REBEKAH


A. "AND THEY CALLED REBEKAH AND SAID UNTO HER, WILT THOU GO WITH THIS MAN? AND SHE SAID, I WILL GO" - GENESIS 24:58
  1. This we believe is the heart of the story of Rebekah's marriage to Isaac:
    1. Rebekah was, doubtless, deeply impressed with the seriousness of Eliezer's mission
    2. Think of his prayer before he met Rebekah - Gen. 24:9-14
  2. This story of Rebekah is very rich in the experience of Isaac and his family:
    1. Rebekah was very fair to look at and she was very alert to her duties as a wife and mother
    2. She, like the rest of us, had her failings that brought sorrow to her family
B. THE LIFE OF REBEKAH Scripture References: Genesis 22; 23; 24; 25:20-28; 26:6-35; 27; 28:3-5; 29:12; 35:8; 49:31; Romans 9:6-16 Meaning of name: Rebekah is another name with an animal connection. Although not belonging to any animal in particular, the word "Rebekah" means "a hitching place" or a "stall" - "tie-up of a lamb"; it also means "a noosed cord" Family connections: Rebekah is first mentioned in the genealogy of the descendants of Nahor, Abraham's brother - Gen. 22:22-24. When the pilgrims set out from the Ur of the Chaldees, Nahor was one of the party that settled down at Charran where Terah his father died. Rebekah was the daughter of Bethuel, who by an unknown wife, became the father of Rebekah.
  1. The story of Isaac and Rebekah is a love story full of romance and tender beauty:
    1. One never tires of reading the marriage of Rebekah to Isaac as recorded in Genesis 24
    2. There is much in their marriage that should inspire our young people who contemplate marriage
  2. Let us consider some of the implications of Rebekah's marriage to Isaac:
    1. Abraham's desire to steer clear of idolatry
    2. He knew only too well the practice of the idolatrous nations in the land
    3. He knew that if his son married one that practiced idolatry that it would frustrate the plan of God for Abraham and his seed
C. A FEW HIGH POINTS IN THE STORY OF REBEKAH
  1. Isaac and Rebekah lived a chaste married life together:
    1. Though they were conscious of God's promise that they should have a seed from whom Christ should come; they were childless for twenty years
    2. Yet they did not follow Abraham and Sarah to have a second marriage as Abraham did to Hagar - Gen. 16:17
    3. This is to their credit - Matt. 19:1-6
  2. But God had a plan for them:
    1. Two sons were born to them - Esau and Jacob - one of them was to be the progenitor of the Messiah
    2. The divergence of the two sons was indicated from the time of their birth
  3. But the parents were partly to blame for the sad experience that followed:
    1. Isaac was partial to Esau
    2. Rebekah was very partial to Jacob; favoritism never works for the good of the children - remember the experience of Jacob's twelve sons
    3. Rebekah practiced chicanery - an act of deliberately deceiving someone Gen. 27:6-17
    4. Jacob followed the plan of his mother, deceived his father, and suffered the fearful consequences of this deception - Gen. 27:30-46
  4. The lesson to keep in mind:
    1. God has in the past and still does guide the destiny of his people for this we can be grateful
    2. But, we can make it difficult for the Lord to work out His plan for us if we attempt to work it out our own way as Abraham and Sarah
    3. It is most unwise for parents to be partial to their children; this we learn from the mistake of Isaac and Rebekah who brought much sorrow into their lives
    4. Even then, God in mercy uses our mistakes to teach us the needed lessons and lead us to a new relationship with himself


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