Annie Taylor was the first person to ever go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and lived to
tell about it. That was in 1901. In 1932 Pearl S. Buck was the first woman to receive a
Nobel Prize in literature. In 1979 Susan B. Anthony became the first woman to ever
appear on a United States coin. There are whole books written about women who were
the first to do specific things. On this Mother's Day we are going to focus our attention
on the first woman in history that we have any record of who gave birth to twins.
Rebekah in giving birth to her two boys Jacob and Esau became one of the most
unique mothers ever, for her two boys changed the course of history. In fact, her boys
represent the two great forces of human history-good and evil. Jacob was the line to the
Messiah, and Esau was the line to Herod the Great, who tried to kill the Messiah as a
child. Her twins each took one of the two main roads in life. One took the way of doing
the will of God, and the other took the way of defying the will of God. Rebekah then
represents both sides of motherhood: the success and failure of motherhood.
We often only look at the positive side of motherhood, but the Bible gives us a
balanced picture. The same mother who bears a child who goes on to produce the
12tribes of Israel, and the very people of God, also bears a child who becomes a rebel who
marries pagan wives and produces a people who are great enemies of the people of God.
Here is a mother who can be praised for being a mother of the best, even though she bore
one who was the worst.
It is important that we see this, for I have a hunch there are millions of mothers who
are made to feel rotten and guilty on Mother's Day by sermons that exalt mothers to the
heights of sainthood. This can be disturbing to mothers who are like Rebekah. They can
point to their Jacobs and feel proud, but they also have their Esaus who have gone a
different route, and they feel hurt, bitter, and frustrated. They have done their best, but
all of their children are not what they wish, and what they have prayed for. They feel
guilty when good mothers are portrayed as always having all their children as wonderful
examples of good and godly people. It is a comfort that the Bible gives mothers a break,
and portrays one of the great mothers of Hebrew history as one who also had failure, and
a truly rotten kid. Mothers need to know they can still be good and even great mothers,
even though they have failed to guide all their children in the way they ought to go.
Now I must confess it has taken me years to choose Rebekah for a Mother's Day
message because I had some negative feelings about her as a mother and a wife. Our text
here in Gen. 27 portrays her as deceiving her husband Isaac, and of aiding her son Jacob
to lie and deceive his father too. Who needs TV to lead a child astray with a mother like
this around? This has been my feeling over the years. But then I began to study the facts
that the Bible reveals about Rebekah. I discovered I was judging her unfairly, and that I
had a prejudiced attitude toward this unique woman based on a narrow view of this one
event in her life. I did the same thing with Jobs wife because she told him to curse God
and die. Then I discovered that Job never rejected her, but she was his precious partner
for life. The same is true for Rebekah. Jacob never rejected her.
In almost every Mother's Day sermon I have ever preached one of the qualities that
most stands out in the great mothers of the Bible is that they were first of all loving and
loyal wives. A mother's first obligation is to help her children love God, and the second is
to love their father on earth, and they do this by being a good wife to the father. I always
thought that Rebekah got an F in this department because of this story of deception in
Gen. 27. But then I discovered the facts that make Rebekah stand out as one of the most
marvelous and precious wives in all of the Bible. Let me share the facts, for maybe you
have the same prejudiced attitude toward her as I have had.
Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah. He stayed with her for 20 years,
even though she was barren. Finally, when Isaac was 60 years old she gave him the twins
of Jacob and Esau. Isaac lived to be 180, and so he was married to Rebekah to 140 years.
Most marriages do not last that long because people don't last that long. Today the 75
anniversary is the diamond anniversary. What would it be for the 140th anniversary?
Maybe uranium would be worthy, but I don't think we need to be concerned about it.
But here is the point: Show me any other couple in the bible who were married this long
and yet they kept the vows of keeping themselves to each other as long as they both lived.
They are the most unique couple in the Bible. It was an age of universal polygamy,
and yet they were monogamous. Their culture and environment favored multiple
partners. Isaac's father Abraham had the multiple partnership, and so did both of Isaac's
sons. They were the only monogamous couple in their time. Through 20 years of
barrenness they struggled, and through this time of deception, and yet these two never
stopped being committed to each other. They are an example to married people in all
cultures and all times. Isaac was a one woman man married to a one man woman. From
the wedding to the grave they were faithful to each other. This is rare even among the
great people of the Bible. This helps us see this one negative incident in the light of the
bigger picture. They were so committed that this negative event did not hurt them in any
permanent way.
We need to see also that in Gen. 25:23 Rebakah was told by God that her first born
would serve the younger son. She knew it was God's will that Jacob be the blessed son,
and so what she did was to help her failing husband do what was right and best for the
kingdom of God. If you read Gen. 28 you will discover that Isaac did not rebuke
Rebekah, nor did he take a concubine unto himself to hurt her. He respected her
judgment and went along with her plan completely, and he blessed Jacob again and send
him off to find a wife among the daughters of Rebekah's brother Laban.
