Camel Caravans and Tents of the Sons of the Eastby KandD
25:15Genesis 25:15
Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:
The verse stands in a genealogical record within a chapter that records Abraham's death and foreshadows the characters of Esau and Jacob. It belongs to the ongoing account of Abraham and his family that traces the gradual growth of faith, together with the story of Isaac and his two sons whose failings set the stage for Jacob's victory that made him Israel, meaning prevailer with God. The verse gives four of the names of Ishmael's twelve sons, each of whom became the head of a tribe and a prince, while those who held the count as five reckoned Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah as five of the twelve princely sons. The line of the oldest son joined with the Edomites in building up the Idumean kingdom with its rock-hewn capital Petra; others of the tribes lived a settled life, but the great majority were nomads dwelling in movable villages of tents throughout the desert region from the Euphrates westward, carrying on a large carrying trade across the desert and ravaging and plundering whenever opportunity offered. The sons of Ishmael whom it names stand among the descendants through whom the Abyssinians trace their ancestry from Abraham. The foretelling that Ishmael would father twelve princes carries no special symbolic meaning in the number twelve; it states twelve simply because twelve princely sons were to come from him.
The verse stands in a genealogical record within a chapter that records Abraham's death and foreshadows the characters of Esau and Jacob. It belongs to the ongoing account of Abraham and his family that traces the gradual growth of faith, together with the story of Isaac and his two sons whose failings set the stage for Jacob's victory that made him Israel, meaning prevailer with God. The verse gives four of the names of Ishmael's twelve sons, each of whom became the head of a tribe and a prince, while those who held the count as five reckoned Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah as five of the twelve princely sons. The line of the oldest son joined with the Edomites in building up the Idumean kingdom with its rock-hewn capital Petra; others of the tribes lived a settled life, but the great majority were nomads dwelling in movable villages of tents throughout the desert region from the Euphrates westward, carrying on a large carrying trade across the desert and ravaging and plundering whenever opportunity offered. The sons of Ishmael whom it names stand among the descendants through whom the Abyssinians trace their ancestry from Abraham. The foretelling that Ishmael would father twelve princes carries no special symbolic meaning in the number twelve; it states twelve simply because twelve princely sons were to come from him.