DIFFERING HOPES “And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.”—Genesis 17:20, 21. IT is not at all wonderful that two persons, so different in their birth and nature as Ishmael and Isaac were, became very different in their hopes. To Isaac