Tag: Isaac

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 stand, not 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

Wise home builders — Sarah

The wisest of women builds her house, (she saves her household with her wisdom) but folly (lack of good sense or judgment) tears it down with her own hands”  ~ Proverbs 14:1

In this series of A Woman’s Purpose we are looking at how God created women.  What did it look like when His thought took on human flesh in the form of a woman.  Proverbs 31 is a beautiful look at how He sees all of us women.  The characteristics that He placed inside of all of us that manifest so uniquely in each of us.  All a beautiful expression of who He is in us.  He created us to be strong gate keepers of our families.  To be wise home builders…. legacy builders…. building and preserving faith in future generations.

There are so many women in Old and New Testament who were wise builders of their homes.  Yesterday we looked at Eve.  Through the naming of her children, she spoke forth her expectation for a Deliverer to rescue mankind from their hopeless state.  Over the next few blog posts we’ll look at several more women who I especially love…. Sarah, Rebecca, Abigail, Deborah, Huldah, Jael, Esther, the Unknown woman of Abel Beth Maacah and some women in the New Testament.  Hopefully these women will inspire you like they’ve inspired me.

In Wonder Woman (part 1 of this series) we learned that in order for a wise woman to build her house… to build her legacy IN CHRIST, it’s going to require discernment.  God put hostility or hatred between the serpent and the woman.  Between in the Hebrew comes from a word meaning discernment.  It’s going to take discernment on our part as women to recognize when the enemy is in our midst and trying to wreak havoc in our homes.

Sarah was such a woman who walked in discernment.

Go with me to two Scriptures… Genesis 21:8-12 and Galatians 4:29

  • Genesis 21:8-12:  When Isaac grew up and was about to be weaned, Abraham prepared a huge feast to celebrate the occasion. But Sarah saw Ishmael—the son of Abraham and her Egyptian servant Hagar—making fun of her son, Isaac. So she turned to Abraham and demanded, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son. He is not going to share the inheritance with my son, Isaac. I won’t have it!” This upset Abraham very much because Ishmael was his son. But God told Abraham, “Do not be upset over the boy and your servant. Do whatever Sarah tells you, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.
  •  Galatians 4:29 Amp.  Yet [just] as at that time the child [of ordinary birth] born according to the flesh despised and persecuted him [who was born remarkably] according to [the promise and the working of] the [Holy] Spirit, so it is now also. 

The verse in Genesis 21 shows us the discernment that Sarah walked in which protected her family.    We all know the story of Genesis 16 of how Abraham was promised a son (a seed) and after awhile Sarah offered to let him lie with Hagar because perhaps that’s how she could have a son with Abraham… through Hagar giving birth.  So Hagar gives birth to Ishmael.  In chapter 17 God makes a covenant with Abraham… actually with Himself.  He tells Abraham that he will have a son with his wife Sarah and will name him Isaac.  Isaac not Ishmael is the son of promise… the seed of the Deliverer.  Jump ahead to chapter 21 and Sarah indeed gives birth to Isaac.

As Isaac is weaned from Sarah, Abraham throws a huge feast to celebrate.  During the celebration, Sarah sees Ishmael making fun of.. or mocking Isaac.  So she turns to Abraham and tells him to “cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.” (verse 10).  Seems like harsh treatment against Hagar and her son… after all, kids will be kids right?  But Ishmael wasn’t exactly a kid.  Isaac was probably 2 or 3 and that would’ve made Ishmael 16 or 17!

This was much more than just an older brother being jealous of a younger brother or two women competeing over which one of them is more important or which son is more important.  Ishmael’s mockery revealed that he didn’t have any spiritual insight and saw nothing special about Isaac as the promised son.  No spiritual insight….. carnal.  Similar to Esau or Cain.  Not a lover of righteousness.

Sending Hagar and Ismael away means divorcing Hagar and disinheriting Ishmael.  According to laws of the land (Code of Hammurabi) in Abraham’s day, the inheritance rights passed to the son that is “accepted” by the father and thus, Ishmael had to be sent away in order to pass the inheritance rights to Isaac.

While it’s pretty clear that God doesn’t consider Ishmael Abraham’s son…it looks like Abraham does consider him his son.  In chapter 17 (when Ishmael is 13 years old) God just refers to him as Ishmael but verse 23 it says Abraham took Ismael, his son, and and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.  Looks like he made a distinction between Ishmael as his son and everyone else in his house.   Even in chapter 21 when Sarah has Abraham send Ismael away, God refers to him as the boy and to Hagar as the female slave, maidservant.  

Sarah obviously didn’t view Ishmael as his son.  In chapter 21 he is referred to by her as the son of the slave woman.   Although in chapter 16 she fully expected to have a son with Abraham through Hagar… who would act as a kind of surrogate for them.  But Hagar.  Hagar after she conceives, rather quickly it appears, she then despises her mistress.  She looked upon Sarah as less than…. of no importance.  The root of despise is curse… she looked at her as being cursed because she couldn’t conceive.  Perhaps Hagar’s bitter, resentful attitude at not being the mistress carried over to her son…. who became hostile and offended towards Isaac, “the promised son”.

Galatians 4:29 gives us the reason for the banishment of Hagar and Ishmael… he despised and persecuted Isaac, the child of promise.  He pursued him with hostility.

She saw correctly and through her discernment she helped guide her husband in God’s plans for Isaac.  God told Abraham to listen to his wife and send Hagar and Ismael away. We have to be careful not to insert our own opinions into this story.  Sarah was not jealous or harsh.  She was protecting the lineage of the Deliverer.

She was being a wise builder of her home……

  • Sarah had Godly discernment

She saw correctly that Ishmael was a threat to Isaac’s destiny and respectfully opposed Abraham.  Guiding him in choosing between the son of the flesh or the son of the promise.  

God told Abraham to listen to his wife and send Hagar and Ismael away. Why should Abraham listen to Sarah’s voice this time when it was the wrong thing to do before (he listened to her in regards to sleeping with Hagar)? Because this time Sarah had realigned herself with the purpose of God. She chose faith over the power of the flesh to fulfill what God had spoken.

Are you properly discerning those who are coming against the promises of God in your life?

Are you taking a stand to protect your children from those who would speak against their call and destiny in God?

Are you properly aligned with the purpose of God for your family in faith so that your husband can trust your discernment….. your judgement in matters that help guide his destiny?

Discernment is keen perception or judgment.  It is to understand the plans, intent, thought or motive. Discernment goes beyond just the words spoken and hears the spirit behind things that are said or done.

To grow in discernment, we need to be renewing our minds in the Word of God… getting the mind of Christ functioning in our minds.. to be guided by His thoughts, purposes, and intents.

Tomorrow we’ll look at Rebecca……

~ Robin