Tuesday, January 17, 2017

One problem that comes from doing something wrong is that you have to live with the results of your actions.  And Rebekah had driven a wedge between her two sons that would last for most of their lives.  Not to mention betraying her husband's trust in her.  But she chose deception and betrayal.

When Esau discovered that his father had given Jacob the blessing and the birthright, he begged his father to bless him as well.  "Don't you have even one blessing for me my father?  Bless me, even me also, O my father."  He was so distraught that he lifted up his voice and wept.

I bet he would have given anything to relive that day when he traded his birthright to Jacob for a pot of beans.  He flew into a rage and said, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will slay my brother Jacob." (After my father dies.)

Rebecca learned what had happened and called Jacob and said, "Your brother is planing to kill you.  Arise and flee to my brother Laban back in the land that I came from.  Stay awhile until Esau cools off.  Give Esau some time and he will forget what you have done to him."

And then she said to Isaac,  "I am weary of the women in this land.  I want Jacob to marry a wife from among my people back in Canaan."  (I think she was once again being deceitful to Isaac.  This time about the real reason she wanted Jacob to leave--she didn't want Esau to kill him.)  So Isaac sent Jacob back home, and told him to find a wife from among the daughters of Rebekah's brother Laban.

Before all of this happened, Esau had married two women from the local community.  Judith, and Basemath.  Isaac and Rebekah didn't approve, and were bitter about this.  So after his parents sent Jacob to find a wife that his parents approved of, Esau tried to placate them by going to his uncle Ishmael, and marrying one of his daughters.  Compounding one problem with another.

What a mess.  It seems like the only person that wasn't deceitful, sneaky, rebellious, intent on murder, or didn't betray someone--was Isaac.  (The problems that all of this created will begin to be magnified in the years to come.)  Rebecca--by her actions--taught her boys that deception and lying was okay.  What we do is passed on to our children.  Your behavior is the book that they read.

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