Ishmael (Moby-Dick) Biblical in origin: in Genesis 16:1-16; 17:18-25; 21:6-21; 25:9-17, Ishmael was the son of Abraham by the servant Hagar. In 16:11-12, the most significant verses for Melville's allegory, Hagar was cast off after the birth of Isaac, who inherited the covenant of the Lord instead of his older half-brother. Melville shapes his allegory to the Biblical Ishmael as follows: And so the name points to a Biblical analogy that marks Ishmael as the prototype of "wanderer and outcast," the man set at odds with his fellows. Wright says that all Melville's heroes—with the exception of Benito Cereno and Billy Budd—are
Ishmael son of Nethaniah may not have been the reason for the later commemorative fast referred to in Zechariah 7:5 and Zechariah 8:19 – the so-called Fast of Gedalia. Some commentators have suggested that Ishmael acts out of a sense of having been slighted when passed over for the governorship himself, despite being eligible by virtue of his royal familial connections. This is one possible interpretation of the statement that Ishmael slew Gedaliah ‘because Nebuchadnezzar had appointed him governor’ (Jeremiah 41:2). He may also have found Gedaliah’s confident statement that ‘all will be well’ under Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 40:9) tantamount to treason, especially given Babylon’s