Abraham is tested by God. He is summoned to “one of the mountains” of Moriah. (22:2) Later in the episode, when God Himself provides the sacrifice, it is said that the ultimate Sacrifice will be provided in “the Mount of the Lord.” There is no evidence to jump to the conclusion that the same mountain (hill) is intended as in verse two, but the indication is there, based on the geography we know and at least one other passage of Scripture.

2 Chronicles 3:1 also mentions Moriah. This time it is a very specific mountain, not just a territory containing mountains. What do we know of this mountain? It is the place where Solomon began the building of the Temple. The Temple Mount!

What else? It is the place where Solomon’s father David, having been sorely disciplined by his Heavenly Father, erected an altar. A plague had ravaged Israel as a response from God to David’s sin, but was now being stopped in response to David’s prayer. The condition for God’s intervention was for David to confront a Jebusite named Araunah, who owned property in the area. On that property an altar was to be built to the Lord.

On that exact site, Solomon began to construct the Temple. But what is the connection to the Abraham incident, except the name Moriah? Only tradition, but we think, good tradition. Serious Jews through the ages have believed “that the altar of burnt offerings in the Temple stood upon the very site of the altar on which Abraham intended to offer up his son.”

Some take it a step further and say that not far from this mount is another one called Calvary, where the Sacrifice of all Sacrifices was provided. The true “mount of the Lord.”

Some go further than this and say that Calvary and Moriah are one and the same. What an exciting thought. The Bible history is not two stories, but one. One story of Redemption, prefigured in the Old Covenant, acted out in the New and living amongst us still.

2. Genesis 24:65. How old is the custom of head-covering for women? What was Rebekah trying to communicate by it?

I will not be doing a full research on this subject, only point out that head-covering goes way behind the apostle Paul. Here in the age of the Patriarchs, nearly 4,000 years ago, the practice was in full swing. In Rebekah’s action there was a combination of humility, submission, self-denial, that today’s women could do well to copy. Today’s believers actually still practice this wonderful custom in many places of the Christian world. Muslims and other religious folk take it for granted that this is a “godly” thing to do.

What’s wrong with our own culture?

3. Genesis 25:8. Abraham “…was gathered to his people.” How often is this phrase used in the Bible, and what exactly does it mean?

The Scriptures tell us that Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Aaron, Moses, David, and a whole generation of believing Israelites were gathered to their people. They were physically buried in a number of places, but the real person who lives on after death, was somehow brought back into the company of those whom God called not only their people, but His own. What a glad reunion it must have been, and similarly our own can be anticipated with joy.

These men and women desired a “better country, that is, a heavenly one…God has prepared for them a city.” This they received, though we are led to believe by other passages that they will not obtain their full perfection without the adding to their number, the entire Gentile church.

4. Genesis 27:5 ff. Was Rebekah justified in being deceitful to her husband? Was Jacob behaving properly in obeying her?

Thorny issue this. Rebekah knew what the Lord had said to her about Jacob, that he would be served by his older brother. Her intentions were clearly in line with the will of the Lord. She felt it was her duty to be sure that will of God took place.

We’ve seen such things in our own day. Mothers who love their children to such an extreme degree, and know the potential they have, will often bend godly principles to thrust that child forward.

In Jacob’s case, eventually all worked out well, but not after many years of reaping what he had sown in his deceitfulness with his brother. Laban foists upon him an unwanted marriage. His wives literally compete with each other for his attentions. Even his possessions become a matter of contention and grief. He is finally pursued by his father-in-law and then seemingly threatened by his brother, the one with whom all these reversals began.

No, I think Rebekah should have stayed out of it and allowed God to bring forth the promises on His own. I do not fault her, but I know that God is able to do things better than we do. Her pushing and shoving led to a miserable life for her son, but God blessed that life in spite of her mis-guided zeal to do the will of God.

She teaches us that the end does not justify the means. The means in this case was lying to her husband and teaching her son to trust conniving ways rather than a powerful Providence. It is interesting to note that Rebekah knew in her heart that something might go wrong with all of this, and offered to take a curse on herself if Jacob was discovered in his treachery.