Don't Call Me Ishmael

This week's Torah portion depicts the birth of Isaac and the subsequent incident in which Sarah urges Abraham to expel Hagar - mother of Abraham's older son Ishmael - from their home, so that Hagar's son would not be a negative influence on Isaac. A discussion of the lessons for our times of this painful and difficult decision by Abraham would be interesting. Several contemporary child-rearing issues come into play, including how much we should shelter/protect our children vs. allow/support exposure to external, potentially harmful influences, as well as the parameters of employing "tough love".

However, for now I'd like to focus on two difficulties in the pshat [simple meaning] of the story itself. First, the Torah goes out of its way to avoid using the name "Ishmael" throughout this episode. At the start, it employs many extra words - "the son of Hagar the Egyptian whom she bore to Abraham" instead of just saying "Ishmael". We know the Torah does not waste words - why this lengthy evasion?

A second problem is that Ishmael was at least seventeen years old at the time of this incident, since it occurred after Isaac was weaned at the age of three, and Ishmael was fourteen when Isaac was born. Yet the story clearly implies the boy in question was a small child - Hagar carries him, throws him under a bush, etc.

The midrash steps in to provide explanations for both of these issues. Ishmael's name was avoided in order to emphasize that his bad behavior reflected his mother's views. He was struck by a plague and thus unable to walk, so Hagar had to carry him. Of course, she'd have to be almost supernaturally strong to carry a strapping 17-year-old boy!

It seems to me that there is a much simpler explanation which answers both questions above. The child in question was not Ishmael, but rather another, younger son of Hagar!

Although this idea doesn't appear in any of the meforshim [classic commentaries], it does have some midrashic support of its own. We are told at the end of next week's parsha that Abraham's wife Keturah bore him many additional sons. The midrash identifies Keturah with Hagar. Since we know that "ain mukdam u'meuchar batorah" - that the Torah is not necessarily in chronological order - could it be that some of these subsequent children were born to Keturah/Hagar at an earlier point, and were thus playmates of Isaac?

My theory also harmonizes with the fact that - again according to the midrash - Ishmael continued to be present in Abraham's household on later occasions. E.g., he was one of the lads who accompanied Abraham and Isaac to the Akeida. Whereas, the son in this story is implied to have settled in another land from that point onward.

Again, I'd love to find a well-known meforash who proposes this theory, but meanwhile, even if not otherwise supported, I still think it rings true.