Rebecca, Ezra’s Daughter
Excerpt from, Son of Man: Urantia
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Godspeed, everyone.
Bob
Rebecca, Ezra’s Daughter
Being a smart, robust, and handsome young man Jesus was catching the notice of the young women in town. One young lady, Rebecca the daughter of Ezra who was one of Nazareth’s wealthier merchants, went so far as to tell Miriam that she was falling in love with Jesus. Miriam then told Mary, who was not pleased with this turn of events. Mary thought the situation was bad enough for the family as it was, without now having to worry about some woman taking Jesus away from them: Mary was intent on not letting that happen, and she and Miriam made a plan to stop the idea even before Jesus realized that Rebecca was in love with him.
Mary and Miriam told Rebecca their family’s secret about Jesus hoping that it would persuade her to look elsewhere for a husband. It did not. In fact, everything Mary and Miriam told her about Jesus just excited Rebecca more—in other words, if Jesus was a messiah he was going to need a good wife and it should be her. As for Mary’s concerns about supporting the rest of the family, Rebecca said that her father would provide the money. But this did not convince Mary and Miriam, and they still refused to help her. Rebecca was unfazed and decided to take her idea straight to Jesus. She talked her plan over with her father and received his support, and then they invited Jesus to their house for dinner on Rebecca’s seventeenth birthday.
Jesus accepted the invitation and at the dinner he listened to Rebecca’s proposal. Afterwards, Jesus said that concerning the money needed to support his family no amount could take the place of his obligation to be with them. He told Rebecca and her father that the most sacred trust that people have is to remain loyal to their own flesh and blood. When Ezra heard this he left the table and let Jesus and Rebecca talk alone. But as he was leaving the room he quietly told his wife that Jesus was too noble for their family, and that he would not be joining them.
Once they were alone, Rebecca told Jesus her love for him. This was a different experience for Jesus. Up until then he had not given much thought to girls, other than being friends with them like he was with the boys. When Rebecca was done speaking, Jesus thanked her for her words but said he could not be anything more than a just friend to her or to anyone else until he had met his obligations to his family. And then, if he really was a child of destiny he would have to follow his father’s will. But Rebecca loved and worshipped Jesus as the most wonderful man on Earth, and nothing he said that night changed her feelings for him in the least. Rebecca was distraught and eventually forced her father to move their family away to Sepphoris. For the rest of her life Rebecca never accepted another man’s hand in marriage; she remained devoted to Jesus throughout his life and she was with Mary and the other women as he hung dying on the cross.
Bob
Rebecca, Ezra’s Daughter