Rebekah
Rebecca appears in the Hebrew Bible[1] as Isaac’s wife and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical tradition, Rebecca's father was Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, also called Aram-Naharaim. Rebecca's brother was Laban the Aramean, and she was the granddaughter of Milcah and Nahor, the brother of Abraham. Rebecca and Isaac were one of the four couples that some believe are buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs, the other three being Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, and Jacob and Leah.
When a famine strikes Canaan, Rebekah follows Isaac to the land of Gerar. Fearing he will be killed on Rebekah's account, Isaac tells the Philistines who live there that his beautiful Rebekah is his sister. Much like her predecessor, Sarah, the wife of Abraham, Rebekah acts the part of a single woman "for a long time."
Despite Isaac's affection, like several other important biblical women, Rebekah remains infertile for many years. However, her pregnancy is exceedingly difficult due to the child(ren) struggling in her womb. Finally, after 20 years of marriage, Isaac's prayers are answered when she conceives.
Early life
After the Binding (marriage) of Isaac, Sarah died. After taking care of her burial, Abraham went about finding a wife for his son Isaac, who was already 37 years old. He commanded his servant (whom the Torah commentators identify as Eliezer of Damascus) to journey to his birthplace of Aram Naharaim to select a bride from his own family rather than engage Isaac with a local Canaanite girl. If the girl had refused to follow him, Abraham stated that Eliezer would be released from his responsibility. Abraham sent along with expensive jewelry, clothing, and dainties as gifts to the bride and her family.
The servant devised a test to find the right wife for Isaac. As he stood at the central well in Abraham's birthplace with his men and ten camels laden with goods, he prayed to God:
Moreover, let it come to pass that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels also drink: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master.— Genesis 24:14
Rebecca Meets Isaac by the Way
To his surprise, a young girl immediately came out and offered to draw water for him to drink and fill the troughs for all his camels. Rebecca continued to draw water until all the camels were satisfied, proving her kind and generous nature and her suitability for entering Abraham's household.
The servant immediately gave her a golden nose ring and two golden bracelets (Genesis 24:22), which Rebecca hurried to show her mother. Seeing the jewelry, Rebecca's brother Laban ran out to greet the guest and bring him inside. The servant related the oath he made to Abraham and all the details of his trip to and meeting with Rebecca in fine detail, after which her brother Laban and her father Bethuel agreed that she could return with him. After hosting the party overnight, however, the family tried to keep Rebecca with them longer. The servant insisted that they ask the girl herself, and she agreed to go immediately. Her family sent her off with her nurse, Deborah (according to Rashi), and blessed her, "Our sister, may you come to be thousands of multitudes, and may your offspring inherit the gate of its foes."
Rebecca at the Well
As Rebecca and her entourage approached Abraham's home, they spied Isaac from a distance in the fields of Beer-lahai-roi. The Talmud and the Midrash explain that Isaac was praying as he instituted Mincha, the afternoon prayer. Seeing such a spiritually exalted man, Rebecca immediately dismounted from her camel and asked the accompanying servant who he was. When she heard that this was her future husband, she modestly covered herself with a veil. Isaac brought her into the tent of his deceased mother Sarah, married her, and loved her.
According to Rashi, the three miracles that characterized Sarah's tent while alive and disappeared after her death reappeared when Rebecca entered the tent. These were: A lamp burned in her tent from Shabbat eve to Shabbat eve, a blessing in her dough, and a cloud hovered over her tent (symbolizing the Divine Presence).
Wedding allusions
Some of the events leading up to the marriage of Isaac and Rebecca have been institutionalized in the traditional Jewish wedding ceremony. Before the bride and bridegroom stand under the chuppah, they participate in a special ceremony called badeken (veiling). The bridegroom is led to the bride by two escorts and, seeing her, covers her face with a veil, like Rebecca covered her face before marrying Isaac. Then the bridegroom (or the father of the bride, or the officiating rabbi) recites the same blessing over the bride that Rebecca's family recited over her, "Our sister, may you come to be thousands of multitudes, and may your offspring inherit the gate of its foes."
