Genesis 27:39 – 28:5

³⁹ Then Isaac his father answered and he said to him: “See, your dwelling will be away from the fatness of the land, and away from the dew of the sky from above.

⁴⁰ By your sword you shall live, and you will serve your brother; but when you grow restless you will break his yoke from your neck.”

⁴¹ So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; after that I will kill my brother Jacob.”

⁴² But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “See, your brother Esau consoles himself about you by planning to kill you.

⁴³ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran

⁴⁴ and stay with him a while, until your brother’s rage abates-

⁴⁵ until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?”

⁴⁶ Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I abhor my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

^28:1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and commanded him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.

² Get up, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.

³ God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and enlarge you, that you may become a company of peoples.

⁴ May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your travelings that God gave to Abraham!”

⁵ This is how Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother. _________________________________________

the value of appropriate space

It was true that Rebekah seriously disliked the women that Esau had chosen as his wives. It also did not hurt that in saying this to her husband, she had a good excuse to ask him to send Jacob away for a wife among her brother’s clan. The advantage of this is that it would put a generous amount of space between Jacob and Esau. She knew that Esau was planning on killing his brother as soon as Isaac died, and she did not know how long that would be. So, once again, Rebekah’s scheming preserves the family line, and the covenant community. She does it by making sure that there is plenty of good healthy space between these two siblings. That is not always the best answer to family strife, but it sometimes is just the thing that is needed. Space can keep us from concentrating on our issues with one another, and allow the Holy Spirit to heal us from hurts without our constantly reopening the wounds.

LORD, teach us the value of appropriate space as a means of your preserving our relationships.