3a. BIBLICAL ROOTS OF ISLAM

By Dr. Earl Parvin

2015

SCRIPTURE: GEN 16:1-6  [Spanish ts]

INTRODUCTION: Bible students love the story of the miraculous birth of Isaac to Abraham, ‘the friend of God’ and his aged wife. His birth fulfilled a twenty-five year old promise of God, thus was manifest the faithfulness of Deity. It was with this son that the Abrahamic Covenant would continue. Beyond these self-evident gems, the careful exegete notes that Isaac was the second-born son of the Patriarch and is reminded that the normal line of inheritance in the second millennium before Christ would have been through the first-born. Let us then consider Abraham’s primogenital son, Ishmael as found in Genesis 16, 17 &21.

 

Scene 1 - PATRIARCHAL PROBLEM: Ishmael was born in Hebron, eleven years after ‘the father of many nations’ had left his native land in Ur of the Chaldees. His mother, Sarah’s Egyptian slave, Hagar, probably joined the family during their sojourn in Egypt [16:1]. This polygamous situation seems odd in our understanding of a Biblical monogamy, and is clearly set forth in the Scriptures as an unacceptable lifestyle, even though technically legal in the culture of that day.

 

In the Orient a marriage without children, especially a son, is a terrible calamity, and often considered grounds for divorce or a second marriage. Abraham and Sarah were thus afflicted. Having no one to inherit his possessions or to bury him properly, Abraham asked God if he should adopt a son. Perhaps Eliezer, a servant in his household would be ok. This was a socially acceptable solution to the problem, [15:3]. However, God promised instead, a son of his own loins [15:4].

 

Scene 2 – SURROGATE SON. Eleven years later, Sarah, still barren, proposes a socially acceptable, legal maneuver whereby she might have children. A highly regarded and trusted servant could be used to bear children for her mistress; therefore, she gave servant Hagar to her husband, for this purpose [16:2]. It is important to note here, that it is not recorded that either party prayed about the solution of surrogate motherhood.

 

Unfortunately they proceeded with the plan and Hagar became pregnant. In her youthful enthusiasm, perhaps 16, she taunts Sarah, irritating her to the degree that Sarah tells her to get lost. So, Hagar fled into the wilderness where she would have died of dehydration, had the angel of the Lord not found her and sent her back. He told her to return and SUBMIT to Sarah. Ironically, the word submit in Arabic is ISLAM. The angel further revealed to her that her offspring would be too numerous to count and the child’s name would be Ishmael, which means, “God will hear”. And, HE did hear.

 

In Abraham’s defense, it would appear that he never considered Hagar a second wife, but always referred to her as his wife’s servant [16:6]. Perhaps he rationalized that God had promised him a son, but had not clearly indicated that it would be through Sarah [15:4, 17:16]. Ishmael, then, was born into Abraham’s household in his father’s 86th year.

 

Scene 3 - DIVINE SOLUTION: It is evident that Abraham loved his son over the next thirteen years, and anything that adversely affected Ishmael was unacceptable in his sight. The text would seem to indicate that he had accepted Ishmael as the promised heir. When Abraham was 99 however, the angel of the Lord appeared to him and made several revelations [17:18]. One, their names would be changed; two, a covenant sign of circumcision was given; three, Sarah was to bear a son, and that son, his second born, not Ishmael, was to receive the covenant. Whoa! What a shock.

 

Scene 4 – FIRST BORN BANISHED. Abraham was dumbfounded and distressed. His firstborn was not to be the promised heir? Was this possible? Why? In his agony, he wrestled with himself and cried out to God: “O that Ishmael might continue to live before Thee”.

 

Never the less, with the passage of time, Isaac was born in Ishmael’s thirteenth year. The new baby radically changed life in the household. Ishmael sensed that he was no longer in the favored place. Three years passed and Abraham prepared a feast for the child Isaac. At this occasion, the 16 year old Ishmael was seen mocking his 3 year old younger brother. This was not good, and was so serious in Sarah’s eyes that she demanded of her husband that he send both Hagar and her son away. Wow!

