FATHERHOOD (4)
[p. 432] FATHERHOOD (4)
Genesis 25:19-21; Genesis 25:27,28; Genesis 27: 1 - 5; Genesis 28: 1 - 5
The term fathers which runs through the Scriptures, alludes to this book, the book of Genesis. It alludes to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and sometimes to the twelve tribes, so that the book has a great place even from this point of view, and especially in view of the present need of fathers. God entered on the matter especially in Abraham. There were other fathers, but God entered on the matter definitely in Abraham, having in mind to work out fatherhood in his family especially, as we had yesterday, in His promise that He would be a Father to those who are separate. “Wherefore come out from the midst of them, and be separated, saith the Lord, and touch not what is unclean, and I will receive you; and I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to me for sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6: 17, 18).
The truth comes directly to us from God Himself in the New Testament and is worked out by Paul. John alludes to it first from the standpoint of growth in the family, and then Paul from the standpoint of one who would beget a spiritual family, represented in Timotheus and others. Now it is a question of what Isaac represents in this subject, and it will be readily observed that in the passage read it is the real Isaac, not the typical one, and shows the actual kind of man that he was. Each father acquires a place in the testimony from the standpoint of this book, and Isaac has a great place from that point of view. We have to look at the real Isaac, the actual person, in order to see how the work of God is developed in him and particularly how fatherhood is worked out in him. One thing we should notice is that he is given a place amongst those who have generations. Abraham is not mentioned in that way, but Isaac is. “And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son” (Genesis 25: 19);
and then, “Abraham begot Isaac”. There is to be no mistake about who his father is. That is the point. The inquiry now is to see how fatherhood worked out in him. It shone in Abraham, is it going to shine in Isaac? Is it running down from father to son? It is said in verse 21, “And Isaac entreated Jehovah for his wife, because she was barren; and Jehovah was entreated of him”, an evidence that he was exercised on this line. Fatherhood involves that there should be a family and God is to be sought about it. He is ready to consider all parental feelings and exercises.
HGH Is the thought of fatherhood continued? Abraham stressed it when he sought a wife for his son; and now Isaac is concerned that the thought of fatherhood should be continued in himself.
JT You can see that he is moving in the light of his father because the Spirit of God mentions Abraham so definitely: “And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son;” and again, “Abraham begot Isaac”. He was the one in whom Abraham’s seed should be called, “for in Isaac shall a seed be called to thee” (Genesis 21: 12); hence the importance of his taking notice of his father and developing features of fatherhood as seen in him, even to the extent of seeking a wife for Jacob when the time came.
JRH Was Isaac moving in the spirit of his father when he entreated Jehovah for his wife, and also gave her a lead? It is said afterwards that she inquired of Jehovah.
JT Yes; both were actuated by right family principles. The Spirit of God goes on to show the spiritual equality between Isaac and Rebecca. There is often great inequality between husband and wife, but here, like Aquila and Priscilla, you have definite spiritual equality between Isaac and Rebecca. After her inquiry she gets a prophetic word from Jehovah, “Two nations are in thy womb, And two peoples shall be separated [p. 434] from thy bowels; And one people shall be stronger than the other people, And the elder shall serve the younger” (verse 23). She gets a prophetic word from God about the family. Isaac gets an answer to his prayer and she does too, but hers is a prophetic word.
WL Do you think the principle of the tent spoken of in Hebrews 11: 8, 9 would come in with Isaac here? There it says, “By faith Abraham ... dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob”. Isaac takes the matter up for himself in bringing Rebecca into his mother Sarah’s tent.
JT He is in the position now. Abraham is dead, and he occupies the ground in the testimony. So that it is a new section in verse 19, “these are the generations”. There are ten of these sections in this book, and he fills out one of them. What is seen at once is this fatherly quality, because the promise depends on having seed: “In Isaac shall thy seed be called” (Hebrews 11: 18). He is evidently exercised on this line.
