New Page 0

Isaac was forty years old when he was married to Rebekah, and it would be another twenty years (Genesis 25:20, 26) before they would have any children. Like Abraham and Sarah, they had to wait many years and to make it a matter of special prayer, before God sent them a son. Rebekah was from Syria (Hebrew Aram) and her relatives are said to be Syrians. Aram was a son of Shem, so the Aramaeans, or Syrians, were Semites. She had lived in Padan-aram (“the plain of Aram”), where the towns of Haran and Nahor were settled, and to which her family had migrated.

Isaac well knew God’s promises concerning the seed that would come through him, but perhaps he took them too much for granted. Twenty years of barrenness, however, finally drove him to prayer that he and Rebekah might have a child. It does seem that God desires us to pray for the supply of our needs and His blessings, even though He has already promised to send them (Matthew 6:11; 7:11; Philippians 4:19; 2 Peter 1:4).

However, a problem soon developed. Within the very womb, there began to be a conflict between the two boys. Rebekah was feeling more than normal fetal movements; an actual struggle was taking place in her womb, and Rebekah seemed to realize that this was a portent of something significant.

There is much we do not yet understand concerning the growth of the embryo. Present-day abortionists seem to feel that an embryo is not really a person until its birth, even though live births can take place any time over a period of several months before and after the normal gestation period. It is true we cannot remember anything connected with our life before birth, but neither do we remember anything for several years after birth. A new-born babe does have feelings, however, and can exhibit anger, as well as contentment, so why should this not also be true for the period prior to birth? The few references in the Bible that discuss embryonic development and attitudes at least intimate that this is so (Psalm 139:14–16; Ecclesiastes 11:5; Luke 1:44, etc.). Babies can surely fight with each other, if they are given opportunity, very soon after they are born. What is to prevent their doing so before they are born? Thus, there is no reason not to take this passage quite literally.

Rebekah was so puzzled and disturbed by this situation, which apparently neither Isaac nor her nurse, nor anyone else, was able to explain, that she finally, in desperation, called on the Lord for an answer. Marvelously, the Lord did give her an answer! Whether through a prophet, or dream, or theophany, we are not told, but in some way God spoke to her, so clearly that she could never forget the remarkable revelation which she received.

The twins in her womb were of two utterly different and antagonistic temperaments. The nations which they would establish would inherit these tendencies. The struggle which had begun in her womb would continue throughout their lives and throughout the histories of their respective nations.

Which, then, would prevail? The Lord was most specific in His reply: “The elder shall serve the younger.” The younger son would become stronger than the older, and would finally prevail. Since one of the two must carry on the Messianic line and must inherit the promises of the Abrahamic covenant, it is crystal clear that God here told Rebekah that His covenant would be with the younger son, not the older. The younger must therefore receive the father’s inheritance and blessing, as Isaac had from Abraham (in Isaac’s case, also, this had been true, as Ishmael, the elder son, did not share in either the covenant or the inheritance).

Men normally have felt that the first-born son should receive the greater honor and inheritance, but God does not necessarily work in such ways. In the Messianic line, it is significant that neither Seth, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, nor David were first-born sons; and it is not certain if any of the others were.

There was surely no reason why God could not select the younger if He so willed. God is sovereign, and we do well not to question His choice. “And not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved [see Malachi 1:1–3], but Esau have I hated” (Romans 9:10–13).

God is sovereign, and can do as He wills, but He is not capricious and always has reason for what He does. He knew the younger would be (as Abraham was) qualified spiritually and morally to transmit the seed and the covenant promises, whereas the older would not be so qualified. Therefore, though most men would have made a different selection, God loved and chose Jacob, and hated and rejected Esau.

No doubt, Rebekah told all this to her husband Isaac; and later, when the time was appropriate, she told it to Jacob and perhaps even to Esau. As time went on, however, Isaac and Esau began to reject and to forget this decision of the Lord, even trying to thwart it. Strange it is, and a sad commentary on the spiritual discernment of most believers even today, that they tend to favor Esau rather than Jacob, just as Isaac did.

Morris, Henry M.: The Genesis Record : A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Book of Beginnings. Grand Rapids, MI : Baker Books, 1976, S. 411