Isaac and Rebbecca Chosen to Love:Genesis 24:34-66
Rebbecca(also Rebekah, also Rivkah, Hebrew Standard Rivqa Tiberian to tie to bind captivating) Wikipedia
Isaac-Hebrew:Yitzchak God smiles,laughs
This week is our third message about the Patriarchs. It all started with God choosing Abraham and then God choosing to bless the whole earth through the descendants of Abraham and Sarah. This would be accomplished through a son named Isaac the son of laughter born when Abraham was 100 years old and his wife Sarah 90 years old.
Years later Abraham was tested by God and asked to sacrifice the son whom he loved and waited his whole lifetime to have. Isaac carried the wood, just as Jesus carried the cross. Abraham carried the knife and the fire. Willingly Isaac is bound to the altar and as Abraham is about to strike with the knife an angel of the Lord stops him.
The place is called Mount Moriah(pronounced in Hebrew as moe-ree-yaw)in Jerusalem now popularly known as the Temple Mount. Wikipedia
It was the place where Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac. It was the place where Solomon built the original Temple of God. It was the location of many of the events during the ministry of Jesus Christ, with the scene of His arrest on The Mount Of Olives on The Fateful Night just to the east, and His Crucifixion at Calvary just to the north. And there is much more set to happen there.
A ram caught by its horns in a bush becomes the substitute sacrifice for Isaac just as Jesus becomes our substitute sacrifice. Abraham passed Gods test and proves his faithfulness.
Today we leave Mount Moriah and pick up the second part of our three person story as we see what happens next in the life of Isaac. Things get much better for Isaac since his father and son BBQ trip. Isaac is now forty years old and Abraham 140 when it is decided that Isaac should have a wife.
Just as God chose Abraham, Abraham chose a wife for Isaac. This was an arranged marriage to someone from Abrahams relatives. This kept the family power in family hands. It also kept foreign ideas and or foreign gods away from Isaac. By this time Sarah had died and was buried in a family tomb purchased by Abraham. It is known as the tomb of the Patriarchs to this day.
Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave on the plot of land at Machpelah to the east of Mamre, which is Hebron, in Canaan.(Genesis 23:19)
A messenger is sent to find Isaac a wife but even the messenger asks for God to bless him in his quest. The trusted messenger puts forward a prayer and sets out a set of circumstances before God that will distinguish just who should be approached to become Isaacs wife.
Rebbecca (also Rebekah, also Rivkah, Hebrew:Standard Rivqa Tiberian to tie; to bind; captivating)Wikipedia
By a miracle all the circumstances are seen to be fulfilled and Rebekah becomes the girl chosen by God through the servants prayer. A friendly meeting takes place gifts are offered and received and everything is explained then Rebbecca is allowed to make her own mind up to stay with her family for awhile or go immediately with the servant of Abraham. She decides to go immediately
The Believers Commentary: The servant is a type or symbol of the Holy Spirit sent by the father to win a bride for the son. The narrative carefully records the preparations for the journey, the gifts carried by the servant, and the sign by which he would know the Lords chosen woman.
Next we have the arrival of the bride to meet the bridegroom. In Genesis 24:62 we see Isaac for the first time since the sacrifice incident waiting in a field for his bride to be. He has just left Beer Lahai Roi the place where he was living near a well of the same name. Meaning: the well of him that liveth and seeth me, or, as some render it, the well of the vision of life or the well where the Lord met with Hagar(Gen. 16:7-14). Isaac dwelt beside this well (24:62; 25:11). Living water - Believers Commentary
Again this is a picture of what we are waiting for today. We the church, the bride of Christ, are waiting to be brought to the bridegroom. We are waiting for the Rapture of the church and here we have an example of that moment through the relationship of Isaac and Rebekah.
Rebekah was childless for twenty years and like Sarah carried the social stigma with her. She is the first woman in the bible to address God and get an answer. Gen 25:21-23. It is important to note that God is not a chauvinist. He heard her prayers and answered her with an explanation.
God tells her that she is to have two sons who are to become two rival nations already fighting in her womb. What a difficult pregnancy that must have been. I remember my wife crying and smiling as she suffered through her third trimester with both our children. She explained how their little heels and fists pounded away at her body making her suffer. How much more Rebbecca must have suffered?
Isaac was sixty when his twin boys were born and Abraham was a grandfather at 160 years of age. Abraham had re-married and had other children but the covenant was for Isaac alone.
Isaac would be the only one of the three Patriarchs to marry just one wife and never leave the land of Canaan during his lifetime. He would be the only one of the Patriarchs not to have his name changed. But Isaac would have division in his household. Isaac would favor Esau and Rebekah would favor Jacob. This is a great lesson for all of us who are parents and a warning not to favor one child over another.
Isaac would use the same trick his father Abraham used when visiting a foreign Ruler and seeking help to avoid a famine. Isaac pretended that Rebekah was his sister and not his wife but the Ruler discovered it and Isaac admitted it. Funny what we learn from our fathers.
Later in life Isaac would be deceived by his son Jacob into thinking he was Esau and the birthright would be stolen. Years later, Isaac breathed his last. Jacob was with him when he died at Hebron, and his two sons, now reconciled to each other, buried him there. Isaac was 180 years old when he died.