JWD Do you think where the Abrahamic idea of fatherhood in local meetings is beginning to work itself out that the young people are governed objectively by right thoughts, working things out in the light of the counsel and purpose of God?
JT You mean that the young people take note of the older ones?
JWD They are right in the Genesis setting of the truth, where the qualities of fatherhood as seen in Abraham more or less dominate as light. The subjective problems work out afterwards.
JT You mean that Abraham sets out the idea?
JWD Yes, and Isaac starts in full light and energy, but the subjective qualities have to be brought in afterwards.
JT The Spirit of God gives him the full place here. As older brethren are removed the testimony nevertheless goes on; this is the result of the younger [p. 435] men taking up the position. It is a question of how they do it. Isaac is a model here; he has to wait twenty years without any family. In a local meeting where there is no growth, what shall be done? Clearly the meeting should not die out. It ought to be one of the greatest concerns with us if a meeting is dying out. How is it to be met? Isaac is a type for us here; he entreated Jehovah and Jehovah was entreated of him.
AR There should be no such thing as the local personnel of a meeting, those that remain, agreeing to let the meeting die out.
JT I have heard of a local meeting coming together “in assembly” to disband itself! It is a most distressing thing for a meeting to pretend that it has the power to disband itself. The thought is to entreat God for its continuation. Isaac is now sixty years of age; what can be done? There must be no subterfuge about it such as we get in Genesis 16. Entreat God about it! If anything is to be done God alone can do it, He alone has the power of life.
JWD What would you say about small towns which the young leave to go to larger cities on account of circumstances, employment, etc? Many small meetings are affected in this way. Should we count upon God in His indirect government to come in in local meetings for the young people if they are prepared to accept smaller circumstances in relation to the testimony?
JT That is a very important suggestion. It is worked out in Nehemiah in the opposite direction. Instead of going to the large cities they were going from Jerusalem to the country, so that a premium is offered for anyone who would dwell in Jerusalem. The matter was solved so that Jerusalem was maintained, for it was not simply a great city, but it was where God had placed His name. Are we going to let that die out for the sake of a few dollars? That is the challenge. We shall come to the matter of wages in Jacob, it does not enter into Isaac’s position. The possibility of a meeting dying out should cause exercise to everyone in it; if I move away it will die out to that extent.
WL Do you think that every local meeting, no matter how small, should maintain the preaching of the glad tidings?
JT Yes; “proclaim the word; be urgent in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4: 2). Of course divinely given ability is needed.
EGMcA Is there any suggestion in the thought of genealogy that the elder brethren should see that the meeting is maintained along the lines of life? I was thinking of what Isaac was as Abraham’s son. He entreated God. We might try to carry on the meeting in a formal attitude without the spiritual good behind it. On the line of what he was as Abraham’s son he could appeal to Jehovah for his wife.
JT That is the position here, and the result is twins. The test that comes in under these circumstances brings out the quality of Isaac’s fatherhood, and the position is very striking here. In verses 19 to 21, in fact in the whole section, how he appeals to Jehovah, and how Rebecca appeals to Jehovah is touching and instructive. And God answers Isaac and Rebecca and gives her a prophetic word. So that the principle of outlook is furnished in connection with what is going to be.
JHJr Would you say that Simeon’s attitude was one of fatherhood in receiving the Child Jesus into his arms? He was prepared not to go any further. “Now thou lettest thy bondman go, according to thy word, in peace; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation” (Luke 2: 29, 30).
JT Fatherhood was there in Simeon. Of course he had the word for that test; it says, “according to thy word”, it was not of his own option. No one should seek to leave this world of his own option; although Paul said, “having the desire for departure and being with Christ” (Philippians 1: 23), yet he did not have the word for it. But Simeon had the word, and he said that what had been indicated by God would happen. I think that at the present time it is a question of the brothers continuing on because there is no idea of replacement or superannuation in the house of God. A brother goes on to the end, but the point is for him to keep his eyes clear. It is said of Moses, “his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated” (Deuteronomy 34: 7).
