The age of Ishmael in
chap. 21 presents a problem for some scholars from the chronological notices in
16:16, 17:24-25, 21:5 it is apparent that Ishmael must be some sixteen years
old at the time of the events recorded in 21:1-21. Yet, it is maintained in
chap. 21 Ishmael is portrayed as a young child. From these observations it is
argued that the accounts in chaps. 16 and 21 were not originally part of the
same document and must be assigned to separate sources.
This argument
regarding the age of Ishmael centres on the belief that if 21:14 describes how
Abraham placed Ishmael on Hagar’s back. Support for this view is derived from
the LXX and Syriac translations of verse 14, ‘And he (Abraham) placed the child
on her shoulder’. However, Speiser notes that the Hebrew text is obscure here
and the word order of the LXX and Syriac may not represent the most original
reading (Speiser, Genesis, 154-155). He translates verse 14 as follows: ‘Early
next morning Abraham got some bread and a skin of water to give to Hagar. He
placed them on her back and sent her away with the child.’ Support for this
reading is provided by Wenham who notes (a) that it is improbable that Hagar
could have carried on her back simultaneously a large water-skin (possibly
weighing as much as thirty pounds), bread and a child and (b) that later the
angel tells Hagar to take Ishmael by the hand (21:18) (Wenham, Genesis 16-50,
84). Furthermore, he observes that the term na’ar ‘lad’, used of Ishmael
in 21:12 usually refers in Genesis ‘to young men capable of taking care of
themselves’ (Idem, 83). In the light of these factors there is no reason
to assume that Ishmael is merely a young child. This being so, his age lends no
support to the idea that chaps. 16 and 21 come from different sources. (T.
Desmond Alexander, Abraham in the Negev: A Source-Critical Investigation of Genesis
20:1-22:19 [Carlisle, U.K.: Paternoster Press, 1997], 67-68)