“He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility towards all his brothers.”
~ Genesis 16:12
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you ever become impatient? Do you think that becoming impatient is good? Abram and Sarai became impatient with God. Abram was eight-five years old. Sarai was as old as Abram. Abram and Sarai did not have any kids. Abram and Sarai wanted to have a kid. God promised Abram and Sarai that He would have them have a kid of their own. Genesis 16 is about what Abram and Sarai did in order to have a kid of their own and what happened when they became impatient when . . . it may have been about ten years earlier that God promised Abram and Sarai that He would have them have a kid of their own. When God did not fulfill the promise that He had made to them as quickly as they thought that He was going to do it, Abram and Sarai did something that over 4080 years ago fit their country’s societal mores or norms – which was for Sarai to have her Egyptian maidservant have a kid with her husband. Instead of waiting for God to do – in His time, what He had promised them that He would to do for them, Abram and Sarai decided that because they really wanted to have a kid that . . . Hagar – who was Sarai’s Egyptian maidservant, became pregnant. Sarai thought that she would be able to start her family with the kid that Hagar had with Abram but . . . when Hagar became pregnant, Hagar became condescending and disdainful of Sarai while Sarai became really jealous of and mean to Hagar. When Hagar could no longer take Sarai being really nasty to her – with Sarai having her husband’s permission to act like she was towards her, Hagar headed for a desert area that is located between Kadesh and Bered. While Hagar was in this desert area, an angel of the Lord or a messenger who was sent by God met up with her at a spring or well where she had stopped at in the desert. Hagar had to have felt awfully miserable by this time – being quite pregnant, after having been egregiously mistreated by her mistress and having no place to live. The angel of the Lord or the messenger who was sent by God told Hagar that she was to go back to Abram and Sarai and that she was to submit to them. The angel of the Lord or the messenger who was sent by God also told Hagar that the kid who was going to be born to her would be a boy. The angel of the Lord or the messenger who was sent by God told Hagar that she was to name her kid Ishmael. Ishmael’s name would always be a reminder to Hagar that God had heard and seen her misery. The angel of the Lord or the messenger who was sent by God told Hagar in verse 12 what her kid would grow up to be like. “He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility towards all his brothers.””
Ishmael would have a half-bro born to his dad. Ishmael’s half-bro was Isaac. Isaac and his wife Rebecca had twin boys. Jacob – the youngest twin, would become the dad of twelve boys and the patriarch of thirteen different tribal clans that would be made up of eleven of his boys and two of his grandsons. Jacob’s extended family would become known as the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids. Ishmael would become the dad of twelve boys and the patriarch of twelve different tribal clans – made up of his boys, who would become centuries later followers of Muhammad. Followers of Muhammad are called Muslims. Islam is what the Muslim’s belief paradigm is called. Your grandpaa thinks that it is possible that the Islam belief paradigm emerged at about the same time that God told Abram that he was going to be the father of . . . Abram’s uncle Nahor had twelve sons. Your grandpaa thinks that it is plausible that the belief paradigm that Muhammad elaborated on emerged from Nahor’s extended family because of Abraham being mentioned in the Koran. The family of Ishmael and his Egyptian wife became princes and progenitors. The twelve tribal clans that were made up of Ishmael’s twelve sons became nomadic Bedouins who wandered around and set up camps in the desert in what is now northern Arabia. Just as Abram is the grandpa of the Israelite nation of guys, gals and kids, Abram is also the grandpa of the Ishmaelite nation of guys, gals and kids. The Israelite nation of guys, gals and kids became God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids. The Ishmaelite nation of guys, gals and kids is the antithesis or the direct opposite of God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kid. The Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids – throughout history, have allowed the Ishmaelite people group’s guys, gals or kids – who are the Arabians, to live with them in the land that God told his specially chosen guys and gals that they would always have to live in as their very own land if . . . at the same time – throughout history, the Ishmaelite people group’s guys, gals and kids have not been as friendly towards God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids.
When Abram and Sarai became impatient with God – because God did not do what He said that He was going to do as fast as they thought that He should do it, God taught Abram and Sarai – and every guy, gal and kids who has lived, is living and will live on planet Earth, a lesson. Because of Abram and Sarai’s impatience towards God, there has been almost from day one an animosity from Ishmael’s extended family towards Jacob’s extended family. Even though the fighting today in the land that God told His specially chosen guys and gals that they would always have to live in as their very own land if . . . is mostly with the Palestinians – who also really loathe God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids, it still is the Ishmaelite people group’s guys and gals – Muhammad’s Muslim followers who are living everywhere on planet Earth who really want Jacob’s extended family – the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids, completely eradicated from planet Earth. It is very easy to become impatient – wanting things to always go your way in your timeframe but . . . patience is something that is very important for you to learn to have.
Genesis 16 (455)