ISHMAEL’S CLAIM
Sixth of seven in God’s Best devotion series
Genesis 25:13-18
Vv. 13-15, 18: “These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in order of their birth: Nebaioth the first-born of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah….His descendents settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the border of Egypt, as you go toward Assur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.”
This God’s Best devotional series is designed to show you why the Middle East is a hotbed of conflict today. Arab nations surround one Jewish state, Israel (Canaan). God promised Abram in Genesis 12:7: “To your offspring I will give this land.” Where’s their peace? God’s best is only received when we wait on His timing.
Do you remember how God assured Abraham that Ishmael would be the father of 12 rulers, and a great nation in Genesis 17:20? (See But…devotion). God did not lie. Ishmael’s sons lived between Shur and Havilah. Havilah means stretch of sand. The Wilderness of Shur is desert that borders Egypt to the West, the Mediterranean Sea on the North, the Red Sea to the South, and Israel (Canaan) to the East. Assur refers to what became Assyria, (eventually modern-day Iraq).
The darker green represents the Assyrian Empire until 824 B.C. The light green represents the Egyptian Kingdom and the Assyrian Empire before 671 B.C. (B.C. means Before Christ. Jesus’ birth reset our world’s date to 0. After year 0, we use A.D. (Anno Domini which means in the year of our Lord). Unrest throughout the Middle East began thousands of years ago. Ongoing wars changed ownership of lands from one kingdom to another. Ishmael’s descendents’ land overlapped where Isaac and his descendents settled in Canaan.
These lands, except for Canaan (Israel--tiny pink shoreline East of Mediterranean Sea), are Arab nations today:
Genesis 16:11-12 says the angel of the Lord told Hagar: “‘I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.’ The angel of the Lord also said to her: ‘You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall call him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.’” Emphasis mine.
What must Hagar have thought about Ishmael being a “wild donkey of a man?” What could that mean? It could mean that Ishmael would not be dependable. He might be unpredictable (un-pre-DICT-a-bl means erratic, impulsive, hot-tempered, unreliable.
How would your family describe you?
Take Home Nugget
Can you see why Sarah’s short-circuiting God’s promise forced a different path than what God intended for our best? (See I Got It! devotion).
J.D. Griffith
Whatever trouble may assail,
Of this we can be sure:
God’s promises can never fail,
They will always endure.
Hess
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