It seems Rebekah has had some influence on her husband. She tells Jacob to go hide at Laban’s house and wants Jacob to marry a relative. Then, Isaac tells Jacob to go to Laban’s house to find a wife. He also passes on the Abrahamic blessing. Curiously, he didn’t do that when he was passing out blessings.

Maybe he was unsure of who he was speaking to. Maybe he knew Esau had sold his birthright. Now, it was very clear who had God’s blessing and the birthright to carry on the promise of Abraham.

Rebekah helped Isaac stay on track with God’s purposes. That doesn’t mean she was right in what she did. She did seem to understand God’s choice, where Isaac, like his father, had his heart set on a firstborn who wasn’t the true heir.

Esau, poor Esau, understood his foolishness in giving up the birthright, even if he blamed Jacob for it. Now we see him as a little child, wanting to please his parents. He understands they aren’t happy with his wives, so he gets some more from within the family. His new wives are from the family of Ishmael. It continues the divide, the separation between the two family lines.

It matters whom they marry. It mattered who Isaac’s mom was. It wasn’t just about being the firstborn. That’s something the world looks at. God wants to show His hand in history, in our lives.

Next to joining ourselves to the one, true God, the next most important joining together we will do is to a spouse, if we marry. We will be joined to their sin struggles and their righteous blessings. The only way to choose wisely is to choose in Christ. Let the Spirit in you rejoice over the Spirit in someone else and bring you together. Choosing from the soul can lead to a lot of heartaches.

Believers also join themselves to the Body of Christ. We need to be careful not to attach ourselves to groups or churches or denominations or organizations, but to the Body itself. Anything else creates division instead of unity. While we may meet with a local part of the Body, the union must be with the Body, with Christ Himself as the head. Anything else is separating us from Christ and should be carefully avoided. It matters whom you join yourself to.