I never realized before that there were also 12 tribes of Ishmael. I like the way that these stories explain the histories of all the peoples living around the Israelites, and they are all tied in to one big story. It's a way to talk about the common humanity of all the people, as well as a way to explain hatreds and bigotries.
While in TN last week I was standing in line and struck up a conversation with the woman in front of me (things like that seem to happen in the South - people actually converse with each other - a little hard to get used to). After a few minutes of conversation, she asked where I was from - I said "Boston" - and she actually turned around and snubbed me and refused to talk to me for the next 5 minutes. The civil war has not fully ended in TN. Hatreds and bigotries continue - and the stories that justify them.
We can despise each other for our histories, for the ways our ancestors have hurt each other, for the color of our skin, for our political viewpoints, for our nation of origin, and increasingly for our genetic code. The struggle is to be part of one big story. There are 12 tribes of Israel, but there are also 12 tribes of Ishmael. And together they buried their father.
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Yeah, how crazy is that? Your father throw's you and your mother out of the house and yet you come back for his funeral! This is certainly a tribute to the character of these people.
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