Motherhood is one of the greatest callings God has placed upon humanity. In Genesis 24:1–31, we are introduced to Rebekah, a young woman whose character, kindness, servant’s heart, and willingness to follow God’s direction would impact generations to come.
The Importance of Mothers in God’s Plan
This morning, being Mother’s Day, I wanted to bring a message to deal with a mother from the Scriptures. The woman that I’m going to concentrate on this morning, those of you who attend the adult Sunday school class, we’ve been studying her for the last bit. A lot of times you won’t hear a lot of messages preached on a woman by the name of Rebecca.
But if you look at women of Scripture, you will not find a woman of greater faith than Rebecca. Rebecca was the wife of Isaac, the son of Abraham. And it’s interesting as you read the account of her life, the first time we’re introduced to her, she’s a young woman.
Her age isn’t given. We never really know how old she is. We’re given Isaac’s age and from the context of the accounts of their lives, it appears he is quite a bit older than her.
Because when they’re married, he’s 40. And she has just come from her family as a young woman, perhaps in her teens. Because a lot of times in that culture, you would get married in your late teens.
And she was not married. The Scriptures tell us she had never known a man. She was a virgin.
She was still living in the home of her parents. But she’s an amazing woman. If you look at the life of Isaac and Rebecca, a lot of times you never think about it.
Abraham had Sarah as his wife and they’re extremely close. Both loved the Lord. But Sarah and Abraham didn’t have faith that God would provide this promised son.
And so remember, Sarah encouraged Abraham to take Hagar and have a child by her, which would be the way they had surrogate children back in those days. And Abraham agreed and they did that. That was Ishmael.
Ishmael created problems in the home. His mother was an Egyptian. And he was not the child of promise.
And eventually, Hagar and Ishmael left the house of Abraham. And Abraham had a wife after Sarah died. And her name was Ketora.
And he was extremely old when he had Ketora as his wife. She would be a lot younger than him because she had a number of sons. I believe it was seven.
And again, when Abraham was preparing and knew that he was going to die, he gave gifts to his sons by Ketora and sent them away. And where he sent them would be probably to where Saudi Arabia is today. And many of the Arab tribes there could be descendants of Ketora.
So Abraham had more than one wife. Jacob had four wives. Two sisters, Rachel and Leah.
And they’re nurses or helpers. And he had 12 sons by these four women. Isaac and Rebekah are the only ones of the patriarchs that were one husband and one wife.
God’s plan. It doesn’t tell us when Rebekah died. We know when Isaac died.
And again, the inference from the scriptures is that she had probably died before him. But if she had, he never took another wife. And this morning I want to look at the character and the life of this woman.
A woman that Proverbs 31 could have been written about. She was a virtuous woman. She was a woman from her youth who loved the Lord.
A woman from her youth who sought to do God’s will when always God’s will wasn’t the easiest thing to do. But she did it. This morning I just want to read a little bit out of chapter 24.
And then I encourage you to go home and read the rest of the chapters of her whole life. Because we’ll be discussing it. We may look at a few verses.
But we won’t have time to read the entire text. But in chapter 24 it talks about Rebekah. And Abraham was old and well stricken in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham with all things.
Genesis 24:1-5
And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. 2 And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: 3 and I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: 4 but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. 5 And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest?
And I just want to interject something here.
It’s interesting. Go back to, and this would be Pandanaram, which is up in Syria today. Northeastern Syria, Iraq border area.
That’s where Abraham had come from. That’s where Haran was. That’s where his family was still at that had come with him from Ur of the Chaldees.
But the thing is, Abraham did not want Isaac to go back there. Because God had given the land of Israel, what we know as Israel today, it would have been the land of the Canaanites, to Abraham and to Isaac and to the descendants of Isaac which we know would end up being Jacob. And he doesn’t want Isaac to go back there and all of a sudden Isaac remains there and never comes back to the land that was promised to him.
Keep that in mind because the world doesn’t want you to think that way.
Genesis 24:6-31
6 And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again. 7 The Lord God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. 8 And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again. 9 And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.
10 And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. 11 And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water. 12 And he said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham. 13 Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: 14 and let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master. 15 And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. 16 And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up. 17 And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. 18 And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. 19 And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking. 20 And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. 21 And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.
