Person · Bible dictionary
Ishmael
The first son of Abraham, born to Hagar — the son not of the promise but of human attempt to fulfill God's word ahead of time.
Sarah, despairing of children, gave her servant Hagar to Abraham, and Ishmael was born. Yet the covenant promises passed not through him but through Isaac.
God promised that Ishmael too would father a great nation — and the Arab peoples trace ancestry to him.
Galatians uses the two sons as a contrast: the child of the slave woman and the child of the free, the flesh and the promise.
Original BibleDawn entry. Drafted with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy.