First Chronicles chapter 1 beginning in verse 24. Shem Arphaxad Shelah Eber Peleg Ru Sereg, Nehor, Terah, Abram. The same is Abraham. The sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael. These are their generations. The firstborn of Ishmael, Nabaioth, then Kedar, and Abdeel, and Midsom, and Mishma, and Duma, Masa, Hadad, and Tima. Jitur, Nafish, and Kedema, these are the sons of Ishmael. I have come to be convinced of two things. One, I am pretty sure in the years that I have been walking with the Lord that I have learned things. I've learned things about God's word, and I have learned things about how God's world works. But almost paradoxically, I am also fairly certain that the world seems more mysterious than ever. And how does that happen? The more you learn, the more you feel like you are surrounded by mystery. My thoughts were taken this direction this week in another encounter with the Book of Job. This world has its mysteries in it. God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. His dealings with us are frequently beyond us. And I was impressed, once again, that Job, at the end of it, still does not get any answers as to the why. Why has Job had to suffer these things? We can say some things in general. As the readers of the book, we're able to say probably a little bit more than what Job is able to say. And yet, the great satisfaction of Job's soul doesn't ultimately come in the answer to his many questions about the whys of things. The great satisfaction of soul, contentment, and rest is ultimately found in the divine presence. God didn't at the end of it give answers. He gave himself. And so Job was able to find rest, but the mysteries of things remained. My mind, as I was looking at those things, traveled off to Ephesians chapter three, and we're told something very mysterious, that God does some things with this church, not for their instruction, maybe we'll never get it, why he does certain things, but for the instruction of the angelic principalities and powers. There's a whole nother level of things going on with us. But then, even beyond these great things, these grand scale things, as I've grown and as I've applied myself to thought, I have frequently been astounded at How we use ideas every day, but when we turn to reflect upon the idea, suddenly they get very slippery. Like we think every day in terms of time. And when we talk about it, and when we use it, we feel very well like we know what it is. And yet when somebody asks the question, what is time, suddenly it gets very slippery. Or every day we conceive thoughts in terms of language. We express our thinking to others in language. But then when someone makes the turn and asks the question, how our language relates to the realities that are being expressed, suddenly it gets very slippery. And those are things that we We think about it and we use every day, all the time, just two simple things, time and language. I think it's in Augustine's Confessions, book 11, he said, I felt very well like I knew what time was until somebody asked me to define it. Suddenly, it became a very slippery thing. So whether we're kind of looking out into the great and grand things or kind of focusing in microscopically when we use the things that we use and say the things that we say, what do we mean? We find ourselves surrounded on every side by mystery. So it's an interesting thing. As I said, I'm pretty sure that I've grown, More things have been added to my body of knowledge rather than fewer through the years. And yet, with every one of those things, it seems as if more questions have been raised rather than fewer. And so a lot of the self-assurance of my youth has vanished. And to be completely honest, I don't know how unbelieving people live at all without the bedrock of the scripture. I would feel completely overwhelmed by the mysteries and the questions that surround us. If you are of some years You've probably heard people say this, and then you have probably experienced it. How is it that as I've aged, my parents in my mind seem to get smarter and smarter? When I was young and seemed to have fewer questions about things, I was pretty sure that they were pretty close to incompetent, but yet as I've aged, they seem smarter and smarter. And I wonder more and more about the arrogance of my youth. And I bring all of this up to say one of the most mysterious things about my life has been family dynamics. And I have to confess that Whether I've been dealing with my own family or other families, families with which I have had some intimate acquaintance, I have found these to be some of the most perplexing difficulties and mysteries. How is it that I can know people, these people, better than any other people on planet Earth? and yet still be completely mystified as to how we got here. And if the question should be raised, well, what should we do now? I feel completely bowled over and blown away by it. But these are the people that I know best in the world. How is it that I am so mystified by these things? Well, if we were left to merely human reason and reckoning concerning these things, I've come to such a place in my life that there would be