Today's Card from The Sacred Muse Deck

A woman, her story, and so much wisdom and inspiration - for you!

Today’s card: Rebekah

Her story: Too long to recount here, it’s well-worth reading and can be found in the book of Genesis, spread throughout chapters 24-27. Here are a few of the highlights:

The patriarch Abraham sends his servant on a quest to find the perfect woman and wife for his son for Isaac—which he does! She was showered with gifts, given the option to say “no,” and sets out on a courageous journey to a land far, far from her family and home. Far more than just an arranged marriage, the text tells us that she was deeply loved by Isaac. And from where I’m sitting, she was worthy of all of this and then some.

Her story’s blissful beginning quickly turns though, as she suffers with infertility. Even when she does finally get pregnant, the tension hardly lessens. The twins within her wrestle with one another even before birth . . . and certainly after. When the boys grow up, Rebekah is determined that the younger one, her favorite, will receive his father’s blessing and goes to great lengths to make sure this happens. Though we may question her means and the ramifications of such for Esau (Jacob’s brother), we cannot fault her persistence and ingenuity.

Over the centuries, sadly (but hardly surprisingly), much has been made of her manipulation, the deception she planned and carried out. Her choices have been shamed and shunned. But to stop here is shortsighted: there is so much of her we’ve skipped over, so much of her wisdom we’ve missed.