Editorial November 13, 2000 Issue

Ishmael and Isaac

John Selover

GOD preserved Ishmael. Envy sent him and Hagar, his mother, into the desert, and their death was expected. But there was practical spiritual intervention, and their lives were preserved.

The division between Arab and Jew is traditionally traced to these half-brothers' forced separation in the desert. Sarah, driven by fear for the status of her son Isaac, demanded that Ishmael and his mother Hagar be banished. Abraham, father of both sons, consented. Hagar, with a mother's prayer, saved herself and her son. And God provided that a great nation would grow from Ishmael. And, likewise, according to promise, a great nation grew from Isaac.

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