by Hal Lindsey
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.
WHY GOD SEPARATED ISHMAEL AND ISAAC
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.”70
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.
“GOD HEARS” ISHMAEL
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.72
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.”73
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’S LEGACY
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.74 (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
[ FIVE ]
“CURSED” BE THE TIE THAT BINDS
“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.”
— GENESIS 25:575
“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.’”
— GENESIS 27:4176
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.
To my knowledge, no one has done an extensive study on the history of Abraham’s greater family outside of the chosen line of Isaac and Jacob. So follow this section closely. It will throw some very important light on today’s Middle East problems.
THE CURSE OF ABRAHAM’S NEPHEW
When God called Abraham, He told him very specifically, “Get out of your country, from your kindred, and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.”77 Now the record shows that Abraham (then called Abram) only partially obeyed the LORD’s command. For when he left Ur of the Chaldeans, his father, Terah, was in charge and went with him as far as Haran, which was only part of the way to Canaan. It appears that the LORD did not allow Abraham to even enter Canaan until after his father died in Haran.78 God wanted Abraham to be in charge of his own household. Ancient tradition always established the eldest father as the chief of the family.
After Abraham’s father died, we read in the Biblical record:
“So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.”79 (emphasis added)
Even though Abraham was now in charge of the family, he still did not fully obey the Lord’s command, for he took Lot, his nephew, with him. And Lot became the proverbial “Albatross” around Abraham’s neck.
Later, when Abraham and Lot tried to live together, a range war developed between their two groups of “cowboys” and shepherds. They both had too many cattle and sheep to be sustained in the same region.
LOT’S CARNAL CHOICE
So Abraham, the senior, graciously allowed Lot first choice as to where in the land he would like to settle. Lot’s choice was purely of the flesh. He chose the lush plain of the Jordan River. Here is the Bible’s description:
And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.80
There are many interesting facts revealed here. The area that is now the Dead Sea was like the Garden of Eden before God’s overwhelming judgment upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The tremendous explosion that hit these two cities must have hit like a giant karate chop. This area is now a rift valley. The area in the center, where Sodom and Gomorrah were, is like a moveable stage that is between two parallel fault lines. The main fault, to which the rift valley is connected, extends from Mount Hermon in the north southward to Lake Tanganyika in Africa. The Dead Sea, which is the center of the Rift Valley, is 1,260 feet below sea level.
Standing atop Masada, I have seen some of the ruins of Sodom under the southern tip of the Dead Sea. Anyone who doubts God’s attitude toward “Sodomy” only needs to look at this geographical reminder.
Lot Moves Away From Fellowship With God
Whereas Genesis 13 records that Lot first pitched his tent toward Sodom, it is later revealed that he moved into the city of Sodom and settled there in a house. From then on his troubles multiplied. We can’t immerse ourselves in the things of this world and sustain fellowship with the Lord. It was apparently the influence of his wife that drove him from tents into the luxury of the city. But they paid a terrible price, as revealed in Genesis chapter 19. The people of the city were consumed with every form of sexual perversion mixed with extreme violence.
When God revealed to Abraham that He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham interceded for the wicked cities in order to save Lot and his family. God granted Abraham’s desire, but not his petition. That is, He delivered Lot and his family, but destroyed the wicked cities.
God’s Grace Never Fails
In 2 Peter, Lot is held up as an example of God’s unfailing grace even to the carnal, out of fellowship believer:
And [God] turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.81
Lot was out of fellowship and his conduct was not righteous, but his spirit was still born again and he had the righteousness of faith that comes with receiving God’s pardon for sin. Though God disciplined Lot, He never disowned him. And God delivered him because of Abraham’s intercession for him.
Lot’s Curse: Moab and Ammon
Now it was after this destruction and the death of Lot’s wife when she turned back and yearned in her heart for the fleshly comforts of Sodom, that Lot became the father of two of Israel’s greatest enemies.
Lot’s two daughters feared that, since they were the only female survivors of the entire region of Sodom and Gomorrah, they would never have a husband and children. Children were like having social security for your old age in those days.
