Tag: Rebekah

The Intended Blessing

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We know the story of Isaac giving Jacob the blessing instead of giving it to Esau. But do you recall that there are two blessings given to Jacob?

The first is in Genesis 27, where the blessing is primarily about material abundance and position among his brothers, and among the nations:

Now may God give you of the dew of heaven,
And of the fatness of the earth,
And an abundance of grain and new wine;
May peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you;
Be master of your brothers,
And may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be those who curse you,
And blessed be those who bless you.”
Genesis 27:28-29 (NASB)

The second blessing is in Genesis 28, where Isaac pronounces God’s blessing over Jacob. It’s a much bigger blessing. It’s the IMPORTANT one.

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a multitude of peoples. May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, so that you may possess the land where you live as a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.”
Genesis 28:3-4 (NASB)

Here, Isaac is not deceived. He knows exactly who he is giving this blessing to.

So I wonder if Rebekah’s intended deception was unnecessary. Perhaps she was so worried about material possessions and status of her son, she forgot that God had already promised to bless Jacob.

Perhaps Isaac was always going to give this bigger blessing to Jacob.

Your God, not My God

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Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your first-born; I have done as you told me. Pray sit up and eat of my game, that you may give me your innermost blessing.”
Genesis 27:19 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

The rabbis debate Jacob’s words in Genesis 27:19. Some say he lied, similar to “she is my sister.” Lies about identity is a theme.

But some say the phase can be read, “I am; Esau is your firstborn,” being technically not a lie, but maybe a “good” kind of deception, if there is such a thing.

Isaac said to his son, “How did you succeed so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because your God יהוהgranted me good fortune.”
Genesis 27:19 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

On the other hand, the phrase, “because YOUR God,” in verse 20 may be the key to the story. Jacob has no relationship with God, yet.

His intention isn’t to honor God, so we shouldn’t try to reconcile righteousness and deception. It is only deception at this point in the story.

Hidden in Goat Skin

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Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were there in the house, and had her younger son Jacob put them on; and she covered his hands and the hairless part of his neck with the skins of the kids.
Genesis 27:15-16 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

In Genesis 27, Rebekah has Jacob cover himself with goat fur to make himself appear like Esau.

This word “skin” has only been used one before in Genesis. It’s back when God covered Adam and Eve in skin.

I’ve wondered if God was doing something “tricky” for us in the Garden.

Honor your Mother and Father

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When Jacob is advised by his mother to deceive his father, we see the singular act of dishonor: Jacob vs his father Isaac. But if Jacob ignored his mother, he would be dishonoring her.

There’s a dilemma we are supposed to notice. How does a righteous son proceed?

I suspect it is easier for Jacob to honor his mother simply because he knew that she loved him. The text clearly states that Rebekah favored him, and that Isaac favored Esau.

Perhaps there is wisdom in this.

Through Closed Shutters

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Now it came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down through a window, and saw them, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah.
Genesis 26:8 (NASB)

This part of Genesis is written so vaguely that it’s raises a ton of questions. Is it Abimelech’s window or Isaac’s? But also, there’s no glass windows at this time. It’s a shutter, so the act can only be visible if the shutter is open.

For this reason, some suspect that the shutter was actually CLOSED during the day, which is something you might do if you didn’t want to be seen. But a CLOSED window could have raised suspicion, and that’s actually what allowed Abimelech to learn what was going on.

Interestingly, “caressing his wife” here is the word “playing” or “mocking,” which is the same word used to describe what Ishmael was doing to Isaac when Isaac was weened. It’s also the word used to describe what Potipher’s wife accused Joseph of doing later in the text.

Better than Beautiful

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When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, since she is beautiful.”
<citeGenesis 26:7 (NASB)

One reason the rabbis suggest the men of Gerar never kidnapped Rebekah is because she wasn’t, in fact, “beautiful.”

The Hebrew word here is טוֹב (tov). It means GOOD, but is sometimes translated as beautiful.