AEH Would you think that Rebecca’s love for Jacob would take colour from Jehovah’s answer to her supplication? He was not only thinking of her bearing children, but of all the subsequent history.
JT She had the prophetic word. It is a great matter in a local meeting to have the prophetic word, and if any brother is concerned about local conditions and gets to God about it, God will give him an impression. The impression here is suggested in the conception, and there is the accompanying matter with Rebecca that she gets the prophetic word. Rebecca gets it. That is a wonderful thing, because then we know the end in the beginning. The responsibility is taken on, we know just what it means; Rebecca gets two boys to look after. She knows what conditions are going to be, she is going to have difficulty. “And the elder shall serve the younger”, that is sure to bring in friction, but God fortifies us if we are with Him in such matters.
TU Does the alacrity with which God answers this exercise relative to Isaac encourage us to be persistent in our exercises as to fatherhood?
JT Yes, that is the word for the moment. It is a question of being persistent with God with regard to the need. Here the need of Isaac is outstanding; he is the man in whom the seed is to be called and he has no child.
JWB Would Paul’s fatherhood be seen in Acts 20: 17?
“[p. 438] But from Miletus having sent to Ephesus, he called over to him the elders of the assembly”. He was seeking to continue what was at Ephesus.
JT That is right: “shepherd the flock of God” (1 Peter 5: 2). What was there should continue.
AR Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all faced barrenness in their wives. Would that draw out fatherly feelings before their children were born?
JT That is a great matter to consider in connection with the family. Abraham was heir of the world, and his name was changed to mean father of a multitude, and not only a multitude of persons but of nations; yet he and his wife had to face this exercise of having no children. The lesson is that the children that God has in mind in His promise are spiritual in character and they must come about from God and not by nature, therefore we are dependent on Him. There can be no going on in the testimony unless by dependence on God. That is the teaching that Isaac and Rebecca represent here — dependence on God.
AR Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all have conflict with nature, and we come into the assembly on the same basis.
JT Quite so. It is a question of the power of God. Isaac and Rebecca recognise that.
SMcC This prophetic word is most important in its bearing on local conditions, knowing as we do the two lines and how they develop. Often there is much sorrow resulting from not having the mind of God in regard to these two lines.
JT That is what comes out in connection with Isaac. The word was, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called”. He is shut up to that, and yet here he is childless for twenty years! What does this mean? What has Isaac to learn in all this? What have I to learn in it? That is a question from God. Paul says, “that the surpassingness of the power may be of God, and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4: 7).
[p. 439] The Lord saying to him at Corinth, “I have much people in this city” (Acts 18: 10), implied the power of God. In the Lord’s mind this really meant much. Evidently there would be a large number, but how were they to be secured? Paul was an able man, an evangelist, and he had great power in preaching, but he would say, It is to be by God’s power and not mine. That is really the basic thought in all service, it is a question of the power of God.
AEH In the case of Jacob’s wife who was barren, the cry that came from her was, “Give me children, or else I die” (Genesis 30: 1). Jacob, at the point of despair, says, “Am I in God’s stead, who has withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?”
JT He took the right attitude. That is the lesson we are to learn in this section relative to the generations of Isaac. You must have God, or you have nothing, or worse than nothing. Isaac is upright in this matter, and pure. According to the word of the Lord later, the wholly right seed must come in, and if there is to be that there must be right marital relations. That is the idea of Christ and the assembly, so that there is a wholly right seed; people must not be allowed to come into fellowship through any sinister motives. We must be pure in our efforts to enlarge the family — the meeting.
TLS Power in prayer is much needed.
JT That is exactly what we get here. We are not told whether Isaac prayed several times, perhaps he did. All that is said is, “Isaac entreated Jehovah for his wife, because she was barren”. That is not mere prayer, it is like Elijah’s prayer; he “prayed with prayer” (James 5: 17). That is, he earnestly sought it; compare 1 Kings 18: 42. It is as if I said to Jehovah, It must be. It must indeed be, from the divine side, because God has said, “in Isaac shall a seed be called to thee”.