nothing but despair for me in this regard. But happily, we have the scripture, and The scripture from Genesis to Revelation is constantly coming back to issues pertaining to family, sometimes very directly and pointedly, sometimes a little bit more remotely and obliquely, but probably most every chapter will have something in it that you could bring home to the family to help give direction in the midst of confusion, something to serve as a bomb in the midst of pains, something to bring forgiveness and restoration, healing. We have come to this narrative pertaining to Ishmael, and I have wanted to do two things with it. I have wanted to look at Ishmael's life briefly, at least briefly for me as a preacher, hoping to finish him up today and look at his descendants next week. So I just wanted to get a good general survey of Ishmael and his history. But then I thought it would be profitable to glean lessons concerning family life. Unhappily, we don't really have the time to dive deeply into any of the several applications that have come up or will come up. But hopefully, to mention them, to touch upon them, would be enough to prime the pump every individual's thinking concerning these things. And who knows, perhaps the Lord will provide us with some profitable tools so that we can work profitably in our families. We have looked at two stages in Ishmael's life. We looked at Genesis chapter 16, and the irregular circumstances surrounding his birth. Ishmael's mother is not Sarah. Ishmael's mother is Hagar. So you have the problem of a wife, Sarah, and a concubine, Hagar, and then the additional confusion that Hagar is Abraham's concubine but Sarah's female servant. That is a painful place. The next notice we really get concerning Ishmael is in Genesis chapter 17, the sign of the covenant is given, which is circumcision. And Ishmael will get that sign, but God makes it clear that ultimately the covenant is not going to pass into Ishmael's family, but into Isaac's son of Sarah. Something for us just to get back in front of us really quickly, because we'll need it later on. You remember in the midst of that, Abraham, who is a very tenderhearted father, prays for his son. who is at this point 13, that he would live before the Lord. So his family is being passed over with respect to the conveyance of the covenant, as it were. The messianic promise is not going to devolve into his family at that time. But God prays for him. It does sound like a spiritual prayer, which is first bit of evidence that in spite of the fact that Ishmael's descendants are going to wander far from the Lord, that perhaps Ishmael himself didn't. Perhaps Ishmael was a true believer, and we'll look at other evidence, but Abraham prays for him, and God's response concerning Ishmael, again, it's on the one hand, he seems to affirm it, I have heard your prayer, which did sound like it was for Ishmael's well-being. But then he goes on, when he talks about Ishmael's line, to simply promise multiplicity, that there would be many descendants, and blessing, like physical, temporal prosperity for his descendants. But perhaps there are good things there for Ishmael. But then when we meet Ishmael again, it is at the time of Isaac's weaning. And Ishmael, who is a young man, teenager at this point, is, I don't know, involved in some sort of mocking of his younger brother at his weaning, which provokes Sarah. to want to send Hagar and Ishmael away. Obviously this is yet another irregularity and disorder. Let's pick up there and we'll look at what happens. So look with me at Genesis chapter 21 beginning in verse 9. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. So Abraham loves both of his sons. He is passionately interested in the well-being of both. Sarah is obviously less invested in Ishmael than Isaac, although we don't really get a full portrait of her relationship to Hagar and Ishmael. But she is ready to send them away. This treatment is probably overmuch, but it's going to be confirmed by the Lord. This is not completely to excuse Sarah or her attitude, but the Lord has his own purposes. Ultimately, the promised land belongs to Isaac's descendants, not to Ishmael's. So in one way, Sarah's kind of right that it's not appropriate that Ishmael inherit with Isaac. sooner or later he's going to have to be sent away. But they are sent away into a hasty exile. We'll look at that in just a moment. But this is something just to take note of and hopefully to motivate us to To moderate our passions and especially especially those negative ones To rule over them and not let them rule over us because this is twice now That that Hagar and Ishmael have been exiled Exiles that were precipitated by their own bad behavior So you remember in chapter 16? Well, I mean, Hagar's less exiled. She's more running. But when she's able to conceive and Sarah isn't, her pride rises. She exalts herself over against Sarah, her mistress. And Sarah, upon detecting this, deals harshly with her. But that particular movement began with Hagar. inability to rule over her pride, her vainglory, as it were. And now, for whatever reason, this bit of unkindness has risen up in Ishmael against Isaac, this