God , The Jews and Ishmael

     (God’s chosen people , known as the Hebrews.(Gen 14:13) Later, after they settled in the Promised Land and formed a nation,  known as the Israelites. (Exodus 9:7)  After the ten northern tribes were exiled to Assyria and Judah was exiled to Babylon they were called the "Jews."  (2 Kings 12:25)
    
      It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deut. 7:7-8)

     I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I  also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. (Paul also referred to himself as a "Hebrew" --Phil 3:4-6 and as a "Jew" as well-Acts 21:39).
    Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.  For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. (Rom 11:1-2;  28-29)
   
                                 
                                 And the angel of the LORD said to Hagar,
                                           ''Behold, you are pregnant
                                            and shall bear a son.
                                  You shall call his name Ishmael,
                                           because the LORD has listened to your affliction.
                                  He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
                                          his hand against everyone....(Gen. 16:11-12)  
                           

       *Ishmael took an Egyptian wife (Genesis 21:21) and became the father of 12 tribes which are listed in Genesis 25:12-16. These tribes were to become the nucleus of the Arab peoples, a people with a mixture of Semitic and Egyptian blood.

      Other Arab tribes trace their origin to the six sons of Abraham who were born to him by his second wife, Keturah. They are listed in Genesis 25:1-4. Finally, some Arab tribes were to emerge from the descendants of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob who sired the 12 tribes of Israel.

      All the Arab tribes have been characterized historically by their impulsive and violent nature. They have been involved in endless wars among themselves and against both Jews and Christians.*                                               
                                         It  continues to this very day.

*Lamplighter--David Reagan

Sodom and Gomorrah Remembered

Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens.  So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. (Gensis 19:24-25)
‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’ (Deut 29:23)
Therefore, as I live,”
Says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
“Surely Moab shall be like Sodom,
And the people of Ammon like Gomorrah—
Overrun with weeds and saltpits,
And a perpetual desolation. (Zep. 2:9)

“I overthrew some of you,
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
And you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning;
Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the Lord. (Amos 4:11)
 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; (2 Peter 2:6)
as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Jude 7)
Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;  but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.  Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Luk 17:28-30)