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She Is an Ishmaelite

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Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Feb 1, 1877

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 3, No. 6.

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She Is an Ishmaelite.

“She is an Ishmaelite,” said my friend.
“An Ishmaelite!—why, what do you mean? I have always thought her an inoffensive sort of do-nothing. Never have I seen any thing that would suggest that her hand is against any one, or any one against her; the truth is, she will never set the world on fire through her force of character after any fashion.”
“I think you mistake my meaning. I do not mean that she is warlike in her disposition, only that, as she wears the Ishmaelitish badge, she displays her nationality.”
“I regret that you should wrong Mrs. S. so sadly by speaking of her as though she were akin to that uncivilized, barbaric nation, and my only apology for you is that you do not know Mrs. S., nor the position she holds in the Christian community.”
“I certainly do know Mrs. S. well; I have a more intimate acquaintance with her influence as a church member than you are aware of. But if she is not an Ishmaelite, and does not wish to have it known that she is, why does she wear the unmistakable badge? Why does she conform to the habits of barbaric and uncivilized nations? If I should wear the badge of the Masonic or any other order, would it not be because I wished to be designated as belonging to that fraternity?”
“You really puzzle me. What has all this to do with your calling Mrs. S. an Ishmaelite?”
“It has much to do with it. And I can assure you on scriptural grounds that I do right in designating Mrs. S. as an Ishmaelite. There lies your Bible within arm’s reach. Now turn to Judges 8:24. What do you read here? ‘They had golden ear-rings, because they were Ishmaelites!’ Now one ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ as found in the Bible, ought to settle forever all questioning.”
“You astonish me! Why, I never would have thought of it. If Mrs. S. is an Ishmaelite, then we have a race of Ishmaelites scattered through all our churches. I hardly can say which denomination has the most of them. Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians, and even Methodists have not a few of this diverse people. Will you believe me? I have even seen ear-rings on the wife of a Methodist minister, and other minister’s wives too.”
“Of course I shall have to believe you, because it is a truth that I see verified in all directions, and it pains my heart to the quick to witness these relics of barbarism introduced among people professing to be Christians. When we hear of the Hindoos and Indians perforating the soft part of their nose for the insertion of trinkets, we pity them in their barbarity and want of civilization. But where is the difference, as far as civilization is concerned, between a woman within the bounds of what is called civilization, who perforates the soft part of her ear to insert a trinket, or an Indian or Hindoo who perforates the soft part of his nose? One is just as much a manifestation of barbarism as the other.”
“True, indeed! But I never thought of the startling fact that those women who wear ear-rings wear the badge of Ishmaelites. I am sure that hundreds of women in our churches who now wear them would never wish to be seen wearing them again if they only knew that that text was in the Bible.”
“I heard of a minister who preached from the text, ‘They had golden ear-rings, because they were Ishmaelites.’ A lady was present who really desired to be an Israelite indeed; but when she heard the sermon she was almost confounded, not having known that there was such a text in the Bible. Said she, ‘I have so long been trying to be an Israelite, and now I see that I have all the time been an Ishmaelite.’ But I suppose a minister whose wife or daughters wear ear-rings would not like to preach from the text. It would require some bravery, but it would be a grand idea for Christendom, could we in these days have a general burial, such as occurred in the days of Jacob.”
“Oh, indeed! You are in danger of getting a little too hard on the ladies now. You surely would not wish to have all those who wear Ishmaelite badges buried. Now that is too bad!”
“No! no indeed! but as you have your Bible within reach, please turn to Gen. 35. Here we behold a new departure in Jacob’s life, from which he was no more to be Jacob, the supplanter, but Israel, mighty in his prevailings with Omnipotence. Now see the grand funeral ceremony that marked this change of character, in which all his household were required to take an important part. ‘Then Jacob said unto hishousehold, and to all that were with him, ‘Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments. . . . And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their ear-rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.’ Now what I mean by the grand burial proposed is the interment of the strange household gods, ear-rings, etc., which, as unmistakable relics of heathendom, have found their way into the so-called Christian church. The idea of burying Christian ladies who wear them never for a moment entered my thoughts. Jacob did not, of course, bury those of his large household who had these relics of the heathen, by which they were at that time so closely surrounded, but he buried their ear-rings and everything of that sort.”
“Why, what a sacrifice that must have been! Our church ladies wear ear-rings and other jewelry that costs from twenty to twenty-five hundred or five thousand dollars. Do you think those people belonging to Jacob’s household permitted those costly relics of heathendom to be buried there under the shade of that old oak tree?”
“I don’t know. There is no place in the Bible that speaks of their ever having resurrected them. If any of Israel’s household had dug them up in his day I think he would have disinherited them. But I fear that some who claim to be of Israel’s household may have stealthily dug them up. And who knows, in view of the imperishability of gold, but some of them may have come into the hands of those wild, marauding Ishmaelites, and through them descend to the ladies of the present day?”
“Really you amaze me! Why! who would have thought that these Ishmaelitish customs could have come through such a long succession of ages?”
“Mind, I did not say they did, only that it might have been so.”