Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #16 of Genesis, chapter 27, and we going to read Genesis 27:43-46:

Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran; And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's fury turn away; Until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I be deprived also of you both in one day? And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?

That is the end of the chapter.  Last time we finished that study by mentioning Rebekah.  And, of course, Rebekah has been in view throughout the whole chapter.  Actually, she has been the central figure, although it seems like she has been in the background, which is kind of odd.  But when we look at everything that has happened, she is actually a very interesting character that God reveals, and He tells us key points about this woman.  She is the bride that Abraham’s servant found for his son Isaac.  We went through that chapter in detail, and we saw that she is a type and figure of the elect.

But is she representing the elect in Genesis 27?  I do not think so.  The elect are in view in Jacob as he obtains the blessing.  Rebekah is the one who, strangely, possesses very sensitive and important information, and she had this information in her possession before either of the sons were even born.  When both boys, who were twins, were in her womb and struggled together, she went to the Lord, and the Lord revealed to her that the elder would serve the younger.  So she knew before they were born that the younger, Jacob, would be the favored child, the one who would receive the blessing. 

We should not underestimate the power of God’s revelation to her while the children were still in her womb, and how that seed of the Word of God would have settled within her, and it was always in her heart and mind.  So, really, we could probably say that, in all likelihood, God set in motion the circumstances and helped to arrange them by revealing that information to Rebekah before the twins were born.  So when the time would come, she would be favorable to Jacob, and she would take the action that she took.  Now I am not saying that deceitful actions are God’s responsibility.  God works through the operation of sinners in the world, and He did so in this case.  (God has even worked through Satan and called him His servant.)  But God certainly controls all events and arranges all circumstances, and he put this in Rebekah’s mind, and it stayed there until just the right time, and then she acted.  We see her actions in this chapter.   She was instrumental in Jacob getting the blessing.  We would have to ask whether Jacob could have obtained the blessing without the planning and work of his mother.  She is the one that found Esau’s garments and put the skin of the goats on his hands so they would be hairy like his brother’s hands.  She is the one who took the goats and made venison such as Isaac loved, and she is the one who encouraged him when Jacob was ready to back away from it all, out of fear.  He said it would not be a blessing, but he would bring a curse on himself, but she was insistent and told him to obey her voice.  And speaking of that, we saw that Rebekah said in Genesis 27:43:

Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran;

Again, she is saying, “Obey my voice.”  And this is not the first time, if we go back in this same chapter to Genesis 27:6-8:

And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before JEHOVAH before my death. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.

There it is again: “Obey my voice.”  She added, “that which I command thee.”  Is that not interesting?  That is perfectly in keeping with the Law of God, because God’s Law establishes authority in the home, and the authority is the father and, next, the mother, who is to be in submission to her husband, and the children are under (the authority) of the parents.  The children are to obey their parents.  So if the parents tell the children, “It is bedtime,” then the children go to bed.  What happens if they do not go to bed?  A good mother and father would talk to their children and say, “Look, I told you it is time to go to bed, so head to bed.”  If they refuse, then there has to be a chastisement: “OK, tomorrow you will be going to bed an hour earlier.”  They could start with that. If they continue to give trouble, there could be a spanking or withholding of some privilege, and so forth.  But the parents are giving commands, “Do this, or do that.”   And that is how children learn respect for the Law of God.  So God has established this order in the household that mothers and fathers command their children, and children are to obey.

So, here, Rebekah is pointing that out to her son, in Genesis 27:9-13:

Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth: And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing. And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.

Rebekah is saying “Obey my voice,” and then it says in Genesis 27:14-17:

And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved. And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son: And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck: And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

So we can see that Rebekah does not go before Isaac to obtain the blessing, but she practically did everything else for her son Jacob to go before Isaac to obtain the blessing.  Keep in mind that in defining words, we learned in Psalm 133:3: “…for there JEHOVAH commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.”  Rebekah knew before they were born, just as God says in Romans 9:10-13:

And not only this; but when Rebecca 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, but Esau have I hated.

