendant from Shem as well as other sons of Abraham through his second wife Keturah (Gen 25:1-4) as well as the sons of Esau (Gen 36:1-19), with all of these various peoples settling in the Arabian area10
Who are the people of the Great Nation of Ishmael?
But we can also see a deeper meaning behind the great nation of Ishmael. Abraham was promised a great nation with descendants more numerous than the stars and the sand (Genesis 12:2 and 15:5). Abraham was also told that God would make him the “father of a multitude of nations” (Genesis 17:4) and that in him “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”(Genesis 12:3). Within the second covenant with Abraham, God promised Abraham that “kings shall come from [Sarah]” (Genesis 17:16). These promises came to fulfillment through Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Abraham was to become the father of all his descendants, numbering more than the stars and the stand, because his descendants are “not only adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”) (See Romans 4:16-17). That faith is shared when we follow God by faith in Jesus Christ just as Abraham followed God by faith in God’s promises.
Abraham became the father of many nations after many people of many nations converted as followers of Christ to share the faith of Abraham. Ishmael was given this opportunity to be a great nation under Abraham, who was to be “the father of a multitude of nations.” Abraham became the father of nations, specifically the nations of Ishmael and Israel. Abraham was the father of Ishmael and the grandfather of Israel, both of whom were made into great nations. Ishmael and Israel did not become fathers of nations, instead they themselves became great nations. Regarding Ishmael, God told Abraham “I will make a nation of [him].” (Genesis 17:13). God also told Hagar “I will make him a great nation” (Genesis 17:18).
Ishmael as the son of Abraham became a great nation, which was fathered by Abraham, the father of a multitude of nations. This came to fulfillment in Jesus Christ with the great nations fathered by Abraham becoming great nations through Jesus Christ when the people became followers of Christ, fulfilling the promises to Abraham.11
Lastly, Abraham was promised kings. The Davidic kingship born from the line of Judah, grandson of Abraham, found its eternal fulfillment in Jesus Christ. In the same passage of the promises of kings, God told Abraham, “[Ishmael] shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation” (Genesis 17:20). The proper hierarchy is for princes to be subordinate to their king. Ishmael was to become a great nation, a nation with twelve princes as their head, subordinate to the King of kings, Jesus Christ.
The great nation of Ishmael was promised by God and it was fulfilled. The promises in the covenant with Isaac were not limited to Isaac but were fulfilled through Isaac and his descendants. Those promises were fulfilled with everyone who would number the stars and the dust of the seas, everyone in the world who follows Christ.
When was this fulfilled?
In the modern world, it is difficult to believe that Ishmael was to become a great nation through Jesus Christ because the Arabian people are Muslim. Well, Islam did not exist until the seven century AD.12 This means there was a time after Christ before Islam existed in the Arabian region. Christianity did spread throughout the Arabian people. The United Arab Emirates is home to a historical Christian monastery on Sir Bani Yas Island, built around 600AD. Another Christian monastery and church were discovered at Marawah in southern UAE, dated to the seven century AD. One of the oldest churches in Saudi Arabia dates back to the fourth century AD in a town near Jubail.13 The list could go on, but the conclusion remains the same; the Arab people have strong Christian roots. This is not to say Christianity was the primary religion among the Arab people before Islam, but it was a well-established religion among many of the Arab people. These people were the fulfillment of the prophecy that Ishmael would become a great nation, a nation which came about in and through Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
As everything shows, Ishmael was not a punishment for Abraham and Sarah, nor was he the antithesis of Israel. Instead, Ishmael was a continuation of the promises extended to Abraham. Ishmael was to become a Great Nation fathered by Abraham through Jesus Christ. Clearly, that is not the modern-day people of Ishmael, however that is due to people being people and straying from God for false prophets. Just as Ishmael was destined for great things, so are we, by the same means, in and through Jesus Christ.
References
12024. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press., pg 78
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 2008. The Orthodox Study Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, pg 21
52024. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press., pg 84
62024. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press., pg 90
7 Answers, Catholic. n.d. “The Origins of Islam.” Catholic Answers. Accessed December 5, 2025. https://www.catholic.com/qa/the-origins-of-islam
8Ibid.
9 Nash, Tom. n.d. “The Great Nation of Ishmael.” Catholic Answers. Accessed December 5, 2025. https://www.catholic.com/qa/the-great-nation-of-ishmael.
10 Ibid.
11 2008. The Orthodox Study Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, pg 27
12 Answers, Catholic. n.d. “The Origins of Islam.” Catholic Answers. Accessed December 5, 2025. https://www.catholic.com/qa/the-origins-of-islam
13 Gavlak, Dale. 2019. “Arabian Peninsula has ancient Christian heritage.” The Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh. February 1. Accessed December 8, 2025. https://archpitt.org/arabian-peninsula-has-ancient-christian-heritage/
Leave a Reply