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Meaning, origin and etymology of the name Ishmael


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Ishmael Ishmael

There are six men named Ishmael in the Bible: A descendant of Jonathan (1 Chr 8:38); The father of Zebediah (2 Chr 19:11); An officer under Joash (2 Cr 23:3); The murderer of Gedaliah, the Babylonian governor over the remnant in Judah (2 Ki 25:25); A priest who divorced his foreign wife (Ezr 10:22).
But the most famous Ishmael is the son of Abraham with Hagar. Because of rivalry between Hagar and Abraham's wife Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael are sent away and they end up in the Sinai desert where Ishmael becomes the father of a nation that exists of twelve tribes, just like Israel.

The name Ishmael is a compilation of two elements. The first part comes from the verb shama (shama 2412) meaning to hear, listen, obey. shama (shema 2412a) means sound. shama (shema 2412b) means report. shama (shoma 2412c) means news, fame.
The second part is el (El 93a), the common abbreviation of Elohim, the genus God.

The name Ishmael means He Will Hear God (Jones) or God Hears (NOBSE).

A related name is Simeon.



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