Wise home builders — Rebecca

I have to confess that I didn’t always think Rebecca was a very wise home builder.  I thought she was a bit manipulative “deceiving” Isaac.  And for favoring one child over the other.  But a few years ago as I was working on my Proverbs 31 Bible study and looking at all of these different women, I began to see Rebecca differently.  I believe I began to see her through Abba’s eyes… and I hope you do too.

Rebecca had been barren for 20 years.  And now, her pregnancy was not an easy one. The Bible says the babies struggled within her.  The Hebrew word for struggled means to crush or oppress.  It sounds like a violent word.  I’ve had 4 babies and they all moved around a lot while I was pregnant and occasionally kicked really hard.  But it wasn’t a violent moving around.  I can’t even imagine what that must’ve felt like.  She wanted to know why this was happening to her….

So Rebecca inquired of the Lord (Genesis 25:22).  This is the first time that a woman is mentioned as “inquiring of the Lord.”  That tells us a lot about Rebecca’s relationship with God.  Something didn’t seem right to her about this pregnancy.  God had blessed her with a baby after 20 years and it didn’t seem “normal” to have sorrow or trouble with it (Proverbs 10:22)….. there was a violent warring going on in her womb.  She obviously had a personal relationship with God and wanted to hear what He had to say on the matter.

In Genesis 25:22-28 tells us that Rebecca inquired of the Lord and He answered her with his plan for the Jews – she had 2 nations at war in her womb. He said they would be divided from birth…. two nations, two kingdoms.  The Hebrew word for nations is goyim, which means both Jewish and Gentile nations.  The Jewish nation of Israel will be from Jacob, and the Gentile nation will be from Esau (later the nation of Edom).  One people will be stronger than the other because Israel will be stronger than Edom. And the older will serve the younger (Second Samuel 8:12-14) because Edom would be enslaved to Israel.

Romans 9:10-13 emphasizes the importance of God’s word to Rebekah.  Before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s purpose in election might standnot by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”  Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”   The LORD’s choice of Jacob, the younger, to inherit His covenant promise was made before the boys were even born. This showed that the choice did not depend on what either did.  This was not about birth order but rather Divine election.  Jacob’s destiny was to produce the lineage that the Deliverer would come…. to be an heir of the Promise (Hebrews 11:9).  

After she had given birth, it says Isaac loved Esau and Rebecca loved Jacob.  This is more than just parental favoritism over children.  Rebecca understood the importance of God’s word to her.  She chose what God had already chosen.  In order to understand this, we have to look at the natures of the two sons.

Esau

Genesis 25:27 gives two descriptions of Esau…..

  • cunning or skillful hunter
  • a man of the field.

He was a skillful hunter.  This isn’t referring to him as a rugged hunter.  A manly man.  An outdoorsman like Daniel Boone.  It isn’t a positive characteristic.  Another man earlier in Genesis is described as a skillful hunter… Nimrod.  Josephus said of Nimrod that he “excited them (the people) to such an affront and contempt of God.”  The meaning of Nimrod’s name is “rebel” or “let us revolt.”  He had contempt for the plans of God and he hunted men, enslaving them in his rebellion.   Esau was a man of the field who knew entrapment.    “Knew how to trap” in the Hebrew implies that he used superficial righteousness to trap with his mouth/words. Basically, he may have talked the talk but he didn’t walk the walk!  He was a man of the flesh who knew how to deceive.  He was a man ruled by his carnal nature… by his senses.

Esau was a man of the field who knew entrapment. “Knew how to trap” in the Hebrew implies that he used superficial righteousness to trap with his mouth or his words.  Basically, he may have talked the talk but he didn’t walk the walk!  He was a man of the flesh who knew how to deceive.  He was a man ruled by his carnal nature… by his senses.

He sold his birthright for a bowl of stew!  Genesis is not the only place we are told that.  It’s mentioned in Hebrews 12:16 Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal.  In this verse he is described as godless and immoral…. a fornicator and profane.  Fornicator would refer to idol worship.  He had married foreign, idolatrous Hittite wives.  Profane refers to people unfit to access (to know) God because they approach Him apart from faith.  Esau didn’t know God.  He gave away his birthright… the verb literally means “to give it away.”  In Genesis 27:34 the fact that he is so upset over Jacob having the Blessing indicates that he had an understanding of how powerful The Blessing was and yet still gave it away… he had an understanding of its power but not a care for it.  It meant nothing to him.

This is Esau.  He had no ethics or faith, no scruples or reverence. He had no regard for the good, the truthful, the divine. He was totally worldly, totally secular, totally profane.  He married foreign women who worshipped other gods and they were a source of grief to his parents… in Hebrew, it says they were bitterness to his parent’s spirits.  Even later he added to those wives one of Ishmael’s daughters.  He had no love for God or the things of God.