mocking. He fails to rule over it, and now this time, properly speaking, they are sent into an exile, and hastily, they are sent away. There is a lesson in this. When our passions rise, we are apt to study all kinds of excuses. But at the end of the day, if we've got a bunch of really good excuses, but we've brought ruin upon our families through these things, that's really cold comfort. a bunch of good excuses and ruin is still just ruin, even if you've got a bunch of good excuses for it. But we pick up with verse 12, whatever Sarah intends, the Lord is super intending for his own purposes. Verse 12. And God said unto Abraham, let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad. And because of the bondwoman, and all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice, for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. And Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread and a bottle of water and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder. And the child, and sent her away, And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. And the water was spent in the bottle. And she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were, a bow shot. For she said, let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him and lift up her voice and wept. and God heard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand, for I will make him a great nation And God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water and she went and filled the bottle with water and gave the lad drink. God was with the lad and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt. Just a couple of practical things to note this passage. This is no doubt a bitter pill for Abraham to swallow, but his obedience toward the Lord is such as that he rises up early for this hard duty. He doesn't delay. Likewise, we should show our ready obedience in hard things. And I think it is part of human nature too. If we delay and we drag our feet, likely the temptation to fail to do the duty altogether is just going to get stronger and stronger. So he rises to the duty quickly. But there's a kind of hastiness in it. there's not, and perhaps there's really not, any practical way to send them with sufficient provisions for a resettlement. But this is portrayed as an obedience, and in this way, and in the mystery of this providence, God is drawing Hagar and Ishmael into a hard place. But just as we saw in chapter 16, it's worth repeating and seeing again. For anybody to be separated from your family and your home, even an irregular one, like what's going on in Abraham's family, would be a great cross to bear. But this is compounded by the fact that, There are not too many patriarchs left that are holding fast to the true religion, so not too many places for Hagar and Ishmael to go where they could have access to the true religion and help in walking according to it. But Abraham is altogether singular in that in his family, new revelation is being poured out, the ancient promises are being advanced, further specificity is being given to them. But here we have this sad scene that Hagar once and now Ishmael once have abused that great privilege and now they have lost that great privilege. And if I might say something to our young people, my heart is ever towards you and with you. I know that it's not always easy for you to have a sense of these things. No doubt, when you look at your family, you see problems. You see mom and dad, they are sinful individually. You see mom and dad, they are sinful corporately. They parent sinfully. You're probably less inclined to see the fact that you respond to their parenting sinfully. So they parent sinfully and you do your part as a child sinfully. It's kind of a mess. And so you probably don't tend to think so much of your family as being a great blessing to you and a precious privilege. But consider Abraham's family at this time and the great irregularities And just think about your own family, and have you had anything quite like this? Sarah, mom, handed Abraham, dad, another woman so that they could have a child, which has led to a fair amount of animosity and strife and conflict between the two women and the grief of the father. This is certainly not a portrait of familial perfection and unremitting domestic bliss. It has problems. And yet, when we also say that Abraham's family is privileged above all the other families of the earth, that is a stone cold biblical fact. And it was among the great privileges of Hagar and Ishmael's life to have been a part of it, even with the irregularities and even with the sins. As a young person, you should consider and just know that all families, all people have problems. There's an English proverb that the grass always looks greener on the other side, but it just looks that way. All families have problems, but here's a fact. If you are growing up in a family where the salvation that Jesus Christ has brought is being regularly commended to you, if you are being encouraged to pursue an ever-deepening relationship with our beautiful Jesus, If this is the daily diet, if this is the meat and drink of the home, you have been born into privilege. Think