Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

THE SON OF THE BONDWOMAN 16:1-16
Africa, and even some countries of Europe (Rev. 9 : 1-1 1 ) .
Since the fall of their empire, the Turks have made re-
peated attempts to subdue them; but instead of succeeding,
they have been obliged, for near three hundred years past,
to pay them a yearly tribute of forty thousand crowns,
for procuring a safe passage for their pilgrims to Mecca,
the holy city, where Mahomet was born. If, to fulfill
his promise, God has done so much for protecting the
temporal liberty of miscreants, what will he not do for
the salvation of his people!
‘‘Ver. 12-The ‘wild ass’ (pere, the Hebrew word
here translated ‘wild’) was the emblem of wild, rude, un-
controllable freedom-total disregard of the law and social
restraint (Job 24:5, 11:12). Such has ever been, and still
is, the character of the Arab. He roams free through his
native desert. No power has been able to control his move-
ments, or to induce or compel him to accept the settled
habits of civilized life. His hand has been, and is, against
every man who, without his protection, enters his country;
and the hand of every surrounding ruler has been and is
against him. Yet he dwells to this day, as he has done for
nearly forty centuries, in the presence of all his brethren.
He meets them on the east, west, north, and south; and
none can extirpate or subdue him. . . , Against every mm
and every nzaiz’s haizd against him. The descendants of
Ishmael were divided into tribes, after the manner of the
Jews, differing to a certain extent in dispositions, habits,
character, and government. Many of them made great‘ ad-
vances in civilization and learning; and exhibited the
ordinary aspect of powerful, settled, and regular com-
munities. Still there has been a vast number, of whom the
Bedouins are most generally known, who have, in all ages,
practically and literally realized this prediction, and lived,
as they still do, in a state of uninterrupted hostility with all
men, seeking no home but the desert, submitting to no law