JWW How does the principle of election work out in connection with the exercise or [p. 440] prayer?
JT I was remarking that it must be, that is the position. Isaac knew something of the counsels of God about this matter. If you look at Romans 9: 6 - 13, which deals with this very point, it says, “Not however as though the word of God had failed; for not all are Israel which are of Israel; nor because they are seed of Abraham are all children: but, In Isaac shall a seed be called to thee. That is, they that are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are reckoned as seed. For this word is of promise, According to this time I will come, and there shall be a son to Sarah. And not only that, but Rebecca having conceived by one, Isaac our father, the children indeed being not yet born, or having done anything good or worthless (that the purpose of God according to election might abide, not of works, but of him that calls), it was said to her, The greater shall serve the less: according as it is written, I have loved Jacob, and I have hated Esau”. Now that covers the position we are considering. It alludes to this very section with which we are dealing. It is a question of God, and Isaac’s prayer would undoubtedly enter into it, in the word ‘entreat’, the matter of divine obligations, in that God was committed to this matter; and God likes that. Elijah said to Elisha, You have asked a hard matter, but you will get it under certain circumstances, showing that we must be alert as to God’s answers to our prayers.
CAM So that Isaac’s word entreat would be counting on the prophetic word. Rebecca’s word inquire would perhaps be answered by prophetic ministry as to what the struggle meant.
JT I think she would pray that the result might be a continuing matter following her husband’s entreaty and her inquiry. And God granted her light as to the future, showing her what she would have to contend with and what He was going to do.
HGH Verse 28 says, “and Rebecca loved Jacob;”
[p. 441] was she moving in the light of the prophetic word she had received?
JT Yes. The point now is, after these two prayers, How are we governed? Are we governed in our attitude of mind according to what we have prayed? In the conception I form, what do I think of Jacob and Esau? Divisions of mind come up amongst us one over against the other, but we can see that Rebecca was governed by the revelation, by the prophetic word, and she loved Jacob. No doubt he was lovable, but she was undoubtedly governed by the prophetic word.
JV Verses 27 and 28 would test as to the thought of fatherhood: “And the boys grew, and Esau became a man skilled in hunting, a man of the field; and Jacob was a homely man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because venison was to his taste; and Rebecca loved Jacob”. They show what Esau became and what Jacob became and Isaac in relation to them.
JT It is a question of development. What will these two boys be? They are before their father and mother day in and day out, and it is said that Isaac loved Esau, and we are told why: “And Isaac loved Esau, because venison was to his taste”. Rebecca loved Jacob. Why did she love him? It is not stated, but we cannot help assuming that she was governed by the prophetic word.
JRH Is there not the moral side? Esau shows himself to be on the Nimrod line and Jacob on the Abraham line.
JT Why did Isaac love Esau? By his preference for him his fatherhood is marred and discredited, and that is a solemn fact. If I am given to tastes that discredit my fatherhood I must renounce them. Isaac failed in this.
EGMcA Is that to indicate that we should not, in our local meetings, go along specially with those who have similar natural [p. 442] tastes?
JT That is good. We do not affiliate with persons who are likeable because their tastes or point of view agree with ours. That is what comes out in Isaac; he had a taste for venison, and this influenced him unduly.
JWD Esau must have inherited the weakness in Isaac’s fatherhood. Where weakness develops in local meetings, do you not think we have to humble ourselves in that relation?
JT Natural preferences are very prevalent in gatherings, certain ones drawing to one another, involving cleavage. Suppose we picture Isaac and Rebecca conversing about the two boys when they have gone out. The parents are not of one mind. They cannot go very far because there is no communion together on this point. You may say that it is not very much, but it is a matter of the prophetic word of God, and Isaac is veering away from it. It is beautiful to see how intelligent Rebecca is in regard to it. The next section shows how humbling this matter of Isaac was when the boys grew up. If Adam had been there with his ability he would have named Esau in accord with his propensities and Jacob in accord with his. The Lord as the true Adam named Peter according to what he would be; He called him “Cephas”. Here the boys grow, and from Isaac’s point of view Esau is a lovable man, though a despiser of the promise, a man of the field, a football player, one who goes in for everything worldly with no interest in the things of God. He despises his inheritance, and yet his father, the most godly man of the moment, loves him instead of the other. You wonder how it happens, excellent brothers turned aside on certain things.
