Philip the Arab and Christianity that appear—save for one reference to Ishmael—figure in the political history of the first three centuries of the Christian era. To Eusebius, the Saracens of the 4th century are direct-line descendants of the biblical Ishmaelites, descendants of the handmaid, Hagar, and the patriarch, Abraham. They are thus outcasts, beyond God's Covenant with the favored son of Abraham, Isaac. The twin images of the Ishmaelite and the Saracen—outcasts and "latrones", raiders of the frontiers—reinforce each other and give Eusebius' portrait of the Arab nation an unhappy color. He may have been reluctant to associate the first Christian emperor with a people
Dumah (son of Ishmael) Dumah (son of Ishmael) Dumah (; "Dūmāh"; Aramaic for "silence") was the sixth son of Ishmael, the son of biblical Abraham and Hagar. The generations of Ishamel are the ninth recorded in the Book of Genesis. In Genesis 21:18, the angel of God promises Hagar and Abraham that their seed will forge a great nation and in Genesis 17:20, it is recorded that Ishmael produced 12 sons, the forefathers of 12 tribes. Dumah is sixth son of Ishmael and is mentioned in Genesis 25:14 and 1 Chronicles 1:30. In the Book of Isaiah (), Dumah is mentioned in the context