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Abraham Visited Ishmael Twice Without Dismounting His Camel

Abraham visited Ishmael twice without dismounting. The first wife failed a test she did not know she was taking. The second wife passed without knowing either.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Three Years in the Wilderness of Paran
  2. The First Wife
  3. Ishmael Comes Home to a Message
  4. The Second Visit and the Second Wife
  5. A Father's Test and God's Test

Three Years in the Wilderness of Paran

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After Sarah demanded it and God confirmed it, Abraham had sent Hagar and Ishmael away with bread and a skin of water. They wandered south into the wilderness of Paran. Ishmael grew up under the open sky, became a bowman, married an Egyptian woman his mother found for him. He built a tent and raised children and moved his flocks through the months and years. No word came from Abraham's camp.

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Three years passed. Then Abraham told Sarah: \"I yearn to see my son. I have not seen him for a long time.\" Sarah, who had been the one to send the boy away, gave her answer in a form that set its own condition: \"go if you must, but do not dismount your camel when you arrive.\"

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Abraham understood what she meant and agreed to it.

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The First Wife

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He rode to the tent in Paran around midday. Ishmael was not home: out hunting, or tending his flocks, gone since morning in the way of men who live by the land. His wife came out to meet the visitor. She did not know who he was. He did not tell her.

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He asked for Ishmael and she said he was away. He asked for bread and water, the basic hospitality that the desert demanded of any host who had them to give. She told him there was nothing. No bread, no water. She spoke without apology, without movement toward the tent to check, without the slightest adjustment of her posture that might suggest she was considering the request seriously.

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Abraham sat on his camel and looked at her. Then he told her: "when your husband returns, tell him that an old man came from the land of Canaan, and that he said, change the threshold of your tent, for it is not good." He turned his camel and rode away.

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Ishmael Comes Home to a Message

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When Ishmael returned his wife relayed the message exactly as she had been given it. The old man from Canaan. The threshold that was not good. Change it. Ishmael sat with the words for a moment and then understood them: this was his father. He had come and not dismounted. He had looked at the wife and delivered judgment on her in the form of a parable about thresholds. He sent the Egyptian wife away and married again.

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The Second Visit and the Second Wife

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Three more years. Abraham rode again. The same arrangement: midday, Ishmael away, a woman coming out to meet the old man on his camel. This one brought bread and water without being asked. She set it down and said: "dismount, rest yourself, eat." Abraham did not dismount. He accepted the hospitality from the saddle, blessed the woman and the tent and Ishmael's household, and then gave her the second message: "tell your husband that the threshold of his tent is very good."

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Ishmael came home and received the news. His father had approved. The second wife had passed without knowing there was a test to pass. She had been herself, generous and welcoming to a stranger, and in being herself she had demonstrated what Ishmael's household required: a woman who understood that a stranger arriving at midday thirsty and tired was not a burden to be refused but an obligation to be met.

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A Father's Test and God's Test

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The tradition reads these two visits as a mirror of the Akedah, the binding of Isaac, which had happened in the years just before. Abraham had been tested on the mountain above Moriah: would he sacrifice the son he loved most? Now Ishmael was being tested from a distance, through the women he chose. A man's household reveals him. A woman who turns away thirst reveals the values of the tent she lives in. Both tests were silent. Both carried the same weight: what do you give when giving costs you something and the person asking has no power to compel you?

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IshmaelAbrahamFamilyHospitalityWisdom
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From the tradition

Sources

3 sources

The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Book of Jubilees 17:14Book of Jubilees

Abraham is often remembered as this towering figure of faith, but the Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text from the Second Temple period, gives us a stark look at the consequences of his actions on those around him.

Abraham, early one morning, sends Hagar, his concubine, and his son Ishmael, into the wilderness. He gives them bread and a bottle of water, placing it all on Hagar's shoulders. Then…he sends them away. Just like that. The Book of Jubilees 17 tells us she "departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba."

The water runs out. The child, Ishmael, is dying of thirst. He can't go on. He collapses.

Can you feel the desperation?

Hagar, a mother watching her child suffer, does the only thing she can think of. She lays him under an olive tree. Then, she walks away. Not far, mind you. Just a bow-shot's distance. Why? Because she can't bear to watch him die. “Let me not see the death of my child,” she cries, as she sits and weeps.

It’s a scene of utter desolation. A bow-shot. That’s how close she is to her son’s suffering, yet feels utterly powerless to stop it. This small distance becomes a vast chasm of despair.

The Book of Jubilees doesn’t offer a lot of commentary here. It simply lays bare the stark reality of their situation. It's a raw, unflinching look at the human cost of decisions made, even by those considered righteous.

What are we to make of this? Is this a story of abandonment? Of faith tested to its breaking point? Or is it a reminder that even in our darkest moments, hope, however faint, can still flicker? Perhaps it's all of these things, woven together in a tradition of human experience that continues to resonate with us today. A reminder that even in the wilderness, we are not always alone. And even a bow-shot distance can be bridged.

