As for Ishmael, I have heard thee, &c.— The Lord is pleased to repeat to Abraham what he had promised Hagar before concerning Ishmael; namely, that he would make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly; see notes on ch. Genesis 16:10. He is pleased, more particularly, to add, twelve princes shall he beget: a very extraordinary circumstance, as the Bishop of Bristol observes; but it was punctually fulfilled; and Moses hath given us the names of these twelve princes, or heads of tribes, ch. Genesis 25:12-16. Strabo frequently mentions the Arabian phylarchs, as he denominates them, or rulers of tribes: and Melo, quoted by Eusebius, relates, that "Abraham, of his AEgyptian wife, begat twelve sons, (he should have said one son, who begat twelve sons,) who, departing into Arabia, divided the region between them, and were the first kings of the inhabitants; whence, even to our days, the Arabians have twelve kings of the same names as the first;" and ever since, the people have been governed by phylarchs, and have lived in tribes, and still continue to do so, as Thevenot and other modern travellers testify.
I will make him a great nation— This is repeated twice or thrice; and it was accomplished as soon as, in the regular course of nature, it could be accomplished. His seed, in process of time, grew up into a great nation, and such they continued for several ages, and such they continue to this day. They might indeed emphatically be styled a great nation, when the Saracens had made those rapid and extensive conquests, and erected one of the largest empires that ever was in the world. Who, continues the Bishop, can fairly lay all these particulars concerning Ishmael together, and not perceive the hand of God, in that whole affair, from the beginning to the end? None but God could describe so exactly the genius and manners, not only of a single person before he was born, but of a whole people, from the first founder of the race to the present time. It was somewhat wonderful, and not to be foreseen by human sagacity, that a man's whole posterity should so nearly resemble him, and retain the same inclinations, the same habits, the same customs, throughout all ages. These are the only people, besides the Jews, who have subsisted as a distinct people from the beginning; and in some respects they very much resemble each other. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are descended from Abraham, and both boast of their descent from that father of the faithful. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are circumcised, and both profess to have derived that ceremony from Abraham. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, had originally twelve patriarchs, or heads of tribes, who were their princes or governors. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, marry among themselves, and in their own tribes. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are singular in several of their customs, and are standing monuments to all ages of the exactness of the Divine predictions, of the veracity of Scripture history. We may, if possible, with more confidence, believe the particulars related of Abraham and Ishmael, when we see them verified in their posterity at this day. This is having, as it were, ocular demonstration for our faith.