In some places a little stream slowly moves along in winter, but it dries up in summer. The heat of the sun burns up nearly all the grass; yet there are a few places where water and pasture are found.
To these spots the shepherds of that region bring large flocks of sheep and goats, which quietly feed around the dark looking tents. Nearly four thousand years ago, a good man named Abram, lived in this part of the world. He was rich, though his riches did not consist in houses and lands, or in gold and jewels, but in sheep and cattle.
His house was a tent. This was the best kind of dwelling for him as he often made long journeys with his flocks from place to place. He could easily take down his tent, and put it up again as he went about the country. Abram, or Abraham as he was afterwards called, was not born in Canaan; God brought him from his own land to live there. Abraham trusted God and the Bible tells us that "he was called the Friend of God. This was the great promise of God, and through it the greatest of all blessings was to be given to sinful man.
It is said in the New Testament that Abraham saw, or foresaw, the day of Jesus, and was glad. He was glad there was a Saviour for his own soul, who would be a Saviour for all those who would believe in Him, in every age. Abraham had two sons; one named Ishmael, and the other Isaac. Though these brothers had the same father, they did not have the same mother; Ishmael was the son of Hagar, and Isaac the son of Sarah.
As Ishmael was much older than his little brother, he ought to have been kind to him, and set a good example. But he did not love him and was so full of spite that he mocked his brother Isaac. Perhaps he called him ill names, because he knew it had been promised to his father that he should be the father of a great nation. Grieved by the bad conduct of his eldest son, and at the urging of his wife Sarah, Abraham sent the boy and his mother Hagar away.
We do not know that he would have done so if God had not told him that He would take care of them, and also make this son the forefather of numerous tribes of people. It was early in the morning when Ishmael and his mother were sent away from the tent of Abraham.
A leathern bottle of water and some bread were given to them. When Isaac was a hundred years old, it became his turn to designate his successor by passing on the family blessing.
Although he would live another eighty years, this bestowal of the blessing was the last meaningful thing about Isaac recorded in the book of Genesis.
Regrettably, he nearly failed in this task. Somehow, he remained oblivious to God's revelation to his wife that, contrary to normal custom, the younger son, Jacob, was to become head of the family instead of the older Gen. It took a clever ploy by Rebecca and Jacob to put Isaac back on track to fulfill God's purposes. Maintaining the family business meant that the fundamental structure of the family had to be intact. Though sometimes the birthright was transferred, it was typically reserved for the firstborn son.
The specific laws concerning it varied, but it seems to have been a stable feature of ancient Near Eastern culture. The blessing was the corresponding invocation of prosperity from God and succession of leadership in the household. Muslims believe in the Biblical stories only when they do not contradict or go against the Quran or the authentic traditions of Prophet Muhammad. From the beginning of Islamic history, there has been scholarly debate about the name of the child to be sacrificed by Prophet Abraham.
It is interesting to note that the Quran does not mention a name as if to remind us that the name of the child is not the most important matter. What is important is what we learn from the narrative. The story of Abraham and his ones has a practical lesson for the people of that era and forever more.
Child sacrifices were rituals that existed then and with this event God put a stop to it. Otherwise many might have assumed that sacrificial murder was accepted by the One True God. The most compelling lesson we learn from Prophets Ishmael and Isaac is that a true believer is willing to give up anything, or anyone, for the sake of pleasing God. Prophet Abraham showed that he was willing to follow the commands of God, so too did his son.
Because of their efforts, Abraham became the father of many Prophets and great nations and the message of the One God spread far and wide. So he and his wife devised a plan to have a baby through other means. God had a plan for Abraham to place him and his descendants in the realm of Canaan also known as the Promised Land and Holy Land.
Upon arrival in the promised land, God assured Abraham that He would provide the region to his descendants Genesis Her infertility was to be very significant in the development of the modern Middle East. Fearing the wrath of Sarah, Hagar fled the land after conceiving the first son of Abraham.
However, a heavenly word was delivered to Hagar, instructing her to return. It comforted her that her son would have many children and descendants, although they will live in aversion with the other families and nations.
The divinely prophetic words spoken to Hagar are still of great significance today. The wild donkey was the aristocrat of the wild beasts of the desert, the preferred prey of hunters. Fourteen years after the birth of Ishmael, God graced Abraham with a second son, a step-brother to Ishmael conceived with his wife Sarah. Isaac, in turn, fathered Jacob, also named Israel, the father of the Israelites.
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