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
Ishmael the incident to symbolize the two covenants the old but fulfilled and new covenant which is universal by promise through Jesus Christ. In Galatians 4:28–31, Hagar is associated with the Sinai covenant, while Sarah is associated with the covenant of grace into which her son Isaac enters. Some Christians believe that God fulfills his promises to Ishmael today by blessing the Arab nations (Ishmaelites) with oil and political strength. The Bahá'í writings state that it was Ishmael, and not Isaac, who was the son that Abraham almost sacrificed. However, the Bahá'í writings also state that the name is unimportant as