No big lesson into today’s post, though there are many. I do want to point out several insights I found interesting:

24:6–“Beware that you do not take my son back there!” = The promise of Isaac was a promise to Land. The seed of Abraham was never to leave this land, this land was to be his offsprings heritage forever. Abraham saw Isaac and the Land intrinsically tied together. Here is the insight though I find somewhat ironic, through in part Isaac’s actions of favoring one son over the other he drove his son Jacob to the very land he was never supposed to go (27:43).

24:16–“The girl was very beautiful…” the word for girl “na’arah is the word indicating adolescent, yet in spite of her adolescence she showed more integrity of character than her older family members; yet again ironic that integrity was not sustained in later life (27:5-17)

25:9–“Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him…” whatever the struggles between these two lines were before or after, for a moment they put aside their differences to show honor to their dad. I like to think, maybe it is pastoral license, that this is an indication that in spite of Ishmael being “sent away” Abraham remained a good father to him.

26:7–“She is my sister…” Isaac repeats the sin of his father with even less truth. Sarah truly was Abraham’s half-sister, in this case Rebekah was in no way Isaac’s sister.

27:5-17–we see in these verses Rebekah doing the same as Sarah did in offering Hagar to Abraham. She knew that God had promised a child to Abraham and so she wanted to “help” God out. Rebekah knows that God has promised the blessing to Jacob and now she sees that maybe not being possible and so she wants to “help” God out. Maybe we should learn from both of these ladies “helping” God out in a deceitful way or undermining way never turns out well!

27:44–“Stay with him a few days, until your brothers fury subsides” Little did Rebekah know that her sons sojourn would be much more than a few days it would be 14 years. And, to our knowledge she never saw her son Jacob again. What was her statement, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice…” (27:13) Truly this was a curse on her heart I’m sure for the rest of her days.