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 (). God also mentioned that "He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be over everyone, And everyone's hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers."(). A year later, Ishmael's half-brother Isaac was born to Abraham by his first wife Sarah when she was 90 years old (), after she had ceased showing any signs of fertility (). On the day of feasting during which Abraham celebrated the weaning of Isaac, Ishmael was "mocking" or "playing with" Isaac (the Hebrew word מְצַחֵֽק "meṣaḥeq" is ambiguous) and Sarah asked