[even though] he had been told [by God, Gen. 21:12], “Your descendants will be traced through Isaac.”
Neither are all [Jewish] people children [of God], [simply] because they are Abraham’s descendants. But [Gen. 21:12 says], “It is through Isaac that you [i.e., Abraham] will have descendants.”
In times past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets in many parts and in various ways,