From Genesis 12 forward, the Bible is the story of Abraham and his descendants. The Arab people, although darkened over the centuries from mixing with darker races, are originally descended from Abraham. Under the heading "Ishmael," The Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia points to this Abrahamic connection:
The Jews are descendants of Abraham’s son Isaac. The Arabs are descendants of Abraham’s son Ishmael. With Ishmael being the son of a slave woman (Genesis 16:1-16) and Isaac being the promised son who would inherit the blessings of Abraham (Genesis 21:1-3), obviously there would be some animosity between the two sons. As a result of Ishmael’s mocking Isaac (Genesis 21:9), Sarah talked Abraham into sending Hagar and Ishmael away (Genesis 21:11-21). Likely, this caused even more contempt in Ishmael’s heart towards Isaac. An angel prophesied to Hagar that Ishmael would “live in hostility toward all his brothers” (Genesis 16:11-12).
Read more:http://www.gotquestions.org/Jews-Arabs.html#ixzz2mI0RMqak
"In the Table of Nations (Gen. 10) a number of Arabian tribes are mentioned: among the descendants of Joktan (of the line of Shem), Hazermaveth, Sheba, Havilah, and others (10:26–29); and among the descendants of Cush (of the line of Ham), Seba, Havilah, and others (10:7). If Cush is to be taken to mean Ethiopia, then the relationship of the south Arabian peoples and the Ethiopic peoples (or some of them), which is clearly indicated linguistically, may lie behind the dual reference in the Semite and Hamite genealogies. We also find northern Arabian tribes mentioned among the descendants of Abraham by Keturah (Gen. 25:1–4) and by Hagar (25:12–15), and among the descendants of Esau (Gen. 36). At the time of Solomon, contacts with the Arabian peninsula are indicated, both in the visit of the Queen of Sheba (1 K. 9:26ff, etc.) and in the tribute from the “kings of (the) Arab” (2 Ch. 9:14)." Bromiley, G. W. (1988; 2002). The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Vol. 1, Page 220). Wm. B. Eerdmans.
Under the heading "ISHMAELITE," The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionaryconfirms this genetic link with Abraham:
Under the heading "ISHMAELITES," The Universal Jewish Encyclopediafurther establishes this same biblical connection:
As the biblical story goes, Abraham had another son, Isaac, by his wife Sarah. Therefore, although only a half brother to Isaac, Ishmael would have been the uncle of Esau and Jacob, Isaac's twin sons. Hence, Ishmael's descendants, the Arabs, are also related to Esau's and Jacob's descendants, the Edomites and the Israelites.
If today's Jews are non-Israelites, then who exactly are today's genetic Israelites? The Israelites have not gone out of existence as some people teach. If they have, then Yahweh is not true to His Word because He promised that they would never cease as a nation before him:
Although most contemporary Israelites are oblivious to their own identity, Yahweh has not forgotten who they are:
It is impossible for Yahweh to forget Israel or He could never fulfill His Word as found, for example, in Jeremiah 31:
Of course Yahweh's Word is always faithfully fulfilled, and thus, just as He promised, it has been Israelites with whom the New Covenant has been made. Take a globe and draw circles around the landmasses wherein true Christianity has flourished, and you will find that your circles encompass those nations primarily comprised of Celtic, Germanic, Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon and kindred peoples. Either these peoples comprise Israel or Yahweh has not been true to His word, and He has established His New Covenant with someone other than those to whom He promised the New Covenant. Yahweh was and still is true to His word, and it has been the Celto-Saxon peoples who, in accordance with Jeremiah's prophecy, have most readily embraced the New Covenant religion of Christianity. They above all peoples have been most responsive toYeshua’s call of salvation over the last two-thousand years. In fact, the other nations would be oblivious to Christianity had it not been for the Celto-Saxons' proliferation of the New Covenant message.
This mark of the Israelites alone unequivocally identifies today's Israelites. However, not only do the Celto-Saxon peoples fulfill the marks of Israel as described in Jeremiah 31; they likewise fulfill all of the biblical marks of Israel.*Moreover, archaeology and history verify this genetic link between the biblical Israelites and the Celto-Saxon peoples.** Therefore, it is today's Celto-Saxons, not today's Khazar Jews, who are today's true Israelites.
