Original Post in Chinese: https://henryau.org/2024/04/02/the_plot_of_rebecca_and_jacob/

Reader’s Question: I’ve read many articles that consider Rebekah’s deception to be just, a way to set things right. This is because of the prophecy in Genesis 25:23. Isn’t it clear from this prophecy that Jacob was the one chosen by God, and that Rebekah did all this based on her faith in God?

Answer:

I have also come across similar interpretations and have even taught this perspective; Jewish rabbis have also understood it from this angle, deeming the deceitful actions of Rebekah and Jacob as reasonable because God intended for Isaac to bless Jacob1. But is this truly the message that the author of Genesis wanted to convey? Let’s first examine the prophecy mentioned in Genesis 25:23:

Genesis 25:20-23 (ESV):

20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife.

21 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

23 And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.”

Rebekah indeed learned from the Lord’s prophecy that her two sons would become two nations or peoples, and the most straightforward interpretation is that the nation of her firstborn, Esau, will eventually serve the nation of her younger son, Jacob. Edom became a nation and had kings before Israel (Genesis 36:31), but from the reign of King David to the time of his descendant King Joram, Edom was subject to the nation of Israel (2 Samuel 8:14, 2 Kings 8:20), so this prophecy was indeed fulfilled later on.

Even so, I do not believe that Rebekah and Jacob’s deceitful act of tricking Isaac and stealing the blessing (Genesis 27:35) was correct or just, nor do I believe this was the action God wanted them to take (just as Abraham’s plan to have a child through Hagar was Sarah and Abraham’s own plan, yet God still blessed it). The scripture does not indicate that Rebekah’s actions were commanded by God, and it would also be illogical; if God wanted Isaac to bless Jacob, He could have simply commanded Isaac to do so. Why would God instruct Rebekah to deceive her own husband? Jacob’s response to his mother’s scheme also reveals that he did not consider the deceit to have a moral issue, but was rather concerned about the practical consequences if the deception were uncovered. This also reflects what kind of person he was at the time.

God certainly prophesied that “the older will serve the younger," but He did not detail how this would come to pass, nor did He mention that it would be fulfilled through Isaac’s blessing, much less through Rebekah’s deception. If Isaac had not blessed Jacob, would Yahweh’s prophecy not have been realized? Would that imply Isaac’s blessing is more powerful than God’s? Who determines the success of blessings or curses?

The author seems to record these events not to vindicate the actions taken but to depict the characters’ personalities. The scripture explains, “Isaac loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob" (Genesis 25:28). As a mother, Rebekah might have wanted to secure a larger inheritance for her favored son (since the firstborn traditionally received a double portion, which would be 2/3 of the property if there were two brothers), not necessarily to fulfill God’s promise. If Rebekah’s intervention was a help to God in fulfilling His blessing, then would David’s twice refraining from killing Saul not contradict God’s promise?

Jacob was indeed crafty and selfish by nature, evident in his trading the birthright for a bowl of lentil stew and his readiness to risk his mother’s curse to deceive his father for the blessing. Esau was also short-sighted and narrow-minded, not only continually taking Canaanite wives who displeased his parents but also trading his birthright for a momentary craving. In contrast, his brother Jacob was willing to work seven years for his beloved Rachel. However, there is no historical record of such a private wager between brothers to decide the transfer of the birthright, and their father, Isaac, seems either unaware or unconcerned about their agreement. Their characters might be why God chose Jacob over Esau as the ancestor of the ‘seed of the woman,’ the Messiah.

If one pays attention to the entirety of Genesis, the author deliberately states that ‘deceiver’ Jacob is continually deceived in return. Jacob intended to marry his uncle Laban’s younger daughter but was tricked into working fourteen years and had to first marry his older daughter. Moreover, his wages were changed ten times. Jacob once deceived his visually impaired father Esau successfully, and later Laban deceived him, as he discovered on the morning after his wedding that he had married Leah instead of his beloved Rachel. Later, Jacob’s sons also deceived him by concealing the truth about selling their younger brother Joseph.

This also explains why Isaac was originally prepared to bless Esau. It was because Isaac was simply following the customs of the time to bless the firstborn. God prophesied that “the older will serve the younger," but He did not instruct Isaac to bless Jacob in order to fulfill this prophecy. If this is true, why didn’t Rebekah remind Isaac about Yahweh’s prophecy concerning the two sons at their birth, instead of planning a deception? Did God really need Rebekah’s trickery to bless Jacob?

Of course not. When Jacob fled from Canaan to Haran to escape his brother Esau’s pursuit, Yahweh appeared to him in a dream at Bethel:

Genesis 28:10-15 (ESV):

10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.

11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.

12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!

13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.

14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

Jacob ultimately inherited the promise made to his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac, but it was not through Isaac’s blessing; rather, it was the promise made directly by Yahweh to the fleeing Jacob. Therefore, the deceptive acts of Rebekah and Jacob were decisions made of their own free will, and not because Yahweh needed their scheming to bestow the blessing. Rebekah’s trickery did not gain Jacob anything but enmity between the two brothers, forcing him to flee alone to Haran. The scripture shows that Esau apparently did inherit his father Isaac’s property, while Jacob’s wealth was given by Yahweh through Laban. What the author sees is that even though Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, and Jacob each had their own issues and weaknesses, God was capable of shaping them through these experiences. And the ‘deceiver’ Jacob, in his time in a foreign land, was also forged into a person of a completely different temperament.

Many people assume that all behaviors recorded in the Bible are what God expects of humans, thinking that all individuals associated with God are heroes and all others are villains. However, this isn’t the case. The author would like to briefly introduce some principles for interpreting Biblical narratives:

  • Unless the scripture clearly states that God commanded the actions of individuals, do not take the actions described in the narratives as being ordained by God. These individuals had free will and were capable of making choices (just like you and I); God did not hand them a script.
  • “Description does not equal prescription": Just because the Bible narrates or describes a certain situation does not mean it is advising or mandating that directive. The text may not clearly indicate whether certain behaviors are right or wrong, requiring readers to think and judge based on the context, thereby cultivating discernment.
  • Why doesn’t the Bible clearly label actions as right or wrong (though sometimes there are hints, such as the Lord being displeased, or a prophet directly rebuking)? This is so the reader can identify with the characters, think, and make choices. If you were in their place, would you do the same? Why or why not? Real life does not involve God directly telling you what to do or not to do; reading the scripture is also a training in discerning good from evil.
  • The characters in the Bible are not necessarily models for us to learn from; sometimes they may serve as a cautionary tale, but you can still empathize with their struggles. You will also see God’s grace and patience.

God’s plan involved choosing Jacob to be an ancestor of the future Messiah, but this does not mean that the deceptive actions of Rebekah and Jacob were right. Each of us must take responsibility for our choices, but God can use our mistaken choices to accomplish His purposes. This message is also seen in the later accounts of Genesis.

  1. Why Rebecca Pushed Jacob to Get Esau’s Blessing(from Jewis Rabbi) ↩