Bible study was excellent last night. All those years in religion classes and seminary, and the matriarchs were passed over. Never focused on–never part of the promise. But Disciple brings the matriarchs front and center: Sarah and Rebekah. God partners with them to realize his covenant promise. In God’s eyes they are not expendable as they are in the eyes of men–including their husbands. Abraham was not enough to begin the covenant people: Sarah was needed too. The son of promise had to come from both Abraham and Sarah. Abraham might think of Sarah as disposable (by giving her to two different kings), and Sarah might think she was expendable (by giving Hagar to Abraham), but God knew Sarah was vital for his plan of redemption.
Rebekah’s steps of faith and trust in God reflects Abraham’s faith and trust. She too leaves her country and goes to a land she does not know. Unlike Abraham, she leaves her family behind (whereas Abraham brings his), and makes the long journey to Canaan to be Isaac’s wife. When her hard and difficult pregnancy makes her wish she were dead, she goes to God directly to find out what is going on. What is happening to her? What does this mean? God answers her, and tells her she is bearing twins, two nations divided, and that the older brother would serve the younger. When the time came for Isaac to give his blessing, Rebekah was reading to make sure God’s will was done. For the first time I heard that what Rebekah did was right. She knew of God’s oracle–she knew that Jacob should receive the blessing. She partnered with God to make sure what he planned would happen, and she furthered the covenant promises. In doing so she became the mother Israel. No sin–only tenacious obedience to what she knew to be the will of God. I also want to look at Rachel and Leah differently too. They are matriarchs as well. Hopefully I will have much more to say about Sarah and Rebekah and about Rachel and Leah as well. I would also like to look at Hagar as a matriarch in her own right. She too had a son of promise, and God honored his covenant and commitment to her, even if Abraham and Sarah didn’t. I have just started reading about them and seeing them with new eyes. I am hoping for new revelations and new insights in the coming days.
I am so grateful to see that each response to this issue is God Inspired, and there is nothing wrong about the way each person responded to the question. God wants us to try to understand HIS Ways. Noone Yet has the right and only answer.
Actually Mary is wrong in some areas. The Bible does clearly state which of the boys was to be the head and against the rule of first born God chose Jacob, the youngest. Yes, he did tell Rebakah this but not Issac. Which does show us that sometime He tells the wife and not the husband, contrary to some peoples beliefs today. Also, I really don’t think she would keep this important information to herself. She would have told Issac what God had said, so I feel the Issac knew what God’s plans were for his sons. As for being dysfuntional. Look at the personalities of the boys. Esua was more like his father and Jacob as his mother so natually each parent may favor the one more like them. It happens a lot of times. What we don’t think about is that Issac, no doubt knowingly, was ready to go against God’s will and God used Rebekah to step in and stop Issac from sinning by stubbornly holding on to a traditon.
I get so tired of hearing how Rebekah was the one that sinned when it was Issac who was going against God’s will. Plus, God needed Jacob to leave. He already had his wife picked out and had to get him there. Plus, God needed him to “grow up” so he could be a leader of the nation that the Savior into the world would come through.
Shawna, sorry about saying it was your interpretation – I reread and saw where it was what you’d studied in Bible study. One thing that this has made me wonder “Was the birthright really God’s will for Jacob?” God was in the process of building a nation and I just don’t know how important Jacob having the birthright would have been for that. God didn’t tell his plan for Jacob to Isaac, but surely Rebekah did. It seems that Isaac either didn’t believe that Rebekah had a word from God or chose to ignore God altogether on this matter. This was a dysfunctional family. Isaac had his favorite and Rebekah had hers. The repercussions are seen down to the next generation. I don’t see Rebekah wanting the birthright for Jacob because she thought it was God’s plan as much as she just wanted it for her favorite child. We see no indication that Rebekah is seeking God’s guidance here. God had a plan and despite Rebekah’s sin He continued on with that plan, but there were serious repercussions for this family. I really do not believe that seeking and following God’s will means that he wants us to lie and deceive which is what Rebekah did – no one’s life was at stake here – she simply did not want to wait and trust that God would set things right if Isaac decided to give the blessing to Esau. And as I stated I wonder how Esau having the blessing would have affected God’s plan? Regardless, did Jacob actually get the benefit of the blessing that he tricked his father into bestowing? Jacob had to flee to Laben in fear of his life. He would work for Laben for twenty years after reaping some of what he’d sown. How did things turn out for Rebekah after she participated in the lies and deception? She never saw her favorite child again and she was stuck living out her life with Esau and his unbelieving wives. How did that affect her relationship with her husband? I believe if she’d simply been following God’s will in regards to Jacob the consequences would not have been so harsh or no consequences at all. Jacob himself would reap the sin of deceiving his father for years to come, first being deceived by his uncle and than his own children would use the blood of a goat to deceive him just as he’d used the skin of the goat to deceive his own father. Rebekah may have thought she was simply helping God along, but in the end I really believe she lacked enough faith to let God do things his way. As a mother I can’t quite grasp how parents can so favor one child over the other the way Isaac, Rebekah and Jacob did.
I agree we do live in a fallen world where things can’t always be black and white, but God is black and white – it’s either a sin or it’s not. Would I lie to save my child? No doubt, I’d probably lie to save my dog, but that doesn’t make the lie not a sin. That’s why we need Jesus – it’s not just that we are incapable of meeting God’s standards on our own, but that we live in the world where we are forced to choose sometimes between the lesser of two evils to get by. Personally I do believe that if someone is forced into a situation to lie and deceive such as WW2 that God may withhold the consequences of those sins. Hope I’ve explained myself in a such a way to be understood.
Thanks for the discussion Shawna, I always enjoy reading your blog!
Actually this isn’t my interpretation–it was the interpretation we heard at Bible study, and the interpretation of a few (not the majority by far) scholars. This is totally new to me as I said in my post. I’m intrigued because Rebekah isn’t passed off as a conniver like she usually is. She knew God’s purpose, and if Isaac didn’t listen to her and was going to bless Esau, regardless, what was she to do? She knew God’s will–God told her not Isaac.
As far as lying and deception goes–yes God does use that. Christians hid Jews and lied about it to German officials during WW2. Christians today sneak Bibles into countries where it is illegal to have Bibles and lie as well. Unfortunately not everything can be black and white in this fallen world.
Respectfully Shawna, I completely disagree with your interpretation of Rebekah. God does not need us to sin to see His plans come to fruition. Rebekah helped Jacob to deceive Isaac. She helped in the perpetration of a lie. She showed a complete lack of faith that God would bring everything about as He said in His way and took matters into her own hands. Much like what Sarah did with Hagar. Jacob and Rebekah suffered for this. This was a dysfunctional family – Isaac and Rebekah each favored one child over the other and as a result the brothers resented each other. I’m really just shaking my head at this – if Rebekah’s deception was ok than it would stand to reason that lying and deception are something God uses?