Appendix 1:
Are the biblical Ishmaelites
the Arabs of today?

Many Christian writers have assumed that there are no Ishmaelites left today. They claim that the Arabs are from other stock in the past. Jewish historians do not agree, and the Bible does not agree. Robert Morey, and other alleged scholars, attack the plan of God by claiming that the descendants of Ishmael are gone. It is a popular line with those who hate Arabs and read the "scholarly" Arab-bashing literature.  Click here for more on Robert Morey's Reformed Reconstructionist heresy.

I seriously doubt if Messiah Christ will bother to consult with these modern scholars before He welcomes the descendants of Ishmael to His kingdom throne, as promised in Isaiah 60. I am sick of this sanctimonious Arab-bashing that rests upon hatred, rather than historic evidence. It appears that pro-Zionists cannot stand the possibility that God still plans to keep his promises that he made to Abraham, to bless the sons of Ishmael.

In The Works of Josephus, the Jewish historian boldly states that Ishmael is the father of the "Arab nation." It is blasphemy enough to discard Isaiah's prophecy that Ishmaelites will worship Messiah in the Kingdom, but Josephus predates all of Morey's references, and Josephus was a Jew!

Raphael Patai, a Jew, tells us in his book, Seed of Abraham, p. 23, that the name "Arab" is in the same inscriptions with that of Kedar, a son of Ishmael, in the ninth century BC Assyrian epigraphs. Patai also quotes Josephus to show that the Arabs were synonymous with "Nabatenes," descendants of Nebaioth, a son of Ishmael. He also refers to the first through fifth century AD Jewish scholars who assumed that

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Arabs were Ishmaelites, or Joctanites, depending on whether they came from northern or southern Arabia.

Patai wrote 600 articles, and twenty books, on the Middle East and he taught at Princeton, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania. He was director of Syria-Lebanon-Jordan-Research Project of the Human Relations Area Files of New Haven, Conn. He is highly praised by both Arab and Jewish scholars. He is an equal match any day to any ten of Morey's sources.

But, I rest my case primarily upon The Bible, Isaiah 60:6-7, and confirm the Arab heritage in Ishmael with this reference telling of those who will "flow" into Israel in Messiah's future Kingdom: Isaiah 60:6, The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah (son and grandson of Abraham by his second wife, Keturah); all they from Sheba (grandson of Abraham and Keturah-- probably Ethiopians and Yemenites) shall come: they shall bring gold (for which Ethiopia is well known) and incense (for which the Yemenites are famous); and they shall shew forth the praises of the LORD. (The Bible, Psalm 68:31)  7 All the flocks of Kedar (a son of Ishmael) shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth (another son of Ishmael) shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar (which has never happened in all of history since Abraham), and I will glorify the house of my glory (by their worship).

Romans 3:4, God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

Is this controversy helpful? YES. See Ezekiel 44:23-24.

(FOOTNOTES TO THE ABOVE: 71 / 161-170 / 854-859; 121 / 12-13 / 1708;)

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