22 And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold; 23 and said, Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there room in thy father’s house for us to lodge in? 24 And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor. 25 She said moreover unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in. 26 And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the Lord. 27 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.
28 And the damsel ran, and told them of her mother’s house these things. 29 And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well. 30 And it came to pass, when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister’s hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man; and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well. 31 And he said, Come in, thou blessed of the Lord; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.
Let’s just bow in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that You would just speak to us through Your Word this morning as we look at the life of this woman Rebekah. A woman who loved You. And Father, a woman who sought to do Your will, even though at times things were not easy. But through it all, she saw You. And Lord, I pray that You would just be with us this morning and help us to understand the importance of mothers, the importance of the call that You place upon women in the lives of their children, and help us to learn from this woman. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
From the brief introduction that we received just a moment ago from the Scriptures to Rebekah, you see a couple of things.
Number one, she had an absolute servant’s heart. It wasn’t about her needs, but it was about others’ needs. When she came out, remember the servant of Abraham had asked, Lord, when this woman would come out that You want to show me she’d be the one that would be Isaac’s wife, Lord, You know.
Show me by, when I ask if I can have water, she gives me water. But not only that, she wants to water my camels. That was not an easy task.
How many camels did he have? Ten. They’d been walking for a long time. Camels, when they get to a place and they come to the point where they’re going to drink and rehydrate themselves, they’re not like a horse and go drink a couple slurps out of the trough and then they run back out in the pasture.
They drink and they drink and they drink. And she had ten camels and when she’d given Abraham’s servant his water, she said, let me water your camels as well. He didn’t ask her for that.
It’s also interesting, Abraham’s servant had prayed to God that he would bring and show him the woman that God wanted for Isaac. And that Abraham had asked that the Lord would reveal and bring back for Isaac. Abraham specifically asked that his servant, if this ,woman wouldn’t come, would not allow Isaac to marry a Canaanite woman.
Why? Well, if you look at the scriptures, you’ll see that the Canaanites worshipped a plethora of false gods. And they weren’t just nice in their worship. They were evil and wicked.
And the gods they worshipped, things were involved like human sacrifice, other despicable things. And Abraham knew that if his son married a Canaanite woman, she could influence him for evil. And so he said, no, Isaac will not marry a Canaanite woman.
But he will marry someone from my family’s house. Now, why did Abraham say that? Well, his family, his dad had issues. His dad was an idol worshipper, Abraham’s father.
But his brothers had an understanding of the God of heaven and the true God. How do we know that? Well, first of all, his dad and his brothers came with him from Ur of the Chaldees up to Haran. And lived there.
And then when Abraham began to go down to the land of Canaan, which he had never been to, didn’t know where it was for sure God was going to lead him. Lot went with him, his nephew. And Lot, Peter reveals to us, was a righteous man.
He was a man who trusted and believed in God. Lot had issues in his life, Lot had struggles in his life. Lot was far from perfect in his life, but Lot knew who God was.
If Lot knew who God was, and was willing to go with Abraham and wanted to go with Abraham, other members of Abraham’s family that remained would also know who God was. And Abraham wanted for his son, someone who the New Testament tells us as believers in Christ, would be equally yoked with, would have the same belief system, would believe in the same God, would trust in the same God, would worship the same God. The second thing I want you to see about Rebekah, she had a heart after God.
When you’re introduced to her, you see that. He comes in, and we quit reading where Abraham’s servant goes, and he goes to Rebekah’s house later on in that chapter, it talks about the events that happened there. He tells them who he is, that he’s Abraham’s servant.
He tells them that Abraham has done very well, that the Lord has blessed Abraham. And he tells them the purpose of his visit, and the purpose of his visit is to find a wife for Abraham’s son, Isaac. And that he had prayed about this, and he lays out his prayer, he lays out what he had asked God to do, he lays out everything that happened with Rebekah when she came to talk to him, and he wants Rebekah to go back with him to be Isaac’s wife.
Now, God is a God that allows us to choose. He wasn’t going to force Rebekah to go. But he asked, and her family wasn’t going to force her to go either.
They asked her, are you willing to go with this man? And she said yes. She had never met Abraham. She had never been to the land of Canaan.
