Parallel Lives

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Isaac and Ishmael are very different men. Indeed, the contrast between Isaac, the beloved son of Abraham, and his half-brother seems to dominate many aspects of their relationship. Yet both of Abraham’s sons endure a strikingly similar life—indeed a near-death—experience. Is the Bible trying to tell us something with this little-noticed parallel?

Beginning with their births, the biblical account repeatedly draws out the dissimilarities between Abraham’s sons. Isaac, we read, is born to the patriarch’s wife Sarah; Ishmael, to Sarah’s Egyptian maid, Hagar, whom Sarah had given to Abraham as a wife. As the boys grow, the contrast in their personalities becomes increasingly apparent. Ishmael, God tells Hagar, will be a “wild ass of a man,” with “his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him” (Genesis 16:12). After being cast out of Abraham’s home, Ishmael is raised in the wilderness, where he becomes an archer; his wife, like his mother, is Egyptian (Genesis 21:20–21).

Isaac, on the other hand, is reared in the family home in Beersheba. A successful farmer, he marries his cousin Rebekah. It is through Isaac, the younger son, that God’s covenant with Abraham will be passed on: God promises Abraham that Sarah (not Hagar) will “give rise to nations; rulers of peoples shall issue from her” (Genesis 17:16).

Yet a parity at one point in their lives—indeed the seminal experience in both their lives—suggests that their stories might not be as different as they seem. Not even the midrash, however, usually so astute in detecting biblical parallels, has taken notice of the similarities in deed and wording in the texts describing Ishmael and Isaac on the brink of death.^a

Late in life, having borne no children, Sarah sends her maid Hagar to Abraham as a co-wife.^b Filled with jealousy when Hagar becomes pregnant, Sarah—with Abraham’s consent—treats her maid harshly, and Hagar escapes to the wilderness (Genesis 16:1–6). Only when God intervenes does Hagar return to give birth to Ishmael. Fourteen years later, through divine intervention, Sarah herself becomes pregnant at age 90 and gives birth to Isaac.

The most famous episode in Isaac’s life is known in Hebrew as the akedah, or binding of Isaac, which Christians refer to as the sacrifice of Isaac, although no sacrifice actually takes place. The powerful, primal account of Isaac’s near sacrifice (Genesis 22:1–19) has achieved mythic proportions. Not only is this story recited daily by Jews during the morning service, but many tragic events in Jewish history—the massacres during the Crusades, the pogroms in eastern Poland and the Ukraine in 1648 and 1649, the Russian pogroms of the late 19th century, and even the Holocaust—have been viewed through the prism of the akedah.

Without warning, God commands Abraham to sacrifice his favorite son as a burnt offering. Starting 021early in the morning, father and son travel three days to Moriah, the place of the sacrifice, where they build an altar. Abraham binds Isaac, places him on the firewood and raises his knife to slay him. At the last moment, an angel stays Abraham’s hand, calling out: “Abraham! Abraham!…Do not raise your hand against the boy.” A ram caught in a nearby thicket is slaughtered in place of Isaac (Genesis 22:12–13).

Like Isaac, Ishmael, too, is brought to the brink of death and then miraculously saved.^c Ishmael’s near-death experience, recounted just one chapter earlier, in Genesis 21, also begins with a message from God to Abraham. This time, the divine voice tells the reluctant patriarch to obey Sarah’s instructions to cast out Hagar and Ishmael.^d Early the next morning, Abraham sends the mother and child away with only bread and water. Cast out, they wander in the wilderness of Beersheba until their water runs out.

Not wanting to watch Ishmael die, Hagar sits apart from her son, weeping, until she is arrested by the voice of an angel, crying: “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not!” When she opens her eyes, she finds before her a well of water, which heralds the survival of mother and child.

On an emotional level, the two accounts are remarkably different. Ishmael’s story is replete with feeling: We find Hagar desperately mourning what 022she sees as the inevitable loss of her only son. In Isaac’s story, however, there is not one iota of fatherly compassion (nor are we given Sarah’s reaction to the fate of her only son). Before the sacrifice, Abraham displays no regret, only blind obedience to God’s will. And when Isaac is saved, Abraham expresses neither joy nor relief. The very man who showed compassion for the men of Sodom (Genesis 18:17–33), whom he did not even know, betrays no sympathy for his own favorite son; the man who was willing to bargain with God to save those strangers in Sodom and Gomorrah makes no effort to negotiate over Isaac’s fate.

