The Everlasting Hatred (12 page)

Much more will be said on this subject later in the book.

4. “And he will live in hostility toward all of his brothers, [and he will dwell to the east of them.]”
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This part of the prophecy concerning Ishmael and his descendents is particularly important. Many English translations simply translate this clause as, “and he will dwell to east of all his brothers.” But the Hebrew words and grammatical construction are much more complex than that translation would imply.

Hebrew scholars Keil and Delitzsch observe that the expression often translated as, “He will dwell before the face of all his brethren” (from the Hebrew
, transliterated as [“before the face of”], and which denotes in this context it is true, to the east of … , but the geographical notice of the dwelling-place of the Ishmaelites hardly exhausts the force of the expression,
which also indicated that Ishmael would maintain an independent standing before
(in the presence of) all the descendants of Abraham
. History has confirmed this promise. The Ishmaelites have continued to this day in free and undiminished possession of the extensive peninsula between the Euphrates, the Straits of Suez, and the Red Sea, from which they have overspread both Northern Africa and Southern Asia.”
⁶⁵

According to Hebrew scholars, the expression
“in the face of
” can also mean, “to
stand in defiant hostility toward
.” The New International Version, I believe, correctly expresses the sense of this phrase by translating it, “and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” The New Revised Standard Version is an improvement as well: “and he shall live at odds with all his kin.” However, I believe that the NIV translation better catches the intended sense, a rendering confirmed by history to be the truest expression of the intended meaning.

The seeds of enmity are expressed in embryonic form on the occasion of Isaac's weaning. Abraham and Sarah threw a great feast to celebrate Isaac's weaning. By this time, Ishmael was at least sixteen years old and accustomed to having most of his father's attention. So when Isaac was born and so much attention was showered upon him, a great deal of resentment and jealousy must have sprung up in both Ishmael and his mother. All the ingredients for an envy-driven hatred were there.

During the celebration, the Bible reports, “Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing [at her son Isaac].”
⁶⁶

The Hebrew term translated “scoffing” is from the root word “to laugh” (
, transliterated as [give transliteration], means “to mock”). But in the participial form in this context it means, “making fun of, ridiculing, discounting someone's worth.”

To understand the full implications of this situation, we have
to put it up against the background of the promise God gave to Abraham when He announced Isaac's birth. This is what God had promised Abraham:

Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh,
that Ishmael might live before You
!” Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.”
⁶⁷

This God-given revelation must have certainly been made known to Abraham's entire household, including Hagar and Ishmael. And its divine authenticity was confirmed with the miraculous conception and birth of Isaac to the elderly parents.

So when Ishmael scoffed at and made fun of Isaac, he did so with the knowledge that according to divine revelation, Isaac was the chosen one. And that this was not merely a human choice based on carnal favoritism. This is why in the eyes of God Ishmael was not just mocking Isaac, but he was rejecting and ridiculing His sovereign choice. The German scholar Hengstenberg expressed the following insight, “Unbelief, envy, pride of carnal superiority, were the causes of Ishmael's conduct.”
⁶⁸

This is surely the stuff of which Ishmael's “enmity” was born. Remember,
enmity
is hatred that has been nourished over a long period of time. It was just beginning to take root here. An “everlasting hatred” is the very essence of the meaning of “enmity.”

The Bible makes it clear that despite the birth of Isaac, there was no lack of love for Ishmael on the part of Abraham or God. Abraham even petitioned the Lord that Ishmael could be part of the divine choice, when he said, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”

And as a result, God made it clear that Ishmael would be given a great inheritance because he was also Abraham's son. God promised, “And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.”
⁶⁹
In point of fact, the Ishmaelites were given more land and ultimately more wealth than the Israelites. This was true in their past history, not to mention the vast oil wealth of modern times. And spiritual salvation has always been open to the Ishmaelites.

But God's covenant, which concerned God's spiritual purposes to provide salvation for all mankind, was only for Isaac and his descendants. The physical blessings promised to Isaac were to facilitate God's spiritual call for the nation that would descend from him.