Isaac was 40 years old now. She’d never met him. He’d never been back to the Pandan-Moram, Mesopotamia, Syria area.
And Abraham did not want him back there. So she was going to have to step out on believing that God was the God who was leading her to go with a man who was a stranger. And they only had his word that he was Abraham’s servant, although he presented all these gifts and gave all the history.
And she said, I’m willing to go. I’m willing to leave that which is great comfort to go where God wants me to go. I’m willing to leave everything I know.
I’m willing to leave my mother, my father, my brother, all that they possess, and I’m willing to leave it all behind, never knowing if I’m ever going to get back to see it. You see, it wasn’t like it is today that you get married in Fargo and you move to Texas, but you want to see mom and dad, you hop on a plane, you fly back to Fargo, or you get in the car and you drive back to Fargo and you can visit. That wasn’t the case.
By her saying yes, she was realizing she was probably never going to get to see any of them ever again, but she was willing to do it because God wanted her to do it. So she was a woman of great faith, and she trusted in the Lord. So she’s a woman who’s got a servant’s heart, a woman who seeks God’s will, and a woman of great faith who trusts in God and believes God’s got what’s best in her interest at heart.
They leave on their journey, they go back up, and you can read about that in chapter 25, well, the end of chapter 24, they get to where they’re at, and Isaac, Caesar, and she admittedly is a woman of purity and great humility. She hasn’t been covered until this time, but the standard was a bride would cover herself until the marriage was complete, and then the veil would be removed. We know that she was beautiful because that Abraham’s servant says she was fair to look upon.
But the minute she sees Isaac, she places a covering over her face so he cannot see her, her face, and he comes, and he meets his bride for the first time, this woman who’s going to marry. They are married, and she is aware of the promise that has been given to her father-in-law Abraham and to her husband Isaac about this line of a child, a promise that shall lead to the Messiah. She’s aware of it.
They are married 20 years, and they have no child. She has trusted God. She’s believed God.
She left her family. She left everything she knew. She came to marry a man she’d never met, to live in a home she knew nothing about other than what her family could tell her about their brother and uncle, and now she’s not with child for 20 years.
If, say, that she was a teenager, 16, 17, 18, when she got married, she’s now getting old for a woman. Even though women tended to be able to have children later, still during this time, the days of her ability to bear children, it’s getting shorter and shorter and shorter. Who’s she going to trust then? What’s she going to do? Nothing indicates it even crosses her mind what crossed Sarah’s mind.
She doesn’t talk about surrogate mothers and bearing other children on behalf of… She doesn’t talk about that. Instead, Isaac intercedes on her behalf. The fourth thing I want you to do is she believes in prayer.
She believes that God hears her and hears her husband when they pray. Isaac intercedes that God would allow her to bear children and she becomes pregnant. No, she’s never been pregnant before in her life.
She’s now approaching what today would be probably middle age. Back then it wasn’t quite middle age yet. She’s pregnant and all of a sudden, something unusual begins to happen in her womb.
It’s as if there’s a war going on in her womb. Now, I want you to remember a few things. First of all, they didn’t have ultrasound then.
They didn’t have hospitals then. They didn’t have MRIs then. So what can she do to find out what’s happening? She goes to the Lord.
She prays.
God, what is going on? What’s going on in my womb? And the Lord tells her, and let’s just read what the Lord reveals to her in verses 19 of chapter 25.
Genesis 25:19-23
19 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac: 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-aram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. 21 And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord. 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.
This is what God is telling Rebecca, and this is what Rebecca is going to relay to her husband Isaac. In her days were to be delivered, were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red all over like a hairy garment, and they called his name Esau.
And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel, and his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was threescore years old when she bared them. He was 60 years old, so they’d been 20 years married before these children were born.
But God revealed to her something about her children even before they were born. These two boys were going to have very different characters. They were not going to be like one another at all.
And within this culture, the older never served the younger. The younger always served the older. The older would be the one that would be the one that would be the spiritual head of the family.
He’d give direction to the family. He would get the double portion when it came time for the blessing of the family, the birthright of the family. These would be his responsibilities.