 

Abraham’s heart was about to break. How could he part with his firstborn? The request seemed so unjust, and in fact would break the law of the land as recorded in the Nuzi tablets; therefore, he determined not to comply. That is, until God said to him, “Let it not be grievous in your sight…in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice…”. In sad obedience, with bleeding heart, Abraham sent Ishmael and Hagar forth into the wilderness toward Egypt. Their provisions were soon spent, but Ishmael, having witnessed many times his father calling upon God in the midst of a crisis, instinctively turned to God for help, and significantly, God heard the voice of the lad [21:17]. Remember Ishmael’s name!

 

The years passed rapidly and the Scriptures make only scant mention of them. “God was with the lad as he grew up” [21:20]. He became an archer as he grew up in the Wilderness of Paran. His mother took him a wife out of Egypt, her homeland [21:21]. Ishmael’s home was blessed with twelve sons and a daughter, Bashemoth [36:3], she later married her cousin Esau [17:20, 25:13-16]. Islamic tradition suggests that Mohammed’s Quraish tribe in Arabia, are the descendants of Ishmael.

 

It is recorded that Ishmael returned but once to his father’s house, 72 years later, to help with Abraham’s burial [25:9]. Ishmael lived to the age of 137 and “…he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people” [25:17].

 

Scene 5 - THE REST OF THE STORY: It is tempting to leave Ishmael with his ancestors and return to the thrilling story of the blood-line through Isaac, Jacob and his twelve sons. Yet, there is a continuing reminder in Palestine that all of Ishmael’s story has not yet been told. In fact, verse 18 mentions where his descendents settled, “and lived in hostility toward all their brothers.” How predictive!

 

Let us now consider the words spoken by the angel to Hagar in the wilderness when she fled from Sarah before Ishmael’s birth [16:9-12]. First, “I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude”. Second, ‘thou…shat bear a son and shall call his name Ishmael, ie. ‘God shall hear’. Third, “and he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him”. History bears witness to the factuality of these fulfilling prophecies. Surely the Arab has been a war-like people always squabbling with his neighbors [25:18]. We are witnesses.

 

A fourth prophecy reveals, “he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren…”. The commentators suggest this means, that he will be wild and free, roaming about, a nomad?. But is it not possible that here it is revealed that the Arab will always dwell in Palestine? That he and the Jews will dwell in the land together? That the Arab will not be displaced? Time will tell. [The Israelites are ok with this, but the so-called Palestinians, actually Arabs, are not.]

 

The Arab firmly believes the land is his by right of primogeniture, for he, Ishmael, was Abraham’s firstborn. He is ignorant, by choice of course, that God specifically changed that rule and gave the land to Isaac’s seed, the Jew, as an “everlasting possession” [17:8].

 

However, the Jew forfeited his right to live in the “land of plenty” when he failed by consuming God’s mercies upon himself instead of sharing them with the Gentile nations. Therefore, God dispersed the Jew among those to whom they refused the Gospel [Jer 31:10, Ez 11:17, Joel 3:2].

 

That forfeiture was not to be in perpetuity, but in the plan of God they would be returned to the land. During the exile of Isaac’s offspring, some of Ishmael’s progeny continued to make this land his home. He built his shrines on spots holy to the Jew and forgot that his brother had any claim to the land. In fact, he refuses to recognize the new Jewish state of Israel formed in 1948, and Hamas of Gaza, [a terrorist group] among others, vows to annihilate them. Little does the Palestine Authority under the leadership of Fatah realize that his is a lost cause. Netanyahu of Israel, has vowed, Jerusalem will not be divided! The president of Iran should also take note, for he will not be able to destroy Israel, which is his recurring refrain… they are pigs. A malignancy to be excised!

 

On the other hand, Israel has not sought to drive out the Arab, but rather seeks a peaceful coexistence. The Arab Israelis are even members of the Knesset. Granted, her return to the land is surely in the flesh and her fleshly methods leave much to be desired. It is hoped that she will return to the Lord, and let HIM fight with them, the battle of survival. God will make a just end to that, Himself.

