Pastor John,
I have three questions from our Old Testament class. We are reading in Genesis.
1. Is Mahanaim to the north of the Jabbok river? One map book says its north of the river, and the other places it to the south. I told the class I thought it was the one to the north.
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Apparently, scholars are unsure exactly where to put Mahanaim. They changed its position between the second and third editions of that Bible Atlas. In class, just make sure everybody gets close.
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2. In 37:27-28. Are the Ishmeelites and the Midianites the same people? I told the class I didn’t think they were, but I read chapter 39, and it said the Ishmeelites took Joseph down to Egypt.
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I have studied this a little, some years ago, and I don’t recall there being a clear answer. The Hebrew word “Ishmeelite”, if I remember correctly, can refer to any traveling merchant, which would mean that those Midianites were just traveling merchants. It is also possible that those Ishmeelites were traveling merchants from a people called “Ishmeelites”, and the Midianites just happened to be traveling with them.
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3. I was thinking that Ishmael was from Abraham and Hagar, and Midian was from Abraham and Keturah. Are Ishmeelites and Ishmael the same?
Jimmy (Otis)
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They are not the same, unless someone long ago misspelled the name and wrote it in the Bible.
jdc