Jacob

I think Jacob has gotten a bad rap over the years.  He’s often described as deceitful, a schemer, and stealing the Blessing from Esau.  But how does Holy Spirit describe Jacob in Genesis?  After all, His opinion is the only one that matters.   Genesis 25:27 says he was a plain man who dwelt in tents.

The Hebrew word translated as mild or plain is “tam” meaning complete, pious, perfect, undefiled, and upright. “Tam” is one of the most common words the Bible uses to refer to being wholeheartedly devoted to walking with God. This word is the opposite of our English word “hypocrite.”  He was a man wholeheartedly for God….. sincere in his love for God.   This is the Holy Spirit’s basic assessment of Jacob’s character.

He was a man of integrity who dwelled in tents!  The writer of Hebrews (Hebrews 11:9) says their choice to dwell in tents was an act of faith!  He, like Abraham and Isaac, chooses to focus on the Promise of God.  So from this we know he was a man of faith.  Another character trait of Jacob’s that we see is in chapter 27 when he is pretending to be Esau.  He is kind and gentle.  In verse 19 he asks Isaac to please sit up and eat compared to verse 31 when Esau speaks to his dad he just tells him to sit up and eat.

His name has been defined as “deceiver” but actually, it means heel.  Because as they came out of the womb, Jacob grabbed Esau’s heel.  It doesn’t strike me as a negative word.  Remeber they were struggling (crush or oppress) together in the womb.  It sounds like Jacob was Esau’s determined pursuer…. the one who would overtake and dispossess him.  Hosea 12:3 mentions it and calls it strength.  Rebecca named him according to his destiny….. according to the prophetic promise she had from God.

Rebecca’s intervention

Rebecca like Eve and Sarah held onto God’s Word.  She guarded and protected what God had told her.

Rebekah is often blamed for the partiality or favoritism she manifested for Jacob.  I don’t believe that’s true.  She believed God. She loved Jacob because Jacob was the Lord’s preference. … Rom 9:13 God says Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated…. speaking of two opposing nations.  An opportunity presented itself and she took it.  In Genesis 27 it says Isaac was going to bless Esau his firstborn as soon as he came back from hunting.  She heard this and then responded in faith.

I’m not sure why Isaac was going to bless Esau with the Blessing.  Esau had already married two Hittite wives and made life miserable for Isaac and Rebecca.  Didn’t Isaac realize that with idolatrous wives it would be difficult to produce the lineage of the Promised Deliver?  That because of idolatry Esau wouldn’t be able to walk in the Blessing that Isaac was giving to him?  All I can determine is that Esau was very cunning and very deceptive and had Isaac completely bewitched.  But regardless of why Isaac was ready to bless Esau, Rebecca was aligned with God’s choice.   Holding onto and acting on the promise God had given her.

Rebecca sided with God’s preference.   She recognized Jacob as the chosen son… just like Isaac had been the chosen son.  Holding onto and acting on the promise God had given her.  Faith requires action.  And Rebecca acted on her faith.  When God blessed her with pregnancy and it wasn’t going so smoothly, she sought God to find out why.  This showed great faith and strength of spirit.  There is no reason not to think that when it seemed like Esau would receive the Blessing that God had promised Jacob that she again sought the Lord in prayer.  That may have given her the confidence she needed to pursue His promise.

She was a woman who had the faith to ask for guidance and who had the faith to follow it; because of her faith, she was able to be a great co-laborer with God and influence the whole course of history.  She was protecting a lineage.  She continued to protect it by sending Jacob away when Esau plotted to murder him.  And also by sending him to find a godly wife instead of an idolatrous Canaanite wife.  Rebekah was a wise home builder risking deception to follow God’s promise, and His plan unfolded exactly as He had told her.

Are you watching over the words God has spoken to you?  Protecting His promises over your family at all costs…. even if your actions and character are misunderstood?  Are you co-laboring with Him to see His plans unfold exactly as He has told you?

~ Robin

Tammuz

Every month in Biblical times had a different meaning and purpose… it was a new prophetic season.  

keep eyes on prize    Jews in Biblical times had a special celebration at the beginning of every month, it was a time to put God first and seek direction for the new month.  It was called Rosh Chodesh (Head of the Month).   They came together to praise God, to give their first fruit offerings and to hear what God was saying for the month….to gain direction for the month ahead.  They were only able to hear Him by listening to the prophets…..we, however, hear Him face to face.  He abides in us and speaks directly to us. 