Now remember, this is a special family line that the Bible has revealed to us that God said began with Abraham would go through Isaac and descend through his descendants until it would end up in Bethlehem with the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, the Lamb of God that would come to take away the sin of the world. Rebecca listens to what God says and remembers. Fifth thing I want you to see is that she just doesn’t arbitrarily pick and choose what she’s going to believe that God has told her to do.
But she is going to do what God has promised and what God has said would happen. She wouldn’t do well in many modern churches today because we tend to read the Bible and pick the chapters we want to pick and do what we want to do instead of believing that God’s word is a hundred percent true. So when he tells her about what went on in her womb and then she sees these two boys come out and it’s very easy to tell them apart because the older one has a lot of hair and is very red and the younger one doesn’t have a lot of hair and is not red.
Well I want you to understand Rebecca loved them both the same. I firmly believe Rebecca taught them the same. I believe that Rebecca revealed to them both who God was, the promises of God, the fact that telling them all going back to the creation and Adam and Eve and the promises have been given, how our sins were to be forgiven and one day a Messiah would come, that she revealed all of this to both sons.
But it’s an interesting thing. Their character was totally different. Their desires were totally different and their choices were totally different.
God never forced Esau and God never forced Jacob to choose anything they chose themselves. It’s interesting because it says that Isaac loved Esau and Rebecca loved Jacob. Like I said, I know that Rebecca cared deeply for both of her sons.
We’ll see that at the end of the account. Why did Isaac love Esau and Rebecca love Jacob? Well if you look at what the scriptures tell us about their character, it says that Esau was a man of the world. He loved to hunt.
He loved the bow. He was a hunter. Do you know the only other person in the book of Genesis that’s referred to as a hunter is Nimrod who was a hunter for men’s souls.
He was a hunter who desired the things of this world and would have nothing to do with God. That was the same character that Esau possessed. The things of God meant nothing to him.
As a matter of fact, the thing that he desired the most was the things of this world. Money, power, position, going for the hunt, the thrill. Now I want you to understand what was happening in their home.
As these boys grew up, Isaac had inherited all the wealth of Abraham outside of the gifts that he had given to the sons of Keturah and what he had given to Hagar and Ishmael when they had left. Other than that, the inheritance was all Isaac’s because he was the child of promise. He was the one that was to be the one to receive the inheritance.
So there was a lot of animals because it said that Abraham was a very wealthy man. And we saw the wealth with what his servants sent him, the gold he gave. And you can read later, he gives more gold and more presents to Rebekah’s family before she leaves.
So Abraham was very wealthy. He had all of these things. Now they have become Isaac’s.
He’s got all these animals. He’s got all these servants. It all needs to be managed and run.
But what does Esau want to do? He wants to run out in the field and hunt. Why would he stay at home and work on the farm? Why would he stay at home and have anything to do with taking care of the servants? He’s got more important things to do. Go after the deer and all the other animals in the field and hunt them.
But it says that Isaac was a plain man. Now, a lot of times, because English does not translate Hebrew real well, we don’t fully get the concept of what a plain man is. A plain man means he’s a man that had his head on right, if you would.
And he took care of the things that needed to be taken care of. And he was a responsible person who actually helped Abraham as he was growing older to manage his affairs. And when Abraham died, he took over the affairs and managed them himself and was very serious about doing that.
And Jacob was a plain man that did the same thing. It wasn’t like Esau that wanted to run out and hunt and play. He stayed at home and did what Isaac told him to do when it came to the herds.
And Rebecca loved him for it. But also, she saw the difference in their characters. And the sixth thing I want you to see about Rebecca as a mother.
She understood her children. She understood what their greatest needs were. She understood their character.
And she understood where it was leading them to. She was a discerning person because she sought the wisdom of God in what she did. Something that a lot of not only women, but also men today in the church, discernment is something we don’t seem to, it’s something we put on the shelf and forget about.
As a mother, you need to be discerning. In the book of Proverbs, it talks about one of the things that you should do as a parent is discern the character of your child so that you can raise them up and help them. If they struggle in an area of their life with rebellion against God, you need to teach them how to overcome that rebellion and how to give that part of their life to the Lord.
