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Rebecca's Twins - The Mystery of Two Nations

Rebecca’s Twins: A unveiling of one of God’s Mysteries or A Story of Food and Womanhood?

What lessons does the biblical record of Rebecca’s mysterious have for us in the 21st Century? We our dive into the scriptures to explore some biblical mysteries hidden inside God until our dispensation. We try to understand the revelations about Rebecca’s twins. Was food the true issue of contention between Esau and Jacob or was parental favoritism to blamable? What clues unravel from the manipulative character of their mother? Was Rebecca hoping to facilitate God’s plan with her forwardness or meaning to use her innate feminine wisdom?

The Mystery of Two Nations

She is given a shocking prophecy: “And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD. And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:22-23, KJV).

Rebecca must have been shocked enough about the twins. This is not to say that these are the world’s first set of twins. However, these is the first set officially recorded in the Bible. There have been other children including Cain and Abel for whom there are speculations that they may be twins because of the closeness of their ages, but for this set, no ambiguity exists. There may have been other twins in the world from families not recorded in the Bible, but for our sake, we must understand that God put words in the scriptures for certain purposes in instruction. Hence, we study.

So, these two kids are fighting, practicing taekwondo in this small woman’s tommy. But why? Twins are supposed to be very loving of each other being halves of each other. Yet even before they were born, turmoil appears to be a mild description in the case of Esau and Jacob. In addition, according to prophecy, their relationship was anything but peaceful, it has remained tumultuous among their descendants.

It is true that the Bible tells us that they met and made up after the stealing of birthright issue, and the sworn determination of Esau to kill Jacob by Esau. Esau repented of killing his brother. However, the two of them never met again after that until their father’s funeral. That does not speak of healing of friendliness even as adults.

Historically, King Herod The Great who sacrificed all the children in his domain just because he wanted to kill Jesus Christ was an Edomite – a descendant of Esau. Does it make more sense that the rivalry between these two are beyond normal, and should not be surprising that God will not prefer the one who is likely to challenge His vision for Israel and the world?

Rebecca – A Wicked Mother or God’s Angel?

When we bring up a discussion about Esau and Jacob, the natural recollection is commonly about Esau selling his birthright for a pot of porridge. Yet, the mystery continues to confound us as to how the transmission took place through a plate of food. The other story we remember is how Jacob the supplanter deceived his father to receive the blessing due to Esau. That occasion was facilitated by their mother Rebecca. However, we must be puzzled as to the motivation of Rebecca for ensuring the exchange of the birthright of one son for the other. For a mother to be that involved is certainly challenging and mysterious. Therefore, it becomes important to review the intentions of Rebecca more seriously to understand the situation more clearly.

The scriptures paint the picture of Rebecca as a highly intuitive, proactive, and manipulative person. Since, her role in destiny exchange seems shady, she does not get a lot of positive reviews. Even so, could she or her character have been just another tool for God to effect a divine agenda? For example, why was she the one who approached God probably through a prophet to find out investigate about her unusual pregnancy? Where was Isaac? Why did the scriptures not cite Isaac as the head of the family here in such a major revelation?

Further, when Eliezer prayed to God, he made specific requests of God to help him identify which of the ladies coming to the well should be his choice. Surprisingly, Rebecca matched the Lord’s revelation to Eliezer. How did Rebecca know this? Further, despite the blessings of Isaac and pot of porridge, Jacob’s natural reaction caused him to fight the angel that now changed his name and nature to that of Israel. So, what did Rebecca know or what powered her actions?

In other words, Rebecca's inquisitiveness may have revealed to her the agenda of God and her expected role in facilitating that role. Essentially, Rebecca may have been a set up, including being invited to marry Isaac. We notice her excitement, even though, she never met the potential husband or heard about him before. These question cause one to challenge the impression that Esau volunteered his birthright on the altar of a plate of porridge as we commonly teach our kids. That he fell for the craftiness of Jacob being enough explanation for allowing a criminal to inherit such a destiny transfer. If heaven could intervene such as during the dramatic challenge with the angel why did God not do this not intervene during the criminal deception?

This brings us back to the prophetic response to the worry of Rebecca. The stimulus to attract Rebecca to know the mind of God must be the unusual behavior of her first child after so many years of waiting. Clearly, she must have sought human counselling before deciding to approach the man of God. People around her must have been equally concerned. Something is certainly not right. Was God summoning her to give her instructions?

