The Necessary Sin: Part 2
(60 second quick read)
Why do we believe that lying is better than the promise and the truth of God?
Why do we lie when we know that God detests it? We have a bunch of easy excuses, do we not? Anything from “I want to have a simpler life”, to “I don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings”, and all the way through to “I want to have an advantage”.
Let’s talk about Isaac and Rebekah now.
“When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” he answered. Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me.”
— Genesis 27: 1-3
Thus begins the story of a mother and her favourite son. Esau and Jacob are the sons of Rebekah and Isaac; and Isaac, as you know, is the son of Abraham. The family has been blessed by God to become a great nation, and to be a blessing to all the nations. This family is in a good place. Part of the great family of Abraham. What could go wrong?
Esau and Jacob were not very like each other: Jacob liked to stay home and cook and help his mom out at home, but Esau was a hunter like no other on earth. Esau was also physically different: even at birth, he was reddish in complexion and was covered in hair.
And here’s the twist: Isaac had a blessing to give that he knew was designed for the younger child Jacob, but he wanted to give it to his elder son Esau. Rebekah’s favourite was Jacob. And she decided to do everything in her power to get her favourite son the blessing that should be his. Genesis 27:4-29 traces the story as it happened.
The question that we should answer now is: why did Jacob and Rebekah lie the way they did? In such an intense way. In such a deliberate way. And what can we learn from this passage about a mother’s fight for her favourite son’s blessing? In lying, Rebekah erased the perception of reality, and it led to consequences in their lives that went on for decades. So why do we lie?