Tammuz is the 4th month of the Hebrew Biblical calendar and the 10th month of the Jewish civil calendar.  By looking at these Hebrew months in the Bible, we learn to think like God thinks.   Romans 15:4 says For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us.  Tammuz is a month that teaches us to worship and stay faithful. Each month was associated with a tribe and Tammuz was associated with the tribe of Reuben. By looking at Reuben we learn this month to wait on God and to choose to trust Him.

Reuben was the firstborn son of Jacob and Leah, and as such he was born into a position of great privilege.  

In Genesis 49:3,4 Jacob prophesies over Reuben that “he is my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power.”  This was Reuben’s position… firstborn son of Jacob.  He was destined to inherit the double portion. He was to be the leader of the tribe as well as the priest of the family.  But like his Uncle Esau, Reuben lightly esteemed his birthright…. he acted so disgracefully that he forfeited his birthright – Gen 35:22.

This incident changed the course of his life.  The double portion was taken away and given to Joseph.  His leadership as a tribe was taken away and given to Judah.  His priesthood as a tribe was taken away and given to the tribe of Levi.  When Jacob blessed the other sons he pronounced a curse on Reuben – telling him he would not excel.

Why did Reuben do this?  As we look at Reuben’s family life, we see that their family had been through a traumatic period…..

  • They had fled from Laban who had chased them down and would have killed Jacob if God had not intervened.
  • Escaping Laban then they faced a confrontation with Esau who also tried to kill Jacob
  • Entering Canaan their sister Dinah was raped at Shechem and two of her brothers massacred all the men of the city in retaliation.  Canaanites were outraged.
  • Fleeing Shechem, Rebekah’s nurse Deborah died and was buried at “The Oak of Weeping”  Then Rachel went into labor and died giving birth to Benjamin.
  • Still, they journeyed on until they came to the tower of Eder where they finally stopped.

So the whole family had gone through a time of tremendous upheaval, violence, and loss.  They had to just keep moving through all of it.  Not until they stopped at the tower of Eder could they even begin to process what they had just gone through!

That’s when Reuben went in and found solace with Bilhah.  He wasn’t even thinking about the Blessing that lay ahead in his future…. he wasn’t thinking about all he could lose because of this choice.  He simply wanted comfort and he wanted it NOW!

He was desperate for comfort and security and sought them outside of God.  

The biblical tower of Eder was built near Hebron as a watchtower that shepherds watched their flocks from. Eder became a symbol of God’s watchfulness over His people. It was a place of refuge.  That’s where Reuben went to Bilhah.  It was here that he should’ve sought refuge in God.  Allowing Abba Father to refresh his soul… a soul that had been through a series of traumatic events.  Doing that would have restored his vision and helped him walk out his prophetic destiny.

But instead, he sought out Bilhah. Bilhah means terror or trouble.  It also means worn out…. something so worn out that it serves no purpose.  Another possible definition means foolish.  These definitions sum up for us what Reuben was experiencing when he slept with Bilhah.  His action was foolish…Ps 14:1 – a fool says there is no God… a better translation is a fool says in his heart “no God!”.  Reuben by yielding to sin was saying no to God… no to His promises, no to His destiny for Reuben, no to trusting God to see him through this terrible time in his life.  He was so worn out in life that he ended up losing sight of his purpose in God.

Reuben’s name means “behold a son”.  Behold means to see…. see a son!  It’s important in this season that we begin to see ourselves as “sons”.  Sonship is our destiny that was marked out for us in love by God (Eph 1:5).  Having correct vision… seeing ourselves as God sees us, in a position of sonship… will keep us from forfeiting our spiritual inheritance.

God wants to awaken us to the revelation of “Sonship” in our lives in this season.  

Psalms 2:7-8 tells us that we are to declare/decree our position as sons.  Gal 4:1-7 tells us that it is time to claim our inheritance as sons because we are no longer slaves.  And Romans 8:14-17 tells us that as sons & daughters we are endowed with authority in His kingdom.  This is a time to displace, to cast off  an “orphan spirit” and embrace the spirit of sonship that is ours, with all of the rights, privileges, and responsibilities (John 5:19).

Because of Reuben’s lack of vision, his birthright was forfeit.  The wonderful inheritance… the prophetic destiny… God intended for him was lost.  Reuben took his eyes off the prize (Phil 3:14).  When you lose sight of the goal you are always in danger of not fulfilling your destiny.  Wrong vision will cost you your inheritance. The sad thing is his descendants followed in his footsteps… the tribe of Reuben also lost their inheritance.

Next time we’ll look at how Reuben’s descendants followed in his footsteps……

~ Robin