Ishmael was Abraham’s first son, born to Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian servant. The boy was born near Hebron when Abraham was eighty-six years old (Genesis 13:18; 16:16). God promised to make a great nation from the childless Abraham (Genesis 12:2). God assured him he would have a son as his heir (15:4). Ishmael was born when Abraham tried to fulfill God’s promise by human means (see Genesis 16:1–16; Galatians 4:23). But God would still achieve his purposes through Sarah (see Genesis 17:15–18:15; 21:1–7).
God said Sarah would have a son to fulfill the promise (Genesis 17:15–16). Abraham asked God to accept Ishmael (17:17–18). Ishmael was not the promised son because God's special agreement (covenant) would be with Isaac (Genesis 17:19). Still, God blessed Ishmael and made him the father of a great nation (Genesis 17:20–21).
When Ishmael was thirteen, he was circumcised as part of God's covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17:9–14, 23–27). At Isaac's weaning celebration, when Ishmael was about seventeen, he mocked Isaac (Genesis 21:9). As a result, Abraham sent Ishmael and Hagar away with supplies. An angel of God helped Hagar survive in the wilderness, and Ishmael became a hunter. He settled in the wilderness of Paran and married an Egyptian woman (Genesis 21:20–21). Ishmael helped bury Abraham (Genesis 25:9–10). He gave his daughter Mahalath in marriage to Esau (28:9). Abraham died at age 137 (25:17). His twelve sons are listed in Genesis 25:13–15.
Paul mentioned Ishmael to encourage the Galatians to trust in God instead of the law (see Galatians 4:21–31). Those who rely on the law will not inherit the kingdom, just as the slave woman's son did not inherit with the free woman's son (Galatians 4:30).
Passages for Further Study
Genesis 16:11–16; Genesis 17:18–26; 21:8–21; 25:9–18; 28:9; Galatians 4:21–31