Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.””
(Genesis 17:20-21)

Abraham was God’s friend. And for the sake of that friendship, because God promised that Abraham’s seed would be fruitful, God would bless Ishmael. Ishmael would become a great nation. But the covenant would NOT flow through Ishmael. It was not because of covenant that Ishmael was blessed. It was because of the grace of God.

Ishmael is the father of all Arab nations. Although they did NOT have a covenant with God, they do practise circumcision, linking their ancestry with Abraham.

This blessing was news to Abraham, but it had already been told to Hagar (Genesis 16:9-12). Abraham shows no evidence of having a poor memory, so it can be supposed that Hagar kept the details of her encounter with God quiet. This statement to Abraham was an expansion of the previous one, revealing details that Hagar didn’t know.

Since the birth of the child would be at this time of year a year later, God visitation to Abraham and Sarah (as well as the advent of Sodom and Gomorrah) must have been three months after this announcement.

The Torah: A Women’s Commentary writes: ‘19–22. The repetition of Sarah’s unique role in both of these verses leaves no doubt that she is necessary for the covenant and its blessings.’

The sage Radak writes: ‘ולישמעאל שמעתיך, to bless him, to make him fruitful so that he will multiply and to grant him international prominence.
שנים עשר נשיאים, “will be descended from Ishmael, just as from Yitzchok. In fact I have already ברכתי אותו, blessed him by means of the angel who appeared to Hagar, and I took personally, will bless Ishmael. But this covenant which I have entered into with you I will maintain with Yitzchok. למועד הזה “at this time.” (anniversary). We do not know precisely on what date G’d had granted Avraham this prophetic vision. בשנה האחרת. G’d informs Avraham that a year will elapse between the time he received this message and its realization. It is as if the Torah had written that Sarah would give birth at this time in the following year. He did not tell him when she would become pregnant, nor the length of time of her pregnancy. Our sages in Rosh Hashanah 10 assume that the birth occurred on Passover (the date on which Passover would occur in the future) seeing that Sarah became pregnant on Rosh Hashanah.’

The sage Rabbeinu Bahya writes: ‘ולישמעאל שמעתיך, “and concerning Ishmael, I have heard (your prayer).” G-d meant that He would bless Ishmael because Avraham had offered a prayer on his behalf but not on account of G-d’s covenant with Avraham which included only Yitzchak. שנים עשר נשיאים יוליד, “he will sire twelve princes.” Ishmael had twelve sons and they have been listed by their names at the end of Parshat Chayei Sarah. We read there: בכור ישמעאל נבוית, וקדר, ואדבאל, ומבשם, ומשמע, ודומה, ומשא, חדר, ותימה, יטור, נפיש, וקדמה. This gives you a total of 12. As to the reason the Torah speaks of twelve princes and not of twelve nations, this is to inform us that their distinction lay in their being so extraordinarily fruitful and numerous, far more so than other nations. The word נשיא then reflects their numerical “superiority.” This is precisely what G-d predicted when He said: “Here I have blessed him and made him fruitful and greatly increased his numbers very much indeed. “ The expression נשיאים also implies that these people will disappear from the world after having attained great stature The word is related to Proverbs 25,14 נשיאים ורוח וגשם אין, ”Clouds, wind and rain are as naught.” Solomon uses this term to describe people or phenomena who achieve a brief moment of glory which soon disintegrates into nothingness. Job 7,9 speaks of כלה ענן וילך, “a cloud fades away and disappears.” You will note that the word נשיאם when used to describe the leaders of the Ishmaelites lacks the customary letterי in the plural ending (25,16). This shows that the kingdom of the Ishmaelites, while beginning with great fanfare, will gradually fade away into weakness. This is the deeper meaning of what the angel said to Hagar when he described the child she carried in her womb as והוא יהיה פרא אדם. “He will be an undisciplined person.” This meant that he will be like a wild person who initially vanquishes everybody. However, the angel added the words יד כל בו, eventually, “everybody will be against him.”’