A Spiritual Question: Yitschaq As Abraham's Sole Heir
Obviously it was no function of Sumerian law to regulate or indeed to hinder the plans of YAHWEH. If HE chose as confidant and collaborator an obscure Aramean shepherd it was because the small Hebrew clan under the leadership of Abraham was better suited than others to receive the spiritual responsibilities.
YAHWEH revealed HIS plans to Abraham: 'It is through Yitschaq that your name shall be carried on.' In other words, the line of the patriarchs would descend from Yitschaq and not from Ishmael. Of course, Ishmael remained under YAHWEH’s protection: he was to be the ancestor of a great nation: his twelve sons were to become the chieftains of the twelve tribes of Ishmaelite Arabs of north Arabia. But the torch of revelation was to be jealously retained in the hands of the descendants of Abraham and Yitschaq alone.
ONE, QADASH and invisible YAHWEH
For it was a question of protecting the Hebrew clan against any intrusion of elements of polytheism. Ishmael, the son of Hagar the Egyptian, was of mixed blood; his spiritual heritage was probably of a popular nature, namely, the crude mixture of god-beasts and beast-gods worshipped on the banks of the Nile. How, in such circumstances could he be chosen as the guardian of the new Hebrew faith governed by the ONE, QADASH and invisible YAHWEH?
After his father's funeral Ishmael could well have spoken out to claim his rightful share of the inheritance. But he probably understood that despite the provisions of the Sumerian law he had remained in the eyes of the Hebrew clan the 'concubine's son', the 'slave girl's child'. He could sense that his position was by no means assured. He appeared at the funeral, and then, without a word, he went back to his tents.
Moreover, to show clearly the complete rupture between Ishmael and the Hebrew clan the writer of Bereshith takes care to tell us that, in the wilderness of Paran, Ishmael, who had become a mighty hunter and a clever hand with a bow and arrow, founded a family. His mother, Hagar the Egyptian, chose him an Egyptian woman for wife. Thus there was a twofold admixture of blood. At the historical level, which coincides here with the spiritual, the son of Hagar the slave is no longer important.
Yitschaq YAHWEH's Chosen One Yitschaq Sitemap Scripture History Through the Ages Yitschaq The Hebrew Clan The Land Of Canaan Legal Question Ishmael Abraham's Heir Spiritual Question Ishmael And Mohammed Who Was Yitschaq Yitschaq's Mission Yitschaq's Life Yitschaq's Life Journeys With His Flocks Yitschaq The Story-Teller