B. What became of Ishmael 25:12-18

"The last four toledotsections of the Book of Genesis follow a definite pattern: the lines in each generation that are not chosen lines are traced before the narrative returns to the chosen line."⁶²⁰

This section records God's faithfulness to His promises to make Ishmael a great nation and to give him many descendants (16:10; 21:18). This is another of the 10 family histories that Genesis records (see the outline in the introduction to these notes).⁶²¹

These verses show that God fulfilled His promises regarding Ishmael (16:10-12; 17:20). Ishmael, like Nahor and Jacob, fathered 12 sons. Moses drew his personal history to a conclusion before he moved on to concentrate on his brother Isaac.

"The mention of twelve tribal rulers' . . . recalls the word of the Lord regarding the future of the line of Ishmael from 17:20, where it was promised that he too would be blessed and that twelve rulers' . . . would be born to him and become a great nation."⁶²²

The Ishmaelites lived in Arabia. Arabia lay to the southeast of Canaan and extended from the Euphrates River to the Red Sea.⁶²³Probably the Ishmaelites were once a confederation of tribes like the Israelites.

"The names of the twelve princes descending from Ishmael are applied not only to tribal divisions but also to geographical localities (cf. v. 16)."⁶²⁴

The writer probably included the fact that Ishmael lived "in defiance of all his relations"(v. 18) to show the fulfillment of God's prediction to Hagar (cf. 16:12). The bedouin-like Ishmaelites later had many conflicts with their more settled Israelite relations.

God is faithful to His promises to bless whom He has promised to bless.