Marriage and motherhood
According to the traditional counting cited by Rashi, Isaac was 37 years old at the time of the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah. The reasoning for that age is that Sarah, who gave birth to Isaac when she was ninety, died after the wedding when she was 127 years old, making Isaac around 37. Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebecca. Twenty years elapsed before they had children; throughout that time, both Isaac and Rebecca prayed fervently to God for offspring. God eventually answered Isaac's prayers, and Rebecca conceived.
Rebecca was extremely uncomfortable during her pregnancy and went to inquire about God because she was suffering. According to the Midrash, Jacob would struggle to come out whenever she would pass a house of Torah study; whenever she would pass a house of idolatry, Esau would agitate to come out. Thinking that she was carrying one baby displaying conflicting tendencies, Rebecca sought enlightenment at the yeshiva of Shem and Eber. There she received the prophecy that twins were fighting in her womb and would continue to fight all their lives. The prophecy also said that the older would serve the younger; its statement, "One people will be stronger than the other," has been taken to mean that the two nations will never gain power simultaneously; when one falls, the other will rise, and vice versa.
According to tradition, Rebecca did not share the prophecy with her husband.
When the time came for Rebecca to give birth, the first child to come out emerged red and hairy all over; with his heel grasped by the hand of the second to come out, onlookers named the first born Esau ('Esav or 'Esaw, meaning either "rough," "sensibly felt," "handled," from Hebrew:'asah, "do" or "make"; or "completely developed," from Hebrew 'assui, since Esau had as much hair as a child who was much older) The second was named, Jacob (Ya'aqob or Ya'aqov, meaning "heel-catcher," "supplanter," "leg-puller," "he who follows upon the heels of one," from Hebrew: 'aqab or 'aqav, "seize by the heel," "circumvent,” "restrain,” a wordplay upon Hebrew: 'iqqebah or 'iqqbah, "heel"). The Bible states that Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.
Rebecca,
The Midrash says that as boys, people did not notice much difference between them. When they reached 13, Jacob busied himself in the house of study, while Esau busied himself with idolatry. The descriptions of the two young men hint at their opposing spiritual natures: "The lads grew up and Esau became one who knows hunting, a man of the field; but Jacob was a wholesome man, abiding in tents.” The description of Esau as a "hunter" hints at his skill of trapping his father with his mouth; for example, he would ask Isaac whether tithes should be taken from salt and straw, making his father think he was scrupulous in keeping the mitzvahs. Scripture notes that their parents' attitudes toward the boys differed: "Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of hunting, but Rebecca loved Jacob.”
According to the Talmud, Jacob prepared a lentil stew as a traditional mourner's meal for his father, Isaac. The Hebrew Bible states that Esau, returning famished from the fields, begged Jacob to give him some of the stew. (Esau referred to the dish as "that red, red stuff," giving rise to his nickname, Hebrew ('Edom, meaning "Red"). Jacob offered Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for his birthright (the right to be recognized as firstborn), and Esau agreed. The Talmudic dating indicates both men were 15 years old at the time.
Later, a famine struck the land of Israel, and Isaac moved his family, upon God's command, to Gerar, which was ruled by Abimelech, king of the Philistines. Like Abraham before him, who called Sarah his "sister" rather than his "wife" so that the Egyptians would not kill him and take his wife, Isaac told the people of Gerar that Rebecca was his sister. She was not molested, but one day Abimelech looked through the window and saw Isaac "sporting" (a euphemism for sexual play) with her. Abimelech called Isaac on his lie and warned others not to touch Rebecca. Eventually, Isaac parted from Abimelech in peace.
At 40 (the same age his father had been when he married), Esau took two Hittite wives, Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon. She annoyed Isaac and Rebecca to no end, as these women were idol-worshippers. One reason Isaac became blind in his old age was the smoke of the incense these women offered to their idols.
The deception of Isaac
Isaac became blind in his old age and decided to bestow the firstborn's blessing upon Esau. According to the Midrash, Isaac had reached the age of 132, five years past his mother, Sarah; Rebeckah had been present at her death. According to Genesis, Isaac had reached the age of 137. At this time, the Sages state that one should begin to think he might not exceed the age of whichever parent died first. Therefore, Isaac sent Esau to the fields to trap and cook a piece of game for him so that he could eat it and bless Esau before he died.
Rebecca overheard this conversation and realized Isaac's blessings should go to Jacob since she was told before the twins' birth that the older son would serve the younger. She, therefore, ordered Jacob to bring her two goats from the flock, which she cooked in the way Isaac loved and had him bring them to his father in place of Esau.
When Jacob protested that his father would recognize the deception and curse him as soon as he felt him since Esau was hairy and Jacob smooth-skinned, Rebecca said that the curse would be on her instead. Before sending Jacob to his father, she dressed him in Esau's garments and laid goatskins on his arms and neck to simulate hairy skin.
Thus disguised, Jacob entered his father's room. Surprised to perceive that Esau was back so soon, Isaac asked how it could be that the hunt went so quickly. Jacob responded, "Because the LORD your God arranged it for me"; Rashi (in Genesis 52:46) says Isaac's suspicions were aroused because Esau never used the personal name of God. Isaac demanded that Jacob come close so he could feel him, but the goatskins felt like Esau's hairy skin. Confused, Isaac exclaimed, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau!" (27:22). Still trying to get at the truth, Isaac asked him directly, "Are you my son Esau?" and Jacob answered, "I am" (which can be taken as "I am me," not "I am Esau"). Isaac proceeded to eat the food and drink the wine that Jacob gave him, and then he blessed him with the dew of the heavens, the fatness of the earth, and rulership over many nations as well as his brother.
Jacob had scarcely left the room when Esau returned from the hunt to receive the blessing. The realization that he has been deceived shocks Isaac, yet he acknowledges that Jacob received the blessings as sworn by adding, "Indeed, he will be [or remain] blessed!" (52:8). Rashi explains that Isaac smelled the heavenly scent of Gan Eden (Paradise) when Jacob entered his room. In contrast, Isaac perceived Gehenna opening beneath Esau when the latter entered the room, showing Isaac that he had been deceived all along by Esau's show of piety.
Esau was heartbroken by the deception and begged for his blessing. Having made Jacob a ruler over his brothers, Isaac could only promise, "By thy sword thou shalt live, and shalt serve thy brother; yet it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt cast off his yoke from off thy neck" (Gen 27:40).
Esau was horrified toward Jacob for taking away his birthright and his blessing. He vowed to himself to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac died. Here again, Rebecca prophetically perceived his murderous intentions and ordered Jacob to travel to her brother Laban's house in Haran until Esau's anger subsided. She then convinced Isaac to send Jacob away by telling him that she despaired him marrying a local girl from the idol-worshipping families of Canaan (as Esau had done). After Isaac sent Jacob away (to find a wife), Esau realized that his Canaanite wives were evil in his father's eyes. Esau, therefore, took Mahalath, a daughter of Isaac's half-brother Ishmael, as another wife.
Death and burial
Grave of Rebecca in Hebron
Jacob lived with Laban for twenty years (Gen. 31:41), marrying Laban's two daughters and two maidservants. He returned to Canaan with his large family, servants, and possessions. As he did, Deborah (Rebecca's nurse) died and was buried at a place that Jacob calls Alon Bachuth, the "Tree of Weepings" (Gen. 35:8). According to the Midrash, the plural form of the word "weeping" indicates a double sorrow, implying that Rebecca also died at this time.
Rebecca was buried in the Cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan (Gen 49:31).
According to the Talmud, the Torah's explicit dating of the life of Ishmael helps to date various events in Jacob's life and, by implication, the age of Rebecca at her death. Ishmael was born when Abraham was 86 years old (Gen. 16:16) and died at 137 (Gen. 25:17). Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 (Gen. 21:5); at that time, Ishmael was 14. Jacob and Esau were born when Isaac was 60 (Gen. 25:26); at that time, Ishmael was 74. Right after Jacob receives the blessings and flees to Laban, the Torah states that Esau married "Mahalat, the daughter of Ishmael, son of Abraham, sister of Nebaiot" (Gen. 28:9), on which Rashi, quoting Megillah 17a, notes that Ishmael died between the engagement and wedding. Hence, the girl's brother gave her away. If Ishmael was 137 at the time of his death, Jacob and Esau were 63 at the time of the blessings. The Talmud adds that Jacob spent 14 years in the yeshiva of Shem and Eber before proceeding to Laban, arriving when he was 77. Rebecca's death after Jacob's 20 years with Laban indicates that Jacob was 97 when his mother died, and Rebecca was either 120 or 134 (based on different Midrashim mentioned earlier about her age at marriage).
