Genesis — Chapter 16

AND THE ANGEL OF THE LORD SAID TO HAGAR: BEHOLD THOU ART WITH CHILD, AND THOU SHALT BRING FORTH A SON: AND THOU SHALT CALL HIS NAME ISMAEL, BECAUSE THE LORD HATH HEARD THY AFFLICTION. — Ismael = \"God hears.\" Lapide: as God heard the cry of the afflicted Hagar in the desert, so He hears every afflicted soul that cries to Him. The well to which Hagar was guided was named \"Beer-lahai-roi\" = \"the well of the Living One Who sees me\" — God's omniscience and providence extend even to those in the wilderness.

HE SHALL BE A WILD MAN: HIS HAND WILL BE AGAINST ALL MEN, AND ALL MEN'S HANDS AGAINST HIM. — A prophecy of the Arab peoples descended from Ishmael: free, nomadic, warlike, and in perpetual tension with surrounding peoples. Fulfilled literally in the Bedouin Arabs and figuratively in the Muslims (Lapide notes this explicitly). Note: even Ishmael, though not the chosen son, receives a divine blessing through Abraham's intercession.