It doesn’t seem that Rebekah learned much about the need for family communication after her plot to trick her husband. In today’s passage, she hints broadly to Isaac that they should send their son Jacob away so that he can marry one of his cousins. But her real concern was that after their plot to steal Isaac’s blessing, Esau was mad enough to kill Jacob (see Genesis 27:41-45). She obviously didn’t trust her husband to handle this family squabble properly, so she chose to rely on deception once again.

Now, we don’t know whether Isaac saw through Rebekah’s dishonesty, but he ended up doing the right thing. Since God had given His covenant promise through the family of Abraham, and since in those days one’s religious faith was all but inseparable from one’s family, it was important for Jacob to do what Isaac had done – to seek a wife from among his cousins. It was too late for Esau, who in his characteristic impulsivity had already married not one but two pagan women. So, Isaac packed his son off, repeating the blessing Jacob had tried to steal, but this time with full awareness. In short, Isaac was trying to keep the true faith of Abraham and pass it on to his son.

So, what can we learn from this passage? Once again, we see that God is able to accomplish His perfect will even through the most messed up parts of our lives, even through such sinful things as the hatred of a brother and the deception of a mother. After all, Jacob found not one but two wives among his cousins, and the family he would form would one day constitute the 12 tribes of Israel. It was through these people that the blessing God gave to Abraham would finally be fulfilled – by the birth of Abraham’s seed, Jesus Christ.

Genesis 27:46-28:5 (ESV)

46 Then 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?”

ESV Genesis 28:1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.
2 Arise, 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.
3 God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.
4 May 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!”
5 Thus 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.