There is no hint of Isaac being offended with his life partner. In fact, he was so pleased
with the wisdom of Rebekah that even Esau saw it and decided to conform to some
degree to his mother's wishes, and he went off and married an acceptable wife from the
line of Abraham. In isolation Gen. 27 makes Rebekah look bad, and it gives the
impression of her being a bad wife and mother. But when you see the whole story it
reveals her to be a wonderful wife and marvelous mother. If we learn nothing else, let us
learn not to judge anybody by any isolated incident in their lives. By doing this to
Rebekah I have had negative feelings about her, and it was foolish for Isaac never had
these feelings. He loved her and respected her judgment.
She is an ideal example of the first principle of motherhood. She was a loyal and loving
wife. Children need to see this in a mother in order to be good mates themselves. A
mother who is a good mate will give her children the foundation for building a good
marriage themselves. This does not mean the children of all good mates will never ruin
their own marriage, for this happens all the time, but it will not be because the lacked a
good example. Rebakah gets an A for her role as a good example. God knew all along
when He guided Abraham's servant to choose Rebekah to be the wife of Isaac. He was the
unique son of promise and needed a special wife, and Rebakah was God's choice for him.
God's plan to bring His son into the world depended a great deal upon sensitive
mothers. Mothers seem to have a greater sense of which of their children are most likely
to be God's choice. Abraham would have give his blessing to Ishmael, and Isaac would
have given his blessing to Esau. But it was the mothers choices who were the ones God
chose. A mother's choice is more likely to be the choice of God. Isaac was in favor of
Esau because he was so macho. He was rough and tough, and a man of nature. He was a
mighty hunter who could live off the land in its wild state. Jacob was more of the
domesticated type. He had his garden and animals, and was more of a home body. He was
gentle and tender, and far more romantic than Esau. He was mom's favorite, and God's
as well, for God's Son was going to be more like Jacob than Esau.
God uses both types of men, for the greatest man of the Old Testament was John the
Baptist and he was the rough and tough man of nature. God uses all types to play a role
in His kingdom, but the star role goes to the Star of Jacob, who was the Messiah. He
would be more like a mother's favorite. Mary was the chief influence in the life of Jesus,
for Joseph died and she raised Him as a single parent.
God says some powerful things about mothers in His Word. There is just no escaping
the evidence. They are the key tools God uses to determine the course of history. The
hand that rocks the cradle rules the world is not a superficial cliche, but is supported by
God's revelation, and no where is it seen more clearly than in the life of Rebekah. Let's
look at some of the details of her life that are almost trivia that reveal just how a mother
can be used of God to make a difference in the world. First we see-
I. REBEKAH WAS A GOOD COOK.
This whole story revolves around tasty food, and if Rebekah could not have made a
goat to taste like wild game she never would have been able to pull off her plan. But she
was confident she could make a meal fit for a king that would please Isaac, in verse 17
states that she also made bread. Here we get a picture of the old time country kitchen
with homemade bread and a pot of stew.
This image is radically changed in our day, and the majority of Americans will be
eating out on this Mother's Day, or sometime this week. The home is not the center of
eating as it once was, but it is still the place where mothers need to provide their family
with pleasurable experiences around food. Rebekah had no choice. She had to learn to
be a good cook. Today, mothers do not have to because there are alternatives galore
with fast food and microwave dinners, as well as numerous places to eat out. The danger
is that mothers will fail to realize that it is still a vital part of family life to have enjoyable
times together around good food. There is something special that is never forgotten
about the enjoyment of a delicious meal made by mom.
Mothers are the first source of food and pleasure to a baby. It is one of the roles of
motherhood to be a food provider. It does something for the whole family to be able to
enjoy the pleasure of good food prepared by mom. It gives the husband a sense of pride,
and the children a sense of security, as well as memories of a happy home life. The
comedian may have only been joking, but he may also been expressing a deep seated
disappointment when he said, "In my house you could eat off the floor. Most of the time,
that's where the food would end up. We would sneak it off our plates and give it to the
dog. I wouldn't say mom was a bad cook, but one year we went through 12 dogs.
Bad cooking even leads other people to lie. A new preacher received a pie from one of
his members. It was so terrible they could not eat it. They had to throw it in the garbage.
He didn't know how to respond when she asked how he liked it. He did not want to tell
her the truth so he said, "I can assure you that a pie like yours doesn't last long at our
house." Mothers who want to avoid things like this need to focus on the fact that they
still play the key role in what happens at the family table. It needs to be a time of fun with
tasty food and positive family fellowship. Heaven begins with a great family feast at the
marriage of the Lamb.
Part of good mothering is to make sure your family praises God for taste buds
because they are exercised frequently around the table, and giving them pleasant
memories of home and family life that will guide them to seek the same when they
establish their home. This may seem like a secular quality to stress, and it is, but it is also
a spiritual matter. Rebekah had the spiritual concern, and her good cooking was just
mothers means to the greater end that she and her family be tools to accomplish God's
will in history. Indifference to the physical side of life is not an asset, but a hindrance to
the spiritual side of life. Anything a mother can do to enhance the physical enjoyment of
life will be an aid to her guiding her children spiritually. The poet wrote,
It isn't the hours that makes the home,
That gives a glory to life.
