Yeah! Another book exerpt.
Genesis 25:21
…the LORD was intreated of him… Men have real authority over their families, not merely assumed power. As Moses interceded for the nation of Israel, Isaac interceded for his wife, Rebekah. The word translated as “intreat” here is ‘athar, and every other time that word is used, it is used to describe a request to remove some judgment for sin. (Judges 13:8 is the one exception.) Moses intreated God for Pharaoh and then for Israel to remove various plagues. David intreated God for himself and for Israel, because of the plague brought on by his disobedience. Ezra intreated God for Israel because of their lack of faith in God’s providence. In each of these cases, the intercessor was either the one afflicted or one in authority over him. Intercession alone was probably not sufficient, however. Like Abraham and Sarah before, there might have been spiritual issues that had to be worked out before Isaac and Rebekah were ready to participate in God’s plan of redemption. We are not told what sin had brought barrenness onto Rebekah (or even if it was sin), only that her husband’s intercession restored her to health. Moses wrote elsewhere that disobedience to the commands of God can bring infertility, but the exact nature of Rebekah’s sin is not important. The focus here is not on infertility, but on intercession and a husband’s authority to intercede on behalf of his wife.
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