“Isaac pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins”.- Genesis 25:21 NLT
“There will be 2 nations, they will be rivals and the older will serve the younger” I gasp.
“But.. but that’s not right “
I close my eyes to soak in what I had just heard.
I look around to see if anyone else heard it but it was just me.
I quickly walk back to the tent and lay down preparing to sleep.
“I just want healthy children” I whisper as I rub my bump and doze off.
In my dream, it was the same one i had every night been since I found out I was pregnant.
There were two boys playing in the field and I walk towards them, they looked almost the same but one had hair longer than mine and he runs towards me, tugs at my dress and screams “Mama! Mama! Do you love me?”
And before I respond, I wake up.
“Becca, what is it?” I hear Isaac’s voice at a distance.
“Nothing, when did you come in?” I ask.
“Not too long ago” he replies.
“Did the servants prepare the bath water?” I ask again as I prepared to get up.
“Yes they did. Please rest. There’s no need to exert yourself further” he reassures.
“I am not a weakling” I respond
“I know but the due date is close and we don’t want any issues” he raises his eyebrows at me and I know.
Having children had always been an issue for our family. His own parents had him late and I also got pregnant quite old. He wasn’t so young either. We didn’t want to take any risk with this pregnancy for any reason at all.
“They are twins” I whisper to Isaac.
He gasps. “How do you know?” I respond
“The lord told me…and I feel them almost like they are wrestling.” He walks towards me and rests beside my big belly kissing it and muttering in Hebrew.
I laugh because it’s also ticklish.
Then he looks up to me and caresses my face “you are still as beautiful as I first saw you”
“And you’re still as handsome as I first saw you”
“An old man like me” He smiles
“Yes an old man like you” he then puts his forehead towards mine. This was our position.
United always. In everything.
“We will raise them well, together and they will love each other ” He says and I nod in agreement.
A Month later
“You need to push more, you can do it!” The midwife says as I scream and I know Isaac can hear me as far as the fields. The pain was unbearable and I wasn’t sure I wanted to do this ever again in the future.
“I’m too tired. Please help me” I cried out to another midwife holding my hands but she only reassured me.
“We can see the head, try harder” I scream once more and then I hear a baby cry.
“A boy” I hear the midwife say.
“There’s another one” I hear the other one say and I groan. The gut wrenching pain came again and I screamed harder.
Then I hear the cry of another baby.
“Another boy”
“Bring him to me” I say and they hand me the baby.
I hear Isaac’s voice outside the tent as the midwives clean me up.
As I hold my baby, I stare down at the most gorgeous eyes ever. Like the ones I see in my dream. He stops crying and just keeps wriggling in my arms. My heart melts instantly.
Isaac walks in and asks if about my wellbeing from the midwife and they hand him the second baby.
“He’s so beautiful.. so hairy.” Isaac comments.
“Is he the second?” He asks and the midwife replied “No he’s the first”
And the realization hit me. I was holding the second baby.
“The second baby was grasping his heel” she further commented.
Isaac laughs as he comes towards me and sits closely by my side.
“We will name him Esau because his hair is like a coat” then he nudges at the baby I’m holding,
“He will be Jacob. He grabbed his brother by his heel”
I smile weakly as I look at Esau’s eyes. His eyes looks pleading to me. Pleading that I love him.
I tried smiling more but all that filled me was weariness and fear. For what the future held.
Isaac looks at me and we bring our foreheads together again.
“We will raise them together and they will love each other” he says and i nod but this time, I wasn’t so sure.
