LIFE SCRIPTS

42 When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you. 43 Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. 44 Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides. 45 When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?” 46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.”
Genesis 27:42‭-‬46 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.27.42-46.NIV.

Rebekah was a woman with some nerve. These passages shed some light into her personality. It seemed like she had pre-planned her actions and was just revealing her cards as the ‘game’ proceeded. Rebekah, was a grand schemer. This passage says that once she heard that her elder son held a grudge against his brother, she conjured up a plan and went on to execute it. It seemed as if she had hatched this plan long before without the involvement of her husband Isaac. Infact, at the end of this chapter, she seemed to be building up a case to convince Isaac about sending Jacob away and the reasons were good. Scripture says that the Hittite women Esau married distressed his parents. Rebekah was now putting Jacob’s case before Isaac in this regard. Their first born son had been led astray. Surely, he couldn’t afford to allow the younger son to follow suit. The best way was to send him far off to escape the temptation of marrying Hittite women. But was it really the case? Rebekah knew the problem she had created and was using a pretext to cover up her mistake. In her mind, Esau’s anger would subside with time. After that she would send word to Jacob to return. In Rebekah’s mind, the end justified the means. Wrongs committed on another are bad only when they are fresh. When the hurt subsides, then get on with life, suck it up, accept and move on. Impunity is doing the wrong thing boldly, wantonly and with no regard for the person wronged because we know that no punishment awaits us. People who practice impunity are friends of justice only when it swings to their favor. However, if the scales of justice are tilted against them, they are the first to clamour for their rights. We might ask whether God approved of Rebekah’s actions. The story of David and Bathsheba in some ways mirrors this story. David committed sin by sleeping with Bathsheba. Probably he thought that because he was king, he was above the law. He sought to cover up his sin by plotting and executing the death of Urriah, her husband. The result was God sending prophet Nathan to speak judgement over the house of David. Cover-up of wrong doing doesn’t cover up the sin before God. The antidote to sin is only repentance. So as Rebekah sent Jacob away, she had the best in mind for her son. However, she had set in motion a chain of unstoppable events in his life. Jacob’s life would be a life of adventure, ups and downs, challenges from all quarters coupled with struggles. However, God is capable of taking our miry circumstances and use them to His glory. As Jacob left the house of his father, he encountered God who transformed his life miraculously. God is merciful. So merciful that He meets us even in our worst of situations. Even when we deliberately stray from Him, He is always there beckoning us back to Him. God’s mercies endure every morning, day by day.