It isn't the things that fill the room.
It's mainly the heart of a wife.
Rebekah was the heart of her home, for her heart was set on first of all pleasing God,
who chose her and Jacob; secondly pleasing her husband, and thirdly pleasing her
children. That is the order of priorities for the ideal mother. She used her cooking skill
to accomplish all three. She learned that there is a lot of truth in the saying that, "The
way to a man's heart is through his stomach." It was also the way to God's will. Rebekah
is the ideal example of how developing physical and secular skills can be a major factor in
accomplishing spiritual ends. The second thing we want to note is-
II. REBEKAH WAS A GOOD PROBLEM-SOLVER.
Mothers are, by definition, people-makers. Women make a lot of things, but as
mothers they make people. People are the result of their labor as mothers. The only two
people in all of history not mother-made were Adam and Eve. God only made two people
by Himself. All others have been made by mothers. But since the first mother fell even
before she became a mother, all of the people mothers make are also fallen, and so
problem making goes along with people making. Where there are people there are
problems. If a tree falls in the wood with nobody there to hear it, does it make any
sound? That is an age old question that is debated, but one thing we know for sure, if
there are no people there to hear it, it is not a problem, sound or no sound. There are
only problems where there are people, and God's people have never been problem free.
Here is a godly family, and they are a key link to the line to the Messiah. The salvation
of the whole world is in their hands, and they are about to fumble. Isaac is about to go
with his preference and forget God's choice. He is ready to bless his rebel son Esau, and
he would have had it not been for Rebekah's clever plan. By this plan she saved her
husband from folly, and helped fulfill the prophecy of God. We just have accept this
reality of life that mothers are sometimes the best trouble shooters. They have insights
and wisdom, and a sensitivity to what God is doing that men sometimes do not have.
Jesus did not give all of His most profound teachings to His disciples. He often chose a
woman to hear His deepest revelations, for He knew they could see what men often miss.
Even in the Old Testament where men were in control, and where they had all the
authority, we see God using a woman like Rebekah to get His plan accomplished, even
though the men were doing all they could to derail it. The fact is, God's will that Jacob
be blest and the ruler over Esau would not have happened without Rebekah. The fact is,
a lot of God's will would never be accomplished without mothers.
Jacob saw his mothers determination to do what she was convinced was the will of
God, and solve the problem that stood in the way. He became a problem solver like this
himself. He had to work out problems with his father-in-law Laban over his wives and
wages. He had to work out his problems with Esau. He even wrestled with God and won
a victory. He had a life of problems, but he solved them and became the channel by
which God's people were formed. When he died he was buried in the same tomb where
his mother was buried.
Charles Dickens said, "I think it must be somewhere written that the virtues of
mothers shall be visited on their children as well as the sins of their fathers." This was
certainly true with Rebekah and Jacob. He could have said with the poet,
All that I have she gave to me,
She molded my destiny
With loving care she raised me,
And gave me a legacy.
A mother came into her kitchen and found her two young boys fighting over the last
cookie. She took the cookie and said, "I'll solve this problem for you. I'll eat it myself."
And she did. Sometimes the only way to solve a problem is to eliminate the basis for the
problem. Rebekah did this by getting Jacob sent off to her brother's place to find a wife.
The separation even helped Esau to cool off and forget his plot to murder Jacob.
Separation is a great problem solver. Eve might have saved Abel by this strategy.
Rebekah did save Jacob, and by doing so changed the course of history.
Kay Kuzma, a university professor, wrote an article called Every Mother Is A
Working Mother. She has three children, and she calculated that by the time they
reaches 18 she will have put in 18,000 hours of child-generated housework. That is
housework she would not have had if she had not had children. There is no such thing as
a non-working mother.
A mother of 11 was asked how she found time for all of them. She replied, "When I
had my first child I realized that one child can take all of your time, so I decided to have
more, for it couldn't make much difference." Kay Kuzma wrote, " No one has any idea
how much time it takes to love a child into maturity- until they have had one! You know,
I think that is why so many women get discouraged after a couple of years. By choosing
to spend more time at home with their children they envision they will have time to do
everything they have always wanted to do. Instead it takes them twice as long to read a book,
the Christmas light are still up for their family's Easter celebration, and there is no
time for those home improvements they had dreamed of making. Instead, the carpet gets
spotted, the doorways get fingerprinted, the walls get scribbled on, the curtains get
snagged and their favorite china gets chipped. Plus, the bills just keep getting bigger!
You begin to think you will never get ahead!"
Rebekah married into great wealth when she married Isaac, and she had servants too.
So maybe she had more time to think and plan strategy than most mothers. Mothers
differ greatly in the time they have to give to helping their children find God's best.
Rebekah succeeded in helping Jacob, and to a lesser degree even Esau, for he also was
changed. She was a problem solver for the whole family. The record of her life takes up a
good portion of the book of Genesis. She is a major person is the history of God's people.
She is not famous for any great project or movement. She did not write a book, a song, or
a poem. She did not achieve any public fame. All she did was be a marvelous mate and
mother, and that is enough to have made her special to God.