Rebekah in the Hebrew Bible (Gen 24-27; 28:5; 29:12; 35:8; 49:31)
The second (after Sarah) of the matriarchal figures in the ancestral stories of Genesis, Rebekah is one of the most prominent women-in terms of her active role and her control of events in the Hebrew Bible. The beautifully constructed narratives in Genesis 24-27 describe how she becomes Isaac's wife, gives birth to twin sons after initial barrenness, and finally obtains the primary place in the lineage for her younger son, Jacob. He is destined to become the ancestor of all Israel.
The story of the wooing of Rebekah unfolds in Genesis 24, the longest chapter in the Book of Genesis. A spouse for Isaac is to be obtained from his Uncle Nahor's family; the ensuing cousin marriage, with Rebekah and Isaac both members of the same kinship group, emphasizes the importance of their lineage. Abraham dispatches a trusted but unnamed servant to Mesopotamia, the land of his birth and where some of his family still resides, to find a wife for his son. Rebekah secures her role as wife-elect for Isaac by befriending the servant and his ten camels in the famous well scene, which has been called a type-scene-a narrative episode with certainly expected motifs that appear at the critical juncture in the life of a hero. Indeed, the account of Rebekah at the well is the premier biblical example of such a scene. It ostensibly draws attention to Isaac but, in his absence, reveals the beauty and virtues of his wife-to-be.
After the well incident, Rebekah brings the servant home, enters into the marriage arrangement, and sets off to meet her future husband. She seems to have some input into the marriage negotiations, or at least the decision about her departure from her homeland and birth family. Once she arrives in the promised land, she enters Isaac's home (called "his mother Sarah's tent," 24:67). There she is "loved" (24:67) by her husband, the first woman in the Hebrew Bible for whom marital love is proclaimed.
After twenty years of marriage, when Rebekah fails to become pregnant, Isaac prays to God, who grants the prayer that she may conceive. Another type of scene, that of the barren wife, thus enters the Rebekah story, calling attention to the unique role of the children ultimately born to her. A divine oracle is addressed to her when she is pregnant, making her the only matriarch to receive a direct message from God (although Abraham's slave wife Hagar also receives an oracle). This oracle foreshadows the tensions that will characterize the relationship between her sons, Jacob and Esau, as figures in the Genesis narrative and eponymic[2] ancestors of Israel and Edom. YHWH proclaims that "two nations" are in her womb and will contend with each other (25:23).
In the next episode of the Rebekah story, Isaac passes her off as his sister. This narrative, similar in many ways to two such accounts about Sarah, at first seems to contribute little to the role or character of Rebekah. However, it does differentiate her in a significant way from Sarah; in one of the two wife-sister episodes in which she figures, Sarah seems to have had sexual relations with Pharaoh (Gen 12:13-14,19) to ensure the safety of her husband and their household. Rebekah's marital fidelity, in contrast, is never compromised (Gen 26:7-11). Her relationship with her husband is consistently monogamous, unlike that of Sarah. She not only has extramarital sex but also provides her husband with the slave wife Hagar, Rachel, and Leah. They are co-wives and also provide slave wives to Jacob.
The final scene in which Rebekah appears is another well-known biblical episode: Isaac blesses Jacob rather than Esau, the first to emerge from the womb and thus the expected recipient of the paternal blessing. This designation of Jacob as heir to the ancestral lineage, which will mean his becoming progenitor of all Israel, is orchestrated by Rebekah. Through clever manipulation, whereby Isaac is deceived, she achieves her purpose and controls the family destiny."
