As it is commonly known, there were twelve tribes of Israel as outlined in the Bible. These tribes were begotten of Jacob, who was the son of Isaac, who was Abraham’s second son, who was also the child of promise. But what is not as commonly known is that there were also twelve tribes of Ishmael, Abraham’s first son who was birthed by Hagar, who was the handmaid of Abraham’s wife Sarah. Though a rift would come between Sarah and Hagar over Ishmael, the Lord God did indeed bless Ishmael and promised to make him into a great nation. For God spoke unto Hagar and said, “And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.” (Genesis 17:20). Let us turn now and venture farther into these passages concerning Ishmael and his twelve sons, whom were also known as princes according to their nations.
“Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, bare unto Abraham: And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah: These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.” (Genesis 25:12-16). These twelve tribes or nations of Ishmael would go on to populate what we know today as the territories of the Middle East, and these nations of Ishmael are believed to be the Arabs. Additionally, the Bible states that the descendants of Ishmael would be princes, signifying royalty. For a great nation which Ishmael birthed, and to whom God blessed, would need a king or kings to rule over them. Hence the twelve tribes of Ishmael were of a royal stock, making the Arabs a kingly people.
The character of Ishmael as stated in the Bible is that of a fighter and of an unruly personality. For as the angel of the Lord spoke unto Hagar concerning her son said, “…he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” (Genesis 16:12). This description of Ishmael, and his descendants the Arab peoples, may sound derogatory and biased, but further along the children of Israel would be called a stiff necked people by God himself. For it is written: “And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people.” (Exodus 32:9). For even though the children of Israel were the descendants of Isaac the child of promise, they too had their issues and the Lord dealt with them harshly and chastised them. For as the Bible says, God is without partiality and without hypocrisy (James 3:17).
St. Paul, when comparing the law of Moses to the grace which is in Christ Jesus, mentions the two sons of Abraham; Isaac and Ishmael. The Apostle signifies the Mosaic law as representing Ishmael, who was the son of a bondwoman and reveals that Christians are heirs of Isaac, who was the child of promise. Paul then explains that Christians have been set free from the bondage of sin and are not under the law, but are under the grace of God. St. Paul speaks: For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise…Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. (Galatians 4:22,23,30,31).
Again, though Ishmael was born from a bondwoman, the Lord did indeed bestow much mercy towards him. Even before he was born Ishmael received a blessing from God. For after Abraham’s wife Sarah treated Hagar with disdain, she fled from Sarah’s face into the wilderness. It was there that the angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar and said thus, “…I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.” (Genesis 16:10,11). So here we see that even though Ishmael did not receive the covenant that God would establish through his half brother Isaac, Ishmael and his descendants did receive a blessing and a promise from God. Now there was some sibling rivalry between the two brothers Isaac and Ishmael, but these feelings were put aside after their father Abraham died, for both Isaac and Ishmael buried their father Abraham in the cave of Machpelah (Genesis 25:9).
In modern times we continue to witness the twelve princes of Ishmael (the Arabs) and the twelve tribes of Israel (the Jews) fighting in this age old struggle which began nearly 4,000 year ago. From the time when Ishmael mocked his infant brother Isaac after he was weaned, to the Israeli victory over the Arabs during the Six-Day War in 1967, to the victory of the Lebanese over the Jews in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War, tensions are still as intense as ever. However, these conflicts are not solely between Arabs and Jews, for there is much infighting between the various tribes of Ishmael or Arab peoples. Whatever the differences may be between the brothers, they all have one thing in common and that would be the struggle for power and the use of politics to achieve that goal. As the saying goes, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Hostilities build up and then simmer back down, only for tensions to rise once again until another war breaks out. Now after the passage of time and rebuilding, policies are written and the brothers get together in the hopes of deterring another conflict, but the resentment held between each party remains. As it is said in the Middle East, “we forgive, but we don’t forget.”