Call me Ishmael

(1) Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. (2) And Sarai said to Abram, “Look, ה' has kept me from bearing. Consort with my maid; perhaps I shall have a child through her.” And Abram heeded Sarai’s request. (3) So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian—after Abram had dwelt in the land of Canaan ten years—and gave her to her husband Abram as concubine. (4) He cohabited with Hagar and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was lowered in her esteem. (5) And Sarai said to Abram, “The wrong done me is your fault! I myself put my maid in your bosom; now that she sees that she is pregnant, I am lowered in her esteem. ה' decide between you and me!” (6) Abram said to Sarai, “Your maid is in your hands. Deal with her as you think right.” Then Sarai treated her harshly, and she ran away from her. (7) A messenger of ה' found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur, (8) and said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” (9) And the messenger of ה' said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit to her harsh treatment.” (10) And the messenger of ה' said to her,
“I will greatly increase your offspring,
And they shall be too many to count.” (11) The messenger of ה' said to her further,
“Behold, you are pregnant
And shall bear a son;
You shall call him Ishmael,
For ה' has paid heed to your suffering.
(12) He shall be a wild ass of a person;
His hand against everyone,
And everyone’s hand against him;
He shall dwell alongside of all his kin.” (13) And she called ה' who spoke to her, “You Are El-roi,” by which she meant, “Have I not gone on seeing after my being seen!” (14) Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it is between Kadesh and Bered.— (15) Hagar bore a son to Abram, and Abram gave the son that Hagar bore him the name Ishmael. (16) Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

(15) And God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah. (16) I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she shall give rise to nations; rulers of peoples shall issue from her.” (17) Abraham threw himself on his face and laughed, as he said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man a hundred years old, or can Sarah bear a child at ninety?” (18) And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live by Your favor!” (19) God said, “Nevertheless, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will maintain My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring to come. (20) As for Ishmael, I have heeded you. I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and exceedingly numerous. He shall be the father of twelve chieftains, and I will make of him a great nation. (21) But My covenant I will maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.” (22) Done speaking with him, God was gone from Abraham.

‘LU’ (O) THAT ISHMAEL MIGHT LIVE BEFORE THEE. its meaning is that he live and his seed will always exist.

(10) She said to Abraham, “Cast out that slave-woman and her son, for the son of that slave shall not share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” (11) The matter distressed Abraham greatly, for it concerned a son of his.

Rabban Gamaliel said: Abraham sent and called for Shem, the son of Noah, and he circumcised the flesh of the foreskin of our father Abraham, and the flesh of the foreskin of Ishmael his son, as it is said, "In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son" (Gen. 17:26).

Four were given names before they were born, and they are Isaac, Ismael, Josiah, and Solomon. Isaac, (Gen. 17:19) “You shall call his name Isaac”. Ismael as it is written (Gen. 16:11): “You shall call his name Ismael”. Josiah, (1Kings 13:2): “Behold, a son will be born to the dynasty of David; his name will be Josiah”. Solomon, (1Chr. 22:9) “Solomon will be his name”. All this for the just. But the wicked (Ps. 58:4) “The wicked are perverted from the womb.”