Do you see what God said?  When God made this determination that “the elder shall serve the younger,” who did He tell?  Did He tell Isaac?  Did He tell anyone other than Rebekah?  No – He only told Rebekah, according to everything we can read in the Bible.  God said unto her, “The elder shall serve the younger.” 

Again, let us look at this in the spiritual realm.  We know that in this passage where God explains this, it has to do with the doctrine of election.  And election was the doctrine that was conceived and worked out (predestination) before the foundation of the world, and the work was finished at the foundation of the world when Jesus was the Lamb slain.  But, you see, with God making the statement that He said to her, “The elder shall serve the younger,” it is placing Rebekah, in a spiritual way, before the foundation of the world when this determination was being made.  Of course, Rebekah was just a woman and a human being, and she was not alive in any way at the foundation of the world, but that which she is representing was there.  So it is as though God is saying to Jacob’s mother at the point of the foundation of the world, “Here is how it is going to work out, and here is the thing that will happen.  There are two sons (twins) that are born at almost the same time, but the elder will not receive the blessing, and the elder will serve the younger, because Jacob, the younger, I love, and Esau, the elder, I hate.”  Historically, God said this to Rebekah, but God says this to the “mother” or the “woman” that would bring them forth, and that can only be the Law of God itself and the Word of God itself, the Bible. 

So, historically, it was put in motion by God in revealing which one would receive the blessing and which one would serve the other, and Rebekah worked it out.  She arranged the circumstances.  She made sure Jacob had everything he needed and, eventually, he did come before his father to receive the blessing.  Then followed Esau, and he did not receive the blessing. 

And when we look at how God has bestowed the blessing upon the whole company of the elect that make up “spiritual Jacob,” and we see that God worked it out over the course of time and history, who was instrumental in making sure that in every generation, each and every elect person heard?  The Word of God reached them, and through that Word, God blessed them and saved them, granting them the blessing of life for evermore.  In every single case, it was the Word of God, the Bible, because “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  The Word God was sent forth.  The Word of God, through prearranged circumstances before the world was, accomplished its purpose.  And that is what Rebekah did.  God set her in motion, and when it was finally time and Isaac, at age 120, determined to give the blessing to his firstborn, Rebekah acted, and what did she say to her son Jacob?  “Obey my voice.  Obey my voice.”

And even after the blessing was received by Jacob and Esau plotted to kill his brother Jacob, she said, “Obey my voice.  Arise and flee.”  It is the Word of God protecting the one that has received the blessing from harm and from those that would seek to do harm to him, his own brother.  And we talked about how at the time of the end, the wheat and the tares grow together, and we saw the language in Obadiah and in Mark 13, where brother would betray brother, and so forth, which has to do with the spiritual situation that would occur at the end of time.  It is the time period we are going through, as we have already passed through the Great Tribulation and we are currently going through the Day of Judgment.

It also says in Genesis 28:7:

And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram;

That is the nature of the elect child of God to the Word of God.  The Word of God commands.  The Word of God directs.  The Word of God leads us into the blessing, and comforts, protects and acts as a shield to us, even after the blessing has been received.  And now there is hostility toward us: “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.”  Why do they hate us?  It is because if we were of the world, the world would love its own.  “I have chosen you out of the world.”  And Christ has made us His own and, therefore, the world hates us, for His sake or for the Word’s sake.  So the Word is looking out for the people of God at all times, as Rebekah is leading and guiding.  And the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth, and Rebekah is guiding her son as the Holy Spirit guides the people of God through a right understanding of the Word of God.

