Yishmoel and Eisav
Dedicated in loving memory of Rabbi Lipa Schapiro, of blessed memory.
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The Talmud (Kidushin 18a) writes that Esau was considered to be a renegade Jew. This is not found concerning Ishmael.
You are correct, it cannot be understood on the most elementary contemporary level because the rules of who was Jewish had yet to be sit in stone. However, this is one case, where the current post-Mattan Torah rules were reflected in the pre-Mattan Torah reality as well. Hence, Ishmael—the son of a non Jewish woman (Hagar the Egyptian)—was not Jewish. On the other hand, Esau’s mother was the righteous Rebecca.
This is reflected in Sarah’s words, “The son of the maidservant will not inherit with my son, with Isaac (Gen. 21:10).”
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You mentioned a few times how Yishmoel was a Jew and Eisav was a non-Jew. How could that be if the Giving of the Torah had not happened yet? What do you mean by "Jewish". Reply
I don't agree with the logic of one brother being a Jew and the other not purely based on the mother because there's plenty of instances in the torah of interfaith marriages and the woman often not being Jewish, but to answer your question Abraham is considered the first jew, that's why the Jews in Egypt were considered Jews before Moses got involved. Reply
This is a common misconception. The Torah doesn't relate all the details of many events, including what preceded the marriages of the righteous individuals in the Torah. But rest assured, that all of these individuals their spouses had converted prior to marriage. Please see here for some examples of this. Reply
"Rahav is celebrated as one... of the outstanding converts of all time together with Hagar, Osnath, Tzipora, Shifra, Puah, Pharaoh's daughter Batya, Ruth and Yael."