Rebekah

Her name means: “Loop” or “Tie”

Her character: Hardworking and generous, her faith was so great that she left her home forever to marry a man she had never seen or met. Yet she played favorites with her sons and failed to trust  Yehovah God fully for the promise he had made.
Her sorrow: That she was barren for the first twenty years of her married life, and that she never again set eyes on her favorite son, Jacob, after he fled from his brother Esau.
Her joy: That God had gone to extraordinary lengths to pursue her, to invite her to become part of his people and his promises.
Key Scriptures: Genesis 24; 25:19-34; 26:1-28:9

Her Story

The sun was dipping beyond the western rim of the sky as the young woman approached the well outside the town of Nahor, five hundred miles northeast of Canaan. It was women’s work to fetch fresh water each evening, and Rebekah hoisted the brimming jug to her shoulder, welcoming its cooling touch against her skin.

As she turned to go, a stranger greeted her, asking for a drink. Obligingly, she offered to draw water for his camels as well. Rebekah noticed the look of surprised pleasure that flashed across his face. Ten camels could put away a lot of water, she knew. But had she overheard his whispered prayer just moments earlier, her astonishment would have exceeded his: “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. May it be that when I say to a girl, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac.”

A simple gesture. A generous response. A young woman’s future altered in a moment’s time. The man Rebekah encountered at the well, Abraham’s servant, had embarked on a sacred mission—to find Isaac a wife from among Abraham’s own people rather than from among the surrounding Canaanites. Like her great-aunt Sarah before her, Rebekah would make the journey south to embrace a future she could hardly glimpse. Betrothed to a man twice her age, whose name meant “Laughter,” she felt a sudden giddiness rise inside her. The God of Abraham and Sarah was wooing her, calling her name and no other, offering a share in the promise. God was forging a new nation to be his own people.

Isaac was forty when he first set eyes on Rebekah. Perhaps his heart echoed the joy of that first man, “Here at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh!” So Isaac and Rebekah entered the tent of his mother Sarah and made love. And the Bible says that Rebekah comforted Isaac after the death of his mother.

Rebekah was beautiful and strong like Sarah, yet she bore no children for the first twenty years of her life with Isaac. Would she suffer as Sarah did the curse of barrenness? Isaac prayed and Yehovah God heard, giving her not one, but two sons, who wrestled inside her womb. And Yehovah God told her: “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.”

During the delivery, Jacob (Israel) grasped the heel of his brother Esau, as though striving for first position. Though second by birth, he was first in his mother’s affections. But his father loved Esau best.

Years later, when Isaac was old and nearly blind, he summoned his firstborn, Esau. “Take your quiver and bow and hunt some wild game for me. Prepare the kind of meal I like, and I will give you my blessing before I die.”

But the clever Rebekah overheard and called quickly to Jacob, suggesting a scheme to trick the blessing from Isaac. Disguised as Esau, Jacob presented himself to his father for the much-coveted blessing.

Isaac then blessed Jacob, thinking he was blessing Esau: “May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.”

Isaac had stretched out his hand and passed the choicest blessing to his younger son, thus recalling the words spoken about the two children jostling for position in Rebekah’s womb. The benediction thus given could not be withdrawn, despite the deceit, despite Esau’s tears, and despite his vow to kill Jacob. Afraid lest Esau take revenge, Rebekah persuaded Isaac to send Jacob north to find a wife from among her brother Laban’s daughters.

As the years passed, Rebekah must have longed to embrace her younger son, hoping for the privilege of enfolding his children in her embrace. But more than twenty years would pass before Jacob returned. And though Isaac would live to welcome his son, Rebekah would not.

When Rebekah was a young girl,  Yehovah God had invited her to play a vital role in the story of his people. He had gone to great lengths to pursue her. Like Sarah, she would become a matriarch of  Yehovah God’s people, and like Sarah, her heart would divide itself between faith and doubt, believing that God’s promise required her intervention. Finding it difficult to rest in the promise Yehovah God had made, she resorted to trickery to achieve it.

The results, mirroring her own heart, were mixed. Though Jacob indeed became heir to the promise, he was driven from his home and the mother who loved him too well. In addition, he and his descendants would forever be at odds with Esau and his people, the Edomites. Two thousand years later, Herod the Great, who hailed from Idumea (the Greek and Roman name for Edom) would slaughter many innocent children in his attempt to destroy the infant Yeshua (Jesus). Yet Yehovah God was still at work, graciously using a woman whose response to him was far less than perfect, in order to accomplish his purposes.

Her Promise

Rebekah heard Abraham’s servant describe how he had prayed and how he was sure she was the woman Yehovah God intended for Isaac. Yehovah God himself had divinely orchestrated the events. Rebekah seemed to have known that and, when asked, answered simply, “I will go.”

Did Rebekah fully realize God’s plan for her? Was she open to following that plan? Or was she simply entranced with the romantic notions of a young girl looking for her knight in shining armor? Whatever her motivation, the events were planned by Yehovah God, and he was able and willing to faithfully continue to fulfill his promises through her.  Yehovah God’s faithfulness, despite our waywardness and contrariness, is evident both throughout  Biblical Scripture and throughout our lives. He will be faithful; he promises.