Actions Have Consequences

Humans speak or act without thinking about how it will impact other people.  Both Rebekah and Jacob had been concerned about what Isaac would do if he found out about their deceit before it was too late, but neither had thought about the impact on Esau.  Genesis 27:41 tells us, “And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.”  Esau’s feelings were so hurt he decided to murder his brother , but he didn’t want to hurt his father’s feelings so he chose to wait until his father died. 

Learning of Esau’s plan, Rebekah panicked, knowing that she might lose both her husband and one of her sons at the same time.  She advised Jacob to go away until Esau’s anger cooled off, in Genesis 27:42-46.  “And these words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah: and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee.  Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran; And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's fury turn away; Until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?” 

Not wanting to reveal her part in the affair or the problems it had caused, she reminded Isaac how bothered they were about Esau’s having married two Hittite girls and asked that Jacob be sent to Haran to find a more satisfactory wife, in Genesis 27:46.  “And Rebekah 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 which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?”  If Jacob married one of the Hittite girls and turned away from God like Esau had, she felt like her entire life would have been wasted. 

Isaac shared her concern about Jacob and Sent Jacob to Rbekah’s brother to find a wife, in Genesis 28:1-5.  “And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.  Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.  And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.  And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.”  It hadn’t seemed like a very big thing to fool Isaac into giving the blessing to Jacob instead of Esau, but it would cost them twenty years of living with a guilty conscience and fear. 

It also caused Esau some concerns as Genesis 28:6-8 tells us.  “When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram; Ge 28:8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.”  In an effort to win his parent’s approval, Esau married one of Ishmael’s daughters.  That only compounded the problems with Esau eventually moving to Seir, southeast of the Dead Sea to establish his own home base in what would later become Edom.