Infertility in Scripture II: Rebekah
Rebekah
We first meet Rebekah in Genesis 24. Abraham has gotten pretty old (seeing as he was 100 when Isaac was born, this is not surprising!), and he wants a good wife for his son. Abraham sends his servant to Nahor so that he can find a woman from Abraham's family.
When the servant arrived, he prayed that God would give him a sign: that a woman would come to the well and offer water for both him and his camels. "By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master" (Gen. 24:14c). Rebekah was the woman who came, and she did indeed offer water for both the servant and his camels. She didn't just give them some water; she watered the camels until they were no longer thirsty.
Though she had never met Abraham (as far as I can tell from Scripture), she was willing to leave the next day with Abraham's servant. As she left the only home she'd ever known, her brother and mother gave her this blessing:
Chapter 24 closes with this:
We learn in chapter 25 that Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah and that she was barren. She dealt with this issue for 20 years (v 26d). What fixed it?
She conceives twin sons, and the LORD tells her that she has two nations within her womb, two nations that would fight with each other. And we learn that each parent had a favorite: Isaac favored Esau, and Rebekah preferred Jacob. I really wonder how much of that was just how it would have been and how much of Rebekah's preference was based on what God had revealed to her:
At the end of chapter 26, we find that Esau has married two Hittite women and they are making life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. (See, it's not always the MILs who are evil!) She laments at the end of chapter 27:
In chapter 27, Rebekah conspires with Jacob to get the blessing Isaac intends for Esau. My study Bible says that one of her biggest failings is her willingness to do things outside the correct order to reach the result she'd already been promised. In this case, the LORD Himself promised her that the older son would serve the younger son, but she had to take matters into her own hands to assure herself that it was really going to happen. (Shades of Sarah here, as when Sarah told Abraham to sleep with Hagar to make God's promise true.) It wasn't her ambition or even her get-'er-done attitude that was wrong; it was stepping outside God's promise to fulfill God's promise, as though He wouldn't or couldn't do it Himself.
Interestingly enough, we don't hear about Rebekah's death. We know she died (Gen. 49:31), but we don't know anything else about it. Her last mention in Scripture is in Romans 9, and that mention is just because she is the mother of Jacob & Esau.
We first meet Rebekah in Genesis 24. Abraham has gotten pretty old (seeing as he was 100 when Isaac was born, this is not surprising!), and he wants a good wife for his son. Abraham sends his servant to Nahor so that he can find a woman from Abraham's family.
When the servant arrived, he prayed that God would give him a sign: that a woman would come to the well and offer water for both him and his camels. "By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master" (Gen. 24:14c). Rebekah was the woman who came, and she did indeed offer water for both the servant and his camels. She didn't just give them some water; she watered the camels until they were no longer thirsty.
Though she had never met Abraham (as far as I can tell from Scripture), she was willing to leave the next day with Abraham's servant. As she left the only home she'd ever known, her brother and mother gave her this blessing:
"Our sister, may you become
thousands of ten thousands,
and may your offspring possess
the gate of those who hate them!"
thousands of ten thousands,
and may your offspring possess
the gate of those who hate them!"
Chapter 24 closes with this:
Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
We learn in chapter 25 that Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah and that she was barren. She dealt with this issue for 20 years (v 26d). What fixed it?
And Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
She conceives twin sons, and the LORD tells her that she has two nations within her womb, two nations that would fight with each other. And we learn that each parent had a favorite: Isaac favored Esau, and Rebekah preferred Jacob. I really wonder how much of that was just how it would have been and how much of Rebekah's preference was based on what God had revealed to her:
the one shall be stronger than the other,
the older shall serve the younger
the older shall serve the younger
At the end of chapter 26, we find that Esau has married two Hittite women and they are making life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. (See, it's not always the MILs who are evil!) She laments at the end of chapter 27:
"I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?"
In chapter 27, Rebekah conspires with Jacob to get the blessing Isaac intends for Esau. My study Bible says that one of her biggest failings is her willingness to do things outside the correct order to reach the result she'd already been promised. In this case, the LORD Himself promised her that the older son would serve the younger son, but she had to take matters into her own hands to assure herself that it was really going to happen. (Shades of Sarah here, as when Sarah told Abraham to sleep with Hagar to make God's promise true.) It wasn't her ambition or even her get-'er-done attitude that was wrong; it was stepping outside God's promise to fulfill God's promise, as though He wouldn't or couldn't do it Himself.
Interestingly enough, we don't hear about Rebekah's death. We know she died (Gen. 49:31), but we don't know anything else about it. Her last mention in Scripture is in Romans 9, and that mention is just because she is the mother of Jacob & Esau.
