If you have ever been to Jerusalem there is a natural question that comes to mind. Why should anyone care very much about this particular piece of real estate? Jerusalem is not a port. It is not on a river. It is not on a trade route. It doesn’t sit on top of oil reserves or a gold mine. The hills and fields are rocky and a lot of work has to be done to even grow crops. Of all the places in the world I have visited, Jerusalem is not on my list of the places I would care to live.

So why have people wanted the city so much they were willing to kill and risk their lives over it? And why has there been failure after failure in the efforts to attain peace in that troubled region? Will we see peace there anytime soon?

It all started when God gave a little piece of land to a man named Abraham. Most of us are aware of what can happen when a great man dies and his heirs begin to squabble over his estate. And we realize that the greater the stakes, the greater the hatred that can be built between brothers and sisters. We’ll find out more about the sons of Abraham and their inheritances beginning in Genesis, chapter 25.