The character of Rebecca II

Rebecca did not marry Isaac for love, nor did she marry him for money. She married him because she believed it the will of God, and she did so quickly, as if she was waiting for God's calling. As I said in the first post on her character, she was like the disciples who willingly left all to follow Christ. Here was her first allegiance, loving God more than husband; therefore, it is hard to imagine her keeping her opinion to herself on the matter of Esau's unfitness as Isaac and Abraham's heir . . . for forty years. She had God's word, most importantly, that should have ended the discussion, and she had the evidence of Esau's character to prove it.

Rebecca was the one committed to God before her own affections, while Isaac had let his affection and love for Esau lead him astray. The story of Isaac and Esau and Rebecca and Jacob is not some Focus on the Family tale about parental favoritism, sibling rivalry, and a difference of opinion about whose son gets the best from the family, except as it demonstrates the nearly disastrous favoritism of Isaac for Esau.

Isaac must have been a tremendously stubborn man, a character flaw not befitting a patriarch. His stubbornness is most clearly demonstrated by Rebecca's actions in advising Jacob to fool him into giving him the Blessing. Rebecca knew this old man (he was sixty when the boys were born) would not listen to reason, or this godly woman would not have considered it necessary to resort to deception.

Consider her tremendous faith. When she advised Jacob to seek the Blessing by dressing up as Esau, he says he fears that he might receive his father's curse, another demonstration of Isaac's stubbornness, btw. Yet, Rebecca, fully confident of what she was doing, her motive for doing it, and the importance of doing it, says, "May his curse rest on me." She knew no such curse could rest on her, for the curse causeless shall not alight, according to Proverbs. And, as it happened, there was no curse. Isaac was fully capable as a patriarch of cursing Rebecca and Jacob after he knew what had happened. Isn't it evil to deceive and steal? Isn't that a sufficient basis for a curse? Yet, Isaac affirms that Jacob will be blessed, and he says not one word to Rebecca. There's only one explanation. He knew he was wrong, that his wife was the one following God, and that God Himself had made a fool of him.