Rebekah’s Deception: Justified Faith or Sinful Scheming?
Today’s Passage – Genesis 27 – 28 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers also read – Matthew 19 – 20; Proverbs 10; Psalms 46 – 50)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture Song – Psalm 48:1 & 2
Read the “0110 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Read a previous post from this passage – “A Disfunctional Family,” “I am with Thee,” “The House of God” and “Savory Meat“
“5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. 6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, 7 Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death. 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. 9 Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth: 10 And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. 11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: 12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing. 13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them. 14 And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved. 15 And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son: 16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck: 17 And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.” (Genesis 27:5-17)
Rebekah’s Plan
I have considered these two chapters from our reading today for many years and have previously written on many different aspects of this story involving Jacob and Esau. We have in the past covered the carnality of Isaac and the deception of Jacob but my thought this morning is on Rebekah.
In chapter twenty-seven, we have the story of Jacob tricking his father into giving him the blessing that was intended for his brother Esau. He did this by disguising himself and pretending to be his brother, even going as far as wearing goatskin on his hands to deceive his father who was old and could not see very well. But Jacob did not come up with this idea on his own; the plot was actually hatched by Rebekah, Jacob and Esau’s mother, and Isaac’s wife. It seems a little bizarre to me that this scheme could really work. What I mean is that surely Isaac would eventually discover the truth, which in my mind should nullify any blessing that was pronounced upon Jacob. It seems to me that Isaac could have just renounced the blessing once he found out that he was tricked, but apparently that is not the way it worked in Bible times. I am reminded of the covenant that Joshua made with the Gibeonites after being tricked by them. God expected Israel to honor that covenant even though they were deceived into making it (see Joshua 9:3 – 15). In both of these cases, however, the deception could have been prevented had both Joshua and Isaac consulted the Lord before opening their mouths. And in our story here, I am very sure that God would have stopped Rebekah also had she prayed about it before deceiving her husband. God may also have stopped her husband from what he was about to do had he prayed about it first.
Situational Ethics: Her Justification for the Deception
Personally, I cannot agree with some who have said that what Rebekah did was right in the eyes of God. Their reasoning is that because God had pronounced at the time of the birth of the twins (Genesis 25:23) that the elder (Esau) would serve the younger (Jacob). The theory is that Rebekah was attempting to assist the ultimate will of God by plotting and implementing a plan to deceive her husband. In other words, Rebekah did something wrong in order to accomplish something that was good. But isn’t that situational ethics? Is it ever right to do something wrong in order to accomplish something that is right? That is a hard question. The biblical example of the Rahab the harlot lying to the leaders of Jericho regarding the Israelite spies that she had hidden on her roof comes to mind (see Joshua 2). God commended her for what she did and she is even included in the lineage of Christ (see Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25; Matthew 1:5). There is also the example of the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah who refused to kill the male babies at their births as the Egyptian government instructed and then lied to Pharaoh about how they survived (Exodus 1:15 – 22). Peter and John also disobeyed the command of the religious authority about preaching the gospel because the commandment of God was higher than the commandment of men (Acts 5:29).
Was She Right?
However, I do not think that Rebekah’s case is the same as Rahab’s or the case of the midwives. First, Rebekah was not a harlot from a heathen city; she was the wife of a man who knew the Lord and surely came to know the Lord herself. The Lord had spoken directly to her when her twins were born (Genesis 25:23). She knew that lying was wrong and she also knew that she should have been in submission to her husband instead of deceiving him and plotting against what he was trying to do. Now, I do believe that she could have spoken up to her husband and strongly reminded him of what God had told her about their sons. And, she should have prayed fervently about the situation to the Lord. The Lord was not dependent upon the sinful actions of Rebekah to accomplish His will. Esau was going to serve Jacob regardless of what Rebekah decided to do, and the descendants of Jacob (Israel) were going to be God’s chosen people.
The Consequences
Another sad part about this story is that as a result of what happened, Esau becomes angry and plots to kill his brother, which causes Rebekah and Isaac to send Jacob away, back to the Rebekah’s family’s homeland. Jacob would be deceived himself there by Rebekah’s brother, Laban, and will not be free to return home for many years. Rebekah would never again see the son that she loved so dearly because she would die while he was away.
What Do You Think?
Was Rebekah right to act in the way that she did? Was she right to deceive her husband, even if it was for what she may have thought to be a good reason?