We saw in Genesis 28 that Jacob obeyed his father and mother, and that reminds us of Ephesians 6:1-3:

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

I do not remember exactly when we talked about this, but we have talked about these verses before.  It is a general moral principle that people who obey their parents and honor their parents may live longer lives, maybe in the sense of being law-abiding people that tend to get into less trouble because they are obeying God’s commands.  It is always the good and right thing that brings temporal blessings to people as they obey God’s commands, and, in general, it leads to longer life.  But that is not true in every individual’s life.  We cannot say that.  We cannot say that whoever obeys their parents and honors their father and mother always live a long life.  Some people may live a very short life and, yet, they had respected and honored their parents, but they still died young.

There is only one way that these verses can be true 100% of the time, and that is “children in the Lord.”  “Children, obey your parents in the Lord.”   And not all children have parents in the Lord.  Actually, the reference to “children” does not necessarily mean “young people.”  This is a spiritual reference, as God likens His elect to children, and there are many examples of that.  We will not go to verses, but you can look it up, where God uses the figure of children to picture those He has saved.  Again, it says, “Children, obey your parents,” and on an earthly level, it is a fine and good thing to do and it should be done.  But more than that, on a spiritual level, “Obey your parents in the Lord.”  The Apostle Paul did say at one point, “I have begotten you through the gospel,” but there he would have been a figure of something else.  Our “parents in the Lord” are not necessarily those that brought us the Word of God.  Again, on another level, it is acceptable to view it that way, but that is not deep enough.  Our parents are God the Father, and the Word of God, the mother.  That is why the Bible is likened to “milk.”  When we are born again, we drink of the milk of the Word.  That is the true teachings of the Scriptures, and the basics we learn early on, like the fact we are sinners and Christ is the Saviour.  We learn the general teachings of the children as the “milk of the word,” and then we grow.  It is just like human children that start with milk, and then move on to baby food, and then go to “strong meat.”  God has done the same thing in the spiritual realm, and at the time of the end, He would have His people to move on to strong meat.

But He is the Father, and the Word of God, the Bible, is our mother.  And this is the reason that when we read the historical account in the book of Judges, we read about Deborah…and, by the way, some people who want to find any excuse to say that it is justifiable for women to teach, they will find a couple of rare exceptions in the Word of God, the Bible, where a woman seems to come to the forefront.  And the prophetess Deborah is one account these people seem to turn to because Barak would not go to battle unless Deborah came with him.  So they say, “You see, that shows that women can have places of authority, just as men.”  No – Barak is a great type of Christ, and we read that in the battle in the book of Judges, he came with ten thousands to the battle because he is a picture of Christ who comes with ten thousands of His saints.  So Barak is a type of Christ, so we wonder, “Why would the Lord Jesus Christ not go to battle unless this woman prophetess came with Him?”  It is not the fact that she was a woman prophetess, but it is her name.  The name “Deborah” is the feminine form of the Hebrew word “daw-bar” and “daw-bar” is the Hebrew word for “word,” the Word of God.  That battle typifies the battle of Judgement Day, and Barak (Christ) would not go without “Deborah,” the Word of God.  And the reason is that it is the Word that judges in the last day, and that is where we are in time presently.

Revelation 19 tells us that Christ is on a white horse, and He is called the Word of God, and a sharp sword protrudes out of His mouth, figuring the Word of God, and He smites the nations with the Word of God.  God has shown, repeatedly, that it is His Word that judges in the last day and, therefore, Barak, a type of Christ coming as Judge, will not go to battle without Deborah or without the Word of God.

And Deborah said that she was made a “mother in Israel.”  She is a picture or figure of the Word, and she says of herself that she is a mother in Israel.  I will read that verse in Judges 5:7:

The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.

She arose “a mother in Israel.”  And keep in mind that Jacob would soon have his name changed to “Israel,” and here is Rebekah his mother commanding him, “Obey my voice.  Obey my voice, Obey my voice, my son,” and he obeyed his mother’s voice.

You know, it would help to paint that picture if Rebekah’s name was Deborah, but the problem is that nobody knows the meaning of Rebekah’s name.  It is a Hebrew word for which we cannot even find a word of close association to understand what her name means.  So what Rebekah does is everything that is consistent with the Word of God, the Bible.