Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore

Scripture References—Genesis 22:23; 24; 25:20-28; 26:6-35; 27; 28:5; 29:12; 35:8; 49:31; Romans 9:6-16

Introduction

Rebekah was the daughter of Bethuel and grand daughter of Nahor and Milcah. Nahor was Abraham’s brother, so she was related to Abraham. She had a brother named Labaan. She was very beautiful in her appearance. Genesis 24 tells about how beautifully God ordained the marriage of Rebekah and Isaac. As a couple they had very good relationship with God and they were blessed with a beautiful family of 2 children – Essau and Jacob. She was the first women in the Bible who delivered twins.

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Her Strengths

• She had a Servant heart

When we read Genesis 24, we see the story of Abraham sending his servant to find a wife for his son – Isaac. In that passage, we see Rebekah’s servant heart. She was so humble and readily accepted to quench the thirst of an unknown person, a stranger. Not only she quenched the thirst of a stranger but she also drew water for all his camels and helped in finding a roof for them to stay. Though she belonged to a rich family yet she possessed a servant heart.

Rebekah was attractive and beautiful in her appearance. With beauty comes Pride and Pride will fail to do any obligation but here we see the opposite. She was humble and had a servant heart. She was both beautiful outside and inside.

• She was Submissive to Isaac

When she got to know that Isaac was the one whom she was going to get married and when she saw him walking in the field, as a sign of respect she took her veil and covered herself. Even before getting married, she showed a sign of Submissiveness to her husband. It also speaks about her Modesty.

• She learned to be patient

Genesis 25:30 says Isaac was 40 years when he married Rebekah, they had their children when Isaac was 60 years old. For about 20 years Rebekah patiently waited. Bible doesn’t signify about her grumbling during this phase unlike Sarah or Rachel. Maybe, she learned to be patient from the life of her mother in law – Sarah. She must have also heard from Isaac about the promise of the Lord regarding his birth.

Her weaknesses

• She was over Submissive

Like Sarah she was also over Submissive where she accepted when Isaac said she was her sister to Abhimelech.

• She was Partial

Isaac and Rebekah had twin children – Essau and Jacob, but Rebekah loved Jacob more than Essau. She was Partial among her children so was Isaac. This concept of being partial even led her in persuading Jacob to cheat Isaac by asking him to disguise himself as Essau, so that Isaac could bless Jacob and not Essau. Through this we even see that at one point she loved her son – Jacob more than her husband, she was willing to cheat her own husband.

Applications

1. Like Rebekah we must be humble and have a servant heart to the extent of helping others no matter how hard it is.  We must consider others above ourself and help them without being selfish. For 1 John 3:18 says, ‘ children let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.’
2. We must learn to be patient and not grumble. We must remember that God will fulfill his promise in His time.
3. We must not be partial to our children and treat them equally. If Rebekah wouldn’t have been partial, Essau would have been a different person altogether.