Wrong choices: Dire consequences

When Esau was forty, he married not one but two Hittite women, and later one more, who worshipped the gods of the land and were accustomed to a lifestyle that was a ‘grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.’ Rebekah may not have listened to the conversation between Isaac and Esau (Gen: 1-5) on purpose, but living as they did in tents, with little scope for privacy, in all likelihood that intimate chat took place in the presence of Rebekah herself in the portion of the tent where Isaac was resting. What she heard made her flesh crawl with repugnance, What? Bless Esau before he died? Bless him with wealth and honor, fields and flocks, and have nations bow down to him and be lord of his brethren? All this to Esau, who was ruled by his lusts and passions and had no spiritual discernment? It was equal to throwing pearls before swine. Prepared to take the curse of her impending deceit on herself, Rebekah plans a daring deception with the connivance of Jacob. By placing lamb’s skins on Jacob’s neck and hands and dressing him in Esau’s clothes, she sent him in to his almost blind father. Isaac sensed that something was wrong. He engaged Jacob in conversation, trying to place this figure who looked like the elder son but sounded like the younger. However, when he kissed Jacob and smelt Esau on his clothes - not an unpleasant odor at all, tinged as it was with the earthy smell of the open fields lush with grain and ripe fruit, laced with the furry smell of the deer he had lugged home on his shoulder for his father - that clinched it for Isaac. He pronounced extraordinary blessings on Jacob that could not be recalled. Operation Lamb’s Skin was a success!

Had Rebekah done nothing, biblical history would have doubtless taken a different turn altogether. However, she paid a heavy price for her deceit. After this there is no significant mention of her at all, except for a brief record of her burial in the cave of Machpelah. God alone can provide the best solutions to our problems and Rebekah’s actions do not justify the means she employed to achieve the desired end. In the process, she lost her favored son, her peace of mind and her health. Did she seek forgiveness from the Lord in repentance, tears, and remorse? I have no doubt that she did and died in peace knowing that she was forgiven. While sin cannot be condoned, surely the sinner can be forgiven?

Jacob too paid dearly for his part in the deception. He ran from God for the next twenty years until circumstances forced him to return to Bethel where he had made some grandiose promises to God, which, of course, he hadn’t kept. Now at last, when God confronts him and pointedly asks him his name, he hangs his head in shame and admits to being The Deceiver, The Supplanter. Instead of punishing him as he deserved, the Lord actually blesses him, wipes his slate clean and sends him off to fulfill a great future destiny.

What a wonderful privilege, falling into the hands of a merciful and mighty God!