Rebekah wanted her favourite son Jacob to get the dying Isaac’s “blessing in the presence of the Lord,” Genesis 27:7. But that would take some doing, because Esau was the oldest of the two brothers so Isaac’s blessing would only go to him, not to Jacob.
Maybe Rebekah genuinely thought Jacob was the better choice. And she wasn’t wrong thinking that either, because Jacob was God’s choice too. But in her concern, rightly or wrongly motivated, did she go to God about it? Did she express her thoughts to him, and trust him to sort out what was best?
No she didn’t. Like Mother Eve in the Garden of Eden faced with the serpent’s challenge, Rebekah didn’t consult with God either. Instead, she came up with a ‘clever’ little plan of her own – just like her mother-in-law Sarah did earlier when solving her childless problem.
And hand it to Rebekah, dressing Jacob in Esau’s clothes and covering his exposed skin with goats hair worked a treat in deceiving her blind husband into thinking he was blessing Esau (8-17). It was an Oscar winning performance on Rebekah’s part, and Jacob would get the best supporting actor award for playing his part to perfection too (18-29).
I imagine God chuckling at her ingenuity, especially when it was his intention to bless Jacob anyway. But also a chuckle knowing this story would be read by billions of people in the future, many of whom might tut-tut and look down their noses at Rebekah for resorting to her own means and not trusting God to provide.
So why didn’t she trust God to provide? Because she was human. And isn’t that the point of this story? It’s a great story on how we humans get stuck with overwhelming challenges, either from other people, or from inside our own heads, and the challenge is so great it puts all thoughts of God out of our heads. It happened to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and now Rebekah and Jacob too. All these foundational ‘father and mother’ figures we look up to in Scripture, and they’re all just as human as we are when hit with an ‘unsolvable’ problem.
Imagine what it was like for Esau too, when he returns home from his hunt and discovers his weasel of a brother got Isaac’s blessing instead. To “Esau’s reaction” next then….
Buck To Basics 