He Blesses

Rebekah. It is interesting to me seeing what her name means. Rebekah means "snare, trap, tie, bind". Jacob means "Supplanter" which by it's definition is "one who wrongfully or illegally seizes and holds the place of another". Now go read Genesis 27.

For those of you who chose not to, it is the retelling of how Jacob stole his brother's blessing. 

It is really amazing to see how powerful names really are in the Bible. Women used them to describe emotions after birth, God changed them to mean things, Naomi changed hers to Mara for bitterness, and looking at the names brings some parts of these writings full circle. In just two names, the whole chapter is summed up. Rebekah was the driving force behind Jacob stealing Esau's blessing. She's the one who set the "trap", so that Jacob could get Isaac's blessing in his "snare". Jacob went along with it and wrongfully seized and held the place of his brother!!! We all know what happened, but the names really made me see it in a different light. 

As the chapter comes to a close, Esau threatens to kill his brother. Rebekah sends Jacob to live with her brother, and covers her tracks with Isaac. I wonder if she ever told him what she did, or if she lived with the guilt for the rest of her life. 

Chapter 28 opens with Isaac sending Jacob off with yet another blessing, and Esau hears about it. He then decides to marry another woman in the hopes of making his father happy with him too it seems. As Jacob is traveling God promises him yet another blessing! How many times does this guy get blessed?! Seriously! Why? He was a liar, a conniver, and a selfish man....It doesn't make any sense to me.