"Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.""

Genesis 17:19

God's promised birth of Isaac to Abraham and his wife Sarah would set into motion a bitter controversy that still exists today. It is because of God's covenant with Abraham's second son Isaac that The Arab - Jewish Conflict exists today.

Abraham's response to God when he heard of a promised child at the age of 100 was laughter, which, interestingly, is exactly what the name Isaac infers - "he laughs." In a family of forceful initiators, Isaac was the quiet, "mind-my-own-business" type, unless he was specifically called on to take action. He was the protected, only-child from the time Sarah ordered Ishmael and Hagar to leave until Abraham arranged his marriage to Rebekah.

In his own family, Isaac had the patriarchal position, but Rebekah had the power. Rather than stand his ground, Isaac found it easier to compromise or lie in an effort to avoid confrontations. In spite of the shortcomings, Isaac was part of God's plan. The model his father Abraham instilled in him included a great gift of faith in the one true God of Creation. God's promise to create a great nation through which He would bless the world was passed on by Isaac to his twin sons Jacob and Esau.