SWP Paul has a like-minded son in Timotheus: “For I have no one like-minded who will care with genuine feeling how ye get on” (Philippians 2: 20). Timothy could think along the same lines as his spiritual father, [p. 443] the apostle.
JT Paul could confide in him and could trust him.
JWB Would Barnabas seen at the end of Acts 15 be marked out as having the same tastes as Mark so that he did not continue with Paul?
JT Yes; there were natural links between the two.
JWW Would the Rebecca line be maintained in the house of Chloe at Corinth and the Isaac line be seen in what was partisan? “I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ” (1 Corinthians 1: 12).
JT Yes, I think so. What a name Chloe had! She had thoughts loyal to Christ.
JWW “For it has been shewn to me concerning you my brethren, by those of the house of Chloe”, verse 11. Would she not be in the preservation of the Jacob side?
JT Clearly. That shows where she was, she had right thoughts, that there should be no division amongst the brethren. We should be of one mind. It is the first thing that Paul himself enjoins in regard to what he heard from that sister, that there should be no divisions amongst them.
TLS In the case of Timotheus, it is said that his father was a Greek. That would make the ministry of Paul as a father all the greater.
JT Yes, he evidently overcame that disadvantage in Timothy. He became his true father, overcoming the Greek element in him. The Greek element is very strong, especially in these war times, and natural feelings are very distressing, even going to the extent of evil in identifying ourselves with wicked national conduct. Evidently the Greek element is overcome in Timothy as he comes under the influence of Paul, but the right line also runs through the mother and the grandmother.
JRH In the cases of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Abraham was greatly attached to Ishmael at first, but he got adjusted as to that; then there was this weakness [p. 444] with Isaac that we have been considering; but Jacob comes into the gain of it all.
JT The humbling thing about Isaac is that the failure of denying his wife comes in as it did with his father. He did not go down to Egypt because God told him not to do so, but he did deny his wife. He did not profit by the negative side of his father. In the same way here, he did not profit by his father’s attachment to Ishmael; in fact, it seems Abraham would have kept Ishmael in the full status of the first-born of his house.
JRH I wonder if Jacob gets the gain of this in the fact that he loved Joseph more than all his sons?
JT Yes, and yet when we come to Jacob we shall see that he loved him “because he was the son of his old age”. That is to be noted, but generally Scripture shows that Joseph was lovable in a personal sense and that this enters into his father’s love for him.
JWB If I as a father allow my children to go in for sports and other worldly features, does that bring out my tastes also? I am characterised by what I allow my children to do.
JT It may be so. What we want to bring out now is how fathers are to consider children. The boys grew before Isaac’s eyes, and what was drawn out in him was love for a man of the field. “Isaac loved Esau, because venison was to his taste”. That shows clearly a defect in Isaac. Jacob loved Joseph, as we noted, because he was the son of his old age. That in itself is not much, but still he loved him, and Scripture shows, as remarked, that he also loved him because of character, because of personal lovableness. But here we have the greatest man of his day, Isaac, the depository of the counsels of God, and figuratively the object of them, and yet he is diverted by a man of the field and by a taste for venison. His wife got a different view and hence they could not have had much communion in conversing about their children. The position, therefore, was weak. That [p. 445] should not be. Think of a husband and wife having diverse thoughts about the most important thing! because the family here was most important; the family was to be called in Isaac.
WW Why do you think the weakness was allowed to come out in the head?
JT It shows how any father may give way. What we are dealing with is to exercise all fathers as to how we allow things to develop unjudged in our children.
