Meet Rebekah - another woman having to overcome problems and difficulties.

Friday, March 13, 2009

This is a reference to the previous case history of Ishmael and Isaac.

Human viewpoint might object to the first case history.
It might object on the basis of the fact that Ishmael, the firstborn of Abraham, was also a bastard or born illegitimately.

Neither physical birth nor the character of the mothers, nor any other human factor, is the issue.

The eldest twin is a Gentile, Esau; the youngest twin is a Jew.

The difference between them was not in their natural birth, their personality, or anything related to their human birth. Their difference was in their spiritual birth or lack of it.

In eternity past the omniscience of God knew that the firstborn, Esau, would reject Christ as Saviour.
This means that his printout includes condemnation for all eternity and many types of discipline for time.

Omniscience fed into the computer of divine decrees information, resulting in the election of Jacob and the condemnation of Esau.

Rebekah - becca -
“a heifer, a young cow” =
a symbol of fertility.

Jacob - “he who grabs for something” = either his brother’s heel at the moment of birth, or his brother’s inheritance later on.

Esau was nicknamed Edom, which meant “red” either of complexion or hair; Esau was born with a ruddy complexion, then spent most of his time outdoors in the sun, so his face and skin may have been unusually reddened.

This story shows the gradual fulfillment of the promise made by God that Sarah and Abraham would have many descendants, enough to become a nation.

GEN 26:8 And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.
- KJV

The New King James -
GEN 26:8 Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife.

The RSV -
GEN 26:8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac fondling Rebekah his wife.

The Living Bible -
GEN 26:8 But sometime later, King Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out of a window and saw Isaac and Rebekah making love.

Isaac is 137 years old, GEN 47:9; GEN 41:46; GEN 31:38; GEN 25:26.

Listen - Qal imperative - shama = to obey.

Smooth - adjective chalaq = although it refers to his skin, its basic meaning is to be smooth with the tongue.

All three verbs here are in the imperative mood = obey, go, and get them.

Here we see Rebekah doing the same thing that Sarah did, trying to achieve the divine promise by human viewpoint.

Human viewpoint never can assist divine plans but merely complicates matters even more.

When you get into the ginger bread stuff and the dog and pony show like most believers today, you get involved with all that nonsense and you end up rejecting doctrine.

You get out in ginger bread land, the fluffy stuff, all the nonsense and you become a stereo type Christian.