Divine Retribution

"And these words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah: and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran; and tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's fury turn away; until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I be deprived also of you both in one day? And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me? And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother. And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; and give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham. And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother. When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram; and Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife." (Genesis 27:42 – 28:9)

Rebekah is worried now that Esau will kill Jacob; and then as was the custom someone in the family would have to kill Esau to make retribution for Jacob's murder (Remember God put on curse on anyone who came to harm Cain after he killed Abel? Without that he would have been killed as well). This is why Rebekah says "why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?" Then Rebekah pulls another ploy out of her handbag and mourns to Isaac about her daughters-in-law, Esau's wives, who are Canaanite women, expressing her fear that unless they do something Jacob will marry a Canaanite also. Yes, Esau's wives grieve her, and Isaac also, but this is more manipulation on Rebekah's part to get Isaac to send Jacob to her brother Laban. And he does, blessing Jacob a second time as well. Thus, the schemes of Rebekah and Jacob have gained them in almost every way what they wanted… ALMOST.

The author of Hebrews 2:2 says: "For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgressions and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation…"

This "recompense of reward" is what is known as divine retribution. We see many examples of it in the Word of God. And as the author of Hebrews states, if EVERY transgression and disobedience received divine retribution then who do we think we are to escape the same if we reject the gift of salvation in that we have been given through Jesus Christ? Let's look at some of the examples of divine retribution that we can look forward to if we continue WITHOUT Christ:

In Exodus 1:22 Pharaoh caused every child of Israel to drown. In Exodus 14:28 all the soldiers of Pharaoh die by drowning.

In Numbers 16:1 Korah tries to "divide" the children of Israel murmuring against the authority of Moses. In Numbers 16:32 God shows that His own authority is backing Moses by causing the earth to be "divided" under Korah, swallowing up Korah and his families and his goods.

In Judges 1:6-7 Adonibezek recognizes that God has caused his thumbs and great toes to be cut off because he had cut off the thumbs and great toes of 70 kings who once sat at his table with him.

In 1 Kings 21:19 when Naboth is falsely accused and killed so that his land can go to Ahab, God sends his prophet Elijah to Ahab with this proclamation: "Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine." In 1 Kings 22:35-38 we see that Ahab is killed in battle in such a way that his blood ran out of his wound into his chariot; and as the chariot was being washed the dogs licked up his blood "according to the word of the LORD." (Perhaps these were the same dogs that ate the body of Jezebel, the one who instigated the entire affair against Naboth.)

In the book of Esther, Haman prepares the gallows for Mordecai, but Haman himself gets hung on those gallows.

Perhaps even our beloved Paul felt the somewhat mitigated effects (mitigated because of the blood of Jesus) of divine retribution. In Acts 7:58 Saul of Tarsus is present at and consenting to the stoning of Stephen by which Stephen dies. Paul himself confirms his part in Stephen's stoning in Acts 22:19. And in Acts 14:19 Paul himself gets stoned and left for dead, but does NOT die; while Barnabas who was with him somehow escapes being stoned and is not hurt at all.

So now we come back to Rebekah for a moment. Isaac sends Jacob off, and Rebekah believes that Jacob will return in a few days. But the Lord has other plans. It will turn out that Rebekah will never lay her eyes on Jacob again. He will be gone for 20 years, during which time Rebekah will pass away. Imagine never again seeing her favorite son…

Jacob, who manipulated Esau's birthright from him, will be manipulated himself because of the birthrights of another: a woman named Leah who will become his first wife and whom Jacob does not love. He schemed for the promises, and he will be the subject of broken promises regarding his second wife, Rachel, whom he does love. Jacob was mercenary regarding his pottage; Laban, Rebekah's brother for whom Jacob will work more than 14 years, will change his salary ten times.

And there will be divine retribution even late in Jacob's life. Jacob deceived Isaac by using the skin of a kid goat on his hands and neck, meaning that the blood of a kid goat was spilled for his deception. In Genesis 37:31, Jacob's sons will deceive Jacob concerning his favorite son Joseph by dipping the coat of Joseph into the blood of a kid goat, as false "proof" that he was destroyed by an animal.

The divine retribution does not mean that Jacob never finds favor with God. He has that favor before he is even born. It just means that we can wait on God to do what He has promised to do and have things go well with us, or we can take matters into our own hands (which means we are usurping the authority of God in our lives and acting as 'god' in His place), and suffer the consequences of NOT waiting on God. The promises are still ours, but we suffer the consequences of our impatience or doubt.

Besides the lesson about living honestly in the sight of God and trusting in God to fulfill His promises to us, there is another slightly more hidden message for us to hear in the deception of Isaac by Jacob. First we must remember that Jacob didn't earn the blessing of Isaac. Nor did he merit it. But Jacob found the acceptance of his father and received the blessing because he "hid" himself, in a sense, behind the name and the clothing of the firstborn son. He was clothed in garments which gave off an "excellent" odor to the father. If you are a Christian reading this then you already see the hidden meaning, which is this:

We have not earned nor do we merit the blessings of our Heavenly Father God. We stand before Him "hidden" in the name of His firstborn, Jesus Christ. We have put on the "righteousness" of Christ as our garment, and to the Father, because of Jesus, we have become a sweet smelling savor (I2 Corinthians 2:15).

If you are reading this and you are NOT a believer in Jesus Christ (a Christian) then you have a choice before you now: look forward to full and complete divine retribution for every act of disobedience and for every transgression (sin) that you have ever committed…

…OR be spared the fullness of divine retribution by hiding yourself in Jesus Christ; this is easily done by simply believing that He is the Son of God, who was crucified for and took the punishment of our sins, and was raised from the dead by the power of God, at whose right hand He sits even now. Receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, repent (turn away from evil) and make Jesus your LORD, and receive the everlasting blessings of our Father: GOD.

AMEN