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Legends of the Jews 5:202Legends of the Jews

Legends of the Jews turns to Abraham Visited Ishmael After Three Years Apart.

Well, according to the Legends of the Jews, a collection of fascinating expansions on the biblical narrative compiled by Louis Ginzberg, there's more to the story. It tells of a touching, if somewhat indirect, encounter between father and son after a long separation.

The story goes that after three years apart, Abraham felt a longing to see Ishmael. So, he set out on his camel, journeying into the wilderness to find his son. Reaching Ishmael's tent around noon, Abraham inquired about his son, only to be greeted by Ishmael's wife. She explained that Ishmael was out hunting and tending to the camels.

This is where it gets interesting. The woman invited Abraham to rest and have some bread, but Abraham declined, saying he was in a hurry. He only asked for a little water. She quickly brought him water and bread, urging him to eat and drink. Abraham did, and his heart was merry. He even blessed his son, Ishmael.

Before leaving, Abraham gave Ishmael's wife a cryptic message. "When Ishmael comes home," he said, "tell him that a very old man from the land of the Philistines came hither, asked after thee, and thou wast not here. I brought him out bread and water, and he ate and drank, and his heart was merry. And he spoke these words to me: 'The tent-pin which thou hast is very good, do not put it away from the tent.'"

Then, Abraham rode off.

What's the meaning of this strange message? The "tent-pin," in this context, is understood to be a metaphor for Ishmael's wife. Abraham was subtly testing her character. Was she worthy of Ishmael? Was she honoring him?

When Ishmael returned, his wife relayed the old man's words. Ishmael, recognizing the hidden message and understanding it was from his father, realized his wife had indeed honored Abraham. He praised the Lord. This act of hospitality and the woman's good character were vital.

Following this, Ishmael took his family and belongings and journeyed to see his father in the land of the Philistines. Abraham then told Ishmael about the issues he’d had with Ishmael’s first wife and how she’d failed to honor him. Ishmael and his children then dwelled with Abraham for many days.

This little story, tucked away in the Legends of the Jews, gives us a glimpse into the complex relationship between Abraham and Ishmael. It wasn't a clean break, a complete severing of ties. There was still love, concern, and a desire for connection. It shows us that even within the grand narratives of chosen people and divine promises, there's always room for the deeply human stories of fathers and sons, of family, and of the quiet ways we show love and concern for one another, even from a distance. What does this tell us about how we should treat our own family members, even when relationships are fraught? Perhaps, like Abraham, we should look for ways to connect and offer blessings, even if they are delivered indirectly.

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Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 95:1Yalkut Shimoni on Torah

"And Abraham rose early... and took bread... and sent her away" (Genesis 21:14): with a writ of divorce. And he took the veil and tied it about her waist, to make known that she was a maidservant. Moreover, he wished to see his son Ishmael, and to know the road by which they would go. Ishmael was seventeen years old when he left his father's house, and through the merit of Abraham our father the water did not run out from the skin. But when they reached the edge of the wilderness, Hagar began to stray after the idolatry of her father's house, and at once the water ran out, and Ishmael's soul fainted with thirst. He went and cast himself under the desert thornbushes to sleep, and he said: O God of my father Abraham, there are issues of death before You; take my soul that I not die of thirst. And his prayer was granted, as it says, "For God has heard the voice of the lad" (Genesis 21:17). And there was opened for him the well that was created at twilight. They went and drank and filled the skin, and from there they set out and went through the whole wilderness until they reached the wilderness of Paran, where they found springs of water and settled.

Ishmael sent and took a wife from the daughters of Moab, and her name was Asiyah. After three years Abraham went to see Ishmael, having sworn to Sarah that he would not dismount from the camel in the place where Ishmael dwelt. He arrived there at midday and found Ishmael's wife. He said to her: Where is Ishmael? She said: He and his mother have gone to bring fruit and dates from the wilderness. He said to her: Give me a little bread and a little water, for my soul is faint from the journey of the wilderness. She said: I have neither bread nor water. He said to her: When Ishmael comes, tell him these words, and say to him: Change the threshold of your house, for it is not good for you and not fitting for you. When Ishmael came, she told him the words. A wise son is like half a sage: Ishmael understood and sent her away.

His mother sent and took for him a wife from her father's house, and her name was Fatimah. After another three years Abraham went again to see Ishmael, having sworn to Sarah that he would not dismount from the camel in the place where Ishmael dwelt. He arrived there at midday and found Ishmael's wife (and so forth, until) at once she brought out food and gave it to him. Abraham stood and prayed before the Holy One, blessed be He, for his son, and Ishmael's house was filled with all good things, with wealth and blessings. When Ishmael came, she told him of this, and Ishmael knew that even now his father's mercy was upon him, "as a father has mercy on his children" (Psalms 103:13). "Arise, lift up the lad" (Genesis 21:18): "And she went and filled the skin" (Genesis 21:19): this tells you she was deficient in faith.

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