What happened as a result of Ishmael's actions might seem too severe unless it is seen in the light of the divine perspective. When Sarah saw how Ishmael scoffed at her son, she said to Abraham (I'm sure without altogether spiritual motives), “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
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This really grieved Abraham. But in this case, God saw the spiritual necessity of separating the two. Perhaps if Ishmael had not yielded to the fleshly passions of envy and jealousy, he and his
mother could have stayed on with the family. But this episode showed that he was not looking at this from the standpoint of God's sovereign purpose and choice. He was only focusing on the situation from his carnal human emotions that said, “What God gave me is not enough—I want it all.” And as we will see, the Ishmaelites are still saying, “What God gave us is not enough, we want it all.” And in our day, this feeling is being driven by centuries of cultivated enmity.

This is certainly a common human failure. How often I have seen even Christian ministers become ungrateful for the spiritual gifts and blessings God has given them when they become jealous of the gifts God gave others. That's always a very costly yielding to the old sin nature. The Scriptures say, “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing [spiritual gifts] to each one individually as He wills.”
⁷¹

So the greatly grieved Abraham gave Hagar her freedom with provisions for her and Ishmael and sent them away. I am sure it took real faith on Abraham's part to trust that God would take care of them—because he did love Ishmael very much.

When the provisions and water ran out, which I am sure was designed to be God's test of their faith, Hagar and Ishmael despaired. Remember the meaning of Ishmael's name is “God hears.” Ishmael cried out to God, and the LORD graciously heard his cry:

God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
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Hagar and Ishmael were given great privileges. This makes twice that the LORD appeared to Hagar, spoke with her, and rescued her. And this was also a gracious revelation to Ishmael. If these two did not receive God's redemption, it could never be said they had no light. How many today could truly say that God appeared and spoke with them?

The LORD never abandoned Ishmael. The Bible records, “God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.”
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Ishmael is not mentioned again until the death of his father Abraham. Then Isaac and Ishmael came together and buried their father. Apparently they then went their separate ways and did not see each other again.

Ishmael had twelve sons, each of whom became a great prince, and he founded twelve nations. However, the second son, Kedar, became the most powerful and wealthy. Remember that name, for his descendants figure prominently in Arab history.

God blessed Ishmael and caused him to live 137 years. This is God's obituary for him:

Altogether, Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the border of Egypt, as you go toward Asshur.
And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.
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(emphasis added)

Amazing! Exactly the same thing is said about Ishmael's descendants as was said of Ishmael himself. It is exactly the same Hebrew clause, except instead of “he,” it is “they” who continued
to live in “hostility toward all their brothers” and “dwelt to the east of them.” And of course the brothers, against whom this hostility is aimed, are the descendants of Isaac, who lived to the west.

How that hostility became a permanent enmity is the focus of the rest of this book. Read on, for this ancient family feud is going to directly affect our lives. You will see how the prophecies of the Bible are much more relevant to our era than any mere human news

“Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac; but to the
sons of his concubines
, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and sent them away from his son Isaac
eastward, to the land of the east
.”

— G
ENESIS
25:5
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“So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, ‘The days of mourning for my father are at hand;
then I will kill my brother Jacob
.'”

— G
ENESIS
27:41
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NEVER IN HISTORY
has there been a family feud that sustained such enmity over so long a period of time. And no other ethnic violence has affected so many nations for so many centuries. The enmity of Ishmael and Esau toward Isaac and Jacob truly is supernatural. And the worst is yet to come. Indeed, as I have said so many times, the Bible predicts that the last war of the world will be triggered by a conflict over the issue of which descendents of these ancient families owns Jerusalem.

This is why it is so important to trace these peoples through history to the present day. And it is of ultimate importance to understand the root cause of the enmity toward Israel.

I believe this is the biggest single factor that is not understood
by today's Western political leaders, academics, and media. And it is the reason all of their attempts to solve the Middle East conflict are destined to fail.