“Now you’re the expert on how women think about men?”

“You’re the expert on how you think about men,” said Isaac. “But tell me honestly, having listened to the gossip of women for all the years of your life, how often do the women say, ‘Oh, and he’s so nice and thoughtful and kind.’”

“They say that a lot.”

“They say that when they can’t come up with any real praise for a man. When they don’t think much of him and they have to say something nice.”

“Maybe stupid women think that way—”

“Why do you think Father sent Eliezer instead of letting me find a wife for myself? I’m a grown man, you know.”

“I thought . . . because your father didn’t want you leaving his camp . . .”

“Oh, and that’s better? My father doesn’t even trust me out of his sight?”

“Well, of course he does. But I thought maybe it was because of Ishmael—you know, how his first wife, that Egyptian woman, whatever her name was, I never met her—”

“Meribah.”

“He divorced her and sent her away because she was wrong for him somehow.”

“She had a penchant for frenzied worship of Asherah in the company of men she wasn’t married to.”

Rebekah had never heard that. “Really?” Mother certainly hadn’t indulged in that kind of “worship” of the goddess.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Isaac. “Father sent Eliezer because he didn’t think the right kind of woman would find me attractive. He didn’t want me to take the leavings of men like Ezbaal. Or Ishmael.”

“I turned Ezbaal down,” said Rebekah, “and Ishmael never asked.”

“Right. Yes. But if I had been there, quiet Isaac, studious Isaac, Isaac who never gets angry and doesn’t like to go out hunting and has only killed animals for sacrifice, Isaac who looks like he should be a strong man but he just couldn’t get interested in handling a sword or practicing battle so he never became very skilled at it, Isaac who—”

“It sounds like you want our son to grow up to be Ishmael!”

Isaac cocked his head and thought about that. “Well, yes, except for the part about breaking most of the commandments whenever he feels like it.”

“And the part about being a show-off and a braggart.”

“He’s not just bragging,” said Isaac. “He really is what he seems.”

“A bully?”

“A great man.”

Rebekah finally understood. “You’re telling me that you reject yourself as the father of our child.”

“No, no, that’s not it at all.”

“Yes it is,” said Rebekah. “That’s exactly what you’re saying. But I’ll have you remember something, my beloved husband. The Lord could have had the birthright go to Ishmael if he wanted to. But he didn’t. You’re the one who was chosen.”

“I just happened to be born to my mother instead of a concubine.”