More importantly, we do not know what other instructions that the prophet gave to her. When we remember similar pregnancies like those of Sarah, Hannah – mother of Samuel, Samson’s - Manoah’s wife to mention a few, we know that the mothers occasionally receive some spiritual guidance as to the care of the baby. Therefore, the recorded behaviors of Rebecca may have been her reactions to situations that she expected to happen, and she was prepared to do carry out her part as a God-fearing woman. Otherwise, we are not provided with a motivation so strong enough that a mother will facilitate the exchange of one child’s destiny for the other. Yet, she remained central to all interactions.

Man’s Freedom of Choice

Another mystery of God is man’s freedom of choice. There are several scriptural passages and incidents to prove that (Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Ephesians 2:1-3; I Peter 1:18; 4:3; James 1:14-15). It is not in doubt. If the conversation between Rebecca and the prophet had included instructions on what to do in certain circumstances, she may have been acting them out the children grew. It may have been reluctantly, just being faithful to God or not, we do not know. We do have an example of a similar situation in the upbringing of Samson and even, John The Baptist. Point is, Rebecca had the option of not facilitating or encouraging the preference of one child over another. What we do know however, in life is that according to prophecy, both kids were not the best of friends, very unlike twins. By the way, the only children of Rebecca. She had rather unusual choices to make.

This issue of freedom of choice remains a mysterious earthly privilege because heavenly beings seem just to obey God’s command and carry out His instructions to the letter. Otherwise, they are busy worshipping Him in absolute submission. Therefore, it appears that we are a different experiment in God’s hand. Personally, when I meditate on why God allows all the evils, deception and distraction that disorganizes our world, my conclusion is that if He had taken our power to choose from us, our story might have been different. Which brings us back to the mystery of the two nations. Why should people who should grow as examples of love coming from the same womb that we probably should find it difficult to separate come out to be so different in physique, personality and life choices that only the funeral rites of their parents allow some commonsense to prevail.

Further, why did God give Jacob the wisdom to send his family ahead into harm’s way into the bosom of Esau who had vowed to destroy him? Both men came back fortified ready to fight to protect themselves, yet the only story that we learn from their encounter is humility and submission (Genesis 35). Esau could have produced a spear and enmity could have continued. The decisions of both men ended physical hostilities.

Yet, Esau went on to fulfil prophecy because his descendants, the Edomites continued to empower enemies against Israel. The story of Herod The Great confirms that the magi who went to inquire about Jesus from King Herod were not totally innocent of evil. They must have been spiritually savvy enough to know that the kingdom was about to be taken from Herod’s family and that he certainly will resist such an idea. The knowledge of such future was certainly not hidden from God. Therefore, preventing the superior authority by birthright of Esau for Jacob neutralized some supernatural entitlements that may otherwise have hampered the survival of Israel.

Lessons Learned

God continues to create humankind in various forms and with varying personalities in varying locations and cultures. His agenda or hope remains His prerogative as the inventor and creator. Funny enough, He gave us freewill, a freedom of choice and power to affect situations. Without doubt, men have been credited with excellent decisions and in many other cases, we have made some choices that are rather wanting. Yet, they have all been within the purview of man’s reasoning. In many situations, seeking the face of God to understand His perfect will or submitting to His will continues to cause conflict for man. On many occasions we run contrary to God’s plan. Rebecca did not seek the face of God until she was literarily summoned by God through her nagging troublesome pregnancy. Yet, she facilitated God’s wish. Many commentators do not view Rebecca’s actions fairly because she fomented and fueled sibling rivalry through parental favoritism.

In addition, contrary to the scriptural claims concerning Abraham and Isaac, we do not see Esau and Jacob constantly going to God with their challenges. And this is another lesson we must understand from the mystery of these strange twins. Apart from the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Pauline exposition of the contemporary movement of the Holy Ghost in our dispensation, we have evidence that when we seek God’s face and submit our freewill and perceived strength to Him, He faithfully repents in our favor because of His merciful nature. We saw this in the Old Testament times with Elijah and the rain situation; we saw it with Jabez; we saw it with Hezekiah; and we saw it with the King of Mesha who was audacious enough to attack Israel. Even Jacob became prayerful after meeting with the angel, not before.

If Esau had been sensitive enough to the promptings around him, and sought the face of God, who knows, God may have changed the situation around for him and given him a better legacy. Therefore, our first challenge as Christians is a duty to understand Gods true will (Acts 17:10-11; Ephesians 2:18). And when it is not in alignment with our will, we seek His face for direction and guidance when making decisions (Matthew 7:7-8). The twins are very symbolic of the two pathways available in all situations: God’s way or our intuition. It equally, translates to a choice between righteousness or wickedness (I Peter 1:1-6). Wise counsel is to understand that God is interested in the affairs of men and that He intervenes according to His promise when invited. The easiest way to make excellent decisions is to ask God.