Now, it’s still up to them to do it. You can’t do it for them, but you lay out for them the law, the word. And it’s interesting in one of the Proverbs is if you teach a child in the way he should go when he’s old, he will not depart from it.
That means that you instruct the child when they’re young and you help them in the areas that you see that they struggle. And there’s going to come a point in their life as you pray for them that God will work in their life, that then all of a sudden things will begin to click and they will remember, Mom told me this. Dad told me this.
Why am I doing this? It makes no sense. We had a man that came to our church when we were down and I think Mel met him in Lowell maybe. He was a street person and he’d been in the Navy.
His mom came from a Christian home. His mom had prayed for him since he was little. When he got in the Navy, he started drinking and he became so addicted to alcohol that he says, I got to the point I was drunk all the time.
He said they put me in to try and get me sobered up and the doctor told me I had so destroyed my brain with alcohol they called me a wet brain because he said I couldn’t concentrate on anything. But he said the whole time all of that was going on, my mom was praying for me. And he got a Bible and he remembered his mom and said the importance of reading the Bible.
And so he said I started to read the Bible. He said now I’m a wet brain. I can’t concentrate.
I can’t think. I read things I can’t remember. It’s just my mind doesn’t function.
But he said when I’d open the Bible, it’s like God could speak to me. He ended up giving his heart to the Lord. God in his mercy and grace gave him his mind back.
And he spent the time, he said God’s called me to do something that’s very odd. But he said I go out and I camp with the people that are homeless and camping out and I share the gospel with them. But I just want to tell you the importance, he said, my mom’s prayers were answered.
And everything my mom told me was true. Rachel had two sons. And I don’t think she loved Esau any less than she loved Jacob.
I mean, not Rachel, but Rebecca. Rebecca had two sons. I don’t think she loved Esau any less than she loved Jacob.
But it says that she loved Jacob. Why? Because she could identify with him. He had the same heart for God that she did.
She would tell them, she would tell things to him about the Lord and about the promises of God and the coming Messiah and all these things. And it would soak into Jacob’s heart like it had soaked into hers. Isaac was drawn to the worldliness of his son.
Esau and encouraged it. The time came for blessings and birthrights. Remember the account of the birthright, which made you the head of the family, which made you the spiritual leader, which made you the one that would set the direction that the family would go? Esau was out doing his usual thing, hunting.
And he came back and Jacob was making stew. And Esau saw this stew and he said, I am going to die if I don’t get something to eat. Well, he wasn’t going to die because later on, he comes back from hunting another time and he’s not dying that time.
As a matter of fact, he’s very alert. But the thing is, he says, I need stew. And Jacob says, well, I’ll tell you what, you can have the stew if you give me your birthright.
It says that the birthright meant so little to Esau. The birthright was what enabled the next generation to receive the blessings of the Lord that would lead to the Messiah. It meant so little to Esau, yet I’m sure his mother had told him about it because later on when he realized what he’d done, then he wanted it back, but not for the right reasons.
The thing is, he traded his birthright to be the spiritual leader of his family, to be the head of his family, to be the one that the rest of the family would look to for a bowl of stew. That’s how little it meant to him. Later on comes the time of the blessing.
Isaac’s getting old, and so he calls in Esau and he asks Esau, can you go make me my favorite stew? Go out and hunt some animals and make me my favorite. Now, they had all these animals there. He didn’t have to go out and hunt deer, didn’t have to go out and hunt wild goat, didn’t have to go out and hunt anything.
They could have just gone and gotten a goat. But no, Isaac asked him, he appealed to his natural tendencies. Go out and get me some and then make me this stew that I love, and then I’ll bless you.
Rebekah hears that happen. Rebekah knows how much Esau appreciates the things of God. Rebekah knows what the promise of God has been to Isaac, what it had been to Abraham, and what it would be to her and Isaac’s descendants.
But they had to make the right choices. Esau’s making all the wrong choices. And Esau disdains the things of God.
So he goes out and he does this hunting. And Rebekah goes to Jacob and she says, I want you to go to your father. And she says, I will make this stew that your father loves.
Which tells you, it didn’t have to be wild. And she said, I will make it. And then you will take it to your father and you will get the blessing.
And but Jacob says, but he’ll know me. I’m smooth. I don’t have hairy arms.
