Genesis 26:1 – 29:30
So much deception – its like days of our lives (not that I watch this show)
– Isaac deceives his neighbours about Rebekah being his sister, not his wife because he was afraid that he might die. This lead to hostility between him and his neighbours when the deception was discovered.
– Rebekah hatched a plan to deceive her husband so that her favourite son, Jacob, would be blessed.
– Jacob carried out this plan by dressing up in goat skins to fool his father into giving him the blessing. Isaac blessed Jacob, even though he knew it was the voice of Jacob but the skins of Esau…
– Rebekah again interfered for the sake of her beloved son. She heard the plan of Esau to kill Jacob after Isaac had died so she sent Jacob away to the land of her brother, telling Isaac it was because she didn’t want him to marry a Canaanite woman. There was part truth but deceitfulness in her motive.
– The final deception is one that seems hard to believe. How does a man in love with a woman for 7 years not realise that her sister has been given to him in marriage instead of her? Jacob worked for 7years for the hand of Rachel in marriage, instead Laban deceives Jacob and gives him Leah, Rachel’s sister. Jacob was pretty cranky in the morning so he approaches his Father-in-law and makes a bargain to marry Rachel when the honeymoon (“bridal week”) was over – how rejected would Leah have felt!
In the middle of all of this is a passage about a dream Jacob had where God spoke to Jacob, promising land, descendants and that these descendants would be God’s people. All that had been promised to Abraham was going to be fulfilled through Jacob’s descendants. This was a big reminder to me of God’s graciousness to people who deceive, who lie, who live in rebellion to Him.
Question:Do all the other nations know of the LORD? (Gen 26:28).According to all the encounters thus far the nations seem to have a genuine fear of the LORD…..is it that the have had been taught about Him through their genealogy from Noah?
Hi Rachael
In chapter 20 Abimelech had a very close encounter with God. He’s not called Yahweh (the LORD) there as he is in chapter 26 but it would appear that this and subsequent dealings with Abraham were how Abimelech came to know of the LORD.
Were there other examples you came across?
I can only think of Melchizedek whose name means “king of righteousness” and who is called in 14:18 “priest of God Most High”. But I would’ve thought of him as the exception rather than the rule.
I apologise,Pete, in reading that encounter I had made an incorrect assumption that Abimelech knew of the LORD prior to the dream.
Hey Rachael – no need to apologise for asking a question! Thanks for contributing to the discussion. I hope you’re finding reading through the Bible at this page as stimulating as I am!