AR If such conditions develop in the natural family we may be assured that they are bound to creep into the assembly; if the responsible element is not in agreement with the spiritual there will be division, at least, division of thought, hindering fellowship.
JT We know something about that, wives and husbands not having the same mind. Why should it be? One of the most important features of the truth comes up and the husband and wife have not the same mind. Here Isaac is influenced wrongly and Rebecca is in the right, governed by divine principles as to her children.
HGH Why was the prophetic word given to Rebecca and not carried on to Isaac?
JT She had right family exercises, as we have seen, and these were honoured by God. Isaac should have profited by the prophetic word to his wife. We may be sure she did not hide it from him. How much comes before us in prophetic meetings, ministry that we like, but we do not seem to profit by it! You cannot imagine that Rebecca did not tell Isaac of this prophetic word which she had from Jehovah. Isaac should have said at once, ‘I must not, then, let my mind rest on Esau’.
PG In chapter 28: 1 “Isaac called Jacob”. Do you not think that Isaac is quite recovered here in regard to the right man?
JT Yes; but it seems it was through his wife. He would have let things drift.
JWD With regard to mixed households, what [p. 446] great care was taken in relation to Rebecca’s genealogy! If a man marries an unspiritually minded young woman what can he expect in after life in the government of God? Reference is made to who Rebecca was; very particular care was taken along that line.
JT Yes. If Isaac had an unspiritual wife, where would he have gone in this matter? She saved him, and no doubt that is why her genealogy is mentioned. She belongs to the feminine side, which represents the sisterhood that God provides for His people; so that it is said that she is “the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian”, chapter 25: 20. There is no question as to who she is, the whole of chapter 24 stresses it. She was carefully selected on spiritual lines. Where would Isaac have been in this crisis with an unspiritual wife? Rebecca does not support him in loving a man of the field, she stands by the man of God’s purpose.
CAM Scripture speaks of husband and wife being “fellow-heirs of the grace of life” (1 Peter 3: 7). One of the great wedges that Satan tries to get in is difference of thought in regard to the children, so that prayers are hindered.
JT Yes. You are referring to Peter: “that your prayers be not hindered”. If Isaac and Rebecca prayed in the morning there would be a dark spot, because Isaac would be praying for Esau, ignoring his unbelief and worldliness. What darkness there would be in that!
RA Rebecca’s father is the eighth son of Nahor, she is the product of the eighth son.
JT She is thoroughly qualified as to the sisterhood. She comes in immediately after we have Isaac raised from the dead, chapter 22: 20 - 23. She is thoroughly of the sisterhood that God has provided for His people, that is, spiritual women.
JWW What are we to learn from the activities [p. 447] of Rebecca in promoting the furthering of the prophetic word, and the subterfuge she used?
JT The point is that she is an exercised woman, a spiritual woman. She has had a revelation from God and is maintaining the effect of it. She is equal to it. The subterfuge is to be deplored, but she does take the ground of laying down her life for the truth, “On me be thy curse, my son” (Genesis 27: 13). She is ready to take on the curse, ready to die, we may say, for the truth of God, so that the prophetic word might go through. It must go through, and that is what Paul means in Romans 9: 11, “that the purpose of God according to election might abide”. She would die for that — “the purpose of God according to election”. Every exercised sister or brother would stand by that at all costs.
EGMcA So Rebecca steps in when Isaac is going to continue in his failure in chapter 27, and saves the situation again. It says, “And it came to pass when Isaac had become old, and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, that he called Esau”, verse 1. The situation is saved by Rebecca stepping in for God, telling Jacob what to do.
