troy the course of event's God has anticipated en route to the creation of his select nation. While the text shows that Rebecca had received a prophecy that "the older would serve the younger" (25:23), whenever women in Genesis take assertive actions that ramifications, strife always ensues. Just because Rebecca received a prophecy, there is no indication that she was in any position to actively seek its fulfillment. Jacob, as a result of his mother's initiative, is forced to flee his home for fear that Esau will kill him. The enmity between the brothers endures, and just as Sara's infertility caused familial dissension, Rebecca's actions likewise cause divisiveness in the House of Isaac and its descendents.Unlike the instances where the men in Genesis take the fate of their families' lives into their own hands under explicit direction from God, the rare occasions when women, such as Sara and Rebecca, take assertive action, the result is battles and feuds. As in the case of infertility, a woman's inheritance with the divine scheme can be seen as a multiple threat to the thematic framework of Genesis. Rebecca takes assertive, independent action with regard to her family's development, and this action clearly crosses over the rigid boundaries of the prescribed female role. She also threatens to shake the patriarchal foundations that are so essential to the divine value system in Genesis. Furthermore she does not act exclusively as a wife or mother, but as an agent of change, an actor in the course of history. The unfolding of God's plan depends on the male actors. God reveals himself to humans and shares his vision of the world with humans. Rebecca steps outside her limited role, becomes a primary actor, manipulates the divinely initiated course of history, and causes fraternal hostility and the jealousy which becomes one of the ongoing plagues for her children and their future generations. Passive manipulation is more ambiguous bu...
