Difference between revisions of "Rebekah"

<p> <strong> [[Rebekah]] </strong> (in &nbsp; Romans 9:10 <strong> [[Rebecca]] </strong> ). The daughter of Bethnel, the son of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, and his wife [[Milcah]] (&nbsp; [[Genesis]] 22:23 ). She was also the sister of [[Laban]] and became the wife of <strong> Isaac </strong> . The well-known story of the facts leading up to the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah is told in &nbsp; Genesis 24:1-67 , and gives valuable information as to early marriage customs. Isaac is not consulted. Abraham’s servant [[Eliezer]] (&nbsp; Genesis 15:2 ) is sent to seek for a wife among his master’s kinsfolk. The servant proceeds to the ‘city of Nahor’ (Haran), and, arriving at the gate of the city, waits by the well till the women come out to draw water (&nbsp; Genesis 15:11 ). He prays that God may prosper him and give him a sign by which he may recognize the woman [[Providence]] has set apart for Isaac. Rebekah comes out and offers to draw water for the stranger and his camels. The servant loads her with gifts, and her family, led by her brother Laban, being convinced of Abraham’s wealth, and recognizing the will of [[Heaven]] in the selection, agrees to the marriage. Rebekah returns with the servant and becomes Isaac’s wife (v. 67). </p> <p> In &nbsp;Genesis 25:21 we are told that Rebekah, like many other favourite wives of the OT ( <em> e.g. </em> Sarah, Rachel, Hannah), was at first barren, but in answer to Isaac’s prayer <strong> Jacob and [[Esau]] </strong> were born (&nbsp; Genesis 25:24-26 ). Before their birth Rebekah received the oracle from Jehovah, that two nations were in her womb and that the elder should serve the younger. No doubt this story is a late [[Jewish]] legend, arising from the desire to find the history of the two peoples [[Israel]] and [[Edom]] foreshadowed in the lives of their progenitors. </p> <p> Rebekah again comes before us during Isaac’s sojourn in [[Gerar]] (&nbsp;Genesis 26:6-11 ). Fearing lest the beauty of his wife might excite the desire of the king of Gerar and so lead to his own death, Isaac passed her off as his sister a course of action which led him into difficulties with [[Abimelech]] (&nbsp; Genesis 26:10 ). </p> <p> The destiny of Jacob, her favourite son, was strongly influenced by his strong-minded mother. She was the author of the treacherous plan by which Jacob deprived Esau of his father’s blessing (&nbsp;Genesis 27:1-46 ). She advised him to flee from his home to her brother Laban (&nbsp; Genesis 27:43-45 ). In &nbsp; Genesis 28:1 f., however, the motive of the journey is that he might take a wife from the family of his mother, in contrast to Esau, who had grieved his parents by taking a wife from among the [[Canaanites]] (&nbsp; Genesis 26:34-35 ). Rebekah died before Jacob’s return from Haran, and her burial at [[Machpelah]] is mentioned in &nbsp; Genesis 49:31 . The death and burial of Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, who had followed her from [[Haran]] (&nbsp; Genesis 24:59 ), are reported to have taken place after Jacob had returned to [[Canaan]] (&nbsp; Genesis 35:8 ). </p> <p> The character of Rebekah has a peculiar charm and fascination. [[Appearing]] first as a pure, unselfish, loving girl, she becomes a woman of great strength of mind and depth of character. She is clever, active, energetic. She can make plans and carry them out, give orders and expect them to be obeyed, but her masterful spirit cannot brook opposition or contradiction. Esau’s wives vex her beyond measure. When she loves, she loves with all her soul, and will spare no pains, consider no consequences, or grudge any sacrifice for those she loves. ‘Upon me be thy curse, my son’ (&nbsp;Genesis 27:13 ), is her answer to Jacob when he fears that a curse will fall on his deception. Although that curse fell and her beloved son had to flee and she saw his face no more, yet we forget the scheming, plotting woman in the loving wife and self-sacrificing mother. </p> <p> W. F. Boyd. </p>

<p> [[Rebekah]] (''Re-Bĕk'Ah'' ), ''A [[Cord]] With A Noose, Enchaining.'' The daughter of [[Bethuel]] and sister of Laban. She was a woman of personal attractions and became the wife of Isaac, to whom late in life she bore Esau and Jacob. &nbsp;Genesis 22:23; &nbsp;Genesis 24:15-67; &nbsp;Genesis 25:20-28. Of her sons, Jacob was Rebekah's favorite; and she persuaded him to obtain his father's blessing by fraud. &nbsp;Genesis 26:7-8; &nbsp;Genesis 26:35; &nbsp;Genesis 27:1-46. In consequence Jacob had to flee from his brother's wrath; and it is probable that Rebekah saw her best-loved son no more. &nbsp;Genesis 28:5; &nbsp;Genesis 29:12; &nbsp;Genesis 35:8; &nbsp;Genesis 49:31. She died before Isaac. </p>

