301. HE WILL BE A WILD MAN – THE ORIGINS OF THE HAMAS, THE HOUTHIS AND HEZBOLLAH

(The Information & Edification Series – Batch 10)

The historical account given of Abram, his wife Sarai and her maid Hagar, attests to one main learning point. It is that when God makes you a promise, you need to wait patiently until he brings it to pass, in full trust and with a good attitude, not try to work out how he is going to do it or when or reason that he must need your help to bring it to pass because he is taking too long (in your estimation) or perhaps, finds the task too difficult.

Sarai, having knowledge of the promise but finding the wait to be too long and the circumstances to be too difficult, devised a plan based on her own reasoning, to help God. In faithlessness, doubt and desperation, she persuaded Abram to take matters into his own hands, although God had promised him an heir. She looked at her frail body, which had never conceived and at her age and concluded that the child that God had promised Abram would not be from her. She then gave him Hagar her maid, a bondwoman and an Egyptian, to wife and Ishmael was birthed.

Perhaps for Abram, who was renamed Abraham’s sake, God blessed Ishmael. He told Abram, who had clearly been entreating for him, as his son, which he loved: “And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.” (Genesis 17:20)

Despite the blessing he pronounced on him and his descendants though, God made it clear that Ishmael was not the child that he had promised. He had been the product of earthly, fleshly, faithless efforts and was borne out of Sarah and Abraham’s impatience.

Despite all their efforts though, God had determined that Ishmael would not be the promised heir. He had purposed all along, that the heir would come from Sarai, who was renamed Sarah and he did not allow what they had done, without his approval, to thwart his plan.

In Genesis 17:15-19, it reads:

• “And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.  Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.”

In light of this, some years later, Sarah did what seemed impossible. Although she and Abraham were stricken in years, she conceived and bore a son called Isaac.

Whereas Ishmael represented faithlessness therefore, Isaac and his descendant Israel, represented faith. For, having messed up by taking matters into their own hands through faithlessness, resulting in Ishmael being born through Sarah’s maid Hagar, Abraham and Sarah went on to believe what God had said about them bearing a child, although they were so old and she had always been barren. Hebrews 11:11 states, “Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.”

Isaac was born and it was this Isaac that later bore Jacob, who God renamed Israel.

It follows that the people of Israel today are descendants of Isaac, which was born of the promise, whereas the people of Ishmael, known today as arabians were born as a result of Sarai’s faithlessness, desperation, impatience and doubt. Ishmael was born from Hagar, an Egyptian maid or slave and therefore, a bondwoman, whereas Isaac, whose descendants were Israelites were born from a free woman, Sarah.

In Galatians 4:22-30, it states of the two descendants of Abraham and what they represented:

• “For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.”

The scripture above makes reference to the children who descended from Ishmael and were therefore born of the flesh, in faithlessness, persecuting those who descenced from Isaac and were therefore born of the Spirit, by faith in God. It suggests therefore that the Ishmaelites persecuted the Israelites as far back as the Bible days. In fact, when Isaac was born, Sarah observed Ishmael mocking him. In Genesis 21:8-10, it reads, in reference to Isaac: “And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.”

As a result, Sarah, in regret for how her plan had backfired, insisted that Ishmael and his mother Hagar be sent away from them, her realizing that Ishmael posed a challenge to Isaac’s God-given and rightful inheritance.

In verses 10 to 13, it states:

• “Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.”

In obedience and God having promised to take care of Ishmael and his descendants, Abraham, in love for Ishmael, reluctantly sent him and his mother away. God, faithful to his promise, has preserved the Ishmaelites (arabians) to date, although he has removed so many other types of people from the world.

However, even as Ishmael mocked Isaac, centuries later, the descendants of Ishmael (the arabians) continue to mock the people of Israel and to search for ways to afflict them. It is their desire, even as satan desires to destroy the people of God (the Church), to wipe the Israelites off the earth.

Of course, this endeavour will never be materialized as the Israelites remain the people with whom God had the old Covenant. He has promised in his Word, that they will never be completely destroyed and therefore, the desire of their enemies will never come to pass.

In Jeremiah 31:35-37, Jeremiah the prophet declared:

• “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah…But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people…

• Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.  Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.”

It is to be noted though, that although Sarah and Abraham have long left the scene, till today, the effects of their bad decision, done without God’s consultation and approval are still being felt globally, especially by the Israelites. In reference to those who would descend from Ishmael’s lineage, Genesis 16:12 accurately prophesied: “And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him.”

Needless to say, “every man” refers to the world in general and “wild man” denotes something of the aggression that will be characteristic of such a people, who, no matter the existing, established and accepted rules of global law and order, cannot be tamed or controlled, as they pursue their agenda.

Does this sound familiar? Is it not generally true or characteristic of the arabic people who hold fast to a false and diabolic religious ideology called Islam and under its guise, consider themselves as having the licence to attack, murder and bomb innocent people in the world?

Thankfully, irrespective of our background, salvation through Jesus Christ is available to all, including the arabians. Thankfully, some arabians have come to a knowledge of the truth and therefore have renounced their false religion, in exchange for redemption which is freely offered through Jesus Christ. Such arabians are a part of the body of Christ and therefore, the Church.

Outside of their acceptance of the truth of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour though, Ishmaelite’s descendants will continue to wreak havoc and to wage war and unrest in the world, among all people and aggressively so. Only the Word of God can tame them, if they believe on Jesus Christ and receive him into their hearts. If they don’t, they remain instruments used by satan, to forward his evil purposes. He hates the Israelites, the Church and people in general and so he uses them to do his dirty work, them being deceived that what they are doing will win them religious accolades.

At this present moment, the world is battling with arabic factions like the Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah, as it has always been. Sadly, the world will continue to battle with Ishmaelite’s descendants, possibly until the anti-christ emerges with his own strange, false and diabolical religious ideology where he considers himself to be god (Daniel 11:37-38) or thankfully, when finally, the Lord Jesus Christ returns.

(Written on 14th January, 2024)