The tragedy of Ishmael still haunts the world. Two sons born to Abraham each received a similar promise. The original promise to Abraham, that his descendants would form a great nation, becomes the promise Isaac receives: It is through Isaac that descendants will bear your name. God also spoke about Ishmael: "I will make a great nation of him also, since he too is your offspring".

How tragic it always is when human ways counteract the design of God and God's promise can become a matter of contention. But let us not be too quick to confine our reflections to the Jewish-Arab conflict. So many nations look on another nation with acrimony, suspicion and hatred. It is little wonder that such antipathy so frequently erupts in war. We still have not yet learned that the root of every war is in the human heart. Isaac and Ishmael played together, but Isaac's mother was troubled by suspicion, dislike, fear, and so Isaac and Ishmael were separated and eventually came into conflict.