The Promised Blessings to Arab Nations. 10 November 2025, 19 Cheshvan 5786.
Some time after reaching the Land of Canaan Abraham was requested by his wife to take her Egyptian handmaiden and beget a child from her. Abraham did so.
Genesis (TCJB) 16:
1 NOW SARAI, ABRAM'S WIFE, HAD NOT BORNE TO HIM, AND SHE HAD AN EGYPTIAN HANDMAID NAMED HAGAR.
2 AND SARAI SAID TO ABRAM, "BEHOLD NOW, THE LORD HAS RESTRAINED ME FROM BEARING; PLEASE COME TO MY HANDMAID; PERHAPS I WILL BE BUILT UP FROM HER." AND ABRAM HEARKENED TO SARAI'S VOICE.
3 SO SARAI, ABRAM'S WIFE, TOOK HAGAR THE EGYPTIAN, HER HANDMAID, AT THE END OF TEN YEARS OF ABRAM'S DWELLING IN THE LAND OF CANAAN, AND SHE GAVE HER TO ABRAM HER HUSBAND FOR A WIFE.
4 AND HE CAME TO HAGAR, AND SHE CONCEIVED, AND SHE SAW THAT SHE WAS PREGNANT, AND HER MISTRESS BECAME UNIMPORTANT IN HER EYES.
5 AND SARAI SAID TO ABRAM, "MAY MY INJUSTICE BE UPON YOU! I GAVE MY HANDMAID INTO YOUR BOSOM, AND SHE SAW THAT SHE HAD BECOME PREGNANT, AND I BECAME UNIMPORTANT IN HER EYES. MAY THE LORD JUDGE BETWEEN ME AND YOU!"
6 AND ABRAM SAID TO SARAI, "HERE IS YOUR HANDMAID IN YOUR HAND; DO TO HER THAT WHICH IS PROPER IN YOUR EYES." AND SARAI AFFLICTED HER, AND SHE FLED FROM BEFORE HER.
According to the Rabbis as explained by Rashi Hagar had a miscarriage after which she fled the house of Abraham. When the angel found her she was already no longer pregnant.
7 AND AN ANGEL OF THE LORD FOUND HER BY A WATER FOUNTAIN IN THE DESERT, BY THE FOUNTAIN ON THE ROAD TO SHUR.
8 AND HE SAID, "HAGAR, SARAI'S SERVANT, WHERE ARE YOU COMING FROM, AND WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO?" AND SHE SAID, "FROM BEFORE SARAI MY MISTRESS, I AM FLEEING."
9 AND THE ANGEL OF THE LORD SAID TO HER, "RETURN TO YOUR MISTRESS, AND ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE AFFLICTED UNDER HER HANDS."
10 AND THE ANGEL OF THE LORD SAID TO HER, "I WILL GREATLY MULTIPLY YOUR SEED, AND IT WILL NOT BE COUNTED FOR ABUNDANCE."
11 AND THE ANGEL OF THE LORD SAID TO HER, "BEHOLD, YOU WILL CONCEIVE AND BEAR A SON, AND YOU SHALL NAME HIM ISHMAEL, FOR THE LORD HAS HEARD YOUR AFFLICTION.
Hagar would conceive again a second time. The child would be named Ishmael.
12 AND HE WILL BE A WILD DONKEY OF A MAN; HIS HAND WILL BE UPON ALL, AND EVERYONE'S HAND UPON HIM, AND BEFORE ALL HIS BROTHERS HE WILL DWELL."
13 AND SHE CALLED THE NAME OF THE LORD, WHO HAD SPOKEN TO HER, "YOU ARE THE GOD OF SEEING," BECAUSE SHE SAID, "HAVE I SEEN [HIM] HERE ALSO AFTER I HAVE SEEN?"
14 THEREFORE THE WELL WAS CALLED BE'ER LACHAI RO'I; BEHOLD IT IS BETWEEN KADESH AND BETWEEN BERED.
15 AND HAGAR BORE A SON TO ABRAM, AND ABRAM NAMED HIS SON, WHOM HAGAR HAD BORNE, ISHMAEL.
16 AND ABRAM WAS EIGHTY-SIX YEARS OLD, WHEN HAGAR BORE ISHMAEL TO ABRAM.
LATER, ABRAHAM WAS TOLD THAT HE, AT THE AGE OF A HUNDRED, AND HIS NINETY-YEAR OLD WIFE WOULD BEAR A SON. ABRAHAM ANSWERED SOUNDING SOMEWHAT SCEPTICAL ABOUT THE MATTER.
Genesis (TCJB) 21:
15 AND GOD SAID TO ABRAHAM, "YOUR WIFE SARAI - YOU SHALL NOT CALL HER NAME SARAI, FOR SARAH IS HER NAME.
16 AND I WILL BLESS HER, AND I WILL GIVE YOU A SON FROM HER, AND I WILL BLESS HER, AND SHE WILL BECOME [A MOTHER OF] NATIONS; KINGS OF NATIONS WILL BE FROM HER. "
17 AND ABRAHAM FELL ON HIS FACE AND REJOICED, AND HE SAID TO HIMSELF, "WILL [A CHILD] BE BORN TO ONE WHO IS A HUNDRED YEARS OLD, AND WILL SARAH, WHO IS NINETY YEARS OLD, GIVE BIRTH?"