about the legions of people who have been born, they've lived, they've died, and they've never even heard the name of the Lord Jesus. You could add to that a great many more who are merely nominal Christians. They go to church on Sunday, but never maybe focus their minds enough to be clear on what the gospel is, or who Jesus really is, or any of these kinds of things. When you are born into a home where Jesus is the center, and that that's the constant commendation of the home to you as a young person, you've been born into privilege. And if you doubt it, think again. Analyze this narrative concerning Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Isaac, and Ishmael again and think about what the family of Ishmael is losing at this point. And hopefully at that point you will see that you have received a great and precious privilege from God indeed. And when we begin to see things in that way, it's amazing how how we begin to evaluate things in a very different way rather than constantly grousing about what we don't have or the imperfections of the others that are around us while we're strangely blind or soft on our own imperfections, right? But then we start to become very grateful for where God has placed us and what he has given us. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Another thing about human nature is revealed to us here in this text. When we are distressed, we very quickly become forgetful of God's promises, right? So, Hagar and Abraham have already received promises concerning Ishmael, that he is going to be the father of vast multitudes of people. That entails his survival, right? Now, to sympathize with Hagar, she's in a hard place. This is not 21st century America. This is the ancient world. As far as we can tell, she's alone with her son. Like, you can't just run to the faucet. This is the ancient Near East. Finding water, if you've run out of water, can be difficult, can be challenging, and it very quickly becomes a a life and death issue. They are in actual mortal danger with respect to second causes. And at this point, she becomes forgetful of the promises of God. It's not my intention to be harsh with Hagar. This is very human. There's something very tender about the fact that she thinks she's getting ready to lose her boy and she can't look at it. She can't watch it. So I sympathize, but there is a clue given here for our help when these kinds of things come. If we can remember the promise of God, even when things look bleak, Even when things look very dark, we have a great comfort and a consolation when the hard things come. Right now, our nation is facing difficult things. The world seems bent to continue its flirtation with global war. But as Christian people, we know what the end of the matter ultimately is. We know the end of the story the way that Hagar should have known the end of the story for her son. If she could have kept that in view, there would have been a comfort for her that she is missing at this moment. But then something else is given to her here, as it was in in Genesis 16, and this is one of the things that encourages me about the spiritual condition of both Hagar and Ishmael. Do I know that they're converted? I'm not sure, but this is hopeful. In the midst of their distress, Jesus visits them, the angel of the Lord, to provide comfort and consolation. Child of God, if you can't, in the midst of distress and pain, if you can't even call to mind one single promise, if you can just keep Jesus before your face, he all by himself is comfort enough. If we can have him, even if it's in the fiery furnace, we have everything that we need, more than what we need. We have all of our desire and all that can be desired. So there's something very tender here. And this is the second time before Hagar had run away and Jesus visited her and sent her back. And now he visits her again. and renews the promise that had been made concerning Ishmael, right? So she has forgotten the word of the Lord, but the word of the Lord shows up again to remind her of the word of the Lord and that God's intention toward her child is beyond her expectation at that moment. Also, Frequently in the midst of our distress, we miss the supply that is ready to hand. And there I would, the supply that's always ready to hand is Christ himself. But he immediately gives her direction. He opens her eyes. In her distress, her eyes are closed, as it were, but he opens her eyes so that she can see that there was water actually ready to hand there. So he brings to her encouragement, but he also brings temporal supply, and he takes care of us. Ultimately, on whatever level that we might be considering things, Jesus is the source of all good things. One final thing here, always uncomfortable for young people, I want you to notice there, the end of verse 21, his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt. As we get into our young adult years, for young people as a group, this might be one One of the greatest difficulties, fallen flesh does not want to submit itself at this point. But everywhere in the scripture, from Old Testament to New, from the earliest chapters all the way through 1 Corinthians 7, the