So each girl in turn made their father drunk and had sex with him. The result of this incest was the birth of two sons, Moab and Ammon. We will see that their descendants became the constant enemies of Israel and that the Bible predicts that their descendants will be part of a Muslim alliance in the war that ends this present world order—Armageddon.
ABRAHAM’S OTHER SONS
A little-considered part of Abraham’s life is what happened to him after the death of Sarah, his wife. When she died, Abraham was 137 years old. After Abraham provided Rebekah as a wife for Isaac to make sure the covenant line was settled, he married another wife. He was about 139 years old by this time.
We all marvel, and rightly so, that God enabled Abraham, against nature, to have Isaac at the age of one hundred years. But here we find just how far back God turned Abraham’s biological clock and restored his youth. Here is the amazing and important record:
Abraham again took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. And the sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.82
Abraham had six more sons and ten grandsons before his death at the age of 175 years.
I believe these are the people to whom the prophet Jeremiah refers in a prophetic warning to the nations that mistreated Israel. He refers to them as a part of the Arabian people, “all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed multitude who dwell in the desert…”83
The “mixed multitude” is no doubt descended from Abraham’s other sons, who apparently mingled with the Ishmaelites in the vast Arabian Peninsula. This is supported by what the Bible says in Genesis 25. The Bible notes that, before Abraham died, he gave all he had to Isaac. Then it specifically points out that “Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had; and while he was still living he sent them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the country of the east.”84
Note that it says “concubines,” in the plural. Abraham only had only two concubines—Ishmael’s Egyptian mother Hagar and Keturah. This would indicate that he called them all together and gave gifts to Ishmael and the six sons he had with Keturah. And then he sent them (which in context would have to mean both Ishmael and his other six sons) “eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the country of the east.” As noted before, the country to the east is the land we know as the Arabian Peninsula.
THE PERPETUAL FAMILY TIE
I am sure the reason Abraham sent these family members to the east was to protect Isaac and his family. There was resentment and jealousy among all of Abraham’s other sons and relatives toward Isaac. They saw only Abraham’s favoritism toward Isaac, not God’s sovereign choice and purpose.
This is the common factor that runs through all of Israel’s relatives. It is this enmity that developed from envy and jealousy that binds all of these family members together.
ESAU I HAVE HATED
There are two descendants of Abraham that have been the most persistent enemies of Israel—Ishmael and Esau. As we have seen, Ishmael is the half brother of Isaac, and Esau is the twin brother of Jacob. Much was observed about Esau in chapter three, but there are some other factors that need to be noted here.
Esau and Jacob were fraternal twins. Fraternal twins are not only different in appearance, but they are also usually very different in temperament and personality. This was glaringly so in the case of these two boys.
I have fraternal twin daughters who don’t even look like sisters. Their temperaments and personalities are radically different. They represent two entirely different strains of their family’s genes. But thank God, they are not like these two boys—they have always loved each other.
ESAU, WHO IS CALLED EDOM
As mentioned in an earlier chapter, Esau was nicknamed “Edom” or “Red” for apparently two reasons. First, because from birth his body was covered with red hair. And second, because he called the lentil stew for which he sold his birthright, “that red stuff.”
When Esau discovered that Jacob had tricked his father Isaac into giving him the blessing of the first born, which Esau had traded to Jacob for
“red” lentil stew, Esau wept and begged for the oath to be reversed. But Isaac realized that what he had sworn before the Lord could not be reversed. Instead, as a result God made the following prophecy through Isaac about Esau’s future:
And he [Isaac] said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and has taken away your blessing.” Then he said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has cheated 85 me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” But Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?” And Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and wept. Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, “Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, And away from the dew of heaven from above. And by your sword you shall live, And your brother you shall serve; But it shall come about when you become restless, That you shall break his yoke from your neck.”86
The LORD caused Isaac to unwillingly pronounce a sad prophecy upon Esau’s future. The land where his descendants settled was not fertile—it was primarily the Arabian Peninsula. They first settled east of the Dead Sea in the mountains that extended from its lower tip southward. But eventually, almost all of them migrated and mingled with the Ishmaelites, who are the Arabs.
