• Ishmael
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    • Jehoash; son of Jehohanan.—2 Chron. 23:1, 12-15, 20; 24:1.

      5. Ringleader of those who killed Governor Gedaliah only three months after the downfall of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E.; son of Nethaniah of the royal line. At the time the governor’s appointment was made by Nebuchadnezzar, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, was in the field as one of the military chiefs. Later, he came to Gedaliah and apparently entered a sworn covenant of peace and support with the governor. Secretly, however, Ishmael conspired with Baalis, the king of the Ammonites, to kill Gedaliah. Other military commanders, including Johanan, warned Gedaliah of Ishmael’s mischief, but the governor, not believing the report, refused to grant Johanan permission to strike Ishmael down.—2 Ki. 25:22-24; Jer. 40:7-16.

      As a result, when Gedaliah was entertaining Ishmael and his band of ten men at a meal, they rose up and killed their host as well as the Jews and Chaldeans who were with him. The next day these assassins seized eighty men who had come from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria, killing all but ten of them, and throwing their bodies into the great cistern built by King Asa. Ishmael and his men then took the remnant of those living in Mizpah captive and headed for Ammonite territory. On the way Johanan and his forces overtook and rescued the captives, but Ishmael and eight of his men escaped to their Ammonite sanctuary.—2 Ki. 25:25; Jer. 41:1-18.

      6. One of the priests of the paternal house of Pashhur who put away their foreign wives in the days of Ezra.—Ezra 10:22, 44.

  • Ishmaelite
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    • ISHMAELITE

      (Ishʹma·el·ite).

      A descendant of Ishmael, the firstborn son of Abraham by Hagar, the Egyptian handmaid of Sarah. (Gen. 16:1-4, 11) Ishmael, in turn, married an Egyptian by whom he had twelve sons (Nebaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, Kedemah), the chieftains of the various Ishmaelite clans. (Gen. 21:21; 25:13-16) The Ishmaelites, therefore, were at the start one-fourth Semitic and threefourths Hamitic, racially speaking.

      As God had promised, the Ishmaelites grew to become “a great nation” that ‘could not be numbered for multitude.’ (Gen. 17:20; 16:10) But instead of settling down (they built few cities), they preferred the nomadic life. Ishmael himself was “a zebra of a man,” that is, a restless wanderer who roamed the Wilderness of Paran and lived by his bow and arrows. His descendants were likewise tent-dwelling bedouins for the most part, a people who ranged over the Sinai Peninsula from “in front of Egypt,” that is, to the E of Egypt and across N Arabia as far as Assyria. They were noted for being a fierce, warlike people hard to get along with, even as it was said of their father Ishmael: “His hand will be against everyone, and the hand of everyone will be against him.”—Gen. 16:12; 21:20, 21; 25:16, 18.

      In further describing the Ishmaelites, it is said: “In front of all his brothers he settled down [Heb., na·phalʹ].” (Gen. 25:18) Similarly, the Midianites and their allies, it was said, “were plumped [noph·limʹ, a participle form of na·phalʹ] in the low plain” in Israelite territory until Gideon’s band forcefully routed them. (Judg. 7:1, 12) Hence, when the Ishmaelites “settled down” it was evidently with the intent of holding on to the region until forcefully removed.

      In the course of time it is quite likely that intermarriage between Ishmaelites and descendants of Abraham through Keturah (Gen. 25:1-4) occurred, resulting in the race of Arabs that occupied sections of Arabia. Since Ishmael and Midian were half brothers, any intermarriage of their respective descendants with the amalgamation of their blood, habits, traits and occupations could have given rise to an interchangeable usage of the terms “Ishmaelites” and ‘Midianites,’ as is noted in the description of the caravan that sold Joseph into Egyptian slavery. (Gen. 37:25-28; 39:1) In the days of Gideon the hordes that invaded Israel were described as both Midianites and Ishmaelites, one of the identifying marks of the latter being their gold nose rings.—Judg. 8:24; compare 7:25 and 8:22, 26.

      The animosity Ishmael had toward Isaac seems to have been handed down to his descendants, even to the extent of hating the God of Isaac, for the psalmist in enumerating those that are “the very ones intensely hating” Jehovah, includes the Ishmaelites. (Ps. 83:1, 2, 5, 6) There were, however, evidently exceptions. Under the organizational arrangement instituted by David, Obil, who is referred to as an Ishmaelite, had supervision over the camels of the king.—1 Chron. 27:30, 31.

      In the seventh century C.E. Mohammed claimed to be an Ishmaelite descendant of Abraham.

  • Ishtob
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    • ISHTOB

      (Ishʹtob) [man of Tob (good)].

      One of the small kingdoms that provided fighting men for the sons of Ammon to use against David. The forces from “Ishtob” and their allies were defeated. (2 Samuel chapter 10, AT, AV, NW, Yg) Most translators and geographers consider that Ishtob should be rendered “men of Tob,” referring to “the land of Tob” where Jephthah resided. (Judg. 11:3-11; see 2 Samuel 10:6, 8, AS, JB, JP, RS.) However, the reading “Ishtob” has the support of certain ancient versions. (Compare Bagster’s LXX [translated from Greek]; La [from Syriac]; and Dy [from Latin].) The location of an ancient Ishtob is not now known.—See TOB.