Genesis 16 - Introduction

The Birth of Ishmael

The narrative in this chapter contains Israelite traditions respecting the birth, name, and dwelling-place of Ishmael.

(a) It explains how the Israelites acknowledged the Ishmaelites to be an older branch of their own stock, dwelling on their southern borders.

(b) It illustrates how they regarded them as inferior in dignity of descent, and as degraded by an Egyptian connexion.

Genesis 16:1 a, Genesis 16:3; Genesis 16:15; Genesis 16:16 are from P, while Genesis 16:9 have been attributed to an editorial insertion. The remainder is from J.