<p> (Heb. Ribkah', רַבְקָה '', A Noose, I.E. Ensnarer;'' Sept., New Test., and Josephus, ῾Ρεβέκκα )'','' the daughter of Bethuel (&nbsp;Genesis 22:23) and sister of Laban, married to Isaac, who stood in the relation of a first cousin to her father and to Lot. She is first presented to us in the account of the mission of Eliezer to [[Padanaram]] (ch. 24), in which his interview with Rebekah, her consent and marriage, are related. B.C. 2023. The elder branch of the family remained at Haran when Abraham removed to the land of Canaan, and it is there that we first meet with Laban, as taking the leading part in the betrothal of his sister Rebekah to her cousin Isaac (24:10, 29-60; 27:43; 29:4). Bethuel, his father, plays so insignificant a part in the whole transaction, being in fact only mentioned once, and that after his son (24:50), that various conjectures have been formed to explain it. [[Josephus]] asserts that Bethuel was (lead, and that Laban was the head of the house and his sister's natural guardian (Ant. i, 16, 2), in which case "Bethuel" must have crept into the text inadvertently, or be supposed, with some (Adam Clarke, ad loc.), to be the name of another brother of Rebekah. Le [[Clerc]] (in Pent.) mentions the conjecture that Bethuel was absent at first, but returned in time to give his consent to the marriage. The mode adopted by Prof. [[Blunt]] (Undesigned Coincidences, p. 35) to explain what he terms "the consistent insignificance of Bethutel," viz. that he was incapacitated from taking the management of his family by age or imbecility, is most ingenious; but the prominence of Laban may be sufficiently explained by the custom of the country, which then, as now (see Niebuhr, quoted by Rosenmuller, ad loc.), gave the brothers the main share in the arrangement of their sister's marriage and the defence of her honor (comp. &nbsp;Genesis 34:13; &nbsp;Judges 21:22 &nbsp;2 Samuel 13:20-29). (See Bethuel). </p> <p> The whole chapter has been pointed out as uniting most of the circumstances of a pattern marriage — the sanction of parents, the guidance of God, the domestic occupation of Rebekah, her beauty, courteous kindness, willing consent and modesty, and success in retaining her husband's love. For nineteen years she was childless; then, after the prayers of Isaac and her journey to inquire of the Lord, Esau and Jacob were born; and, while the younger was more particularly the companion and favorite of his mother (&nbsp;Genesis 25:19-28), the elder became a grief of mind to her (26:35). When Isaac was driven by a famine into the lawless country of the Philistines, Rebekah's beauty became, as was apprehended, a source of danger to her husband. But Abimelech was restrained by a sense of justice such as the conduct of his predecessor (ch. 20) in the case of [[Sarah]] would not lead Isaac to expect. It was probably a considerable time afterwards when Rebekah suggested the deceit that was practiced by Jacob on his blind father. She directed and aided him in carrying it out, foresaw the probable consequence of Esau's anger, and prevented it by moving Isaac to send Jacob away to Padan-aram (ch. 27) to her own kindred (&nbsp;Genesis 29:12). B.C. 1927. The [[Targum]] Pseudo-Jon. states (&nbsp;Genesis 35:8) that the news of her death was brought to Jacob at Allon-bachuth. It has been conjectured that she died during his sojourn in Padan-aram; for her nurse appears to have left Isaac's dwelling and gone back to Padan-aram before that period (comp. &nbsp;Genesis 24:59; &nbsp;Genesis 25:8), and Rebekah is not mentioned when Jacob returns to his father, nor do we hear of her burial till it is incidentally mentioned by Jacob on his death-bed (&nbsp;Genesis 49:31). Paul (&nbsp;Romans 9:10) refers to her as being made acquainted with the purpose of God regarding her children before thev were born. For comments on the whole history of Rebekah, see Origen, Hom. in Genesis 10, 12; Chrysostom, Hom. in Genesis, p. 48- 54. Rebekah's inquiry of God, and the answer given to her, are discussed by Deyling, Obser. Sac. i, 12, p. 53 sq., and in an essay by J. A. Schmid in Nov. Thes. Theol. -philolog. i, 188; also by Ebersbach (Helmst. 1712). The agreement of the description of Rebekah in Genesis 22 with modern Eastern customs and scenes is well noticed by Thomson, Land and Book, 2, 403. (See Isaac); (See Jacob). </p>