Almighty God uses abundant irony and incongruity to make a point. We are all familiar with the story of the naming of our second patriarch Isaac (Yitzhak) meaning laughter (Genesis 21:5-6). Earlier in Genesis 18:10-15, when God informed Abraham and Sarah that they will have a son “by this time next year,” Sarah openly laughs incredulous that she would ever experience sexual pleasure again—really? An 89-year-old? Abraham was even more over the hill, 99 years old, reproductively speaking dead (Hebrews 11:11-12). Consider the incredible irony of this miracle—from a post-menopausal woman and a man probably riddled with ED come descendants as numerous as the stars and countless as the sands of the seashore (Genesis 15:5, Genesis 22:17, Genesis 26:14, Exodus 31:13).
Isaac means laughing and it is a reference to Abraham laughing in joy at the prospect of the possibility of Sarah giving birth to the promised son, and of course it is also a witness against them because of Sarah’s laugh of unbelief. And now here she is saying that everyone will laugh with me in joy and in amazement that I should give birth to a child at age 90.
