Heroes
Zeroes - Rebekah
Article
Isaac the special son of Abraham and Sarah lived an idyllic life in a close
family relationship with his parents. It was not until the death of Sarah that
Abraham considered finding him a wife, by which time he was forty years old.
Because of God’s covenant with Abraham it was necessary to find a wife from
amongst his own people.
When Abraham had set out originally on his journey from Ur with his family to
find the promised land his brother Nahor had been amongst the party. At their
first stopping point at Charran, Terah, Abraham’s father died, so Nahor decided
to settle their with his family. He had a large number of sons one of whom was
Bethuel. He had a beautiful daughter named Rebekah. Abraham therefore decided to
send his trusted servant Eliezer to Charran which was in Mesopotamia to see if
he could find a wife for Isaac from one of Nahor’s family.
It was a six week’s journey across the desert for Eliezer and his camel train
which carried gifts for a dowry. When the camel train came to its destination as
we read in Genesis Chapter 24 verses 10 to 32, they halted at a well.
It was up to Eliezer to devise a way of deciding who would be the prospective
bride. He decided to let God give him a sign so as we read in verse 45 he made a
silent prayer to God . His prayer was answered in full and an agreement was made
between Bethuel and Eliezer on behalf of Isaac.
Reading Genesis Chapter 24 verses 56 to 61 we see that despite misgivings by her
family Rebekah made no hesitation in accepting the offer and risk the journey
back across the desert away from her homeland.
In verses 62 to 66 we read how Rebekah and Isaac first met and that Isaac’s love
for her mitigated the great sorrow he felt for the death of his mother to whom
he was very close.
Before long Rebekah had twin sons Esau and Jacob. Even before they were born she
knew that there would be trouble between them as we read in Genesis Chapter 25
verses 22 to 34.
In the following chapter we see an almost repeat performance of what had
happened to Abraham and Sarah on two occasions. There was a famine in the land
so Isaac and his family went to the land of the Philistines to seek help. Once
again we have a beautiful wife posing as a sister to her husband to save his
skin.
In Genesis Chapter 27 Rebekah comes to prominence again in the rather unsavoury
story of the deceiving of Isaac. By deceit Rebekah helped Jacob to get his
father’s blessing which should have gone to Esau since it seems that she
preferred Jacob to Esau. The result of this deceit was catastrophic for the
family, breaking it apart, causing Esau to threaten to kill his brother and
Jacob having to flee for his life. In this we see once again how knowing God’s
promise Rebekah felt that she had to help the situation along. But by using such
methods as she did it caused disaster. If she had left well alone it would have
been possible for Isaac to give his blessing to Jacob. After all God had made a
promise to Abraham, a promise that would never be broken but would be
accomplished in His way.
The last we hear of Rebekah is recorded in Genesis Chapter 25 verses 42 to 46.
It has a rather sad ending, but at the same time it shows just how well Rachel
knew her twins. She knew that Esau despite obvious anger and terrible threats
had another side to him which would eventually show forgiveness. Although Isaac
did return home to be reconciled with his brother and meet with his father again
it is believed that by this time Rebekah had died. However despite her human
failings God used her in His plan for His people fulfilling His covenant with
Abraham.
Study
Rebekah is one of the most significant
women in the Old Testament, married to the patriarch Isaac, son of Abraham,
father of Israel. Her story begins so beautifully with Abraham’s servant (most
likely Eliezar) being sent in pursuit of a wife for his beloved son. Rebekah
proved herself to be God’s choice! Isaac loved Rebekah and she was his comfort
after his mother’s death. One highlight of the love story of Isaac and Rebekah
is that we never read of Isaac having another wife or concubine. Rebekah was his
only love. It is disheartening, therefore, to see that Rebekah’s love of Isaac
was so imperfect. Not only did she choose one son above the other, but she chose
her son above her husband. As always, when God’s ways are disregarded, sorrow
for all is the result. We will begin by looking at what Scripture says about
Rebekah. This is her story.
As with many of the women we are studying this year, Rebekah’s story requires much reading. You may want to break into groups and allocate readings to each group for the following questions:
Please read the following verses and, in a few sentences, summarize the events described there:
Genesis 24:1-28
Genesis 24:50-67
Genesis 25:19-36
Genesis 27:1-35
Genesis 27:41 – 28:5
Consider the Scriptures you have read on Rebekah’s life and use the following words to describe her:
• Her strength
• Her weakness
• Her faith
• Her doubt
Now feedback to other groups what you found.
It’s amazing how many facets there can be to a person’s character. We can see someone so strong on one point and so weak on another. Was Rebekah strength due to her youth? Did her weakness come with old age? Had she begun in the spirit and ended in the flesh? We will never quite understand what happened to the Rebekah, who said yes to Abraham’s servant, so full of faith in God, but who took things into her own hands when her favorite son’s spiritual inheritance was at stake.
Think about the following:
1. What characteristic of Rebekah would you most like to emulate and why?
2. What characteristic of Rebekah would you most like to avoid and why?
3. Is there anything in your character that resembles a negative aspect of Rebekah’s character? What might you do right now to begin making corrections in this area?
4. What do you learn from Rebekah? Why is it that we never need to manipulate the things that are promised to us by God? Because God is always able to bring about His will, even when stubborn human beings are involved! II Corinthians 1:20 says: “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”
Her Hope and Her Gifts
As an option you could look specifically at the portion of her story given in Genesis 25:21-26. Reread the verses. If we take a careful look at these verses we see a couple of significant things. One is that Rebekah was barren for a period of 20 years. Genesis 25:20 tells us that Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah and verse 26 says that he was 60 when Rebekah gave birth to Esau and Jacob. Another notable thing in this passage is that a promise concerning the future of Rebekah’s boys was given directly to her while she was pregnant. Verse 23 specifically says: “ And the Lord said to her , ‘Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples shall be separated from your body; and one people shall be stronger than the other; and the older shall serve the younger. ’”
1. Because of this promise of God, what did Rebekah know about Esau and Jacob even before they were born?
2. With the promise in mind, was it necessary for Rebekah to do anything to assist in the proper placement of the blessing?
3. Had Rebekah remained prayerful about the situation, putting her trust in God, can you think of some ways the Lord might have intervened, causing the blessing to rest on Jacob in spite of Isaac’s intent to bless Esau?
God’s ways are always above ours. He is the all-creative one. He would have had no problem bringing about His will in this situation, no matter what Isaac planned, thought, or intended. The result of Rebekah’s manipulation of things that were not hers to touch brought great sorrow to all involved. The relationship between Isaac and Rebekah would never be the same again. Esau would never trust his mother or his brother again, and even desired to see his brother dead. Jacob had to leave his family and friends and go to another land for personal safety, and Rebekah never saw this son that she had loved so much again.
Source: www.wcmonline.org