(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)
“After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son. Isaac lived by Beer Lahai Roi.
Now this is the history of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham. These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to the order of their birth: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments: twelve princes, according to their nations. These are the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred thirty-seven years. He gave up his spirit and died, and was gathered to his people. They lived from Havilah to Shur that is before Egypt, as you go toward Assyria. He lived opposite all his relatives.”
(Genesis 25:11-18)
There is a difference between Isaac and Ishmael. Ishmael is prolific. Had a big family. Clans were descended from him, princes in the land. Isaac wasn’t prolific. Didn’t have many children. But Isaac was blessed of the Lord. He lived and did not live in strife. Ishmael lived, and both he and his offspring were in contention with everyone around them. They lived in strife, not in blessing.
Isaac had been blessed by Abraham, given an inheritance, and done well. But here GOD blesses him and from this point his life changes.
Names meant a lot in the ancient world. Ishmael named his children fruitfulness, dusky of skin, disciplined of God, fragrant, hearing, silence, burden, fierce, desert, encircled, refreshed, and precedence or eastward.
Ishmael lived to be a hundred and thirty (Isaac lived to be a hundred and eighty).
Ishmael and his kindred lived apart from Isaac. They lived in the direction of Assyria, from the edge of Egyptian territory to Shur in the East. And in all of that territory, they were at odds with all those around them. They even were in conflict with each other. Ishmael’s house was not a house of peace.
The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘V. 11. Up till then the blessing which Isaac enjoyed was only a part of the blessing granted to Abraham. Now God blesses him on his own account. V. 13. This repetition of ואלה שמות and then once again נשמתם etc. is striking. From V. 16 we see that those who are named here were נשיאים, princes. According to that, these names were known as the names of the tribes of the Ishmaelites, and what it says here is, that these well-known names of the Beduin tribes were originally the names of the sons of Ishmael. V. 16. בחצריהם ובטירתם. We have already remarked on the tenacity with which the two characters of the father and mother have clung to the descendants of Ishmael (see on Ch. 16,14 I.L.). In their spirit and intelligence they are sons of Abraham, in morals and the urge for freedom, sons of Hagar, they do not submit to the constraint of towns nor to the power of absolute rulers. They lived in חצרים in contrast to walled towns. חצר, related to עזר; the חצר of the Tabernacle became the עזרה (the assistant, auxilliary room I.L.) of the Temple. חצר seems to mean an accessory place, that surround of the residence which is at the disposition of its inhabitants for their homely requirements and work. The more that people were wedged in cities, the more they were cut off from Nature, the greater becomes the contrast between town and country (see above at Cain Ch. 6,17). חצרות, where everybody has the piece of land which he requires around his house. He has everything he needs, in his tent and in the surrounding subsidiary grounds, he is self-contained and independent. Later on, the style of building homes around חצרים — open spaces for auxillary uses — was introduced to the cities in the orient, where, then, as a rule, several houses were built to a common טיר — .חצר a strong form of דיר the sheep-pen, hence, enclosed by strong walls and bulwarks. V. 18. וישכנו, a lower degree than וישבו, designates a rather temporary settling down, more corresponding to the normal life of the Ishmaelities. — על פני כל אחיו וגו׳ see Ch. 16,12. נפל, to alight somewhere where one does not belong, whither, through the ordinary course of events, one would not have reckoned to come. Thus, of the נפילים, as if they had dropped from the skies. So here from groups of people, who live wherever it happens to please them “as if they had dropped there”.’
The Torah: A Women’s Commentary writes: ‘borne by Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s slave. Ishmael’s line is credited to his mother, whose identity is fully recalled. The sons of Ishmael are nomadic tribal peoples who dwelt on the southwest and southeast fringes of the land of Israel.’
The sage Steinsaltz writes: ‘It was after the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son; and Isaac lived beside Be’er Lahai Roi in the Negev, where he was engaged primarily in shepherding sheep. The Torah will later relate that he also worked in agriculture (26:12). Following the completion of the story of Abraham’s life, the Torah deals briefly with his secondary offspring, thereby rounding out the picture with regard to his children. These are the descendants of Ishmael son of Abraham, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maidservant, bore to Abraham. These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names. The sons of Ishmael typically did not construct permanent settlements. Rather, they dwelled in their enclosures, which were considered semi-permanent living places, and in their fortifications, structures that were capable of shielding them when necessary. The sum total of the sons of Ishmael was twelve princes of their nations. Each one of them was the prince of a small nation. They, the sons of Ishmael, dwelled from Havila, until Shur that is adjacent to Egypt, all the way to Ashur: He resided [nafal] adjacent to all his brethren. Alternatively: His portion was ultimately adjacent to his brethren . The term nafal here possibly means conquest, so that the tribes of Ishmael ruled over their brethren, the children of Ketura.’
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