REBEKAH'S PREJUDICE

God's women of yesterday speak boldly to God's women of today. That's why, in our SS class, we refer to them as our Scriptural SISTERS. Straight from the pages of scripture, their stories move from the print of our Bibles directly into our daily reality with relevance and meaning. We find them - these SISTERS of old - whispering in our ears the truths God allowed them to walk out as examples for us.

• Our sister, Sarah, taught us that it pays to wait on God for fulfillment of His promises even if the wait is longer than we desire.
• Our sister, Hagar, taught us that we can trust that God sees what's going on in our lives, even in the "wilderness" seasons of life.
• Our nameless sister, Lot's wife, taught us that living a totally self-seeking life will most assuredly bring us to ruin.
• And this week, our sister, Rebekah is in the process of teaching us that there is great peril in being partial.

Romans 2:11 states emphatically, "There is no partiality with God." God does not play favorites. Neither does He desire such behavior from us! Partiality always causes problems, but nowhere is it more damaging than when a parent favors one child over another. In the household of Rebekah and Isaac, partiality reared its ugly head; and, sadly, the consequences outlasted them both.

We talked a bit yesterday about Rebekah's Parenting and saw the seeds of partiality being planted in her heart, even before her sons were born. The seeds sprouted as the boys grew and their personalities begged favoritism from opposite parents

• Isaac toward Esau for his rugged outdoors man lifestyle that supplied his father with the wild game he loved to eat
• And Rebekah toward Jacob, the stay-at-home son, whose presence she enjoyed and whose future prominence had been promised by God

The sprouted seeds took deep root as years of partiality produced a crop of full grown prejudice. By the time their sons were grown, Isaac and Rebekah had raised rivals instead of brothers. The family had become fractured because of favoritism. Relationships were greatly damaged. Their once happy home was a mess. It had become dysfunctional in every way.

Oh, my sweet sisters, can't you see - if we allow seeds of partiality or any other sin to be planted in our families, those seeds will sprout. They will take root and before we know it, they will bear fruit. We will always reap what we sow!

Genesis 27 records our strong-willed sister, Rebekah's, scheme to thwart her husband's plans and manipulate the family blessing (heritage) straight into the hands of HER chosen son, Jacob. One creative pastor titled this chapter:

Hairy Plotter and the Dysfunctional Family

Don't you just love it! ROFL

Yes, that's a funny play on words that gives us a good giggle today - but, there was nothing funny about the scene that unfolded in the tents of Isaac as the now aged and nearly blind patriarch bestowed his blessing on the wrong son. And, believe me, no one in the family ended up laughing that day!


When Rebekah learned that Isaac was preparing to bless Esau, she quickly devised a plan to trick him into blessing Jacob instead. Her plan was very comprehensive. It involved:

• a carefully prepared meal perfectly suited to Isaac's taste
• adorning Jacob with Esau's clothing so he would have his brother's scent
• covering Jacob's smooth skin with animal fur so he would feel hairy like Esau at his father's touch

I find myself wondering if she came up with this plan on the spur of the moment or if it was a contingency she'd been thinking about for a long time. I wonder if she may even have felt like she was doing "God's will." After all, God had told her many years before that Jacob would be the family leader. Wasn't she just aiding God a little bit in accomplishing His purposes? NO, my friends - she was not. What she was doing was wrong. Isaac may have been nearly blind but dear Rebekah was sight-challenged too. She was blinded by a self-righteous zeal that led her to believe the ends would justify the means.

I wonder how often that same self-righteous zeal causes us to justify our actions when we do exactly what our sister, Rebekah, did and manipulate events to achieve our goals? If we're honest, most of us will admit we have done that at one time or another . . . particularly when our children are involved. As mothers, sometimes we get so used to "controlling" things for our children when they are little that we keep right on doing it after they are grown. And sometimes our control becomes more about OUR goals than theirs.

Rebekah had little difficulty engaging Jacob as a partner in this elaborate ruse. Jacob did not seem concerned about the deceitfulness of his mother's plan at all; instead he was afraid of getting in to trouble while carrying it out. His mother asked him to impersonate his brother and he raised no objection to deceiving his father or stealing his brother's inheritance. No. He was more worried about getting caught than about doing right.

If you haven't read this passage of scripture (Genesis 27) in awhile, I hope you will read it. It plays out like a well directed Broadway play. Jacob exits stage left and Esau enters stage right. When all was said and done and Esau realized his father had been duped and he had been robbed

• was he angry with his father for being weak?
• was he furious with his mother for her manipulations?
• was he distraught with God for turning his back on him?

Maybe. But scripture only records how he felt about his brother - "Esau held a grudge against Jacob ...." Genesis 27:41

Tomorrow we'll look at Rebekah's Pain because of the grudge Esau held. But for today, what have we learned from our scriptural sister?

First - be careful what seeds you sow in your family, girlfriends. You will reap a harvest from their fruit.

Second - don't try to "play God" in your family. Some of us try so hard to help God achieve His purposes in our husbands' and children's lives that you'd think we had a "Junior-God" badge pinned to our blouse. God does not need your help. He does not need my help. God can - and WILL - fulfill His Word. Whoever created all these little plaques and magnets that say "God couldn't be everywhere so He created mothers" LIED!! Let God be GOD in your family!