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 son of Nethaniah desire to do the best for his beleaguered people (Jeremiah 40:9). Ishmael is described as approaching Gedaliah with ten men, and striking him down while a feast is in progress (2 Kings 25:25) – a gross offence against prevailing customs of hospitality at the time. Judeans and Chaldeans with him (whether the latter are officials or soldiers is unclear – the II Kings and Jeremiah accounts differ on this point) are also slaughtered. Jeremiah suggests Ishmael’s offence is further compounded by his slaughter of another group of men, pilgrims who arrive shortly afterwards from towns in the centre of the