A modern dictionary of Catholic terms, both common and obscure.
Find accurate definitions of words and phrases. The son of
Abraham and Hagar, a slave girl. At the time Ismael was born, it
seemed unlikely that Sarah, Abraham's wife, would have a child
because of her advanced age (Genesis 16:1-16). But Yahweh "dealt
kindly with her" and Isaac was born (Genesis 21:1-3). Ill-
feeling understandably developed between Sarah and Hagar, and
the distressed Abraham was compelled to send Hagar and Ismael
away. But "God was with the boy" and protected him. Following
his marriage, he had twelve sons (Genesis 21:9-21). As time went
on and Ismael and his sons extended their possessions in the
land east of Egypt, they formed twelve tribes, each son becoming
a tribal chief. Frequent references to these tribes appear in
Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah. Ismael was, at least in name, the
ancestor of this widespread network (Genesis 25:12-18). Also
spelled Ishmael. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John
Hardon's Modern Catho