Camel Caravans and Tents of the Sons of the Eastby KandD
25:14Genesis 25:14
And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa,
Genesis 25:14 stands in the genealogical record of a chapter that also records Abraham's death, the probable last meeting of Isaac and Ishmael, and the character and forecast of Esau and Jacob. It belongs to the continuing story of Abraham and his family, showing his gradual development of faith and leading through Isaac and his two sons in their defects to Jacob's victory that made him Israel, prevailer with God. Within that, it belongs to the account of the descendants of Noah and to the wider history of God's providential dealings with Abraham's family, the chosen family through whom the promised Seed would come.
The verse names Mishma and Dumah and Massa as three of Ishmael's twelve sons, each of whom became the head of a tribe and a prince. Some of the tribes descended from Ishmael's sons lived a settled life, but the great majority were nomads dwelling in movable villages of tents throughout the desert region from the Euphrates westward. They carried on a large carrying trade across the desert and ravaged and plundered whenever opportunity offered.
The verse thus contributes to the account of Ishmael's descendants through whom the Abyssinians descended from Abraham through Ishmael. The foretelling that Ishmael would have twelve sons who would become princes carries no special symbolic meaning about the number twelve, for God simply told beforehand what would happen.
Genesis 25:14 stands in the genealogical record of a chapter that also records Abraham's death, the probable last meeting of Isaac and Ishmael, and the character and forecast of Esau and Jacob. It belongs to the continuing story of Abraham and his family, showing his gradual development of faith and leading through Isaac and his two sons in their defects to Jacob's victory that made him Israel, prevailer with God. Within that, it belongs to the account of the descendants of Noah and to the wider history of God's providential dealings with Abraham's family, the chosen family through whom the promised Seed would come.
The verse names Mishma and Dumah and Massa as three of Ishmael's twelve sons, each of whom became the head of a tribe and a prince. Some of the tribes descended from Ishmael's sons lived a settled life, but the great majority were nomads dwelling in movable villages of tents throughout the desert region from the Euphrates westward. They carried on a large carrying trade across the desert and ravaged and plundered whenever opportunity offered.
The verse thus contributes to the account of Ishmael's descendants through whom the Abyssinians descended from Abraham through Ishmael. The foretelling that Ishmael would have twelve sons who would become princes carries no special symbolic meaning about the number twelve, for God simply told beforehand what would happen.