If I read the question right, 2 questions are asked. 1 & 3 below, but I have added 2 as important;
- Did an angel or God appear to Hagar
- Problems with Genesis story
- Is God extending his blessing to both
Question 1
It appears quite clear that G16 the angel appeared to Hagar and informs her in G16:11 – to name him Ishamel. God does not need to come as an angel and no evidence of the same. Gen 22:11 - 11 ‘But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven’
Question 2 Problems with Genesis story
The story of Abraham and the great debate if it was Ishmael or Isaac who was the one that was going to be sacrificed will go on and on.
a) You would think God or his angel would know how many sons Abraham had.
God says to Abraham - Genesis 22:2, “…Take now thy son, thine only son…”.
Gods angel - Gen 22:12 'your only son, from me'
b) Gen 17:19 'I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.' - then say sacrifice him.
How can Isaac have an ‘everlasting covenant for his descendants’ if he was going to be sacrificed. The first thing Abraham would say is did you not promise Isaac 'descendants'.
c) Gen 21:14 Early the next morning Abraham got some food and a bottle of water. The bottle was made out of animal skin. He gave the food and water to Hagar, placing them on her shoulders. Then he sent her away with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the bottle was gone, she put the boy under a bush.
Ishmael was approx. 13 when Sarah had Isaac. Hagar left after Sarah stopped breast feeding Isaac – so at least 2-3 years. In them days someone aged 15/16 years old would be considered a man.
He would have carried the food & water. Also, Hagar would not ‘put the boy under a bush’ – clearly implying he was a little child at best.
Question 3
But there is no doubt that Ishmael’s descendants were to be a great nation. Which arguably it became, the Arab semitic people.
Hagar was a wife, having more then one wife was very common practice.
Genesis 16:3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.
“I promise that I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand along the seashore.” Genesis 22:16
Genesis 17:20 - 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.
Genesis 21:13: And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
Deuteronomy 21:15-17 - The Right of the Firstborn 15 If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, 16 when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. 17 He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.
Kedar son of Ishmael
Isaiah 42:11-15
11 Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices;
let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice.
Let the people of Sela sing for joy;
let them shout from the mountaintops.
12 Let them give glory to the LORD
and proclaim his praise in the islands.
13 The LORD will march out like a champion,
like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;
with a shout he will raise the battle cry
and will triumph over his enemies. Etc…
Deuteronomy 1:1 1These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan, in the Arabah, opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab.
Genesis 21:20-21 - 20And God was with the boy, and he grew up and settled in the wilderness and became a great archer. 21And while he was dwelling in the wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
- “And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, ‘Read this,’ he says, ‘I cannot read.’” “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.” (Isaiah 28:11)
Isaiah 29:12 - “And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, ‘Read this,’ he says, ‘I cannot read.’”
Isaiah 28:11 11 Nay, but by men of strange lips and with another tongue will he speak to this people;
Strange / another tongue would indicate a different language, ie Arabic as Arabs ar the descendants of Ishmael.
Genesis 16:10-12
10 The angel of the LORD also said to her, "I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude." 11 And the angel of the LORD said to her, "Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ishmael; because the LORD has given heed to your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen."