12 Now these are the records of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham; 13 and these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam 14 and Mishma and Dumah and Massa, 15 Hadad and Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 16 These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages, and by their camps; twelve princes according to their tribes. 17 These are the years of the life of Ishmael, one hundred and thirty-seven years; and he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people. 18 They settled from Havilah to Shur which is east of Egypt as one goes toward Assyria; he settled in defiance of all his relatives.
Seems like pretty standard stuff, until the very end. Did you see it there? “…he settled in defiance of all his relatives.” Now the main one we would normally focus on would be Isaac, but it says ‘all his relatives’, instead of ‘his brother’, so we need to include the sons of Keturah in this also. So we see that Ishmael, and his descendants, we’re some rebellious folk, and not very nice to live around. In fact, it could probably be taken that they settled close to their relatives and annoyed/aggravated them on purpose, to gain prime territory for themselves. What happens a few hundred years later? The Israelites come back and have their way with everyone in their path, even some of the Ishmaelites. That’s not the end of the story, as we see the Arabs (many of whom are descendants of Ishmael and Keturah) still fighting for land with Israel. So don’t try and bully God’s anointed ones, and as Paul said, “live peaceably with all men.”