He will be a wild man— In the original it is, a wild ass man; and the learned Bochart translates it, tam ferus quam onager, as wild as a wild ass. But what is the nature of the animal to which Ishmael is so particularly compared? It cannot be described better than it is in the book of Job 39:5; Job 39:30. Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass? whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwelling. He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing. Ishmael, therefore, and his posterity, would be wild, savage, ranging in the desarts, and not easily softened and tamed to society: and whoever hath ever read or known any thing of this people, knows this to be their true and genuine character. It is said of Ishmael, ch. Genesis 21:20. that he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer: and the same is no less true of his descendants than of himself: he dwelt in the wilderness; and his sons still inhabit the same wilderness, and many of them neither sow nor plant, according to the best accounts, ancient and modern. He became an archer: and such were the Ituraeans, whose bows and arrows are famous in all authors: such were the mighty men of Kedar in Isaiah's time, Isaiah 21:17 and such the Arabs have been from the beginning, and are at this time; and it was late before they admitted the use of fire-arms among them.
His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him— The one is the natural and almost necessary consequence of the other. Ishmael lived by prey and rapine in the wilderness; and his posterity have all along infested Arabia and the neighbouring countries with their robberies and incursions. They are in a state of continual war with the rest of the world, and are both robbers by land, and many of them pirates by sea. And as they have been such enemies to mankind, it is no wonder that mankind have been enemies to them; that several attempts have been made to extirpate them; and even now, as well as formerly, travellers are forced to go with arms and in caravans, or large companies, and to march and keep watch and guard, like a little army, to defend themselves from the assaults of these freebooters, who run about in troops, and rob and plunder all they can by any means subdue. And these robberies they justify, according to Mr. Sale, "by alledging the hard usage of their father Ishmael, who being turned out of doors by Abram, had the open plains and desarts given him by God for his patrimony, with permission to take whatever he could find there. And on this account they think they may, with a safe conscience, indemnify themselves, as well as they can, not only on the posterity of Isaac, but also on every body else; always supposing a sort of kindred between themselves and those they plunder. And, in relating their adventures of this kind, they think it sufficient to change the expression, and instead of, I robbed a man of such a thing, to say, I gained it."
He shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren— Shall tabernacle, ישׁכן ishcon; for many of the Arabs dwell in tents, and are therefore called Scenites. This is very extraordinary, that every man's hand should be against him, &c. and yet that he should be able to dwell in the presence of all his brethren; but, extraordinary as it is, this also hath been fulfilled, both in the person of Ishmael and in his posterity. As for Ishmael himself, the sacred historian, ch. Genesis 25:17-18. relates, that his years were an hundred and thirty and seven, and he died in the presence of all his brethren. And as for his posterity, they dwelt likewise in the presence of all their brethren; of Abram's sons, by Keturah; the Moabites and Ammonites, descendants of Lot; the Israelites, descended of Isaac and Jacob; and the Edomites, descendants of Isaac and Esau: and they still subsist a distinct people, and inhabit the country of their progenitors, notwithstanding the perpetual enmity between them and the rest of mankind. It may be said, perhaps, that the country was not worth conquering, and its barrenness was its preservation; but this is a mistake: for, by all accounts, though the greater part of it consists of sandy and barren desarts, yet beautiful spots and fruitful vallies are interspersed. One part of the country was anciently known and distinguished by the name of Arabia, the Happy. And now the Proper Arabia is, by the Oriental writers, generally divided into five provinces. Of these the chief is the province of Yaman, which, as Mr. Sale asserts, "has been famous from all antiquity for the happiness of its climate, its fertility, and riches." But, if the country were ever so bad, one would think it should be for the interest of the neighbouring princes and states; at any hazard, to root out such a pestilential race of robbers; and it has been attempted several times, but never accomplished. They have, from first to last, maintained their independency; and notwithstanding the most powerful efforts for their destruction, still dwell in the presence of all their brethren, and in the presence of all their enemies.
As the history of Ishmael and his descendants, is one of the standing public evidences of the truth of the sacred Scriptures, the reader will excuse me if I enlarge upon it. Diodorus, one of the great heathen Historians, says of them, that neither the Assyrians, nor the kings of the Medes and Persians, nor yet of the Macedonians, were able to subdue them; nay, though they led many and great forces against them, yet they could not accomplish their attempts. And undoubted history informs us of such remarkable interpositions of Providence to preserve them, when they have been upon the brink of ruin; that when we consider them, we cannot help being struck with admiration at the holy Scriptures, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.
When Alexander the Great overturned the Persian Empire, and conquered a great part of Asia, the neighbouring princes sent their ambassadors to make their submissions. The Arabs (the descendants of Ishmael) alone disdained to acknowledge the Conqueror, and scorned to send any embassy, or take any notice of him. This contempt so provoked him, that he meditated an expedition against them; and, humanly speaking, considering his vast army, the great assistance he would have received from all the neighbouring princes, and his being in want of nothing which could contribute to his success, we can scarcely suppose but he would have entirely destroyed them: but while he was meditating on these things, God took him away by death, and put an end to all his resentment and designs against them; and again shewed the world, that there was one greater than the greatest. When the Romans subdued the rest of the East, Arabia alone stood out; and when Lucullus, one of their generals, had subdued some of the Arabs, he was recalled, and Pompey sent in his room: this latter most successful general gained some victories, and penetrated into the country; but the word of God was against him, so that when success seemed ready to crown him with an entire subjection of the country, other affairs obliged him to leave it, and by retiring he lost all the advantages he had gained. AElius Gallus, a Roman general in the reign of Augustus, penetrated far into the country; but of a sudden a strange distemper made terrible havoc in his army; and after two years spent in the enterprize, he was glad to escape with the small remainder of his forces. But, at the times they were attacked by the Emperors Trajan and Severus, the interpositions of Providence to save them were still more remarkable.
Dio, who must have been impartial in the present instance, informs us, that when Trajan besieged the city of the Hagarenes (who were descended and denominated from Hagar,) as often as his soldiers attacked the city, the whole heavens shook with thunder, rainbows were seen in the sky, (both considered as terrifying omens by the Romans,) violent storms, hail, and thunderbolts, fell upon them; and all these were repeated, as often as they returned to the assault of the city; and as often as they sat down to refresh themselves with a repast, a multitude of flies alighting both on their eatables and liquors, made all they ate or drank nauseous; so that the emperor was at last compelled by these circumstances to raise the siege. It may be observed here, that when they were attacked by Trajan, the power of the whole world was united in one empire, and the whole power of that empire was in his hands; that he was himself a man of great abilities, remarkably beloved by his soldiers, indefatigable in the toils of war, and greatly experienced in all that belongs to it; so that if it were possible that God's promise to Ishmael of subsistence in freedom, though at enmity with the rest of the world, could be defeated by human wisdom or mortal might, it must have been at this time. About eight years after, the emperor Severus besieged the same city with a numerous army; and Dio, the historian, who gives an account of this expedition, as well as of that under Trajan, again remarks, that God preserved the city; who, by the Emperor, called back the soldiers, when they could have entered it; and again, by the soldiers, restrained the emperor from taking it, when he was desirous. The whole anecdote is very wonderful: the emperor being at first repulsed with loss, made great preparations for the second assault, in which (after a great loss of his soldiers) he overthrew part of the city-wall, so that an entrance lay open into the city. Just at that time the emperor caused a retreat to be sounded, imagining that the besieged would intreat for peace; and that, to obtain it, they would discover where the vast treasures lay, which were supposed to be concealed in their temple of the sun, and which he thought might be lost, if the city were sacked and the inhabitants destroyed. But the Hagarenes continued resolute the whole day, giving no intimation of their desire of entering into terms of capitulation. On the morrow following, when the emperor would have renewed the attack, the European soldiers, at all other times most resolute, would make no attempt to enter at the breach; and the Syrians, enforced to take the service, met with a grievous repulse. No persuasions, no promises, no threats could engage the Europeans to renew their attacks; so that, though the conquest in martial esteem appeared so easy after the breach in the walls, that one of Severus's captains confidently undertook to effect it, if he could but have five hundred and fifty European soldiers assigned to the attack, yet the emperor could do no more than reply in a rage, "Where shall I find so many soldiers?" and so departed into Palestine. And yet this very emperor was beloved and revered by his soldiers almost to adoration, but could not now influence them to assault the enemy, when they were almost at their mercy: a fact so extraordinary, that it appears to be manifestly the interposition of that Mighty Being, who at his pleasure poureth contempt upon princes, and bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought. It may be added, that the Hagarenes stood single in this extremity, against the whole Roman power; for Dio expressly says, that not one of their neighbours would assist them. And we may likewise observe, that the spirit of freedom, which was the declared characteristic of Ishmael before he was born, was remarkable at this time in these his descendants; as they seem to have been fully determined, either to live absolutely free, or to die so; disdaining to capitulate, or make any terms, even with the emperor of the world.
Nothing can be more convincing, that it was God himself who dictated the Scriptures, than to find them thus declaring what shall be, for ages to come; and to know that these predictions have been thus exactly fulfilled without any variation during so many ages; and that the prophecies concerning Ishmael, this son of Abram, should to this day be receiving their accomplishment publicly and exactly in every particular, in his numerous descendants. They who are desirous to see this curious subject more copiously handled, may be referred to a dissertation upon the independency of the Arabs, in the last volume of the Ancient Universal History.