Rebekah's punishment

TinyTim,
Might I refer you to post #17?
I honestly believe that Jacob did what he had to do to get that blessing from Isaac. If in God's eye it was a sin then why did God calm Esau down and prevented him from getting his vengeance?
When Jacob wrestled with the angel I've asked myself many times why didn't the angel strike down that old schemer? The answer as I have seen it is that it was another test that Jacob passed that indicated Jacob was interested in his future well fair and not wanting instant pleasure.
This was the opposite with Esau.
He would not have died if he had refused Jacobs "soup", but he sold the birthright for temporary gratification. I know that if I only eat a bowl of soup I would be hungry again within just a few hours.
No doubt Esau would have thought that all he would have to do is go into Isaac and daddy would bless him regardless of what Jacob thinks he bought with that bowl of soup.
So after getting Esau's consent Jacob knew that he did not have it in writing and it was legal in those days that a mans word was his honor. Does not anyone think that Esau's honor must not have meant a hill of beans to anyone? No pun intended. Apparently God knew Esau's heart and Jacobs. How else do you explain that a loving God would express two times in his word that He hated Esau but loved Jacob? Malachi chapter 1 and Romans chapter 9.
So with the assistance of his mother he is forced to trickery to get his blind father to bless him instead of Esau. Isn't it curious that Isaac is blind at the time of blessings? Did Jacob or Rebecca make him that way so that the trickery would succeed? No, God had allowed Isaac's health to get to that state so that Isaac would be fooled.
I submit to you that Jacob was always in God's will and had never went ahead of what God wanted him to do. Except when he failed to act on behalf of his daughter. As the father of a daughter that is now a young woman I do find fault there.
Job 28:14-19
14The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. 15It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. 16It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. 17The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. 18No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies. 19The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
Matthew 13:45,46
45Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 46Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. :godisgood:
Jacob was that kind of man and Rebecca knew it.

 

No what I am saying is that Neither Rebecca or Jacob had sinned in what they had to do. If sin was involved it was on Isaac's and Esau's heads not Jacobs.
Isaac was a stickler for tradition by blessing the first born. totally ignoring what God had told them at the twins birth. Rebecca remembered and did what God had promised her son.
What is unbiblical about this view? I am encouraged by the fact that his mother kept the word of God and did it. In this culture Rebecca, the woman, had no say in how the man ran his house, or in their case tent. I have a feeling that she reasoned with him for years as to what Isaac should do regarding God's word to them as she endured that pregnancy. I think that is why battle lines were drawn between them, Rebecca favored Jacob and Isaac favored Esau.
In my mind Isaac remembered his boyhood with Ishmael. He thought of the grief that he got from his older brother and of the thought that his Father's decision to give a blessing to him caused so much strife when Hagar and Ishmael had to be cast out.
He knew that if he did what God told him to do would mean that Esau would have to be cast out and he would never be able to see him again, after all he did favor him over Jacob. He did not want the thing that happened to Ishmael happen to Esau.
When he was tricked by Rebecca and Jacob into blessing the unfavored son why do you think that Isaac gave into to this deception so quickly?
He knew that Esau would not blame him for what Jacob did and Esau's wrath would be kindled against Jacob and it would be Jacob that would have to flee for his life and he would be rid of the unfavored son and he would still have Esau by his side.

 

Esau hated his birthright and Jacob wanted it with all his desire.
Job 8:22
22They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.
Esau's lineage came to naught. Even though it was he who got all of Isaac's possessions.
Psalm 5:5,6
5 The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
Biblically God would have shot Jacob and Rebecca down if they were not doing what He had planed for them. However God confesses this to us.
Malachi 1:1-3
1The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 2I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, 3And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
Reiterated in the New Testament by Paul.
Romans 9:10-13
10And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; 11(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth 12It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

 

Thanks for the welcome you are very gracious.

 

May I propose a side question?
Why didn't Jacob go to his father and tell him that Esau sold him his birthright?

 

Hmmm, why didn't God just make Jake the firstborn?

 

Jacob seems to be an ankle grabber in all aspects of his life doesn't he? At Birth and then at Peniel.

 

He knew that it would cause those of us that have posted here to get into a deeper study of His Word?

 

In that case he should have made that birth triplets.

 

It is apparent that God had forgiven them this sin. This is a regular thing with God. King David learned this probably more than any Bible figure.

Psalm 32:1-11
1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.
Selah
5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.
Selah
6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.
Selah
8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

 

God had a plan, and that plan could have been accomplished without Jacob and Rebekah committing any sin. However, God used their sin to accomplish the plan that he would have accomplished anyway. :laugh: Try to wrap your mind around that concept and see how long you go in circles. :thumbs:

Seriously, though, if you like the story of Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Rachel, you should read Liz Curtis Higgs' series that begins with Thorn in my Heart. She takes this story and sets it in Scotland in like the 1800's, and what she does with it is absolutely amazing. I loved it so much, I've read the whole series twice. The books are:

1) Thorn in My Heart
2) Fair is the Rose
3) Whence Came a Prince
4) Grace in Thine Eyes

They're totally awesome and will give you new insights on this whole story.

Ok...advertisement over! :laugh:

 

It just shows us that what ever our sin, our life will be made justified in the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ the Son of the Living God. Only then will our life be justified and that all that will reject the birthright of Christ will be as lost as Esau.