- Section XI. - Isaac
- LII. History of Ishmael
13. נבית nebāyot, Nebajoth, “heights.” קדר qēdār, Qedar, “black.” אדבאל 'adbe'ēl, Adbeel, “miracle of God?” מבשׂם mı̂bśām Mibsam, “sweet odor.”
14. משׁמע mı̂shma‛, Mishma‘, “hearing.” דוּמה dûmâh, Dumah, “silence.” משׂא maśā', Massa, “burden.”
15. חדר chădar, Chadar, “chamber;” or חדד chădad, Chadad, “sharpness;” תימא tēymā', Tema. יטוּר yeṭûr, Jetur, “enclosure,” akin to טוּר ṭûr, “a wall,” and טירה ṭı̂yrâh, “a wall.” נפישׁ nāpı̂ysh, Naphish, “breathing.” קדמה qēdemâh, Qedemah, “before, eastward.”
16. חצר chātsēr, “court, village, town.”
According to custom, before the history of the principal line is taken up, that of the collateral branch is briefly given. Thus, Cain’s history is closed before Sheth’s is commenced; Japheth and Ham are before Shem; Haran and Nahor before Abram. And so the sons of Keturah are first dismissed from the pages of history, and then Ishmael.
The present passage begins with the formula, “and these are the generations,” and forms the eighth document so commencing. The appearance of a document consisting of seven verses is clearly against the supposition that each of these documents is due to a different author. The phrase points to a change of subject, not of author.
Nebaioth - Isaiah 60:7 is preserved in the Nabataei inhabiting Arabia Petraea, and extending far toward the East. “Kedar” Isaiah 21:17 appears in the Cedrei of Pliny (H. N. 5, 12) who dwell east of Petraea. “Adbeel Mibsam,” and “Mishma are otherwise unknown. The last is connected with the Μαισαιμενεῖς Maisaimeneis of Ptol. (v. 7, 21). “Dumah” Isaiah 21:11 is probably Δούμεθα Doumetha (Ptol. vi. 19, 7) and Domata (Plin. H. N. 6, 32) and Dumat el-Jendel in Nejd and the Syrian desert. “Massa” may be preserved in the Μασανοὶ Masanoi of Ptolemy (v. 19, 2), northeast of Duma. “Hadar” is Hadad in 1 Chronicles 1:30, the Samaritan Pentateuch, Onkelos, perhaps the Septuagint, and many codices. It is supposed to be Χαττηνία Chatteenia (Polyb.), Attene, and to lie between Oman and Bahrein. “Tema” Job 6:19; Isaiah 21:14; Jeremiah 25:23 lay on the borders of Nejd and the Syrian desert. “Jetur” remains in Ituraea, Jedur, northeast of the sea of Galilee. Some suppose the Druses descended from him. “Naphish” 1 Chronicles 6:19, 1 Chronicles 6:22 lay in the same quarter. “Kedemah” is otherwise unknown. “In their towns and in their castles.” The former are unwalled collections of houses or perhaps tents; the latter, fortified keeps or encampments. “Twelve princes,” one for each tribe, descended from his twelve sons.
Ishmael dies at the age of a hundred and thirty-seven. “From Havilah,” on the borders of Arabia Petraea and Felix. “Unto Shur,” on the borders of Arabia and Egypt. This was the original seat of the Ishmaelites, from which they wandered far into Arabia. “In the presence of all his brethren” - the descendants of Abraham by Sarah and Keturah, those of Lot, and the Egyptians who were his brethren or near kindred by his mother and wife. “He had fallen” into the lot of his inheritance. Thus was fulfilled the prediction uttered before his birth Genesis 16:12.