Sarah, in Genesis 12, is יָפֶה (yafeh), which is always BEAUTIFUL.

Like Father, Like Son

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When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, since she is beautiful.”
Genesis 26:7 (NASB)

In Genesis 26, we all notice that Isaac is doing what his father did: lying about his relationship with his wife due to fear.

Abraham does it twice; both times, Sarah is taken.

Here, Isaac does it, but nobody comes and kidnaps Rebekah.

There are two proposals given for why:

1. Rebekah was not beautiful. Jacob thought so, but nobody else did; nobody wanted to kidnap her.
2. The people of Gerar remember the story of Abraham, and how God punished Abimelech for taking Sarah, so they no longer kindnap women.

Tricking Isaac

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Now Isaac loved Esau because [a]he had a taste for game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Genesis 25:28 (NASB)

[a] Lit game was in his mouth.

Genesis 25:28 convinces me that Esau is a parallel to Cain, but it’s almost impossible to see this in the English.

First, the previous verse states that Esau was a “cunning hunter.” He’s crafty. Tricky. How tricky is he?

The text literally says that Isaac had “game in his mouth.” Perhaps we’re meant to see that Esau figured out that his dad loved venison, so he was constantly giving it to him to win his favor.

For Jacob, no such condition is given. He isn’t doing anything.

But furthermore, in the Hebrew, two different forms of “love” are given to us. It’s not like the Greek where we’re talking about different forms of love; instead, we have different tenses.

Isaac וַיֶּאֱהַב (vaye’ehav), or “loved” Esau. This is a past-tense word.

Rebekah אֹהֶבֶת (ovehet) Jacob. Part of the difference is the feminine pronoun (she), but the other, more critical, difference is that this is not a past-tense word. This is a present-tense word!

The text isn’t saying that Isaac loved Esau and then stopped loving him. It’s showing us that the love we’re talking about was linked to the way that Esau was winning favor.

God doesn’t look at this offering, just like with Cain. But Isaac is just a man, and can be tricked.

Isaac favored Esau because Esau knew exactly how to appease him. Esau was tricking him.

We tend to call Jacob the trickster (birthright, blessing, sheep), but I don’t know that the text supports that position.

Two Nations

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וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהֹוָ֜ה לָ֗הּ שְׁנֵ֤י (גיים) [גוֹיִם֙] בְּבִטְנֵ֔ךְ וּשְׁנֵ֣י לְאֻמִּ֔ים מִמֵּעַ֖יִךְ יִפָּרֵ֑דוּ וּלְאֹם֙ מִלְאֹ֣ם יֶֽאֱמָ֔ץ וְרַ֖ב יַעֲבֹ֥ד צָעִֽיר׃

And יהוה answered her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
Two separate peoples shall issue from your body;
One people shall be mightier than the other,
And the older shall serve the younger.”
Genesis 25:23 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

Genesis 25 mentions two “nations,” but the word is written in a strange way. Notice the Hebrew spelling in the highlighted section of the image.

It’s [גוֹיִם֙] and (גיים). גוֹיִם֙ is the normal spelling.

The rabbis say the normal spelling (גוֹיִם֙) means “nation.” When you spell it with no vav, two yods, and a final mem, it means “noble or powerful individuals.” It’s very different.

In paleo-Hebrew (pictograph form), the “vav” is a nail or hook, and it symbolizes binding together. The “yod” is a hand, denoting action or power. The final version of “mem” means final and established.

Symbolically, if you remove the “vav,” you’ve removed the binding-together element. It’s not people – it’s two distinct elements. Add a second “yod” and we’re talking about greater power and influence. Change the “mem” and we have something concrete and established.

I believe Rebekah is being told about the struggle of good and evil, spirit and flesh, within her. In all of us – all of humanity. This is our existential battle that’s rooted in our hearts; our actions give birth to both.

But the older (flesh) will one day serve the younger (spirit)