Genesis 27:41-46

2008.Sep.26 14:20

Rebekah tells Jacob to Leave

So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."
(Genesis 27:41, NASB)

Esau’s anger is understandable. His reaction is not acceptable. He has consistently failed to examine his own fault in the loss of his birthright, and in the apparent alienation of his parents due to his marriage. He is also, in my opinion, putting too much stake on his father’s blessing. Go out there and suceed, man. It is interesting to note the implication that he is not yet ready to throw off his yoke to Jacob, insofar as he has not accomplished it.

Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, "Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban! Stay with him a few days, until your brother's fury subsides, until your brother's anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?" Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?"
(Genesis 27:42-46, NASB)

Esau has also not yet learned that Rebekah finds out everything. Oops. So, she warns Jacob to head out for “a few days”, and she gives him a specific destination: the home of her brother, Laban. Her timing will prove to be way off, and she doesn’t give a reason that I see for her particular destination.

Rebekah, in this passage, is a proponent of the “time will heal all things” mentality, not something I personally buy into. Yes, many things will recede from daily awareness, but does she really think that Esau’s anger will not be renewed when Jacob returns? She’s right on that point, as it turns out, but other situations have changed. This is a family in serious need of professional counseling. Which is, in some ways, reassuring.

When Rebekah ponders losing both her sons in one day, in a rehash of Cain and Abel, she doesn’t seem to be aware the she’s already lost at least Esau, who is rapidly breaking all remaining ties to his family, and that she has virtually lost Jacob due to her scheming, as he now has to hide from his brother. Again, the time to fix all this has past a long time ago.

So, Rebekah makes her justification to Isaac for sending their son away: that she does not want him to marry a Hittite, as Esau had done. Now why she can’t just say “Esau’s going to kill him,” I don’t know. And again, again, it’s amazing that the family has arrived at this point of hatred everywhere. Isaac, come on! What were you doing for the last twenty, thirty years? Not paying attention to the health of your family, apparently. Which, about to be a father, is the part of this story most significant to me, that Isaac should have seen trouble and intervened years before.

Genesis 27:11-17

2008.Aug.22 18:00

Almost Thinking About It

Read Genesis 27:11-17 | Full Chapter

"My brother Esau is a hairy man," Jacob reminded her. "And I am not. If my father touches me and realizes I am trying to trick him, he will put a curse on me instead of giving me a blessing." Rebekah insisted, "Let his curse fall on me! Just do what I say and bring me the meat." So Jacob brought the meat to his mother, and she cooked the tasty food that his father liked. Then she took Esau's best clothes and put them on Jacob. She also covered the smooth part of his hands and neck with goatskins and gave him some bread and the tasty food she had cooked.
(Genesis 27:11-17, CEV)

I like that Jacob almost thinks about his mother’s plan. It at least occurs to him that something could go wrong. His concern is that his father, discovering the plan, will then curse him. It’s a good concern as far as that goes, but he’s still missing the point. Jacob is deceiving his father, and the kicker is, so that he can receive a blessing witnessed by Yahweh! Um, can we please think all this through?

Rebekah is not swayed. In fact, she’s willing to accept on herself whatever curse may otherwise come upon her son. This whole thing just seems absurd. If I hadn’t seen families who play these kind of games, I’d say this is allegory. And yet, I have seen this kind of absurd behavior within families. I guess, after all, humans are human.

One other comment, though, is the contrast between Rebekah/Jacob and Esau. The former two, especially Rebekah, are prepared. Indeed, the little I see of Rebekah’s life, being prepared and ready to deal with even totally unexpected is her norm. That’s a strength, but like most (all?) strengths, it can be misused. Esau’s appearances have indicated a man who is never prepared, best illustrated that he was managed to get hungry enough to sell his birthright; indeed the selling shows a lack of forward thinking. But, is it better to have the strength with the temptation of misuse or not to have it. I suppose it depends on the strength of the temptation, reminding me of something Jesus says:

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire. If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell. If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell…
(Mark 9:43-47, NASB)

Genesis 27:5-10

2008.Aug.15 18:00

Rebekah’s Plan

Read Genesis 27:5-10 | Full Chapter

Rebekah had been listening, and as soon as Esau left to go hunting, she said to Jacob, "I heard your father tell Esau to kill a wild animal and cook some tasty food for your father before he dies. Your father said this because he wants to bless your brother with the LORD as his witness. Now, my son, listen carefully to what I want you to do. Go and kill two of your best young goats and bring them to me. I'll cook the tasty food that your father loves so much. Then you can take it to him, so he can eat it and give you his blessing before he dies."
(Genesis 27:5-10, CEV)

I don’t get why Rebekah so seems to favor Jacob. Is this just because God had told her that Esau would be subservient to Jacob? Does she feel it’s her responsibility to make that happen? I find that hard to believe. My guess is this is two parents playing favorites, each picking the child they get along better with as a tool to…well, fight whatever battles they have by proxy. Too bad for Esau and Jacob.

Rebekah and Jacob do appear to share a talent for strategy/scheming. Jacob has already managed to buy Esau’s birthright for a trifle, but the plan to get the first born blessing is launched by Rebekah. Indeed, she intends to actively participate. Now, I admire a good plan as much as the next person, but WTF?! This act seems purely spiteful or something of the sort. Or does Rebekah really think that God’s plans are going to be bound based on who receives this blessing?

It’s reassuring, I suppose, to know that the patriarchs and matriarchs would a good deal messed up.

These sort of situations lead to those questions of how does such deception fit in God’s plan? Did he desire this lie? I don’t think that’s in his character. I think it’s fair to say that God’s plans are not guaranteed to be understandle by humans, at least in this life. Although, I do feel comfortable proposing that he accepts the reality of human’s sinning and works his plan through that, while it’s also clear that the sin displeases him.

