Less important to the story of Ishmael but central to the theme of this book is the test by which Abraham judges the worthiness of Ishmael’s wives, namely, did they show kindness to strangers? – the criterion by which, in the Bible, Abraham’s servant chooses a wife for Isaac. At the core of the Bible’s value system is that cultures, like individuals, are judged by their willingness to extend care beyond the boundary of family, tribe, ethnicity and nation.
