Rebekah Series

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."