God Only Created People - Jews Created Jews
Part III. THE GENERATIONS OF ABRAHAM AND CHOICE

By Shlomoh Sherman
Thursday, April 15, 2010


Abraham has become very old and his wife Sarah has died. He has followed God in all that He has asked, including the binding of his son Isaac for an offering to God, thereby passing every test that God has given him and has proven himself worthy by choosing to follow the instructions of his God. The Bible now introduces the woman who will bcome Isaac's wife and the ancestress

Genesis 22
20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;
21 Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,
22 And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
23 And Bethuel begat Rebekah ...

Abraham has had two sons. Ishmael, his firstborn, has chosen not to follow in the God-relationship covenant of his father; that is, he has chosen not to be a Hebrew. Choice is still granted to the people of Abraham to remain gentile even after the Covenant of Circumcision. That choice will be taken away only after the giving of the TORAH at Sinai.

But now, as he realizes that his death is immenant, he knows he must find a wife for Isaac to continue the generations of the Covenanted People.

Genesis 24
1 And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.
2 And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
3 And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
4 But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.
5 And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest?
6 And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again.
7 The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.
8 And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.
9 And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.

Abraham makes his servant take an oath that he will find a wife for Isaac. But she must not be of the daughters of the Canaanites. Although the scripture gives no reason for this, reasons may be surmised. The later books of the TORAH inform us that the Canaanites were notorious for child sacrifice [as a matter of fact God showed Abraham clearly that He does not want children to be sacrificed to Him], and the example of the lifestyles of the people of Sodom and Gamorrah did not inspire confidence in Abraham to include the people of the land in his retinue. Instead he wants to find a wife for his son from among his Sumerian kin in Aram. Although he calls Aram "my country", he also specifies "my kindred"; The Sumerian-Hebrew will only wed with the Sumerian-Aramean, - for they also heard the word of God and left Sumer.

Abraham makes the servant take an oath by puting his hand "under his thigh", a euphemism for touching his penis. The only thng binding the Hebrews as a special people is the Covenant of the BERIT, and so Abraham makes the servant swear by that Covenant as a symbol of truth. From the loins of the ancestors will come forth the future of the Covenanted People.

And Abraham adds, "If the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath." The woman will have a choice to follow or not. This again is the continuing theme of Chosenness - Choice.

The servant travels to Aram and encounters Rebekah, the sister of Laban, and determines that this woman may be the wife destined for Isaac. He speaks to Laban, asking that Rebekah may return to Israel with him to become Isaac's wife. The verses of Genesis 24 are replete with the servant's references to the God of Abraham so that it is clear that if Rebekah becomes Isaac's wife, she will be joining the covenant of the Hebrews, devoted to their God.

Genesis 24
56 But he said to them, "Do not detain me, now that the LORD has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master."
57 Then they said, "Let's call the girl and ask her about it."
58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Will you go with this man?"  "I will go," she said.

Now Rebekah joins herself to the covenant, marries Isaac, and chooses to become a Hebrew

Genesis 25
21 Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the LORD.
23 The LORD said to her,
       "Two nations are in your womb,
       and two peoples from within you will be separated;
       one people will be stronger than the other,
       and the older will serve the younger."
24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.
25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.
26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents.
28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Scripture lets us know that there is rivalry between the twins even from conception. Esau was a hunter and loved the open country. Jacob stayed indoors.
Rebekah intuits that Jacob, a quiet and reflective man, will choose to devote himself to the covenant, and therefore he becomes her favorite. Esau chooses to opt out and busy himself with the things of the world, thereby separating himself from being a Hebrew.

As the story continues, Jacob will stand out as the first prototype of Jewishness.


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