From Eden to Egypt Day 35

5Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, 6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, 7'Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the LORD before I die.' 8Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. 9Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. 10And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies."- Genesis 27:5-10 (ESV)

You can blame as much as you want on Jacob's name.  That's pretty much where many go when it comes to making commentary on the life of Jacob.  However, look at Rebekah's actions.

Look at:

• Rebekah's Motivation: Even though Esau had sold his brother his birthright in Genesis 25, that doesn't seem to be enough to ensure that Jacob would inherit the firstborn's inheritance of a blessing from the old man.  Rebekah is said to have loved Jacob (Genesis 25:28).  her love for one son over the other, just as Isaac's, caused her to make a move.
• Rebekah's Movements:  She was present, within hearing distance, and she went into swift action.  She had heard enough to make a move.  She knew enough of what was about to go down, so she countered with a move of her own.  In fact, she incorporated her favorite son in the move to make it even more dastardly.
• Rebekah's Masquerade: She seems to have an answer for everything.  "Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me" ( Genesis 27:13, ESV).   Those were her words.  She helped disguise goat rather than the "game" that Esau was to hunt.  She even proposed a way for the smooth-skinned Jacob to appear as hairy as his brother.  She mastered the masquerade.

How did she get to be such a way? Maybe we overlooked that her brother was Laban, a natural swindler and crook himself.  He was the very same relative of Jacob's who did the wedding night switcheroo on the young runaway. 

Her hand in this deception may have very well played out in Jacob's later life.  Jacob grew and went on to develop similar tendencies.  He favored one son over the others.  He swindled his relative Laban in order to increase his own flocks and herds.  He went on to earn a reputation as a swindler. 

Nonetheless, God changed his name to Israel.  God made him a great nation.  The twelve tribes came out of his lineage.  He went on to become one of the great patriarchs of the Bible.

We don't have to live out our lives the way Mama did her thing.  We don't have to take things on like Daddy did.  Each of us can live differently than the dysfunctional examples that our families may give us.  We can simply dare to be different.  We have a shining example in Christ.  He went through things like betrayal, false accusations, and similar offenses.  Let us live to be more and more like Christ, the best example that we have.

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. - 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV)