Abraham's Seed

Certainly Ishmael is not the Promised Seed. He is the son born according to the flesh – not the son born according to the Spirit.

But think of all that we have seen about Ishmael:
his name means “God hears” (16:11)
God had mercy on his mother twice in the wilderness (16:7 and 21:19)
The well of Beer-lahai-roi was named by his mother, Hagar, as the “well of the living one who sees me.”
And the clincher must be 21:20 where we are told that God was with the boy.

Ishmael is not a heathen reprobate! He is certainly a wild donkey of a man (16:12), and his descendents will be a mixed bag – but the way that Genesis tells the story, the legacy of Ishmael calls us to a view him somewhat kindly.

In other words Ishmael is to Isaac what Israel is to Jesus.

Compared to Isaac, Ishmael was born according to the flesh. Compared to Jesus, Israel was born according to the flesh. In its own day, Israel was good and Jerusalem was a picture of the heavenly Zion. In the same way, in his own day, Ishmael was good and Hagar was a picture of Sarah.

But in order to see this more clearly, we need to compare Ishmael to the other sons of Abraham!