But despite these differences in tone, a close comparison of Ishmael’s tale and the akedah reveals that the author carefully selected his words to draw out the parallels between the two incidents and to present Ishmael’s suffering as a parallel akedah.

The affinity of the two sons is first highlighted by the use of similar expressions and the same word order in recording the birth of each:

Both of the Akedah stories begin with God telling Abraham to take action regarding his son:

The future tense of the Hebrew verb “to tell” (omar) is used in both.

Identical words initiate the action in both accounts:

Upon rising, Abraham gathers the participants and the implements associated with each akedah and places them on each son. The verbs for “take” and “put” are repeated in each story:

Whereas wood and fire are key to the sacrifice in the Isaac story, it is the polar opposite to fire—water, and the lack thereof—that is the potential cause of death in the Ishmael account. So we see Abraham splitting wood for the sacrificial fire in the Isaac scene and, in the Ishmael story, carrying the jug of water that will soon run out. Both stories use the same Hebrew verb, va-yikach (took), to show Abraham grasping the object that symbolizes the “sacrifice” of each son. In both stories, Abraham puts (yasem and sam) the objects—wood for Isaac, water for Ishmael—on or near the intended victim. Further, in both stories, the verb “to go” (HLK) is used to describe getting to the place where the near sacrifices will occur:

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Isaac travels with his father to the mountain, which proves to be a life-threatening destination for the child; Ishmael accompanies his mother to the desolate desert.

The next scene describes the preparations for death:

In both stories the parent picks up the child. Hagar then throws (va-tashlech) her son under a bush; Abraham binds his son and then sends forth (va-yishlach), or raises, his hand. Although the verbs have two different roots, they both have similar sounds and convey the sense of sending something forward and away—of casting off.¹

Both stories also describe the place where the boy will die as “afar” (RH|K):

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In the nick of time, salvation comes. A heavenly angel calls to the parent:

In both stories the phrasing is the same, except that “Lord” (“YHWH,” the personal name of the Israelite God) is used in the Isaac story and “God” (the generic term “Elohim”) in Ishmael.

The parents’ immediate responses involve the verb NS’, “to raise” or “to lift”:

The ordeal is now over; the threat of death is gone.

Speaking to the parents, each angel uses the terms “fear,” “listen,” “God” and “voice.” In the Isaac story, Abraham listens to—that is, obeys—God; in the Ishmael story, God listens to Ishmael:

In saving the boys, each angel accents the words “hand” and “boy”:

In the next verse, along with salvation, comes the alternative to death: the ram that serves as a substitute sacrifice for Isaac and the water that saves Ishmael from death by dehydration:

These verses highlight the word “eyes” (feminine eyneha; masculine enav), accentuating that the parents suddenly see before them something unexpected—the snared ram and the desert well. Both verses conclude with the parent “going” to save the child.

Once the children are secure, saved from their respective akedahs, the angel relates God’s blessing and promise of greatness for the children:

There is a fascinating crisscrossing of blessings regarding Ishmael’s posterity on one side and Abraham and Isaac’s on the other. As if to further accent the equality of Ishmael and Isaac, an angel of the Lord earlier spoke the same words to Hagar—“I will make your descendants numerous” (Genesis 16:10)—that the angel now speaks to Abraham. And the promise of a “great nation” (goy gadol) that is made to Ishmael here and also earlier (Genesis 17:20) has previously been made to Abraham (Genesis 12:2 and 18:18) and will later be made to Isaac’s son Jacob (Genesis 46:3). Continuing his remarks to Hagar, the angel (Genesis 16:10) uses the very same words, “they shall be too numerous to count” (lo yisafar me-rov) regarding Ishmael’s descendants that Jacob uses in referring to God’s promise to him (Genesis 32:13). Moreover, the phrase “multiply exceedingly” is used for both Abraham’s posterity and for Ishmael’s. “I will multiply thee exceedingly”—ve-arbeh otcha bi-me’od me’od (Genesis 17:2)—for Abraham; and “I will multiply him exceedingly”—ve-hirbeiti oto bi-me’od me’od (Genesis 17:20)—for Ishmael.

