Read with Me
Genesis 27:42-46 (HCSB)B
When the words of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. So now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran, and stay with him for a few days until your brother’s anger subsides—until your brother’s rage turns away from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?”
So Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m sick of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob marries a Hittite woman like one of them, what good is my life?”
Listen with Me
Even though Jacob had the reputation of being a schemer, it was actually Rebekah who was the planner of the great scheme we usually think of, although Jacob did follow her lead. In this case, there was no nefarious purpose behind Rebekah’s plan. Instead, she was driven by fear for Jacob’s life, since word had gotten back to her that Esau was planning to kill Jacob on the day that their father died, which seemed like it would be very soon.
Rebekah’s plan was a good one, although if it was done incorrectly, it would place the mark of a coward on Jacob. So, rather than just have him flee to Haran, which was too far away for Esau to want to pursue him, she contrived to have him sent away by his father in order to seek a wife.
Moses had already noted that Esau had married two women from the land in Genesis 26:34-35, and that these women, with their pagan practices, caused Isaac and Rebecca great anxiety. That provided the perfect excuse to send Jacob away. The only girls available to choose from in the whole area were more Hittite girls. And since the 75-year-old Jacob had now received the blessing from his father, it was time for him to find a wife and to start having children so that he could fulfill that blessing.
Rebekah’s presentation to Isaac may seem a bit melodramatic: “If Jacob marries a Hittite woman, too, my life won’t be worth living!” But it had the desired effect. Isaac decided to send Jacob off to his uncle, Laban, to find a wife. And it would have the added benefit of helping him to escape the righteous wrath of his brother.
Pray with Me
Father, it strikes me that even though there was so much human scheming and machinations going on, none of it surprised You. Instead, all that plotting ended up fulfilling Your plan precisely. Everyone played right into Your hands without even realizing that they were doing so. This, of course, demonstrates Your sovereignty to a surprising degree. You are able to know in advance our actions, and You are able to even bend our free will into the shape it needs to be in order to move the main components of Your plan into place. I can honestly pray along with Paul (Roman’s 11:33-36):
Oh, the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable His judgments
and untraceable His ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been His counselor?
Or who has ever first given to Him,
and has to be repaid?
For from Him and through Him
and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
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