Somewhat off-topic: is part of this story a testament for herding instead of hunting? It would make sense, from what I know of Hebrew history (which, admittedly is not that much) that the ‘winner’ in their story would be one who cares for flocks, not a hunter-gatherer.

Genesis 26:6-11

2008.Jul.04 19:05

Better Job This Time, Abimelech.

Read Genesis 26:6-11 | Full Chapter

Isaac moved to Gerar with his beautiful wife Rebekah. He was afraid that someone might kill him to get her, and so he told everyone that Rebekah was his sister.
(Genesis 26:6-7, CEV)

Here, we have part two of the Abimelech and husband-pretending-to-be-brother stories (My discussions on the first). The first stars Abraham and Sarah, the second Isaac and Rebekah. In my limited understanding of Biblical scholarship, I remember (hopefully this memory is accurate) that some (perhaps many?) scholars consider these two passages to be two versions of the same story, with differences due to different early sources. The basics of the accounts are pretty close, and I don’t get any major difference in understanding between the Sarah/Abraham or Rebekah/Isaac as the subjects.

Outside of all that, what I really notice is the different response of Abimelech. I like the idea that both situations happened and Abimelech learned from the first (or, maybe one of his descendents of the same name did).

After Isaac had been there a long time, King Abimelech looked out a window and saw Isaac hugging and kissing Rebekah. Abimelech called him in and said, "Rebekah must be your wife! Why did you say she is your sister?" "Because I thought someone would kill me," Isaac answered. "Don't you know what you've done?" Abimelech exclaimed. "If someone had slept with her, you would have made our whole nation guilty!" Then Abimelech warned his people that anyone who even touched Isaac or Rebekah would be put to death.
(Genesis 26:8-11, CEV)

Abimelech, in the earlier story, “sent and took Sarah” (Genesis 20:2, NASB). In this case, the king leaves Rebekah alone, so that when he discovers the deception, it’s not really problem. Sure, he now needs to address Isaac, and he does, but Abimelech has not put himself into a problematic situation, to understate it. He also shows concern not only for his own potential guilt, but that of the other men in his nation. Then, he provides protection for the itinerants by means of a proclamation that the punishment for hurting them is death.

In other words, this time, Abimelech does everything right, at least as far as I can tell. Perhaps he learned, either from his own previous wrongs (I consider kidnapping a wrong regardless of the prevailing culture) or that of an ancestor. In any event, Abimelech acts honorably, identifies a potential problem, and handles it. I like it.

Genesis 25:22-28

2008.Apr.18 19:47

The Younger of Twins

Read Genesis 25:22-28 | Full Chapter

But the children struggled together within her; and she said, "If it is so, why then am I this way?" So she went to inquire of the LORD. The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger."
(Genesis 25:22-23, NASB)

Rebekah has now conceived, after a period of barrenness, as it were. But a new problem arises. She’s pregnant with twins (that’s not the problem), who are struggling with each other. I’m going to just take that point as it is, since I have no idea what that would feel like, whether such a feeling is common with twins, etc. Understandably, this bothers Rebekah a bit, and not only because it’s probably causing her to feel more sick than hormonal changes alone. So, she asks Yahweh what this is all about.

Yahweh explains that this is just the beginning. Out of these two children are going to be borne two powerful nations, one of which will serve the other. Perhaps God chose to let them wrestle for illustrative purposes; one does not imagine that the brothers’ struggle is because they understand all this. Shoot, even I don’t understand all this. Add to that a reversal of the “normal order” in this society, in which the eldest son generally holds authority. In this case, it will be the younger son who becomes more powerful.

This seems to be a bit of prophecy for the sake of prophecy (or whatever is the right term when Yahweh just tells one person directly). That is, there doesn’t seem to be a particular warning here, just a “this is the way it’s going to be.” On the other hand, it may be an intentionally self-fulfilling prophecy, which I’ll explore a little later in this article.

When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. Afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.
(Genesis 25:24-26, NASB)

The two kiddos are born, Esau and Jacob, in that order. I think it’s interesting, though I’m not sure to what purpose, that Jacob is holding on to Esau’s heel. I guess if their lives had gone differently, this might have been more interpretted as a show of love and cooperation between the two. Alas.

Isaac and Rebekah are fairly old by this point, although spring chickens compared to Abraham and Sarah when Isaac was born. Nothing particular to say about that point.

When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents. Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
(Genesis 25:27-28, NASB)

The two boys are different (surprise, surprise). Esau likes the outdoors, Jacob tends to stay at home and is probably more “intellectual” of the two. Esau becomes Isaac’s favorite, while Rebekah prefers her younger son. According to the text, Isaac’s preference is straight forward: he likes the meat of the animals Esau hunts. Rebekah’s is not explained that I’ve noticed. However, as I touched on earlier, I wonder if her favoring Jacob is due in part to Yahweh’s explanation about the struggle between the two during her pregnancy. That is, does she prefer Jacob because she knows that he will become the more powerful of the two?

Whatever their reasons, favorites is a dangerous game, that is, playing favorites. It’s quite natural, I imagine, that a parent will have more in common and/or be closer to one or another child. The trouble (I think) comes when a parent translates that natural connection into actively acting for the better of one child at the expense of another, for no other reason than that preference (Having not raised any children, I take a moment to comment that I may be quite misguided on these assertions). As we will see, Rebekah in particular goes down that road, and although I don’t think I can prove it, I get the impression Isaac does as well. Trouble, naturally, ensues.

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