Helping God      July 15, 2012

Introduction: This morning we are going to look at the story of Isaac and Rebekah and their twin sons, Esau and Jacob.  Our story is found in Genesis 27: 1-46 but before we turn there we need to look at a few scattered passages that will help us sketch a background picture. There are certain things we need to know, preliminary events that occurred before our story that will help us understand the situation better. 

Quick facts:

 The prophecy: Gen. 25:20-23 tells us that Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah; 20 years later she became pregnant and had twins.  She had a difficult pregnancy, and when she prayed to the Lord and asked Him what was going on the Lord said, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” This is important to remember because this prophecy goes against the cultural norm of the time; usually the firstborn son became the chief heir.

Favouritism: Look closely at Gen.  25:28 which tells us that Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau (who would hunt game and cook delicious meals for his father) and Rebekah loved Jacob a quiet man who liked to stay at home. Even though this statement seems trivial the favouritism we see early on increased as the twins got older, resulting in serious trouble. 

Birthright Sold: Gen. 25:29-34 gives us the account of Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of stew.  A birthright was a special honour given to the firstborn son -Esau- It included a double portion of the family inheritance and eventually becoming the leader of the family.  The oldest son could sell his birthright or give it away if he chose to, but in doing so he would lose material goods and his leadership position.  By selling his birthright Esau showed complete disregard for the spiritual blessings that would have been his.  These facts, the prophecy, the favouritism and the selling of the birthright set the stage for a serious family crisis.

 

Scripture: Now to our story, it’s found in Gen. 27:1-46

The situation:  Isaac, the father of the twins is now old and blind.  He calls his older son Esau, and asks him to go and hunt some game, prepare him a tasty meal and then he would give him the blessing.  Rebekah, Isaac’s wife overhears this conversation.

Rebekah now has a difficult decision to make because it appears that Esau is going to get the blessing, not Jacob.  Now we need to review what we already know from the quick facts.  There was a prophecy, (what was it? - the older will serve the younger.) Both parents had their favourite son.  Esau had already sold his birthright to his brother for a bowl of stew.  These truths may or may not have entered Rebekah’s thinking, but a decision was made.  Let’s see what happens as a result of Rebekah’s choices.    

Helping God:  As soon as Esau leaves to go hunting Rebekah tells her son Jacob what she has heard and together they plot to fool Isaac into giving the blessing to Jacob. In order for us to learn from this story we need to discover what people said, what they did, and what the consequences were, and finally what we can learn from their behaviour. 

Rebekah: What exactly did she say and do and what does that tell us about her?  See Gen. 27:5-17 she eavesdropped on Isaac’s conversation with Esau, formulated a plan to fool her husband, brought in an accomplice, her son Jacob, and together they fooled Isaac and Esau.  How far was Rebekah willing to go with this plan?  See verses 13, 15, 16 (she was willing to incur a curse; she helped Jacob with his disguise) is there anything missing from Rebekah’s decision making process? (God) Notice that back in Gen. 25:21-23 when confronted with the confusion about her difficult pregnancy, Rebekah had inquired of the Lord.  There is no mention of Rebekah enquiring of God or thinking of any of the consequences of these choices) as we reflect on Rebekah’s behaviour what can we learn about her? (something has changed in Rebekah’s relationship with her God.  She either forgot what He had told her-Prophecy-maybe she didn’t trust God to follow through. She may have panicked, or she was not willing to wait on God and did not seek Him for guidance or insight. This appears to have been a quick decision, one that was not well thought through.   

Have you ever come across a situation like this or do you know of someone who has experienced the same situation as Rebekah? Can you share your experience with us?  As is always the case each decision we make has consequences. 

Consequences:  Several things happened to Rebekah and her family as a result of her poor choices.  Let’s look at Gen. 27:30-46, and Gen.28:5, 8 and see what happened.  (Esau returns with game, makes his father a meal and goes in to get the blessing and finds out Isaac was fooled by Jacob who stole Esau’s blessing.  The blessing on Jacob could not be reversed so Esau held a grudge against his brother and planned to kill him after Isaac died.  When Rebekah gets wind of this she tells her son Jacob to flee for his life and go to relatives that live far away.  She tells him she will send for him when Esau cools off.  Isaac sends Jacob away and Esau decides to marry a Canaanite woman to get back at his dad for blessing Jacob. We are not told what happened to the relationship between Isaac and Rebekah but we can speculate that there were also consequences there.

 Rebekah’s decision to fool her husband alienated her son’s from each other, so much so that Esau wanted to kill his brother.  How do you think this made Rebekah feel?  This in turn led to Isaac being exiled from the family.  How do you think this made Rebekah feel?  (Little did she know that she would never see her son again)  Just to add insult to injury Esau marries a Canaanite woman to further aggravate the family problems.  How do you think this made Rebekah feel? Add to all of this the strain this would certainly put on Rebekah’s relationship with her husband and you have to ask yourself a question.  Could Rebekah have done things differently? Could she have made a better choice? What can we learn from Rebekah?

Letting God be God:       Rebekah did what she did to ensure that Jacob got the blessing.  She wanted to help the process along, make sure Jacob didn’t miss out.  But what had God already told her in the prophecy about the twins?  What was He saying when He said the older will serve the younger?  Right, the blessing would be Jacobs.  Does this mean that Rebekah was striving for something that God had already said would happen?  Absolutely,      

Conclusion: Rebekah’s situation is not unlike similar situations we find ourselves in from time to time in our faith journey.  What can we learn from all of this? 

1.  When you are unsure of what is going on, seek the Lord; that is how Rebekah started out.  Prov. 3:5, 6, 7, warns us Trust in the Lord…lean not on your own understanding…acknowledge Him…He will direct you.

2.  Base your behaviour on the truth of what God has already said Rom. 10:17; don’t strive to get something God has already promised you or given to you. Put your faith in God.

3.  Seek God’s kingdom first and stop worrying that you will miss out if you don’t act right away Matt. 6:33.  God is your loving Heavenly Father and He longs to give you the very best.    

4.  Wait on God; His timing is perfect, He knows the big picture and can see well ahead of you and knows the best time for things to happen Psalm 139.