She went and they killed the goat. She took the goat’s skin and hair, put it on his arms and hands. And then she went and got one of Esau’s coats and put it on Jacob.
And Jacob went in and Esau and Isaac is blind. And he says, who’s here? And it says, Esau’s here. He says, but you have the voice of Jacob.
And he says, come and let me feel you. And he feels his arms. He says, but you have the arms of Esau.
Jacob gives him the stew. And before he eats it, Isaac comes over and he embraces his son and he smells his son. And he says, you smell of Esau.
So he gives the blessing to Jacob and not to Esau. A lot of people say, well, that’s deception. That’s lies.
I want you to look at, I want you to go through both all the Old and New Testament. You will not find one place where God condemns Rebekah for what she did. She knew her sons.
She knew to disdain Esau’s head for truth and for the spiritual things of God and for the coming Messiah. When Esau gets back, Jacob’s given, received the blessing from Isaac and Jacob comes in or leaves just as Isaac comes in. They practically run into each other, but they miss each other.
And Esau tells his father, I’ve got your stew for you. And his father says, well, I just had it. Who was here with me then? And Esau realizes it was Jacob, his brother.
And Esau becomes filled with disdain. He weeps bitterly and says, the blessing, the blessing, he says, well, I gave it to your brother. And he said, the blessing is that the older shall serve, that you shall serve him and you shall bow down to him.
And it dealt with the spiritual part of the blessing. Esau says, isn’t there a blessing for me? And so Jacob gives him a blessing, but it’s not nearly what, I mean, Isaac gives him a blessing, but it’s not nearly what Jacob got. As Isaac leaves or as Esau leaves, doesn’t tell how it happened, but they leave.
And Esau is heard making the comment and his mother hears it. When my father dies, I will kill my brother. Rebekah knows the character of her sons.
She knows what Esau has just said he will do. And so she sends, makes arrangements to send Jacob to her brother Laban in the Pandanaram, northern Syria, and also to find a wife there. Because in the meantime, Esau has done another thing that reveals his character.
He’s gone out and married two Canaanite women, two Hittite women. And these two Hittite girls have been nothing but a burden to Isaac and Rebekah. And so what happens is she tells Isaac, we need to send Esau, I mean, we need to send Jacob to my brother Laban and he may marry from my family.
And Isaac knows very well where that led. Gave him a marvelous wife. And so it happens that they do.
They send Jacob away. Esau comes back, finds out what’s happened and how disdained his parents have been and disturbed because of these Hittite girls. And so he says, well, my brother married a relative, I guess I’ll marry a relative.
So he goes off and marries one of Ishmael’s daughters. Ishmael would be Isaac’s brother, half-brother by Abraham. But that’s not what God was looking at.
He married someone who was an Egyptian by belief and an idol worshipper just like his other wives. Now why did I want to share this? Because we’re out of time, we’re over time. Because I want to tell you as moms, Rebekah was an amazing woman.
A woman who loved God. A woman who prayed and believed that prayers would get answered. A woman who understood her children.
A woman who invested in her children’s lives to the point she knew their character and she knew the choices they made and whether they’d be good or bad. And she knew where those choices would lead. And she also tried to direct them and help them.
But Jacob listened and Esau wouldn’t. And she was always there to protect the interests of her husband. You realize that had Isaac’s plan gone through and he’d given the blessing to Esau, he could have stood to receive the judgment of God.
Because God had said at the birth of those two boys, who was to be the one that was to be the leader? Not Esau. The younger, the older shall serve the younger. The younger would be the leader.
The younger would be the spiritual one, not the older. And Isaac had known it and he could have been judged by God had he gone through with his plan. Wives, the Bible is filled with women who are godly women.
A lot of times women say, you read chapter 31 of Proverbs again on Mother’s Day. But you realize every mother should aspire to attain those characters in her life as Rebecca did. Let’s just close in prayer.
Lord, I pray that you just be with us and be with the moms today and just help those that love you to realize how important they are in influencing their children and directing their children’s paths. And Lord, help them to understand that you have placed them into the lives of their children for a reason. And that reason is to raise godly offspring and to show forth godly character.
Never underestimate what God can do through a faithful woman surrendered to His purpose.