The Sons of Isaac(47)
Others were shocked to hear that right in the tent of Isaac’s wife such a thing had been hidden. As it turned out, when within a few weeks it was discovered Rebekah was pregnant, both groups rejoiced and marveled at such a miracle.
Wonderful predictions were made as they contemplated the birth of this child. “Of course it will be a boy,” they all agreed.
* * *
From the very first, the pregnancy was not the joyful event they all had envisioned. When Isaac threw a great feast to celebrate and invited all their friends and relatives, Rebekah was confined to her tent. The very smell of roast lamb or a bowl of lentils made her dizzy and nauseated. She could drink only warm water and could eat only the rounded loaves of plain bread. “The child will never develop,” the old midwives predicted. She must eat.
They plied her with every kind of choice morsel, to no avail. The roasted pigeons were turned away at the tent door, and the very smell of the savory stew she had once loved made her even more ill. Finally dried figs were brought, and succulent melons, but nothing solved the problem.
In the fifth month, when she was finally able to eat, she began to suffer from a new problem. “I feel that something is very wrong,” she would say. “There’s a constant twisting and tugging day and night in my stomach. I can’t sleep. I can’t even sit comfortably.”
Again the midwives gathered, and they too had to admit it was unusual. When they put their hands on her stomach, they could feel the violent movement. “She has no rest day or night,” they reported.
For Rebekah it was not only a time of frustration and pain but also a time of puzzlement. “This is not the child of the goddess but the child my husband prayed for to Elohim. Why should it be this way? I’ve done everything my husband asked of me. I let him destroy the little idol and now I am in this torment. Why has this happened?”
Some women suggested it was the revenge of the earth goddess and others refused to admit that anything was unusual. Isaac was as deeply perplexed as Rebekah, and so at last he went to his father, Abraham, and asked what should be done. “I have no doubt, since it is in Elohim’s hands, it will turn out all right,” Abraham said. “However, if she is concerned then tell her to inquire of Elohim.”
“But she is a woman and …”
“My son, I learned a great lesson from Hagar. The angel appeared to her and comforted her. She was an Egyptian, she wasn’t familiar with our ways, and yet her prayer was heard.”
Isaac sat awhile longer with his father and then excused himself and went back to tell Rebekah his father’s astonishing response. Rebekah was still sitting by a small fire of thorns, rocking back and forth, her arms folded over her stomach in an effort to get some relief. Deborah and two of her handmaidens were with her, but when Isaac appeared they quickly left. Isaac sat beside her and waited for a few moments before speaking.
“And what does your father say?” Rebekah asked at last.
“He says for you yourself to go inquire of Elohim. This is the only way you will be comforted.”
“I inquire? I remember asking for a husband when my brother Laban was going to have me marry an old man named Nazzim.”
“And what happened?”
“Eleazar came and rescued me.”
“Then you did inquire of Elohim?”
“I didn’t know anything about Him. I just knew He was the God of my uncle Abraham and I was desperate.”
“For my father it is all very simple. When I was a child he used to tell me to go talk to Elohim just as I would come to him.”
“Go to Elohim? How do I go to Him? We can’t see Him. I’m just a woman. I can’t build altars or make sacrifices.”
“That’s what’s so strange. My father builds altars and makes sacrifices, but he also talks to Elohim as though He’s his friend.”
They said no more about the problem but sat by the fire until it had burned down to a few glowing coals. And then Isaac picked Rebekah up and carried her in and placed her on the mat Deborah had rolled out. He rubbed her back and cradled her in his arms until he could hear the soft, steady breathing and knew she was at last asleep. He stayed with her until morning and then quietly slipped out to meet his men who were going to check one of the new wells that had been dug.
* * *
Rebekah pondered the strange turn of events. Though she had heard the story of Hagar many times, it had never occurred to her that a woman could talk to Elohim in the same way she would talk to her grandfather or her husband. When she had cried out to Him in Haran and asked Him to rescue her from marrying Nazzim, she had prayed no formal prayer. It had been simply a plea for help. When Eleazar came, she had assumed it was all in answer to Abraham’s prayer for his son.