 

We must return to the Genesis 17:18-21 passage. At this point, Ishmael is 13 years old, and God reveals to Abraham that the boy will not receive the covenant. Abraham is so moved that he cries out to God asking that the lad may “continue” [Lang] to live before Him. God patiently repeats the promise that Isaac is to be blessed but continues with the words, “...as for Ishmael, I have heard thee…”. He now repeats to Abraham what He had already promised Hagar, “…I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly…”. Then, in answer to Abraham’s pleas, God now adds “twelve princes will he beget…” [This is equal to the promise to Jacob].

 

Hard on the heels of this revelation comes a thrice recorded prophecy, which few commentators even mention, but the promises of God are sure. The prophecy in 17:20 reads, “…and I will make him a great nation…” In 21:18 it reads, “for I will make him a great nation”. Recall also that it was promised in 16:10, “I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude”. There are indeed more followers of Islam than any other religion, except for Christianity which is more than a religion.

 

Scene 6 - THE QUESTION REMAINS:  Was Ishmael ever a great nation, as God promised? Consider the centuries following Mohammed’s whirlwind jihad of western Arabia before his death in 732. The various Caliphates for the next centuries subdued all north Africa and Spain, Palestine, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Southeast Asia to the Philippines. They controlled far more lands than the Roman Empire ever. It was not until after World War I, that the Ottoman Empire was parceled out to Colonial powers, bringing to a close a scattered but long 1300 year Muslim hegemony and Muslim Caliphate.

 

One final question could be raised, concerning Daniel’s prophecy that the Image of World Empires would be destroyed by Jesus the Rock [Dnl 3:44-45]. What revived empire might it be? Will it be the Roman Empire, that is the EU, or could it be a revived Arab Empire? Up to this point it is obvious that no one has been able to unite the disparate and numerous ethnic, tribal groups which make up the Arab World. Their continuing dream is: 1. a revived Golden Age of Islam, 2. which is instituted by their Mahdi [Messiah], 3. who is to destroy Israel, and 4. turn the whole world into an Islamic Ummah. I am reminded that God promised Ishmael, the Arabs, that they would be a Great Nation, not Islamic.

 

CONCLUSION: It is quite revealing to discover how much of Islamic theology is traceable to Biblical Theology. It is fascinating to study the Abrahamic Covenant and compare the promises God made to Hagar, Abraham and Ishmael in what I entitle, the Ishmaelic Covenant. It is also enlightening to discover Mohammed’s understanding of the nature of Christ as taught in Nestorianism, which he could have learned from his wife Khadijah. She is said to have been a Nestorian and her uncle the prelate of the Nestorian church in Mecca. He was one of Mohammed’s teachers, so, illiterate he was not. The Nestorians denied the deity of Christ as do the Muslim. They also adopted the various prayer positions from the Nestorians. A discussion of Muslim theology as it relates to Christianity is found in the seminar entitled: Islam: Theological Roots.

 

To understand what is currently taking place in the Middle East, with the Lebanese Hezbollah, West Bank Fatah, Gaza’s Hamas, or al Baghdadi of the Islamic State [or ISIS or ISIL] requires a careful study of the Scriptures. Iran’s nuclear ambitions are clearly understood by Netanyahu of Israel. Will Israel prevail? Will the world understand that there can be no peace with those who have openly declared that they will not accept Israel in the Middle East? They will not even accept a ‘Two State Solution’! ISREAL MUST NOT EXIST IN MUSLIM LAND. But, THEY WILL as the Bible declares. [Gen 13:15; Ex 32:13; Josh 14:9; I Chr 28:8;Ps37:29; Is 11:12; Ez 11:17; 28:25; 37:21]

 

Pray for Israel to turn to the Lord with their whole heart, and repent, that God may again restore Israel permanently in the Land, as the Apple of His eye’ [Du 32:10;Zech 2:8]. Pray for the Muslim that they too, as Abraham’s first born, will turn to the Lord. Then there will be ‘peace perfect peace’.