(1) Shout, O barren one,
You who bore no child!
Shout aloud for joy,
You who did not travail!
For the children of the wife forlorn
Shall outnumber those of the espoused
—said the LORD. (2) Enlarge the site of your tent,
Extend the size of your dwelling,^-a
Do not stint!
Lengthen the ropes, and drive the pegs firm. (3) For you shall spread out to the right and the left;
Your offspring shall dispossess nations
And shall people the desolate towns.
(4) Fear not, you shall not be shamed;
Do not cringe, you shall not be disgraced.
For you shall forget
The reproach of your youth,
And remember no more
The shame of your widowhood. (5) For He who made you will espouse you—
His name is “LORD of Hosts.”
The Holy One of Israel will redeem you—
He is called “God of all the Earth.”
(6) The LORD has called you back
As a wife forlorn and forsaken.
Can one cast off the wife of his youth?
—said your God. (7) For a little while I forsook you,
But with vast love I will bring you back. (8) In slight anger, for a moment,
I hid My face from you;
But with kindness everlasting
I will take you back in love
—said the LORD your Redeemer. (9) For this to Me is like the waters of Noah:
As I swore that the waters of Noah
Nevermore would flood the earth,
So I swear that I will not
Be angry with you or rebuke you. (10) For the mountains may move
And the hills be shaken,
But my loyalty shall never move from you,
Nor My covenant of friendship be shaken
—said the LORD, who takes you back in love.
(11) Unhappy, storm-tossed one, uncomforted!
I will lay carbuncles as your building stones
And make your foundations of sapphires. (12) I will make your battlements of rubies,
Your gates of precious stones,
The whole encircling wall of gems. (13) And all your children shall be disciples of the LORD,
And great shall be the happiness of your children; (14) You shall be established through righteousness.
You shall be safe from oppression,
And shall have no fear;
From ruin, and it shall not come near you. (15) Surely no harm can be done
Without My consent:
Whoever would harm you
Shall fall because of you. (16) It is I who created the smith
To fan the charcoal fire
And produce the tools for his work;
So it is I who create
The instruments of havoc. (17) No weapon formed against you
Shall succeed,
And every tongue that contends with you at law
You shall defeat.
Such is the lot of the servants of the LORD,
Such their triumph through Me
—declares the LORD.

Rabbi Jehudah said: In that night the Holy One, blessed be He, was revealed unto him. He said to him: Abraham ! Dost thou not know that Sarah was appointed to thee for a wife from her mother's womb? She is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant; Sarah is not called thy handmaid, but thy wife; neither is Hagar called thy wife, but thy handmaid; and all that Sarah has spoken she has uttered truthfully. Let it not be grievous in thine eyes, as it is said, "And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight" (Gen. 21:12).

Abraham rose up early, and wrote a bill of divorce, and gave it to Hagar, and he sent her and her son away from himself, and from Isaac his son, from this world and from the world to come, as it is said, "And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water" (Gen. 21:14). He sent her away || with a bill of divorcement, and he took the veil, and he bound it around her waist, so that it should drag behind her to disclose (the fact) that she was a bondwoman. Not only this, but also because Abraham desired to see Ishmael, his son, and to see the way whereon they went.

"And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father, so Esau went unto Ishmael and took Mahalath" (Gen. 28:9). R. Yoshua b. Levi said: "He [Esau] made up his mind to become converted verted [possibly to reform]. She is called Mahalath because the Holy One, blessed be He forgave (mahal) him his transgressions. [She is also called] Basemath-[the name she is called in Gen. 36:3] [meaning] that his character grew better [nitbasah, to grow better, improve]." prove]." [This is a play on her name basmat.] R. Eleazar said to him: "Had he divorced his first wives, you would have spoken well, however ever Scripture says, `Unto the wives he had,' that is, adding grief to grief [derived from a play on her name, Mahalath; mahalah means sickness], adding to a house already full." R. Yudan quoted in R. Aibu's name: "'In the transgression of the lips is a snare to the evil man, but the righteous comes out of trouble' (Prov. 12:13). Through the revolt of Esau and Ishmael against the Holy One blessed be He, there came a stumbling-block to them. `But the righteous come out of trouble' refers

to Jacob, as Scripture says, `And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba"' sheba"' (Gen. 28:10).

Translation from: Carol Bakhos. Ishmael on the Border: Rabbinic Portrayals of the First Arab (SUNY series in Judaica: Hermeneutics, Mysticism, and Religion) (Kindle Locations 846-847). Kindle Edition

Rabbi Ishmael said: In the future the children of Ishmael will do fifteen things in the land (of Israel) in the latter days, and they are: They will measure the land with ropes; they will change a cemetery into a resting-place for sheep (and) a dunghill; they will measure with them and from them upon the tops of the mountains; falsehood will multiply and truth will be hidden; the statutes will be removed far from Israel; sins will be multiplied in Israel; worm-crimson will be in the wool, and he will cover with insects paper and pen; he will hew down the rock of the kingdom, and they will rebuild the desolated cities and sweep the ways; and they will plant gardens and parks, and fence in the broken walls of the Temple; and they will build a building in the Holy Place; and two brothers will arise over them, princes at the end; and in their days the Branch, the Son of David, will arise, as it is said, || "And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed" (Dan. 2:44).

cf also R. Ishmael b. Elisha and R. Ishmael b. R. Yosse