Arab vs. Jew: The Conflict Started Over 4000 Years Ago!

Genesis. Ch. 12 – 25

Abram was born about 2166 BC

This is after Noah and the Flood, and about 640 years before Moses and the Exodus.

Ch. 12 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you.”

Ch. 15 God promises Abram that he will be the Father of many:

“Count the Stars……so shall your offspring be”

Ch. 16 Acting apart from God’s will and timing: Sarai (Sarah) Abram’s wife, tells him to sleep with an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. Hagar became pregnant and of course this caused friction between the two women. Abram allowed Sarah to send Hagar away. But the Lord tells Hagar to return and submit to Sarah and the Lord promises Hagar “to increase your descendents that they will be too numerous to count” Verse 11 and 12 says Hagar’s child is to be called Ishmael and “He will be a wild ass of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”(NIV)

Ch. 17 God changes Abrams name to Abraham which means Father of Many.

God promises Abram again that he and Sarah will have a son even though Sarah is now in her 90’s and he is over 100 years old.. Abraham says to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” God answered, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will make him into a great nation; But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear…”

Ch 21 Isaac is born and again there is friction between Sarah, Hagar and also Ishmael. Sarah tells Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. This bothers Abraham, but God reassures him that Ishmael will also become into a nation, “because he is your offspring.”

So Abraham sends them off with some food and water and Hagar and Ishmael wander off into the desert. They almost die of thirst, but God provides a well of water for them to drink. Ishmael takes a wife and Chapter 15 his 12 sons names are listed. Gen. 25:18 tells us that they settled near the border of Egypt in Sinai and “…they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.” (NIV)

The descendents of Isaac are the Jews (the children of Israel).

The descendents of Ishmael are the Arabs.

They both lay claim to Israel also known as Palestine or the “Holy Land”.

NOTE: According to articles by Islamic Muslims and also such sources as the Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia, Islam goes as far as to say and attempts to prove that Hagar was the only true wife of Abraham and “Ishmael the first legitimate son. Islam asserts that he was the one nearly sacrificed, not Isaac, (or Iss'haq in Arabic.) Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son for God is celebrated by Muslims every year as Eid ul-Adha. Ishmael is a highly regarded person in the Qu'ran. Ishmael enjoined upon his people worship and almsgiving, and was acceptable in the sight of his Lord (19:55).” After a quick look thru the indexed references to Ishmael, I could not find support for this belief in the Qu’ran.

A great Jewish History Time-Line Article can be found here: http://www.science.co.il/Israel-history.asp

Notes by Craig A. Crawford – July 2006 www.HowToGoToHeaven.org