The OT hostilities were mostly between Israel and Egypt (non-Ishmael), Israel and Moab/Ammon (descendents of Lot, Abraham's nephew), Israel and Canaan/Philistia (no relation to Abraham), Israel and Amalek (descendants of Esau), and Israel and Esau/Edom (descendant of Isaac). The major wars with Assyria and Babylon would have involved SOME Ishmaelites, but those nations were pre-Abrahamic in origin and of mixed nationalities by the time of the wars with Judah and Israel. Some of the Midianites are associated with Ishmaelites (as Bedouins) in the OT [they were decendents of Abraham by Keturah, so they would be 'brethern' of Ishmael also], so there is SOME hositily (e.g, the Midianites that Gideon fought were said to be Ishmaelites and Psalm 83 lists them as being in league with all the other enemies of Israel (long before there was Islam, obviously!), but it is minute in comparison to other peoples...smile. The Midianites are not all bad, either, since Moses' father-in-law was one (also called a Kenite), and the Kenites are probably also Ishmael-related (as were the dutiful Rechabites). They gave gifts of gold and flocks to Solomon and Jehoshaphat (2 Chr 9.14; 17.11).
The Arab nations are descended from Ishmael, the son of Abraham, who lived about four thousand years ago in the Middle East. The Jews are descended from Isaac, another son of Abraham. Thus these two peoples, Arab and Jew, so often at loggerheads, have Abraham as their common ancestor.
Also reckoned among the Arab nations are those who occupy Jordan, Syria and Iraq. These nations are descended from Lot, Abraham's nephew and Esau Abraham's grandson and brother of Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes (the nation) of Israel. There was bitter hostility between Esau and Jacob and this has persisted among their descendants down to the present day.
Their character
Ishmael's mother was an Egyptian called Hagar and an angel spoke to her about the character of her son before he was born. It was the first prophecy about the Arabs. He said:
"Behold, thou art with child, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael...and he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him" (Genesis 16:11-12).
Wildness and inter-tribal conflict have characterised the Arabs throughout their history. Many of them, like the Bedouins, have lived nomadic lives. Attempts to unite the Arab world have always been frustrated by their own fiercely independent behaviour and their propensity to engage in long and bloody feuds.
The rise of Islam
Disunity, however, has not prevented the Arabs from making their impact on the world. Islam has changed the course of history and its rise was prophesied in the Bible.
The book of Revelation (the last book of the Bible) is a book of symbol in which the conflict between two spiritual cities, Rome and Jerusalem, is portrayed. Rome, the Catholic system, was to grow very powerful in the earth but its growth was to be checked by various agencies raised up by God for the purpose.
Mahomet, the founder of Islam, was one such agent whose rise to prominence was foreseen in Revelation chapter 9 verse 1 as "a star fallen from heaven unto the earth".
"To him was given (by God) the keys of the bottomless pit (Arabia) out of which "arose a smoke" (the militant followers of Mahomet) who "darkened" the Roman "sun" by afflicting her rulers (verse 2).
"It was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth neither any green thing neither any tree" (almost word for word the instructions of Abubeker, Mahomet's successor, to his troops), "but only those who have not the seal of God in their foreheads" (ie. did not believe in the unity of God, as Moslems do). (verse 4).
"They had hair as the hair of women" (the long, flowing hair of the Saracens)..."and their breastplates were of iron" (the famous Arab warrior cuirasses". (verse 8-9).
"And they had a king over them" (as Abubeker, the first of the Caliphs).
The prophecy shows that the power to torment and hurt their enemies would be limited to a certain time. Thus the power of the Caliphs was limited to 300 years between about 630 AD and 930 AD. During this period Arab domination grew. Within fifty years of Mahomet's death they had spread to Constantinople and Gibraltar, annexing the countries in their path and compelling their peoples to accept Mahomet as a prophet and the Koran as their guide. Passing over the straits of Gibraltar, the Saracens overran much of Spain and were only stopped from taking France by the successful opposition of Charles Martel, the king of the Franks, at Poitier in 732 AD. Their influence was strongly anti-Catholic and served to allow freedom of thought and to lay the foundation for an education system which in later centuries was to facilitate the translation and study of the scriptures by the common people. The world was thus saved from total subjugation by superstition and idolatry. This was the hand of God and the Arabs were his agents.
Opposition to Israel
However, the Bible shows that the Arab nations, though disunited, see a common enemy in Israel and plot for her downfall. This is clearly seen in Psalm 83.
"They have taken crafty counsel against thy (God's) people...They have said, come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent; they are confederate against thee". Who? -- "The tabernacle of Edom (Esau) and the Ishmaelites, of Moab (Lot's son) and the Hagarenes..." (Psalm 83:3-6).
Their character
Ishmael's mother was an Egyptian called Hagar and an angel spoke to her about the character of her son before he was born. It was the first prophecy about the Arabs. He said:
"Behold, thou art with child, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael...and he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him" (Genesis 16:11-12).
Wildness and inter-tribal conflict have characterised the Arabs throughout their history. Many of them, like the Bedouins, have lived nomadic lives. Attempts to unite the Arab world have always been frustrated by their own fiercely independent behaviour and their propensity to engage in long and bloody feuds.
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