Years later, when Abraham prepared “a big feast on the day of Isaac’s being weaned” at the age of about 5 years, Sarah noticed Hagar’s son Ishmael, now about 19 years old, “poking fun.” This was no innocent child’s play. As implied by the next verse in the account, it may have involved a taunting of Isaac over heirship. Here Ishmael was making early manifestation of the antagonistic traits that Jehovah’s angel foretold would be shown by him. (Ge 16:12)

As to his being thrown under one of the bushes, although it was foretold that he would be “a zebra of a man,” Ishmael may not have been very strong as a teenager. (Ge 16:12)