And there is more that might lead one to think Ishmael was saved.
It was a difficult situation Ishmael found himself in. He was the eldest son, beloved of his father, yet it was clear the younger – the child of the promise, Isaac – was to inherit according to the rights of the firstborn. So he was resentful and mocking, and this caused Sarah to have great antagonism to the slave and her son, and moved her to expel them from the camp – all this in the providence of God. And Ishmael was maybe 15 or 16 at this time. Did this mean his character was through and through ungodly? He
was Abraham’s sole and beloved son for 13 or 14 years, and no doubt he introduced him to his God, and the ways of his God. That he was not the child of promise, from whom the Seed of blessing would come – but born of his parents’ fleshly (faithless) desires – does not mean he did not know the God of his father. It but means he was not the child through whom the covenant promises would be fulfilled. His birth was of the flesh and not of the promise.
But remember, the LORD had had intimate and tender dealings with Hagar in the wilderness (Genesis 16). The phrase in verse 12, concerning her son to be born, “And he will be a wild man…” is often rendered “a wild ass of a man”. We here in this culture think little of asses (we use it as a name of derision), but in the nomadic culture a wild ass was a noble animal, untamed and independent, unconquered.
We see the LORD dealing graciously with Hagar again in Genesis 21, where she is once again in dire straits in the wilderness. Again He is tender with her, and says He has heard the voice of her son. In verse 20, when the Scripture says, “And God was with the lad…”, does not this indicate a care He had for Ishmael, the son of Abraham, brought up in the instruction and nurture of the godly father?
We Americans and British have an anti-Arabic (not referring to Muslims now) attitude, primarily due to our love of Biblical Israel, and the deep familiarity with have with things Jewish from our Old Testaments. If the Arabs, since the Diaspora, have sometimes persecuted the Jews, we see them as the enemies of ancient Israel. Truth be told, the Jews usually fared better under the Arab regimes than under the “Christian”!
For those interested in pursuing this line of thought I would recommend Dr. Tony Maalouf’s book,
. Mine is the first review of the book, written under the nom de plume, Steve Levyn (Levyn my grandmother’s name).