” And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” – Genesis 16:12 KJV
It is certainly open to dispute, in my opinion, where the temperament of jihadist’s came from and if they are part of the bible’s scripture.
I wanted to know whether the lineage from Abraham’s sons would have anything to do with jihadist groups wanting to kill off all Christians of the earth. It certainly takes time and paying attention to detail. I am overwhelmed with all that I have found rapidly online with the information to at least start my research on this subject.
I come from a background in psychology and so this “temperament” of vicious killing interests me in hopes of finding ways to stop it and to educate society. Forgive my ramblings as I acknowledge what I have found so far which only scratches the tip of the iceberg in my quest. I will never stop learning, so here goes.
In the first book of the bible we find that Hagar was an Egyptian slave and maid to Sarah, Abraham’s wife. Sarah was unable to conceive and so asked that Abraham bear a child through Hagar who would become Sarah’s through the customs of the time. Hagar bore Abraham’s son who was named Ishmael. Later, Sarah was able to conceive and bore a son named Isaac.
The Lord told Sarah that she would bear a son who would, according to the Cambridge Bible, would be,
untameable, strong, free, roaming, suspicious, and untrustworthy animal, living wild in the desert, far from the haunts of men. Source
Many view the scripture of “wild man” (KJV) or “wild donkey of a man” (NIV) as this webpage describes:
He describes Ishmael and his progeny in him as resembling the wild ass. This animal is a fit symbol of the wild, free, untamable Bedouin of the desert. He is to live in contention, and yet to dwell independently, among all his brethren. Source
These people having been always free, and never in bondage, always lived as free booters upon others: Source
Isaac was Sarah’s son by Abraham, after Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.
Ishmael was the son of the flesh, not the child of promise by God. Isaac was the child of promise who received the birthright. However God blessed Ishmael with 12 sons and numerous descendants. Source
and,
Ishmael mocked Isaac the true child of promise. Ishmael was sent to the desert wilderness and set up camp in Paran. Ishamel’s 12 sons became the 12 nomadic tribes (Gen 25:13).
and,
Ishmael mocked the true Son of the Father, Isaac. Isaac was the father of both Jacob (Israel) and Esau (Edom) .
Isaac grew to become Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites, along with Abraham and Jacob. Source
He became a patriarch of the Jewish nation, fathering Jacob and Esau. Jacob’s 12 sons would go on to lead the 12 tribes of Israel. Source
Isaac can be viewed as the Jew who will not need to wander from place to place, but will be able to call one place home. That place is Israel, which makes him a role model for Zionists. But all Jews can appreciate that residing in one place allows one to establish roots and develop a sense of home that is not possible when one moves from place to place as is so common today. Source
It would seem that Isaac had a more stable life than Ishmael who grew up knowing that his half-brother, Isaac, was the favored and natural son of Abraham and Sarah’s. Ishmael had been born of Sarah’s maid Hagar who had initially been thrown out of Sarah’s house with anger toward Ishmael’s mocking her son Isaac. Source and Gen 21:9-13
One perspective of the effect this had on Ishmael growing up was that,
This feeling of being an unworthy outcast matured into a resentment so strong that it permeated Ishmael’s very soul and from that day to this the descendants of Ishmael have stood against the descendants of Isaac. His anger had given the devil a foothold that grew into a stronghold so powerful that it has lasted through all the generations since. All this happened because Abraham and Sarah grew impatient with God and tried to fulfill His promise on their own. Source
Ishmael came into being because he fulfilled the Lord’s possibly teaching that it is wrong to have two wives, which in this situation was Sarah’s idea because she wanted a child. Hagar was, as some believe, the daughter of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who saw the Christians as slaves. Possibly this was a way that the Lord made an example of Hagar’s hard times, from what I know of the Lord. I wonder too if Sarah, who was known first as “Sarai” until God changed her name, was barren for so long because she was Abraham’s half-sister, and God felt it is wrong to marry a half-sibling?
Ishmael was born to Abraham’s and Sarah’s handmaiden Hagar (Genesis 16:3).
The question of what happened to Ishmael may be answered here which states that,
Most of Ishmael’s descendants founded the Arab nations,
and,
the men of Kedar are mentioned in close association with the men of Nebaioth. The founder of Islam, Mohammed, was to trace his own direct descent from Kedar.
and,
The Nabataeans’ final demise was brought about by Augustus Caesar, who cut off the trade routes of Arabia.
According to the Genesis account, he died at the age of 137 (Genesis 25:17). The Book of Genesis and Islamic traditions consider Ishmael to be the ancestor of the Ishmaelites and patriarch of Qaydār. Source
Biblical tradition holds that the Qedarites are named for Qedar, the second son of Ishmael Source
Thus God spared Ishmael as a result of His general promise, but the blessings pronounced on Ishmael are certainly inferior to the covenant blessings pronounced on Isaac (compare Genesis 17:21; 21:12-13). We see that Ishmael was blessed, because he was the son of Abraham, but he was not the one through whom God’s covenant blessings would be passed down. God kept His promise to make Ishmael a great nation of him (21:18), but that is the limit. Source
Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, traces the starting of his lineage back to Ishmael through his first born son, Nabaioth. Source
Since GOD Almighty promised that He was going to make the Arabs a “great nation”, since they are from Ishmael, then this means that the Noble Quran is indeed GOD Almighty’s Law to the Arabs, and to ALL Muslims as well that embraced Islam. The people of Ishmael are clearly the Arabs (through biological descent), and all Muslims through theological descent. No knowledgeable non-Muslim would dispute that. Source
Prophecies about Ishmael came true:
Ishmael grew up, married an Egyptian woman, and begat twelve sons who became princes over their respective tribes (Genesis 25:12ff) — exactly as prophesied (17:20). Source
I found an interesting commentary about who Mohammed was and what he has done here
Mohammed, claiming to be an Apostle and Prophet from God, was gradually able to take these semi-barbarous sons of the desert, whose lawlessness was exceeded only by their daring, and whip them into a fighting force fueled by religious zealotry.
and,
The “Prophet’s” system involved an aggressive “bloody-sword” ideology. No longer content to persuade by words, “the sword” became “the key of heaven and hell,” and whoever died in battle received pardon from all sin and entered into the joys of a sensual Paradise (see McClintock, 6.407).
Many argue that all Muslim’s do not have an agenda to subdue all people’s so that they either become Muslims if they aren’t already, pay the poll tax or be killed. They say that Islam is a “religion of peace”, that we have nothing to be worried about. Looking down through history however, I wonder about this. Even in the face of Muslim extremist activities in which people are senselessly and brutally murdered around the world, how would people be able to ignore the fact that these terrible atrocities are occurring? So they not see the pattern using the books of the trade that the Muslim’s use; the Koran and the Hadith?
So would one say that no social-political-cultural line exists from the day of Ishmael to today? Has no learning, customs and traits be passed down from the “wild man”?
This will not stop, the search for why there are so many warriors that refer to being Muslims who want to kill off the Christians of the world. What can explain such a hateful group of people that all call themselves Muslims? I hope to find out and read more about this special belief in particular, now that I am a Christian.