JT Yes. Chapter 27 shows how Rebecca’s spirituality continues. She is not one who is spasmodically spiritual, but, in principle, continually so, and she saves the position and saves Isaac by her devotion to the truth. She hears what he says to Esau. Think of the speech Isaac makes to Esau! “And it came to pass when Isaac had become old, and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, that he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, My son! And he said to him, Here am I. And he said, Behold now, I am become old; I know not the day of my death. And [p. 449] now, I pray thee, take thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field and hunt me venison, and prepare me a savoury dish such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, in order that my soul may bless thee before I die” (Genesis 27: 1 - 4). Think [p. 448] of a man who is an object of the counsels of God speaking about the weapons of a sportsman, saying of meat, “such as I love”! It is very humbling. But verse 5 goes on to say, “And Rebecca heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt venison, to bring it”. She was the saving element. Evidently she is on the alert and nothing passes her; “the spiritual discerns all things, and he is discerned of no one” (1 Corinthians 2: 15). She provides against this situation, takes her life in her hands, as it were, and the blessing goes to the right man in spite of Isaac’s dullness.
RWS When fatherhood fails in a meeting the sisterhood may take it on.
JT That is the point here. There are other instances too.
TLS Is Rebecca working this matter out for God according to what you spoke of as to the prophetic word in 1 Corinthians 14?
JT It is clear that she is on that line. It so far is a very fine picture. She is a godly person and goes right through. It is now long after the boyhood period of her sons, but she carries the matter right through and saves the position, and brings Isaac into real fatherhood in the end.
GW What would you say about the way she reaches the point by deception?
JT It is not to be excused, but it is a matter to be considered in relation to the dispensation they were in. There are other instances of this kind. The lesson for us is the result of the operation of her faith in the transaction. Of course literally it is out of accord with the true light into which we are brought.
SWP Does it not seem to suggest that Rebecca is acting for God authoritatively? In the 8th and 9th verses she says, “And now, my son, hearken to my voice in that which I command thee. Go, I pray thee, to the flock”. Isaac had said to Esau in verse 3, “And now, I pray thee, take thy weapons”. Rebecca seems to be acting for God when she commands her son, while Isaac speaks more in the way of request. Isaac says, “I pray thee”, but Rebecca says, “I command thee”.
JT Yes. It is like the epistle to the Corinthians. The matter is imperative, it must be so and faith acts on these lines. Verse 10 says, “And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, in order that he may bless thee before his death”. She is talking about something that must be done and Isaac should do it. The will of God must go through, and if brothers are not going on that line it must be done anyway; but the principles of truth and transparency were not understood then as they are now. “And Jacob said to Rebecca his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. My father perhaps will feel me, and I shall be in his sight as one who mocks him, and I shall bring a curse on me, and not a blessing. And his mother said to him, On me be thy curse, my son! Only hearken to my voice, and go fetch them”. She is the saviour, the agent of the will of God. Let us keep that in mind. “And he went, and fetched and brought them to his mother. And his mother prepared a savoury dish such as his father loved. And Rebecca took the clothes of her elder son Esau, the costly ones which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son”. She is in charge and she prepares the savoury dish. It says too that the clothes were “with her”. “And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck; and she gave the savoury dishes and the bread that she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob”. She carries everything through so that the blessing goes to Jacob, although Isaac is somewhat uneasy about it. But he says, “Come near, now, and kiss me, my son”, He is doing it in spite of himself. Rebecca is the instigator [p. 450] of this, but Isaac is carrying out the will of God. “And he came near, and kissed him. And he smelt the smell of his clothes, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Jehovah hath blessed”. Was that smell unreal? It was not. Isaac is now coming into the real smell, not the smell according to his taste for venison, but the smell of a field that Jehovah had blessed. If it had been Esau he would not have smelt like that.
ASB It is remarkable that, despite the defectiveness in Isaac, verse 27 mentions smelling and seeing, suggesting that he is recovered and in his full senses too.
JT God is using Rebecca, and working with Isaac. He is a spiritual man now, and is with God. God has brought him to Him. Hence it goes on to say in verse 28, “And God give thee of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of corn and new wine. Let peoples serve thee, And races bow down to thee. Be lord over thy brethren, And let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee. Cursed be they that curse thee, And blessed be they that bless thee”. That is in accord with the prophetic word that Rebecca had; Isaac is now thoroughly in it.