After both trials, the heroes settle down:

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There is a double irony here. Ishmael, who nearly died of thirst in the wilderness, settles in the wilderness of Paran. Abraham, who was responsible for exiling Hagar and their son Ishmael to the wilderness of Beersheba, where they nearly die, himself settles (presumably with Isaac) in that town.

It is interesting to note that Genesis 16, which focuses on the pregnant Hagar’s flight from Sarah’s harsh treatment, serves as a prelude to the later event, when Hagar goes into the wilderness with her son, Ishmael. The mention of the desert and the wellsprings (Genesis 16:7) in the earlier story adumbrates Ishmael’s future desert-and-water akedah. When she hears the angel in the desert the first time, Hagar calls out, atah el ro’ee, “You are El-roi,” or “You are God of seeing” (Genesis 16:13). She names the well Be’er la-chay ro’ee, “The well of the Living One who sees me” (Genesis 16:14). Following the near sacrifice of Isaac, Abraham, upon hearing the angel’s voice, calls the place Ha-shem yir’eh, “The Lord will see” (Genesis 22:14). In both instances, the parents name the site where they hear the angel by including a name of God linked with the verb “see.”

Many years later, having survived their traumatic experiences, both Ishmael and Isaac die peacefully in old age. As a final parallel, their deaths are described in identical words:

The striking correspondences in the deeds and the very words of the Abraham-Isaac and Hagar-Ishmael stories are too numerous to be coincidental. And even more parallels may be cited: Both sons are circumcised (Genesis 17:25, 21:4). The parents of both “take” wives for their sons: Hagar for Ishmael (Genesis 21:21) and Abraham for Isaac (Genesis 24:3–4). And aside from similar general blessings, the specific number of twelve sons is used for Abraham’s descendants (Jacob as father of 12 sons, Genesis 35:23) and for Ishmael’s (Genesis 17:20 and 25:13–16).

The placement of the Ishmael-Hagar and Isaac-Abraham dramas in two contiguous chapters is no chance occurrence. Remarkably, too, both chapters, both akedahs, are read in the synagogue on Rosh Hashana as part of that holiday’s Torah readings. The Ishmael-Hagar story (Genesis 21:1–34) is read on the first day of Rosh Hashana, and the Isaac-Abraham narrative (Genesis 22:1–24) is read on the second.

Clearly, Ishmael’s sufferings are intended as an analogue tragedy to the akedah of Isaac, or as a parallel akedah, perhaps to show the parity between the two sons of Abraham.

It is, of course, easier to find parallels than to explain why they exist, to impute motives to the biblical text. But the many parallels in events and wording give us a double focus. On the one hand they elevate, it would seem, the importance of Abraham as the father of not one but two peoples. After all, his two most important progeny, Isaac and Ishmael (whose names bear, respectively, the roots “laugh” [ZCHK] and “hear” [SHM‘]—two verbs that reverberate throughout Abraham’s lifetime), are both saved from their trials and are blessed with many descendants. This close parallel reading also reveals how unsparing the Bible is of its heroes’ flaws. From the patriarchs through Moses, Aaron and David, the Bible does not cover up the leaders’ moral lapses. As Abraham had no mercy vis-à-vis his son Isaac, but unquestioningly obeyed God’s command, so does he mercilessly send out his other wife Hagar and son Ishmael into the desert to a sure death. In both instances, despite his lack of parental compassion, God rewards him. By becoming aware of the parallels between Isaac and Ishmael and noting Abraham’s hand in both their lives, our reading of the first patriarch undergoes a subtle shift.

The careful construction of the boys’ parallel lives shows that no matter how different they might seem at times, the two sons of Abraham are bound from birth to death by something more than brotherly kinship.

Although the Bible emphasizes the differences between Isaac and Ishmael, the half brothers suffer at least one strikingly similar life (or should we say near-death) experience. Do they have more in common than we thought?