by Kenneth F. Sheets
Ishmael, a man who lived from 2080-1943 BC, was a “saved” man. Considering the fact that he was the only son of Abraham for fourteen years, no question can exist that Abraham imparted his own confidence in the absolute firmness of Ehyeh/Yihyeh, the God Who Exists, to Ishmael during the years before the birth of Isaac. Abraham would later demonstrate his “believing,” “causing firmness to,” Yihyeh by preparing to offer Isaac just as Yihyeh, the LORD, had instructed him (Genesis 15:6), and this “causing firmness” to “the LORD” was just another step in that Godly man’s “believing” of the Creator.
Thus, Abraham recognized that, as the father of Ishmael, he was the man whom God intended to be the primary teacher of his children, and he committed himself to establishing in Ishmael the truths of the true God and an understanding that “believing,” “causing firmness to,” God was the only way in which a man could be righteous in the Creator’s sight. Though Ishmael would commit many violations of God’s design in the years of his life, he would never have escaped the fact that he, and his father, had known the only true God who exists. Certainly, as indicated by the timeline of their lives, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Esau maintained close contact with Ishmael and his descendants, as indicated by the record of `Eber in Genesis 25:12-17, and it is likely that Ishmael’s proper belief in God was passed to his descendants, but, as is typical of humans, his later descendants appear to have perverted and humanized the belief which had come down from Abraham.
Thus, Ishmael was a man who truly “caused firmness to,” “believed,” God, and, since “believing” God has always been the criterion for being reconciled to God, Ishmael was such a man, and, when he “was gathered to the peoples of him,” he was joining that group of individuals, a group comprised of many different “peoples,” whose lives had been distinguished by their confidence in the Creator and His design, that design which was the design of the Father and the Son and the Spirit . . . the one true God.
Another important point is that the language of Ishmael was the language of Abraham . . . and that language was the language which God had originally built in to Adam and Eve. Thus, it was “Adamite,” but later became called “Hebrew” (`eberite) during the long, 464-year, life of `Eber. Thus, the entirety of Ishmael’s understanding of God was rooted in the accurate representations of the Creator as He had moved His holy men to write His record, the record of God, in the Adamite/Hebrew language, and, at the time of Ishmael’s life, about one-half of Genesis had been recorded and was available to him . . . only about 500 years after the Flood and about 350 years after the Babel rebellion. It is likely that his mother, Hagar, had her own Hebrew language copy of God’s record when she was forced by Abraham to leave . . . just as modern day “believers” carry with them their copies of the Scriptures when they move to a new location.