Posted in Devotions, Thoughts from Genesis and tagged Deception, Esau, Faith vs. Scheming, Genesis 27, God's Sovereignty, Hebrew Midwives, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob's Blessing, Parental Favoritism, Rahab the Harlot, Rebekah, Situational Ethics, Submission in Marriage, Women of the Bible by Phil Erickson with 9 comments.
Two Nations, Two Natures: The Flesh vs. Spirit Battle in Genesis 25
Listen to today’s passage – Genesis 25 – 26
Read along at Blue Letter Bible – Genesis 25
(Second Milers also read – Matthew 17 – 18; Proverbs 9; Psalms 41 – 45)
Listen to this today’s Scripture Song – Psalm 47:1
Read the “0109 Evening and Morning” devotion for today by C. H. Spurgeon.
- The Death of Abraham (vs. 1 – 11)
- The Descendants of Ishmael (vs. 12 – 18)
The focus of this devotion will be on the last two sections of the chapter (vs. 19 – 34):
The Delivery of the Twins (vs. 19 – 26)
There are some wonderful spiritual truths to think about from this passage. First, let us consider the fact that Rebekah is barren. She could not produce fruit (a child). Isaac interceded for her. We are reminded of the fact that Jesus said, “Without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Remember, Rebekah is a picture of the church; but the church without Christ is merely flesh; and “the flesh profiteth nothing.” We are nothing without Christ. We can produce neither the fruit of the Spirit or the fruit of winning a soul apart from a relationship with Christ.
Secondly, we see in this passage that Rebekah had a struggle of two natures inside of her. Every believer has the same struggle going on inside of them. We have the battle between the flesh and the Spirit. The nature that we feed will prove to be the one that gets the victory. (Rom 7:15 – 25; Gal 5:16-17)
- The Births Were Miraculous
- The Boys Were Cantankerous
1. They struggled in the womb
2. They struggled after birth
God explains to Rebekah in verse 23 that there are two very different children in her womb. Jacob, the younger, will be the child of promise. His older brother Esau will serve him. Esau is a picture or type of the flesh as we will soon see.
Important note regarding v. 23:
“And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.” (Gen 25:23)
Notice the Scripture did not say here in Genesis 25 that God “hated” Esau. He will say that 1,500 years later in Malachi 1:3, and it will be repeated in Romans 9:13. In both Malachi and Romans, however, the context is dealing with the nations that descended from Jacob and Esau (Israel and Edom), not the individuals. Here in Genesis, it just states that Esau would be a servant to Jacob, which meant that Jacob would receive the inheritance and the blessing, not Esau. The person, Esau, never served his brother in his lifetime. His descendants, however, would.
The Despising of the Birthright (vs. 27 – 34; Heb 12:16 – 17)
“16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” (Heb 12:16-17)
- The Development of the Boys (v. 27)
1. Esau was a cunning hunter – a man of the field
2. Jacob was a plain man – dwelling in tent
- The Division in the Home (v. 28)
1. Isaac loved Esau – because of his venison
2. Rebekah loved Jacob – no reason
- The Decision for the Flesh (vs. 29 – 34)
Esau gives up his birthright simply because of his hunger, his carnal appetite. Now Jacob, whose name means trickster, is willing to take advantage of Esau’s fleshly appetite to get what God was going to give him anyway. The appetites of the flesh are very powerful. How many times have God’s children sacrificed the will of God because of some carnal appetite?
1. He sacrificed the eternal on the altar of the temporal.
2. He sacrificed the spiritual on the altar of the carnal.
“The flesh craves the immediate – the Spirit seeks the eternal”
What are some examples in your life when you chose the carnal over the eternal? (i.e. choosing extra sleep over a devotional time with the Lord; spending hours of time scrolling through social media or binge watching television over spending time reading your Bible or giving quality time to your family).
- The Details of the Birthright
1. It contained the right to Isaac’s Possessions. The eldest received at least a double portion of the inheritance.
2. It contained the right to Isaac’s Patriarchy. The eldest son becomes the head of the family. In this case it contained also the seed of the Savior. Christ would be born from the seed of Jacob; not Esau.
I would love to hear your thoughts – leave a comment!
Posted in Devotions, Thoughts from Genesis and tagged Birthright, Elder shall serve the younger, Esau, Esau have I hated, Flesh verses Spirit, Genesis 25, Hebrews 12, Inner Conflict, Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Jacob have I loved, Rebekah, Twins, Two Natures by Phil Erickson with 6 comments.