Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel
February 25, 2008 (Monday)
We have been studying the Book of Genesis for several weeks in our Sunday School. The sections we are presently reviewing are the personal histories of each generation. First there was Abraham, then Isaac, and then Jacob. God specifically chose each man to fulfill a special role as pioneers of God’s Chosen People. To this day, Orthodox Jews pray to God as the “God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Every time we study familiar passages of the Bible, we see something more clearly than we saw in previous readings. This time as we observed these three Patriarchs, I was impressed by the importance of the wives of these men in the plan of God for His people. There was Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel, greatly loved by their husbands, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Each of these men was profoundly affected by his wife and the love they shared.
Their story is repeated every day. This is a part of life. Not everyone marries. The Apostle Paul actually encouraged people to avoid marriage and remain single so that they could devote all their time and energy to God’s work. He reasoned that people give considerable attention to their mates. That was good thinking, because they should.
Those of us who were married and are single again, now know that the two actually became one, physically and spiritually, and life was changed permanently by marriage. Life was dramatically altered again when the marriage ended, either by death or divorce. We can cope with either situation by deepening our commitment to the Lord. In the words of the grand old hymn, “Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul.”