Opposites

va'ye'itar yitzhak l'Adonai l'nochah ishto ki akarah hee And Isaac prayed to (entreated) the Lord opposite his wife for she was a barren woman. Gen 25:21 (Emphasis added)



This word, l'nochah, is usually translated as "for" or "on behalf of." Isaac prayed, certainly. Did not Rebekah pray? Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzhak) says the use of the word "opposite" means Isaac prayed in one corner and Rebekah prayed in another. I wonder, did they face each other? Did they pray together? Why use the word for opposite?



Is there a sense of conflict perhaps? Maybe things were not so good at home? Let's consider this word opposite.

When God decided to create woman, He said that he would make an ezer kenegdo (fitting helper) for man. ezer-help. kenegdo-fitting. But kenegdo also has another connotation, that of opposition. If a man is worthy, his wife will be a help to him (Proverbs 31). If a man his unworthy, his wife will be in opposition (kenegdo) to him. For Isaac to be opposite his wife suggests that the two were in opposition to one another. Was Isaac unworthy? We don't know. Did they talk to each other?



Isaac prays to God. God hearkens to Isaac's prayer. And Rebekah conceived. The children struggled in her womb and Rebekah went to inquire of the Lord. Did Isaac go with her? It is Rebekah who hears the Lord. Where was Isaac? Rebekah is given the prenatal vision that the older would serve the younger. 25:23. Did she convey this prophecy to Isaac? If so, why did she have Jacob go through the ruse of pretending to be Esau? If Rebekah knew that Jacob was the one to inherit the covenant and not Esau, wouldn't she have said as such to Isaac? Maybe she did and he didn't hearken unto her. Unlike his father Abraham, Isaac did not hearken unto the voice of his wife. This would make sense with the use of the word "opposite."



Yes, Isaac loved Rebekah. But how long did that love last? Twenty years is a long time to wait for children. And after the children were born, Isaac loved Esau and Rebekah loved Jacob. Did they not love both sons? Hard to say. But I think that preference for one over the other was clearly shown. Did they speak to each other about this?


To be continued...