Bible teaches parental involvement in the contracting of marriages, and fallen flesh never wants to submit itself. And we can multiply examples. Just recently, in our own family worship, we saw at the end of the book of Judges, when Samson, who is not a little kid, wants to marry the Philistine girl, he goes to his father, Manoah, and asks her, very much as we see it with Hagar here, he asks Manoah to contract the marriage for him. We are in the midst of Ruth. Ruth relies completely upon Naomi for the contracting of another marriage for her. Naomi is not her biological mother, but she is her mother by marriage, and the only parent that's available to Ruth, practically speaking, so she rests upon her completely. From this point in the Genesis text, you could go on when Shechem wants to marry Dinah, he goes to his father, Amen, and he goes to Jacob to contract the marriage, and we can go on and on in this way. The Bible obviously models it, but if we think deeply upon it, it makes a lot of sense. So people normally marry when they're young. And there are some advantages to that because childbearing and childrearing requires, generally speaking, young, healthy, energetic bodies. But young people also have fewer experiences concerning things like what makes a good marriage, what makes a bad marriage. So they have less to draw upon when they are making decisions. So as they have less experience in all things, they have less experience in this particular thing. But then when you add to that that the judgment is impaired by romantic affections and sexual desire, this is a recipe for bad judgment in the contracting of the most important human relationship. And wouldn't we be astounded if God left young people without help and resources at that particular junction? But he hasn't left the young without help and resources. He's provided parents. So What I commend to you is the thing that the Bible is commending to you, both in precept, you can see it in 1 Corinthians 7, and also by example, just example after example after example in the scripture, that when it comes to contracting marriage, you should trust in your parents. They will have a good sense of what makes for a good marriage, they will have had wider and broader experiences than what you will have had as a child. And this will not feel like an advantage to you, but it actually is. You might be struggling with prejudice of judgment because of your romantic sentiments or even sexual desire, but they're not having those impediments. And that's actually good. That's helpful to you at that point, because they are going to, not only do they have greater experience, but they're going to be able to look at it in a more clear-eyed way. And if you will think about it soberly, just think about your parents. Do you really, like your parents want you to get married if you're being called to marriage? And they want you to have the whole package, right? Like if you're a young lady, they don't want you to marry somebody that looks like a toad or something or somebody you don't like or whatever. They want you to have the whole package. But they're not just going to be like, she's pretty and she's fun and the things that frequently besought us when we're young and we're under the spell of romantic attachments, they're going to be interested in like spirituality. And I'll tell you this, if you despise that before you get married, five minutes after you're married, you will be very interested in spirituality. It'll be the difference between a marriage lasting or not. When things get hard in life, and they always do, pretty cute, fun, and funny. It's a garnish. It's kind of nice, but it doesn't get us through the hard things in life. Solid piety, commitment to the Lord Jesus, commitment to obedience, careful walking as as he's commanded it and explained it in his word in the midst of our families and those kinds of things. That's what gets us through the hard things, the difficult things. Well, we are given a notice and we'll talk about where the wilderness of Paran is in the settlement of Ishmael's children. Let's just look at the very end of his life. Flip forward just a few chapters to Genesis 25. Genesis 25, beginning in verse 7. And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life, which he lived, and hundred threescore and fifteen years. Then Abraham gave up the ghost and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years. and was gathered to his people. And his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him in the cave of Machpelah and the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar, the Hittite, which is before Mamre, the field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth. There was Abraham buried and his wife." It's really interesting, if you do the math at this point, Ishmael is not young when he returns to help Isaac bury Abraham. He's almost 90. And there is something sweet about this, something tender. When Hagar and Ishmael left for resettlement, it was in the midst of crisis. A lot of years have passed. We're not told what, if anything, has happened between the families at this point, but there is something sweet about the fact