“Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak outside Bethel. So it was named Allon Bakuth.”-Genesis 35:8
Suddenly out of the blue, the death of Rebecca’s much beloved nurse Deborah is reported to us.
If you recall that when Abraham’s servant Eliezer brought Rebecca back from Mesopotamia to be Isaac’s wife, she was accompanied by her nurse, Deborah.
Now isn’t it interesting that the Torah goes out of its way to even mention the death of Deborah?
The deaths of Rebecca and Leah aren’t even mentioned.
However, these matriarchs play a much more important role when it comes to the birth and creation of the nation of Israel.
Why is this?
Remember every word is in the Bible for a reason.
To Abraham, Isaac and up until now Jacob, Mesopotamia was considered to be more their homeland than the land of Canaan.
However, since it was decreed that Canaan would be set apart as the Promised Land for Abraham and his descendants through Isaac’s line, God needs to completely sever the ties between Israel and any foreign lands, in this case Mesopotamia.
So the death of Deborah symbolizes Jacob/Israel’s complete separation from all family ties and relationships connected to Mesopotamia.
I’ve mentioned before that this is a foundational Biblical principle,
God is continuously in the process of separating and dividing His people away from the things of this world.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“If you belonged to the world,
it would love you as its own.
As it is, you do not belong to the world,
but I have chosen you out of the world.
That is why the world hates you.”
-John 15:19
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