Faith without works

Rebecca was the person with the idea of deceiving Isaac so Jacob would be given the Blessing. Jacob even protested against the idea, but he went through with it 100% in any event. Therefore, both receive the credit or blame, depending on how you look at it. Let's pick it apart. We already know that Esau cared about one thing - his belly. What were Jacob and Rebecca after? First, they saw more than Esau. They saw the power of Isaac's blessing, that it was permanent and irrevocable. Second, they knew God's word - "the elder shall serve the younger." So they knew Isaac was about to perform an act that defied God's word.

In effect, the deception of Isaac did Isaac a favor by protecting him from making the greatest mistake of his life, a mistake with consequences for generations, really forever. The scripture mentions no rebuke by Isaac of Rebecca or Jacob. Why? He knew he was wrong. In fact, when Jacob leaves to get a wife from Rebecca's family, Isaac gives Jacob a second Blessing that confirms Jacob as the heir of Abraham even more strongly than the first Blessing. It couldn't be any plainer; Isaac had been wrong and realized it such that he did all in his power to ensure Jacob's Blessing.

Rebecca and Jacob saw the invisible, that the Blessing was worth more than any item of property or inheritance that Isaac could give. No matter the cost, even the sure wrath of Esau, who like Cain was a murderer, or the displeasure of Isaac, the father and husband and giver of the Blessing, was enough to deter them from their goal of obtaining the Blessing. Essentially, Rebecca talked Jacob into risking everything for the Blessing. But like the pearl of great price, it was worth all.

Rebecca and Jacob respected contract. Esau had sworn to Jacob that he would give him the birthright for the bowl of stew. Here was the real fraud, the one who went back on his agreement with Jacob. The birthright and the Blessing went together; one didn't go without the other. The one owning the birthright was entitled to the Blessing. The Blessing enabled the owner of the birthright to fulfill his duties as eldest son. For Esau to think he could get rid of the responsibility and keep the Blessing was quite presumptuous and indicates he had no problems cheating Jacob, not that Jacob cheated Esau.

Thus modern preaching and teaching gets it backwards. Rebecca and Jacob were not greedy, and their deception was a correction. It was Isaac who was stubbornly pursuing a favoritism contrary to God's word, and it was Esau who planned on cheating Jacob. It was God who used the situation to correct Isaac and turn Esau's fraud back upon him.

Had Rebecca and Jacob sat back and said, "Oh, God will take care of things," they would not have been acting out faith, they would have been acting contrary to faith. Faith in God means faith in His Word, and they had God's Word - the elder shall serve the younger. Thus, they acted on their faith to preserve God's word and the Godly seed that would become the line of the messiah. If you have God's word, you know what to do. Press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God and do not sit back and wait for someone else to steal your Blessing!