Enter Isaac, Exit Ismael

The father of the Arab peoples is Ishmael.

To Muslims, Ishmael is considered the father because Abraham is their father in faith through the line of Ishmael.

Important Vocabulary

1. bedouin- a nomadic Arab
2. Islam- the religion of the Muslims
3. monotheistic- worshiping one God

Shall we RETROGRESS?

Sooooooo, Isaac is like, born and Sarah was all, "Hagar, you are soooo not cool. Get outta here!" OMG, now Hagar is jus' wandering the dry streets with this new wild kid and they are super thirsty. THANK GOD some dude in white robes decides to come out with a pack of Gatorade and now Hagar and her kid AREN'T supah thirsty.

Okay, enough of that. I just thought that'd be entertaining to read. :)

Alrighty! In the bible, the writers didn't want to boast about the heroes. Instead, they wrote about how the actual heroes of any of the stories WEREN'T perfect. Somehow, God has made them a light to the world, so ultimately it was to encourage us imperfect people to become a little more perfect.

Reading for this section: Genesis 21- 1- 21

Isaac Is Born

¹ Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had ^[a]promised. ² So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. ³ Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. ⁴ Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵ Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh ^[b]with me.” ⁷ And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

⁸ The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah Turns against Hagar

⁹ Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^[c]mocking. ¹⁰ Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son ^[d]Isaac.” ¹¹ The matter ^[e]distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “^[f]Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac ^[g]your descendants shall be named. ¹³ And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your ^[h]descendant.” ¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a ^[i]skin of water and gavethem to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was used up, she ^[j]left the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me ^[k]see the boy die.” And she sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷ God heard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. ¹⁸ Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by ^[l]the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the ^[m]skin with water and gave the lad a drink.

²⁰ God was with the lad, and he grew; and he ^[n]lived in the wilderness and became an archer. ²¹ He ^[o]lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

***

Before this Hagar and Ishmael didn't have anything to drink. This just comes to show that God loves us and will care for us no matter how distant or imperfect we are...