I’m just going to come out and say this up front: we live in a culture with an upside down view of gender. Sure, I am talking about how our culture has rejected binary gender, but I’m not talking about just that. As a culture, we are a people who also are failing to respect and honor both genders the way God intends for us to. Need proof? Just watch the news. It seems that nearly every day, we hear of men mistreating women, and at times the reverse. A deep divide seems to be forming between men and women in many ways. And lest we think the church is any better, we are not. Need proof? Again, just watch the news.
A Better Story
That is one of the reasons I am so excited for this week’s session on Isaac and Rebekah. Our kids—both boys and girls—need to hear about the women of Scripture as much as they can and to come to understand the vital role they played in God’s plan of redemption. Our kids—both boys and girls—need to see how God views the genders, both of which are made in His image for His glory. Our kids hear our culture’s story on gender and they need to hear a better story: God’s story. And that is the story we have to tell them this week.A Wife for Isaac
The account this week opens with Abraham’s concern that Isaac not choose a wife from among the Canaanites. This is probably a good time to clarify this: whenever we see something like this in Scripture, it has nothing to do with ethnicity, but instead everything to do with spirituality. The Canaanites did not follow God, and as such Abraham did not want Isaac to choose a wife who would likely lead him astray—something we see happen to Solomon years later. Abraham’s was a theological concern, not a racist concern. So Abraham assigns a servant to go to his homeland and find a suitable wife for Isaac. Think about that challenge! This was not going to the grocery store for some milk and eggs—this was going to another land and finding a suitable woman who would willingly return with a stranger to marry a man she had never met! Oh, and her family had to agree too.A Wife for Isaac…from God
Abraham sends his servant with the understanding that if no woman is willing to return, the servant would be free from his oath. But the servant would keep the oath he had made, not by his power and ability, but by God’s. As we read this account, we see God’s fingerprints all over the servant’s mission, don’t we? The first thing he does when he arrives is to pray—and it is a prayer of utter reliance on the providence of God. The servant then devises a test—a considerable one—of the woman he would ask to return to marry Isaac being the one who would offer to give his camels water to drink. Ten thirsty camels could drink up to 300 gallons of water. This woman would be offering to haul 2,500 pounds of water for a stranger at the well! [1] And that is exactly what Rebekah did. But notice what the servant does not do. He doesn’t pat himself on the back for finding a wife for Isaac using his clever test—notice in verse 21 that as Rebekah waters the camels the servant silently watched to see whether or not the Lord had made his journey a success. When most of us would have declared victory, this servant still recognized that God was still going to need to work out other details.A Double Provision for Isaac
And that is exactly what God did. Rebekah was willing to return with the servant to marry Isaac and her family was willing to let her go. And through that, God gave Isaac a gift of love—a wife whom he would love to soothe his heart wounded by his mother’s death. But we know that there was more at stake here. In God’s kindness, He often layers in levels of meaning in what He does. We see that here. Yes, God wanted to provide a wife for Isaac for his good, but He was also providing a wife for Isaac for His own glory. God was still at work extending the family through which Jesus would come. This is why Rebekah matters. This is what our kids need to understand. God used Rebekah just as much as Isaac in Jesus’ family tree. Rebekah was a faithful, humble, loving woman who brought Isaac comfort in that day, and indirectly, several years later, played a role in bringing all humanity comfort through Jesus Christ.The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord; She is His new creation, By Spirit and the Word; From heav’n He came and sought her To be His holy Bride; With His own blood He bought her, And for her life He died.” — Samuel J. Stone (1839-1900) [2]Preschool Tip: Take this opportunity to share with your preschoolers how faithful Rebekah was. God is certainly at the center of finding a wife for Isaac, but Rebekah, not Isaac or even the servant, should get the next most attention. This session provides a great opportunity for the girls in your class to see a woman modeling faithfulness and for the boys in your class to recognize how God works graciously through both men and women. Kids Tip: As you talk with your kids about how God used Rebekah to comfort Isaac, but more importantly to continue Abraham’s family that would lead to Jesus, take the opportunity to affirm how God works through both men and women. Uphold the dignity of both genders as image-bearers of God and explain that this is why God calls on us to love and respect all others. [1] Robert D. Bergen, “Genesis,” in CSB Study Bible (Nashville: B&H, 2017), 44, n. 24:12-14. [2] Samuel J. Stone, “The Church’s One Foundation,” in Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Lifeway Worship, 2008), 346.
John Golden says
How does this have anything to do with nonbinary gender?
Brian Dembowczyk says
Hi, John. As I shared in the blog post, that was just one example of how our culture is failing to see and appreciate God’s design in males and females. This session affords us the opportunity to celebrate the faith of a woman in Scripture, and it is important that we do so to affirm God’s good design of both men and women.
Melissa Belt says
I don’t see any kind of printables for the Isaac and Rebekah lesson. Am I missing something?
Brian Dembowczyk says
Not every session has printables, so that may have been one.
Emily amner says
Awesome article on the couple!
I’ve been looking for some positive things from their relationship as there are many negative blogs about what deceit and contempt occurred with the sons being born.