Did she ever once question her actions?
From the moment she was listening in, to her convincing words to Jacob, to the time it took to prepare the food,...did she even once ask herself (or God) if what she was doing was wrong?
Did she not think that she would be caught?
Was this a pattern she had eased into in the early years of motherhood, working all those years to get Isaac to see Jacob as a son he could also love?
What's it like for a mother's heart when she sees her son slighted? The pain of all those years had welled up in the heart of the one who was now afraid of being discarded once her Isaac died. The slighting would stop here.
Rebekah did not like or approve of Esau's wives (and I'm sure busy Momma let him know it!). Was there even a hint of relationship between mother and son anymore? His mother knew that she had seen the grudge he held for his brother, and she also knew that he meant his words of murder once her husband died.
Because a mother knows her son.
My son, obey my voice and run to my brother, Laban.
Rebekah's words to Jacob have no mention of God or of prayer. It's as if she doesn't even know Him. It seemed to be all about Rebekah:
Why should I be bereaved?
I'm tired of living because of Esau's wives.
What good is my life to me?
A son knows his mother, because deception is a learned thing.
She had a plan and she had to move into it quickly in order to make it work, because that's what busy people do.
It was about protecting Rebekah, it was about a mother protecting her son, it was about a woman in control, and it was not about God anymore, at all.
I think it's so sad that a once-inquiring girl asking Creator God, Why?, no longer has words of prayer for Him. It's as if she had needed Him to answer the one question, and then she planned to take it from there.
Because this was not how Rebekah had planned her life. It had all began with a glance in a field, and then it moved to pure love in a tent. You can almost hear the romantic music playing as Rebekah dismounts from the camel at the sight of her Isaac.
But marriages age, and soon the romance changes to survival.
When Rebekah could no longer hear the music, there was only one thing to do: she had to cook. (If only she had stayed out of the kitchen that day!)
As I continue my study of Genesis this season, I'm so taken by the stories of the women there. From Abram's treatment of Sarai in Egypt. to Hagar's abusive mistress and unwanted pregnancy. to Rebekah's deceptive heart. All three of these women were simply surviving. And while I don't agree with all of their actions, I feel sad as I hear their stories.
Because I'm a mother, too, and I don't want to see my son mocked, or left to die, or slighted. But I pray that, if I ever get to that place where the choice is deception, I'll inquire once again from the Lord.
I hope that my son's words about me are never: controlling, busy, deceptive.
I pray that he will always see me as a woman who's lost all control to the God who answers all of the why's.
I hope that he will still see the romantic glances I make towards his father, that he will still hear the music playing in our home, and that he never sees me listening at the door.
I pray that he sees me in the one place I always want to be found...not in the kitchen...but on my knees.
