Rebekah

The Two Sons

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In Genesis chapter 25, we find Abraham had remarried and had six more sons. He died when he was 175 years old and left all that he had to Isaac after ensuring that all his other children had been given gifts. Ishmael and Isaac buried their father in the cave with Sarah. Ishmael had 12 sons, two of which became nations that are mentioned later on in the Bible. He lived to be 137 years old.

Isaac prayed and pleaded with God to have a child as Rebekah was barren, similar to his own mother. After 20 years of marriage, Rebekah became pregnant. It was a rough pregnancy though, so she went to pray to God to see what was going on. The Lord told her that she had two nations in her womb that were struggling for power and that the older child would serve the younger one.

She soon gave birth to twin boys. The older one was a hairy child named Esau (based off of his red skin color), and the younger was named Jacob (or usurper because he was holding his brother’s heel when he came out). As they grew up, Isaac preferred his son Esau the hunter and Rebekah preferred her quieter son Jacob. Meaning that the parents had favorites.

One day, Jacob was making stew and Esau came in really tired and hungry. Esau asked for some stew and Jacob said he would sell it to Esau for his birthright – that is the blessings and honor that come from their father due to being the first born son. Esau said that he was so hungry that he was going to die, so he did not care about his birthright and sold it to Jacob. Jacob fed Esau, who ate and went on his way despising his birthright. He did not care if he sold it or not.

This passage reveals the nature of the two sons. One completely focused on the physical, how he felt and what he ate. The other focused on his position and blessings, things that would come from having the birthright. Sometimes we too can get caught up in the physical wants of our bodies that we forget about the position and blessings we have been given.

Be encouraged though that God cares about both. Do not forsake one for the other, but seek God when and where you find places of need and He will provide for you. He will give you all that you need and will not require you to sell Him anything in return because He is a God who loves people and gives freely.

A Quick Answer

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In Genesis 24, we find Abraham getting much older in age and being blessed by the Lord in all that he did. So he calls for a servant to come over and makes the servant promise to God that he will find a wife for his son Isaac from their home country and not from the land that they were staying in. In addition to that, the servant needed to bring the wife back to Isaac, because he could not go into the land of the old country.

The servant made the promise, then took ten camels and went on a journey to the place where Abraham had come from. When the servant arrived in that land in the evening, he had the camels kneel by a well and he prayed that the Lord would reveal Isaac’s wife to the servant. He prayed that the young woman who was to marry him would offer the servant some water from the well and offer to water his camels as well.

Before the servant even finished his prayer, Rebekah came by and did just that. The servant saw that she was beautiful and that she was unwed, but he remained quiet as he sought confirmation from God to make sure that this was indeed Isaac’s wife.

Once he knew for sure, the servant gave Rebekah some gold bracelets and a nose ring and asked Rebekah who her family was and if he could stay with them. Rebekah took the servant to meet her family and let him know that they had lodging for his camels too. Her family invited the servant into the house to eat and tell of his journey. After he finished telling them his story, Rebekah’s father and brother told the servant that she could go with him to be Isaac’s wife. The servant worshipped God for his prayers had been answered.

The servant stayed with them that night, then got up early in the morning ready to go. Rebekah’s brother tried to delay the servant saying that Rebekah would go with him in 10 days, not immediately. The servant was not having it with the foolishness, so they called Rebekah out to ask her what she thought. She said that she would go with the servant that day, so she left that day with her maids.

Isaac was out meditating in a field near his home when he saw the camels coming towards him. He got up and went to meet them. The servant told Isaac of all that had happened, then Isaac took Rebekah as his wife and he loved her. He found comfort in his wife after his mother’s death.

What I find encouraging here is God’s faithfulness to answer prayers. The servant had a task to do and instead of just doing it on his own with his own way of thinking, he turned to the Lord in prayer. He knew that God’s ways were better than his. And you know what? God brought an answer to him before his prayer was even done.

God loves to hear from His children in prayer and loves to answer those prayers. Sometimes it is a quick answer like for the servant, and sometimes it takes years and years for the answer to appear like with God’s promise to give Sarah and Abraham a son. Be encouraged in prayer knowing that God will answer you. Weather quickly or slowly, just trust that God loves you and the answer is on the way.