A question about Islam if I may
By agnescav
@agnescav (566)
United States
July 17, 2007 9:58am CST
As I understand it, Ishmael was laughing at Isaac at his circumcision whe Sarah had her hissyfit and got Hagar and Ishmael thrown out of Abraham's camp. It seems Ishamel was thirteen years old at the time.
Why did Hagar need to run from here to there to get her child water.
Had be been sitting around doing nothing, just waiting to inherit? Was he lazy? Was he incompetent?
Was there something wrong with him?
It seems to me he should have been working to help her, not the other way around!
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4 responses
@StarofDavid (74)
• United States
17 Jul 07
It was not the circumcision- Isaac was circumcized on the 8th day according to the Abrahamic Covenant. Gen.21:8 says that when he was weaned- which would have been about 3 years old. Abraham threw a party for him and it was at this party that Ishmael (13 years old) was envious because he knew he was not going to get the inheritance and the double blessing. He began to "mock" him and antagonize him. In fact in the NT Paul says that he actually
"persecuted" Isaac (Gal.4:29).
Sarah's demand to put them out was in line with what God wanted. "In Isaac shall thy seed be called", so to have Ishmael in the home would be a constant friction and even dangerous.
The text, I think simply indicates that they were both weary from the heat and at a point of maybe passing out. I do not come up with anyone being lazy or incompetent in this passage.
In desperation, Ishmael is the one who cries out to God and God hears him and answers his prayer. Yet God speaks to Hagar , which indicates that the boy would had been unable to help himself. She was in better stead to help him.
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@agnescav (566)
• United States
18 Jul 07
I have read the Genesis part again and again. Ishmael was fourteen when Isaac was born. If three years passed, he was seventeen when this happened. I don't get how Hagar threw him under a bush but I've decided that he was dehydrated from letting his mother drink all the water in the water skin and that is why he passed out.
@182680 (59)
• Netherlands
17 Jul 07
It was not Ishmael who was laughing, it was Hagar who was laughing in a bad way to Sarah. Thats when Sarah asked Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. Abraham did not liked it but God said that it was ok to do it. Sarah did not wanted that Ishmael will get the inherit of Abraham. You can find this passage in the bible Genesis 21. It was ok to send Ishmael away because God said he will survive and form a nation of his own. Isaac was the son who God has promised to Abraham and with him Israel will be formed (first Jacob and then the nation Israel). So my conclusion is that Ishmael did nothing wrong he liked his younger brother. About the last thing I am not sure, I saw it in a movie about Abraham but I can not find it in the bible.
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@Lindalinda (4111)
• Canada
17 Jul 07
Please indicate the source of your information. I always thought that Sarah was envious of Hagar, even though she had given her to her husband. I thought she expelled Hagar to the desert when Ishmael was a baby and that is why she was running up and down that hill to get water. Am I mistaken?
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@agnescav (566)
• United States
17 Jul 07
Genesis 17 Abraham was 99 years when he became circumsized, which was demanded as a covenant because Sarah was pregnant at 90 years old. (This is also when they changed their names). And Ishmael his son was thirteen and they were circumsized on the same day.
@revdauphinee (5703)
• United States
17 Jul 07
just like his decendants who dont want to work for the betterment of mankind but prefer to go along with thier agenda of hate !
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