Genesis 25:7-20

⁷ These are the days of the living years of Abraham, 175 years.

⁸ Abraham stopped breathing and died with a good gray head, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his ancestors.

⁹ Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre,

¹⁰ that field Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with Sarah his wife.

¹¹ After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac moved to Beer-lahai-roi.

¹² This is the story of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham.

¹³ These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael; and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

¹⁴ Mishma, Dumah, Massa,

¹⁵ Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.

¹⁶ These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, twelve princes listed according to where their tribes settled.

¹⁷ (These are the years of the life of Ishmael: 137 years. He stopped breathing and died, and was gathered to his ancestors.)

¹⁸ The Ishmaelites settled from Havilah to Shur, which is before Egypt as you are going to Assyria. They settled away from all their relatives.

¹⁹ This is the story of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac,

²⁰ and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to be his wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean. _________________________________________

Awaiting destiny

Ishmael’s death is described with the same quiet dignity given to Abraham: he lived his years, breathed his last, died, and was gathered to his people. Scripture does not portray this moment as a scene of judgment, nor does it divide Ishmael and Abraham into different destinations. Though Ishmael did not share in the covenant promises given to Abraham, both entered the same realm Scripture calls Sheol—the place of the dead, the universal destination of all who have lived and died.

Sheol is not depicted as a place of conscious reward or torment. It is the realm of those who “sleep in the dust,” a condition of silence, rest, and waiting. The Old Testament consistently presents death as a cessation of life, not an immediate entrance into final judgment. Judgment belongs to a future day, the day when the Lord acts openly and decisively. Until then, the dead remain in this state of rest, awaiting the moment when God calls them back to life.

This waiting is not meaningless. It is the interval between mortality and destiny. Abraham and Ishmael, though different in covenant status, share the same human condition: both await resurrection. Their destinies are not determined at the moment of death but at the moment when the Messiah returns and summons all who sleep. The prophets speak of this future awakening with vivid hope—dust rising, graves opening, and God’s people standing again in renewed life.

Only one has already passed through death and emerged immortal: Jesus the Messiah. He is called “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,” the first to rise in a way that guarantees the resurrection of all who belong to God. His resurrection is not merely a miracle; it is the beginning of a harvest. What happened to Him will happen to all who sleep in the dust, whether patriarch or wanderer, covenant heir or estranged son.

Death, then, is not the final verdict. It is the beginning of a sleep that only resurrection can end. Abraham will rise. Ishmael will rise. All humanity will rise to meet the One who conquered death and opened the way to everlasting life.

LORD, thank you for hope beyond the grave. Thank you that hope rests in Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life.

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[1] Matthew 9:24; 27:52; John 11:11; 2 Peter 3:4.

[2] 1 Corinthians 15:20-23.