18 AND ABRAHAM SAID TO GOD, "IF ONLY ISHMAEL WILL LIVE BEFORE YOU!"
19 AND GOD SAID, "INDEED, YOUR WIFE SARAH WILL BEAR YOU A SON, AND YOU SHALL NAME HIM ISAAC, AND I WILL ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH HIM AS AN EVERLASTING COVENANT FOR HIS SEED AFTER HIM.
20 AND REGARDING ISHMAEL, I HAVE HEARD YOU; BEHOLD I HAVE BLESSED HIM, AND I WILL MAKE HIM FRUITFUL, AND I WILL MULTIPLY HIM EXCEEDINGLY; HE WILL BEGET TWELVE PRINCES, AND I WILL MAKE HIM INTO A GREAT NATION.
21 BUT MY COVENANT I WILL ESTABLISH WITH ISAAC, WHOM SARAH WILL BEAR TO YOU AT THIS TIME NEXT YEAR."
We see above Abraham is told that Ishmael will give rise to a great nation but the emphasis is on Isaac. Abraham had begat from Sarah a son named Isaac.
Genesis (TCJB) 21:
8 AND THE CHILD GREW AND WAS WEANED, AND ABRAHAM MADE A GREAT FEAST ON THE DAY THAT ISAAC WAS WEANED.
9 AND SARAH SAW THE SON OF HAGAR THE EGYPTIAN, WHOM SHE HAD BORNE TO ABRAHAM, MAKING MERRY.
10 AND SARAH SAID TO ABRAHAM, "DRIVE OUT THIS HANDMAID AND HER SON, FOR THE SON OF THIS HANDMAID SHALL NOT INHERIT WITH MY SON, WITH ISAAC."
11 BUT THE MATTER GREATLY DISPLEASED ABRAHAM, CONCERNING HIS SON.
12 AND GOD SAID TO ABRAHAM, "BE NOT DISPLEASED CONCERNING THE LAD AND CONCERNING YOUR HANDMAID; WHATEVER SARAH TELLS YOU, HEARKEN TO HER VOICE, FOR IN ISAAC WILL BE CALLED YOUR SEED.
13 BUT ALSO THE SON OF THE HANDMAID I WILL MAKE INTO A NATION, BECAUSE HE IS YOUR SEED."
14 AND ABRAHAM AROSE EARLY IN THE MORNING, AND HE TOOK BREAD AND A LEATHER POUCH OF WATER, AND HE GAVE [THEM] TO HAGAR, HE PLACED [THEM] ON HER SHOULDER, AND THE CHILD, AND HE SENT HER AWAY; AND SHE WENT AND WANDERED IN THE DESERT OF BEER SHEBA.
15 AND THE WATER WAS DEPLETED FROM THE LEATHER POUCH, AND SHE CAST THE CHILD UNDER ONE OF THE BUSHES.
16 AND SHE WENT AND SAT DOWN FROM AFAR, AT ABOUT THE DISTANCE OF TWO BOWSHOTS, FOR SHE SAID, "LET ME NOT SEE THE CHILD'S DEATH." AND SHE SAT FROM AFAR, AND SHE RAISED HER VOICE AND WEPT.
17 AND GOD HEARD THE LAD'S VOICE, AND AN ANGEL OF GOD CALLED TO HAGAR FROM HEAVEN, AND SAID TO HER, "WHAT IS TROUBLING YOU, HAGAR? FEAR NOT, FOR GOD HAS HEARD THE LAD'S VOICE IN THE PLACE WHERE HE IS.
18 RISE, PICK UP THE LAD AND GRASP YOUR HAND UPON HIM, FOR I SHALL MAKE HIM INTO A GREAT NATION."
19 AND GOD OPENED HER EYES, AND SHE SAW A WELL OF WATER, AND SHE WENT AND FILLED THE POUCH WITH WATER AND GAVE THE LAD TO DRINK.
20 AND GOD WAS WITH THE LAD, AND HE GREW, AND HE DWELT IN THE DESERT, AND HE BECAME AN ARCHER.
21 AND HE DWELT IN THE DESERT OF PARAN, AND HIS MOTHER TOOK FOR HIM A WIFE FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT.
So there you have it. Hagar got pregnant twice. The first time she had a miscarriage and had fled from Sarai. The angel induced her to return predicting that another son would be borne to her. He would become a great nation. Hagar went back tot he House of Abraham and again became pregnant and bore a son named Ishmael. After the birth of Isaac Sarah demanded from Abraham that Hagar and her child be sent away and so it was. They set out through the wilderness outside of Beer Sheba. Apparently at some stage they ran out of water. Ishmael seems to have fainted from thirst. Hagar placed under one of the bushes. An angel called to her and told her not to despair. A well of water was revealed to her from which she was able to revive her son. Ishmael was again bless and had been blessed several times previously. The main blessings however always pertained to Isaac.
According to tradition the northern Arabiah peoples were descedned from Ishmael.