Ishmael

Ishmael was born to Abraham by Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian servant, when Abraham was eighty-six years old. An angel announced his coming to Hagar at a spring in the desert, telling her to name the child Ishmael — "God hears" — because the LORD had heard her affliction. God later told Abraham he would make Ishmael fruitful and the father of twelve princes and a great nation, though the covenant would pass through Isaac.

After Isaac's birth, Sarah demanded that Hagar and Ishmael be sent away. Abraham sent them off with bread and water, and when the water ran out in the wilderness of Beersheba and Hagar sat away from the dying boy so she would not watch him die, God heard the child crying, opened Hagar's eyes to a well of water, and reaffirmed his promise. Ishmael lived in the wilderness of Paran, became an archer, and married an Egyptian woman. He died at 137 years old. In a quiet but significant detail, he and Isaac buried their father Abraham together at Machpelah — a reunion that closes his story in quiet dignity.