Unintended Consequences



Genesis 27:41-28:9
41Now 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; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.
43Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran
44and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away—
45until 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 be bereft of you both in one day?”
46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I loathe 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?”
28:1Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.
2Arise, 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.
3God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.
4May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!”
5Thus 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.
6Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,”
7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram.
8So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father,
9Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.

In our reading for today we see what happened to Rebekah and Jacob after plotting to deceive Isaac into giving Jacob the blessing of the eldest son. While making the plan to secure that blessing it is doubtful that Rebekah understood the unintended consequence. Jacob was forced to flee in the face of Esau’s murderous wrath. And from what we can tell from the text, mother and son never saw one another again. Jacob will spend over 20 years in exile to avoid being killed by Esau. While the death of Rebekah is never really noted in the text, neither is a reunion between mother and son. I’m fairly certain that permanent separation was never her goal.

When my grandsons play with their toys, sometimes there is breakage. Then there are tears and sadness. They certainly didn’t intend to break the toy. They enjoy their toys and are pleased when they are working well. When that break occurs, they come to Grandma and want that toy fixed. (Well actually, if Grandpa is around they go to him first – way more able with the repairs. It didn’t take them long to learn that one!) Sometimes it takes a little glue or just a simple reassembly. And sometimes the toy is beyond repair and has to be discarded. Our plans and plots often result in the unintended consequence of brokenness. Then we take the situation to God and ask Him to fix it. Sometimes He does and sometimes, we are forced to deal with those consequences. There is no way to completely stop this from happening in our lives. Despite our best efforts not to plan without God, sometimes we do. Then we face the fallout. But even in those cases God is always there to run to, providing a safe place where we can hide under His wings. When Adam and Eve sinned, they had no idea of the unintended consequence of the death of the Messiah because of their disobedience. But God did – and He loved them anyway. He took care of their brokenness at the highest possible price.

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