JWD Paul says, “But be it so. I did not burden you, but being crafty I took you by guile” (2 Corinthians 12: 16). Was it in the same way that Rebecca gained Isaac?
JT We have to look at this thing with a balanced mind, taking into account the dispensation. Isaac was examining everything Rebecca and Jacob did — the clothes, the savoury dish, the skins. It is wonderful how everything fitted. If God were not in it they would not have fitted. The literal deception was not discerned, the right smell came into Isaac’s nostrils at the right time, and he was able to bless; indeed he tells Esau afterwards that Jacob “shall be blessed”. It is a remarkable triumph for a [p. 451] sister.
HB Her act was on the principle of the parents laying up for the children. She had in mind that Jacob should be blessed.
JT Quite so. She had a right thought. She had the prophetic word from God and she was in keeping with it. She maintained the thought for many years and when it came to the test she was ready to die for it, for it must go through.
JWW The blessing is connected with the clothes and not with the weapons, the quiver and the bow.
JT That is good. The next matter for consideration is in chapter 28, passing over the blessing of Esau, though in that regard we may note Hebrews 11: 20, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come”. There is not a word about Rebecca. God will put the faith where it belongs, and the distinction where it belongs. The spiritual distinction was with the sister, but Isaac “by faith” blessed them concerning things to come. “And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand, and I will slay my brother Jacob. And the words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebecca. And she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, comforts himself that he will kill thee. And now, my son, hearken to my voice, and arise, flee to Laban my brother, to Haran; and abide with him some days, until thy brother’s fury turn away — until thy brother’s anger turn away from thee, and he forget what thou hast done to him; then I will send and fetch thee thence. Why should I be bereaved even of you both in one day? And Rebecca 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, of the daughters of the land, what good should my life do me?” verses 41 - 46. These are the ideas which she [p. 452] brings forward to Isaac, all to the end that Jacob be taken out of the way of murder. The purpose of God must stand, and she is determined it shall stand, she is still bent on the purpose of God. That is the point in Romans 9. So that she has him sent to Padan-Aram. “And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padan-Aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father, and take a wife thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother. And the Almighty God bless thee, and make thee fruitful and multiply thee, that thou mayest become a company of peoples. And may he give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee and to thy seed with thee, in order that thou mayest possess the land of thy sojourning, which God gave to Abraham! And Isaac sent away Jacob; and he went to Padan-Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebecca, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother”, chapter 28: 1 - 5. Isaac and Rebecca at last agree with one another in regard to Jacob. Esau has married Canaanitish wives and they are a burden to them, but Jacob is in the way of fulfilling the purpose of God.
AEH Would verse 45 of chapter 27 indicate that while Rebecca is a spiritual woman she is not a woman without natural feeling? She says, “Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”
JT She had him in her mind, but she knew he was not the object of divine purpose.
RWS Esau makes a little move to make matters better by a compromise, but he is not really in the life line.
JT His opportunities are lost. He finds no place for repentance. It is only a sort of imitation to keep up appearances. It says, “And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padan-Aram, to take a wife thence, blessing him, and giving him a [p. 453] charge saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan”. Esau was not subject to his father and mother as Jacob was. Jacob was in subjection to both of them; he had now put his father and mother in full status, and he was subject to them. It is very beautiful to see how the father and mother are linked together in this movement of his.
AR On that basis verse 10 is very significant because under such circumstances Jacob went out from Beer-sheba moving in relation to the purpose of God, in relation to His faithfulness. God will be faithful to fulfil promises.
JT That is the next thing, Beer-sheba comes in, it is a symbol of divine faithfulness. Jacob starts journeying from there. It all links up beautifully here, father, mother and son are all moving in full unison; it is a full line of recovery.
RWS Would it be like a care meeting when there are difficulties and diversities of view and finally the brethren come to a judgment about the thing and there is help and happiness?
JT Yes. We are on the highway now with these three — father, mother and son fully in the divine thought.
CK Esau married outside the fellowship.
JT Just so. God abominates the idea of young people in the fellowship marrying outside of it.