that, and it speaks well of him, that Ishmael returns upon the death of his father to join hands with his brother in the burial so that they might honor their father. And finally, before, and if you think about it, Again, I sound fussy. I don't mean to sound fussy. I'm trying to help. When we read about Isaac and Ishmael, and particularly Ishmael here honoring Abraham by returning and being present for this, We're like, well, it's Abraham. Of course he honored him. But my father's just a regular guy. But think about Ishmael's history with his dad. There obviously was strong affection. Obviously, Abraham loved Ishmael, and Ishmael no doubt grew up knowing that, but yeah, as a young man, he did send him out into the wilderness in kind of a hasty kind of way that put them in mortal danger, too. So it's not as if, well, if Ishmael had been inclined to bellyache concerning his father, there are at least plausible reasons for doing that, but he doesn't. And it is to his credit that he comes back and he honors his father. And now look with me, beginning at verse 11. And it came to pass after the death of Abraham that God blessed his son Isaac, and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahoroi. Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bear unto Abraham. And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael by their names, according to their generations. The firstborn of Ishmael, Nabayu, and Kedar, and Abil, and Mibsam, and Mishma, and Duma, and Masa. Hadar and Tima, Yetur, and Nafish, and Kedema. These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names by their towns and by their castles. 12 princes according to their nations. And that's really a very nice segue to the genealogy that we have in First Chronicles. So we will treat that part next week, Lord willing. And now verse 17. And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, 137 years. And he gave up the ghost and died and was gathered unto his people. And they dwelt from Havala and Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria. And he died in the presence of all his brethren. I want you to notice there, it says he was gathered to his people. So the ancient Hebrews, the ancient rabbis did believe that Ishmael was a believing and converted person, even though his descendants would depart from the covenant of grace and from true religion. They believe that Ishmael himself held fast to the religion of his father, Abraham. And so they will point to various things. And I do confess, I can't make the claim that Any of this is absolutely conclusive, but it is encouraging. We'll come back to that in just a moment. But the strands of evidence they look at, he did receive the sign of the covenant by God's promise and provision that's given before he leaves the house rather than afterwards. When Abraham calls out to God and offers prayer, it does sound like it's for spiritual benefits, and God does say, I have heard you. The tension in that evidence is that he then goes on to talk about temporal things. But that's part of the difficulty in assessing these kinds of things, I suppose. The Jewish doctors didn't talk about this, but I would add, You have the two visits of the Lord Jesus during the crisis points to deliver Hagar and Ishmael, which perhaps speaks a good word for them both. He shows up, this speaks well of his character and his thoughts concerning his father and perhaps even his father's religion. He shows up when his father dies. And then here we get this language of him being gathered unto his people. And again, I'm not sure I can make an airtight case for this, but the old Jewish doctors did like to make the point that they believed this to be used exclusively of those that are believing, not just that you've died and gone into the ground with like the rest of your people or whatever, but the gathering to his people is speaking in spiritual categories, being gathered together to the elect as it were in heavenly places. And then finally, that this might have also been understood in the family of Abraham, they also point out that after Esau, so disappoints his parents by marrying Hittites, prohibited Canaanites of the land, to try to make that better, he marries an Ishmaelite. Now, if Ishmaelite family is being thought of in similar categories to Canaanites or Hittites, that wouldn't make things any better. But Esau seems to think it will be, that the Ishmaelites are conceived of in a different kind of way, that a daughter of Ishmael might bring some positive spiritual savor, as it were, and be a comfort and a consolation to his parents. At the end of the day, if you're listening to all of that and you say, well, I could wish for clearer evidence I could add my amen to that thought. I could wish for it too. But we are reminded that God and God alone is the searcher of hearts. So we ought not to be altogether surprised. And perhaps tonight we end appropriately enough where we began with the mystery of things. God hasn't given us answers. to all things. He doesn't give us all the whys and the hows and so on. He gives us instead himself. And even if we're in a wilderness, if we have Jesus, we have enough. Let us pray together.