20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt. Genesis 21:20-21

Ishmael’s father tossed him and his mother into the wilderness. It was a cruel thing to do but to maintain marital harmony, he had to do it. So God took care of him after he began living in the desert, or approximately from age 13.

The detail in this story that is interesting is that Ishmael became an archer. I suppose if you have unlimited amounts of time, you learn to do something very well. At the very least, he could hunt food for his family. My guess, though, is that Hagar and Ishmael weren’t the only desert dwelling people in the land. In that, Ishmael was probably also his family’s protector because many people would take advantage of a single mother and her son.

And of course, Hagar found a suitable wife for Ishmael.

When God told Hagar that he would take care of them, He did so in ways that people wouldn’t expect. He looked over them, saw that Ishmael became proficient with a bow and arrow, and he found a wife for the young man.

So, even when we speak about a seemingly insignificant little boy and his mother, God still took care of them. We also know that Ishmael is not an insignificant boy as he and his descendants would cause many problems for the Israelites in the years to come. But God took care of them.