Chapter 28. Famous People Who Suffered
Loneliness And Depression
Other Biblical Characters Who Evidenced Signs Of
Depression And Loneliness
While Ishmael would be blessed with progeny too great to count, he was
not the son who would have a covenant with God, but Sarah’s son, Isaac
was. The Jews claim Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the patriarchs of God’s
chosen people. Ishmael married an Egyptian woman and became the father of 12
princes, and he was the forefather of the Arab people. God looked after, and
blessed Ishmael and protected him. Ishmael became the father of a great
nation. But before Ishmael grew up, there was more turmoil in the tent!
Sarah gave birth to Isaac and soon the boys grew and Ishmael began to taunt
his little half-brother, Isaac. Sarah demanded that Abraham send Ishmael and
his mother away, and Abraham did so, reluctantly. Again, Hagar faced
uncertainty as she and her son were sent into the wilderness of Beer-sheba
with bread and water:
And the water was spent in the bottle and she cast the child under one of
the shrubs And she went and sat her downover against him a good way off, as
it were a bowshot; for she said, Let me not see the death of the child, and
she sat over against him and lift up her voice, and wept.
The despair of the depressed and fearful Hagar was not
ignored by the Lord:
And the Lord heard the voice of the lad, and the angel
of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee
Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise,
lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great
nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went
and filled the bottle with water and gave the lad drink. And God was with
the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And
he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took him a wife out of
the land of Egypt. (This is the last we hear of Hagar, Christian
singles, but one hopes she lived long enough to see her son prosper and to
hold her twelve grandsons, who became twelve princes with their own
nations.)
Later, when Abraham died, both Isaac and Ishmael attended his funeral and
buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar
the Hittite, which is before Mamre. Next, Ishmael’s son’s names are
recorded, and the Scriptures go on to say that “these are the sons of
Ishmael and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles;
twelve princes according to their nations. And these are the years of the
life of Ishmael, a hundred and thirty seven years, and he gave up the ghost
and died; and was gathered unto his people And they dwelt from Havilah unto
Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria and he died in the
presence of all his brethren.
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