Bible Wonders - The 4 Mothers - Rebecca

Did you ever wonder? Did you ever wonder?

I do. Did you ever wonder? Why the sun always rises but the stars never fall?

Why dry land is never satisfied by water? And why fire never says enough? Well, Isaac was comforted in his tent with Rebekah as his wife, and these blessings that Sarah had enjoyed of the candle that was lit from Shabbat to Shabbat, or from Saturday to Saturday.

They would light it on Friday evening, and then the next Friday evening they would have a new candle that would stay lit through the next Friday evening. And then there was this doe that had the blessing, and then they had this Shekinah glory over the tent, or the presence of God, which we talked about yesterday. And I should have made clearer that as the mommy lights the Shabbat candle, she is bringing order out of the chaos.

And I think I had that backwards as I described it yesterday. As mommies do, they bring order out of chaos, and it's just absolutely beautiful that it would be the woman that would bring this light, as we talked about last time, and then the woman that is obviously bringing forth this doe that has a blessing. And it was Mary that brought forth the ultimate bread of life in Bethlehem, the house of bread.

I mean, more than spectacular when you think about that whole aspect of it. And of course, being able to be in the presence of God can only happen as a result of what Jesus did on the cross. And so there we have that phenomenal presence of Christ in our hearts that is the ultimate Shekinah glory that we get to enjoy as a result of Jesus. And Rebecca brought this kind of blessing into Isaac's tent. And it would appear, you know, when I started out to do this particular episode, I thought that I was actually going to do something on Rebecca's great character, that she was strong enough to, you know, essentially second guess her husband and make sure that Jacob or Israel got the blessing, because that's what really needed to happen. Or otherwise, you know, Esau would have got the blessing, and that would have been horrible because he was a sinful man. And the more I studied it, the more perplexed I got. And the more I was just thinking, wow, as we had studied the 119th Psalm, I just kept thinking, you know, in the Shin section, it says, I hate and abhor lying, but thy law do I love.

And so as this idea of Rachel having Jacob disguise himself with other clothes in order to deceive his father is certainly Shekor, or the idea of lying. And so we know God hates that. And as I thought about that, I just, how in the world can this be right?

How can this be reconciled? And then when you look carefully, as I was praying about this, I read another article, actually, by a rabbi that pointed out that if you look carefully at the blessing that he got, that Jacob got, as a result of deceiving his father, was not ultimately the blessing of Abraham that he got. He got the blessing of Abraham when he went off to find a wife in Paddam, Iran, right? If you look at the second blessing that he got when he left, you'll see that's when, you know, he gets blessed to multiply and to get the blessing of Abraham. The first blessing that he got, he ultimately gave back to Esau after he wrestled with the angel, because it wasn't the blessing that was for him.

It was the, you know, that was the blessing that was for his brother. And that didn't ultimately really manifest into what Israel would become through the 12 tribes that happened in the second blessing that happened after the one that he duped his brother out of, which again, he gave back after the wrestling match. So clearly, Isaac had in mind all along that Jacob was going to get that particular blessing, because at this point in time, Esau had, you know, gotten what blessing he was going to get. You know, Jacob had certainly disappointed his father as he was shaking in anger and all that went on. And yet, when the moment came for Jacob to leave for this other country, then he got the blessing that would ultimately be that of the children, the 12 children, and all that Israel became. And so when you think about the consequences of what Rebekah did in having Jacob do that, she even said, you know, that the curse would be on her head. Well, it was horrible, because when you think about it, poor Jacob ended up getting tricked by Laban way worse than he tricked his father. And then he ended up working all these years and his wages being changed. But then the ultimate thing that happened that was just absolutely heartbreaking for Jacob and made his life so difficult was his own sons tricked him with clothing, just like he had tricked his father with clothing.

In other words, the coat of many colors that was dipped in blood to convince Jacob that his son was dead. And what a horrible, horrible consequence as a result of what went on when Rebekah stepped in and decided that God needed help to make sure the right person got the blessing. And so if you look back to the poor situation where, you know, she had been barren for, if you do the math, like 20 years that they had prayed for these children. And then she, at that point in time, after she got pregnant by the blessing that came from her husband praying for those children. And she was so excited, but as these children started to move around in her womb in crazy ways, she went and sought God at that point in time. And she got the oracle that she was told that the older would serve the younger. And so at that point in time, she sought God. The question you can't help but wonder is why we don't hear a similar story at the moment when she realized that Jacob was not going to get the blessing that she thought he should have from his father Isaac. Instead, right, she jumped in there, told Jacob to do that, and the consequence for Jacob was horrible. But even, you know, for poor Rebekah, if you think about it, as a result of this, you know, she didn't see her son for years and years and years and years and years because Esau was trying to kill him. And she had to deal with Esau's wives, and her life was very, very difficult.

But the absolutely amazing thing, as I've really thought about this, you're like, Robbie, what's the redemptive situation? Well, the redemptive situation, when you think about it, is in spite of the mistakes that Rebekah made. She still is Jesus' great, great, great, great, great, great, however many great grandmothers, right? She still had the joy of seeing the 12 tribes of Israel come about. She still had the joy of seeing King David and all these different generations come as a result of her love, right? She loved Isaac. She loved her boys. She loved Jacob, and no doubt she loved Esau. And as a result, you know, God bless that. She's buried in the king of Machvelah, right?

Right next to Isaac and all the matriarchs and patriarchs. And her life stands for a life that was guided by love, right? She did those things because she thought this is what's best for her family. And there's no doubt that she loved her family dearly. And, you know, it's just fascinating to me, yeah, there were horrible consequences of the choices that Rebekah made. But oh my goodness, did God bless it. Did God bless her life. And if it weren't for Rebekah, right, and the way that she loved, you know, we would not have Jesus.

I mean, it's just simply how it all worked. And God stepped in in spite of the choices that she made. In fact, when you look at all the characters in Genesis, you can see how each of them in their own way, you know, got weak, and in a moment decided they needed to do something that God didn't think needed to be happening. And when they got strong, they turned to God and God gave them great advice. And there's no doubt that Rebekah had those opportunities to turn to God both, you know, in order to have these two wonderful children that ended up changing the world, but then also to help raise them. And so as we think she had that blessing all the way around, that she continued to be able to light those candles as the mother and bring chaos, I mean, bring order out of the chaos, she had a chance to continue to make that dough, which was a blessing to all that ate it, and she had a chance for all that were in her tent to enjoy the presence of God. So personally, it makes me feel absolutely wonderful to relate like, oh, how many times have I messed up, made bad choices, superseded God, jumped in front of him, all the things that I've done, yet he always pulled my fat out of the fire. And like Rebekah, you know, if I turn to him, he makes things right. My prayer is that as we think about Rebekah this Mother's Day, that we can see that God blesses our mess, that he knows our hearts, he knows how to take our bad choices, help us to grow in him and grow closer together. Do you ever wonder? I do.