Page 82 - Bible History

GOD'S GREAT VORS TO JACOB 55,
the things that thou hast done to him, I will send for thee." Rebecca told Isaac that Jacob was going away to nd a wife among her own people. She told him that she was afraid that her son would marry some Hittite woman and that, if he did, she would not care to live.
Isaac sent for Jacob and, blessing him, said, '' Take not a wife of the stock of Chanaan. But go to the house of Bathuel, thy mother's father, and take thee a wife of the daughters of Laban, thy uncle. And God al ghty bless thee, and make thee to increase, and multiply, that thou mayest be the father of a great people ! And may He give unto thee the blessings of
Abraham, that thou mayest possess the land which he promised to thy grandfather l''
It is not easy to understand why God allowed Re­ becca and Jacob to take the birthright away from Esau by deceit. We do know that God told Rebecca before Jacob was born that he would rule over his brother. Then, too, Esau had grieved his parents greatly by marrying two women of om they did not approve. One of them was a Hittite by the name of Judith; the other was Basemath, the daughter of Ismael. However, both Jacob and Rebecca were made to suf­ fer for the lie they had told. Rebecca lost both her sons that day, for Esau refused from that time for­ ward to have anything more to do with her, and when Jacob went away, she was never again to set eyes upon him. Jacob was to spend long years in hard
labor far from his father's home, and when he would nally return, is mother would be dead.