Why did God promise great nations to both Ishmael and Issac?
Quote:
Why is the "great nation" of Islam not mentioned after
Genesis?
Q. I am having a hard time understanding why God promised great nations to both Ishmael and Issac. Also, why is the "great nation" of Ishmael, Islam, not mentioned any further in the Bible? Are we to assume, as Christians and a nation descendant from Issac, that we should also study the Koran in order to study the other great nation of God?
(Submitted by: Tom )
A. Your confusion is probably a result of how you define "nation." It is true that God promised great nations to both Isaac and Ishmael, but what is a "nation"? In all but 5 instances in the O.T. where the word "nation" is used, it is Strong's Concordance # 1471 goy and means: Gentile, heathen, nation or people. Genesis 17 predicts both nations coming from Abraham and Sarah in their old age:
" Then God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah [princess, margin] shall be her name. "And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be from her." Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said is his heart, "Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!"
" Then God said, "No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. "And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation." " (Gen. 17:15-20, NKJV throughout).
Genesis 25:12-18 names the 12 princes of Ishmael and where they dwelt. Smith's Bible Dictionary says,
" The sons of Ishmael peopled the north and west of the Arabian peninsula. and eventually formed the chief element of the Arab nation, the wandering Bedouin tribes."
Most of the Arab Bedouins recognize Mohammed (571-632 A.D.) as their spiritual leader and are called Moslems, Mohammedans or Islam. Islam originated with Mohammed did not exist before. That is why there is no mention of it in the Bible.
Genesis 25:20-24 tells us that Isaac and Rebekah married, that Rebekah conceived and v. 23 says,
"Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger."
The two nations in Rebekah's womb were the Edomites (through Esau) and the Israelities (through Jacob). Most Christians in the world today are Israelites. If you study Islam, do it only as a means of comparison. There are vast differences in the two belief systems despite what you might hear to the contrary.
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