"For one thing, Rebekah is far more dynamic and proactive than Isaac, for whom no independent episode is reported. The very fact that the verb to go is used by Rebekah seven times (a number used in the Bible for emphasis) in the courtship narrative of chap. 24 highlights her dynamic character. In addition, Rebekah's behavior in Genesis 24 is depicted by a series of action verbs-she runs, draws water, fills jars, and rides a camel-that contribute to a sense of her individuality and vitality, in contrast to Isaac's passivity. Also noteworthy is the language used about Rebekah's journey from Mesopotamia to Canaan, and in anticipation of her role as progenitor (ancestor) of countless offspring, echoes found in the Abraham narratives (compare Gen 24:4, 38, 60 with Gen 12:1 and 22:17). Furthermore, Rebekah is said to have had a nurse (Gen 35:8), a highly unusual circumstance in the Hebrew Bible and one that thus signifies her unusual stature.
Finally, the long courtship account of Genesis 24, which is considered by many to be a self-contained novella, can perhaps be called a woman's story. Rebekah's dynamic presence in that episode may indicate its origin in women's storytelling, as do certain other features. The term "mother's household," for example, appears in 24:28. That phrase is found only four times in the Hebrew Bible, all in texts that reveal women's lives and activities. It signifies the vital role of the senior woman in a family household, at least when considered from a female perspective, as does the use of the phrase "his mother Sarah's tent" for Isaac's home.
Quick Facts
• Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac.
• "Put your hand under my thigh" (Gen 24:2,9) was significant because it sealed the oath. The servant is swearing an oath by "placing his hand under the genitals, a vehicle of life." [makes you grateful for a handshake today!] The pledge was solemn, for it carried with it a curse or ban if not followed. "Since sons are said to issue from their father's thigh, an oath that involved touching this vital part might entail the threat of sterility for the offender or the extinction of his offspring." This is Abraham's last request. Some scholars say he died before the servant returned with Rebekah.
• The servant prayed for a sign to distinguish the bride for Isaac. (Gen 24:12-14) What a good example Abraham had set for his family and servants: we pray to solve problems!
• Rebekah is given the freedom to choose whether to marry Isaac.
• Rebekah's general character is modest, kindly, generous, and pious.
• Laban displays traits we see in his later life. He is not convinced by the demand of kinship nor the will of God but rather by the sight of the costly jewels on his sister's arm.
• Isaac lived a semi-nomadic life in Canaan.
• Isaac relied on his father to select a bride for him when he was 40.
• Isaac and Rebekah maintained a monogamous relationship.
• Even when Rebekah was barren, Isaac stayed with her and prayed for her. (Gen 25:21) She then conceived twins.
• Rebekah talks with God about the conflict in her body. (Gen. 25:22-24) God tells her the younger son shall rule the elder son.
• Esau was born first, followed by Jacob.
• Esau was red and hairy.
• Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field.
• Jacob followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and was a semi-nomadic shepherd.
• Esau lacked spiritual depth. He was a man of the moment.
• Esau impetuously bargained away his birthright for a bowl of pottage.
• Pottage was a soup or stew made with vegetables and sometimes with meat.
• The birthright included the primary headship of the family, that is, rights as the eldest son, a double portion of the inheritance, priestly rights, and, in Abraham's family, heir to the covenant privileges.
• Isaac avoided conflict with the Canaanites over the wells Abraham had dug. God told him not to be afraid.
• (Gen 26:15-24) This appears to be a turning point in Isaac's life. Up to this point, he passively accepted what happened in his life; being used as the potential object of sacrifice; waiting for the selection of a bride; walking away from the strife over the first two wells; being heartsick over Esau's foreign wives. God tells him not to be afraid. Not to be afraid to make decisions. Not to be afraid of what others might think? Not to be afraid to live?
General Notes:
[1] The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (pronounced [ta'na?] or [t?'nax]), also known in Hebrew as Mikra, is the canonical collection of Hebrew scriptures, including the Torah, the Nevi'im, and the Ketuvim. These texts are almost exclusively in Biblical Hebrew, with a few passages in Biblical Aramaic (in the books of Daniel and Ezra and the verse Jeremiah 10:11).
[2] Eponymic: one for whom or which something is or is believed to be named.
