In the Bible, Ishmael is Abraham’s first son through Hagar; he is eventually sent away from Abraham’s household but is preserved by God in the wilderness and becomes the ancestor of a great nation.

Who Ishmael Is

  • Ishmael is the son of Abraham and Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian servant, born after Sarah suggests Hagar bear a child for Abraham because she is barren.
  • His name means “God hears,” reflecting God’s response to Hagar’s distress during her first flight into the wilderness while pregnant.

Why Ishmael Was Sent Away

  • After Isaac (the child of the covenant) is born to Sarah, tension grows between Sarah and Hagar and between Ishmael and Isaac; Ishmael is seen mocking or mistreating Isaac at a celebration.
  • Sarah demands that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away so that Ishmael will not share in Isaac’s inheritance, and God tells Abraham to listen to Sarah while also promising to make Ishmael into a nation.

In the Wilderness: What Happened Next

  • Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael into the wilderness with bread and water; when the water runs out, Hagar leaves Ishmael under a bush, unable to watch him die.
  • God hears the boy’s cries, sends an angel to reassure Hagar, opens her eyes to a well of water, and renews the promise that Ishmael will become a great nation.

Ishmael’s Later Life

  • Ishmael grows up in the wilderness of Paran, becomes an archer, and Hagar finds him an Egyptian wife.
  • Genesis lists twelve sons of Ishmael—“twelve rulers”—and says he lived to an old age, becoming the forefather of tribes spread from Havilah to Shur, near Egypt.

How Different Traditions View His Story

  • In the Bible, Ishmael is both a figure of human impatience (a son born outside the covenant promise) and a sign of God’s mercy, since God still blesses him and his descendants.
  • Later Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions all remember Ishmael, with Islam especially emphasizing him as an important ancestor linked to Arabia and to the sanctuary near Mecca, even though those details go beyond the Genesis narrative.

TL;DR: Ishmael in the Bible is Abraham’s first son through Hagar; after family conflict he is sent into the wilderness, rescued by God, grows up as an archer in Paran, fathers twelve rulers, and becomes the ancestor of a large desert people, showing that although he is not the child of the covenant like Isaac, he is still seen and blessed by God.

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