What was Ishmael doing?
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When Isaac was weaned, Sarah saw Ishmael making an action called "metzahek". Some commentaries suggest a sexual connotation here. After all, this is the same word that we find in Genesis 26, where it refers to Isaac and Rebecca, undoubtedly with a sexual meaning: Isaac was sporting (metzahek ) with Rebecca his wife. (Gen.26:8) Does it have the same meaning here? Was Ishmael sexually molesting Isaac? And was it because of this sexual abuse that Sarah was so infuriated?
From Scripture we know that Ishmael later got married (Gen. 21:21) and had children, so it was unlikely that he was engaged in homosexual play with Isaac. Here is one possible explanation that can be seen only in Hebrew: the word metzahek, מצחק, has the same root as Itzhak : יצחק – in a sense, Ishmael was “Isaacing”, whatever that might mean. Maybe Ishmael was trying to take Isaac’s place?
The fundamentalist Jewish view of the Torah is that every word of it is correct and comes from God – but that doesn’t mean that every word has a singular meaning and explanation. The Torah is open-ended, it raises questions without providing a single answer – or maybe it’s waiting for your answer? If you cannot read Hebrew, you miss these fascinating questions. "Metzahek" is just one example! Enroll in our course of Discovering the Hebrew Bible and look for your own question and answers!
