Despite the awkward syntax, I am unconvinced that the entire genealogy was added here as it is important to the story. Then Esau comes home and brings his catch to Isaac so he could be blessed only to find that his father had already blessed someone else. Isaac relied on his father to select a bride for him when he was 40 years old. Rebekah Her life, personality, and legacy is intricately and irretrievably woven within the fabric around the Bible’s most extraordinary men: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. THE REBEKAHS. Where else in the Bible do we hear such a cumbersome lineage? But in context of the entire book of Genesis, the motives of the two parents are quite different. Isaac favors the elder son (25:25; 27:4), but the whole patriarchal line suggests that God Finally, when Jacob and Laban meet for the last time in Gilad, Laban sets up a pillar of stones and declares that neither of them should ever cross this pillar with evil intentions, because the gods will be watching: Many critical scholars explain this confusion about whether Nahor or Betuel was the father of Rebekah and Laban with a source-critical solution, that J and P have different traditions about Rebekah and Laban’s parentage. Rebekah is brought from her family to Isaac, who finds comfort in her after… E – Eleazar, Rebekah’s Father April 6, 2015 by diannegsagan 4 Comments In a continuation of the discussion about my book, Rebekah Redeemed, I’d like you to meet Rebekah’s father Eleazar. This (and the second answer of Nachmanides) explains why Jacob was so affected by her passing. The story of Isacc and Rebekah is very different from Abraham and Sarah. Oops! Piles of the sweet-smelling hay, where Rebekah had hidden from her brothers on lazy fall afternoons, were engulfed by the roaring, ravenous flames. window.location.replace(""); But why include her grandmother? Rebecca's brother was Laban the Aramean, and she was the granddaughter of Milcah and Nahor, the brother of Abraham. In the J stories, however, Rebekah is the daughter of Abraham’s brother Nahor, who lives in the city of Haran in the land of Aram-naharayim. The woman who had been Rebekah’s childhood nurse went along with her.. Then Isaac Married Rebekah and produced Esau and Jacob. Rebekah then left her home with the servant and married Isaac. Don’t miss the latest essays from TheTorah.com. Isaac and Rebekah maintained a monogamous relationship. The servant came to a well and prayed that the next young woman who came to the well and gave him water would be Isaac's wife. We rely on the support of readers like you. Please consider supporting TheTorah.com. script type="text/javascript"> A rafter collapsed, shocking her back to her senses. Some readers have accused both Isaac and Rebekah of equal fault in favoring their sons (Esau and Jacob respectively; Gen 27:1-10). Genesis 28:2,5 Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother…, Genesis 24:51,60,67 Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the LORD hath spoken…. i. This was way before the United States government allowed women to vote or run for public office. Rabbi Zev Farber is a fellow at Project TABS and editor of TheTorah.com. And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother. He is a shepherd who tends flocks with his cousins in the fields near Bethlehem. For almost twenty years she struggled with bareness and finally at… Conjunctive waw | Noun - proper - masculine singular, Bethuel -- perhaps 'man of God', a nephew of Abraham, Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular, To bear young, to beget, medically, to act as midwife, to show lineage, Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person feminine singular, Abraham -- 'exalted father', the father of the Jewish nation, Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular, OT Law: Genesis 22:23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah (Gen. Ge Gn). Hebrew-English Text I. See Tzemah Yoreh, Genesis: Israel’s Origins (Kernel to Canon; Modern Scriptures, 2014), 188-189. 1). His contemporary, the British Bible scholar John Skinner (1851-1925) makes the same suggestion: [T]here is a considerable probability that the original J made Laban and Rebekah the children of Nahôr. He sent his servant to the city of Nahor to find her. “Rebekah Ran to her “Mother’s Household”: Where Was her Father?”. [9] The placement of Aram as Kemuel’s son also contradicts the genealogy of Gen 10:22-23 in which Aram is the son of Shem, which would make him many generations earlier than Nahor or Kemuel. You could say my mother's prayer was not answered. The gifts to Rebekah, partly, were to make her appearance befitting someone of such stature in their area. Rebecca became the wife of Isaac, who was the promised son of Abraham and Sarah. Romans 9:10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; These eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother. Thankfully, Isaac was a different man from his fabled father. New International Version. [This article continues after… Rebekah (Heb. New Living Translation. (Bethuel fathered Rebekah.) As he was praying, Rebekah came, gave the servant … Genesis 35:8. Thus, it is understandable that the lineage would include her father and her grandfather, since the latter is Abraham’s brother. Launched Shavuot 5773 / 2013 | Copyright © Project TABS, All Rights Reserved. Summary Abraham sends his servant to his relatives in Mesopotamia to find a wife for his son Isaac. Israel, as we know it… Rabbi Zev Farber Stay updated with the latest scholarship I would like to receive new essays In that genealogy, Aram is also the father of Uz, whereas in Gen 22, Uz is his father’s older brother. Isaac prayed for Rebekah because she was barren. Abraham had sent his trusted servant back to his home country to find a wife for Isaac among his relatives (Genesis 24:2–4). An Analysis of Lavan and Rebekah’s Genealogy,” TheTorah.com (2014). P is also consistent, she is the daughter of Betuel the Aramean and not related to Abraham at all. Instead, according to the original tradition in J, even in Gen 24, Laban is Nahor’s son. Imagine Eliezer telling his story as Rebekah’s father, Bethuel, as well as her brother Laban, listened with rapt attention. The yoke her father had hewn by hand as a boy was charred, hanging on a blackened beam. notes: This answer is problematic. Laban was also the father-in-law and uncle to Jacob through marriage to Leah and Rachel. This genealogical disparity did not go unnoticed by the Torah’s redactors, who tried to solve the problem by both adding genealogies and revising already existent ones. He became Betuel’s son only secondarily. But Laban does not share Jacob’s faith (Gen. 29:1–30; 31:2), and not surprisingly, he gives God’s chosen man much grief. Laban was the son of Bethuel and Milcah and brother to Rebecca. [11] The reference to Betuel in 24:50 is also likely redactional, and in any case, causes an enormous narrative problem. It seems so cruel what Jacob did. Bethuel was also related to Abraham through his parents Nahor and Milcah. (Bethuel became the father of Rebekah.) It is written, "For this was how the promise was stated: 'At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.' Rebecca was the daughter of Bethuel, the great-niece of Abraham, and the sister of Laban. [6] We do not know how Isaac found Rebekah according to this version, as it has no “finding of Rebekah” story. So in ‘Jehu, son of Nimshi,’ 2 K. ix. She was also the sister of Laban and the aunt of Jacob's future wives: Rachel and Leah. Issac loved Rebekah. Later in Genesis, however, Nahor is presented as Laban’s father. [5] This was suggested more than a century ago by the German Bible scholar Hermann Gunkel (1862-1932), when explaining why Jacob calls Laban “Nahor’s son”: בן is not to be taken in the broader sense of “grandson” here. This was Rebecca’s teacher. from Hebrew University in Jewish History (biblical period focus). This very detailed lineage in Genesis 24 contrasts starkly with the description of Rebekah’s family in Genesis 25: In this text, Rebekah is merely the daughter Betuel the Aramean and the sister of Laban. Some medieval Jewish commentators already proposed this solution. Yahweh provides the servant with a sign by sending Rebekah to give him and his ten camels water to drink. Why this unusual and cumbersome introduction? Her brother Laban came out to welcome the servant and invited him to stay with them. (Both commentaries were published the same year.) Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father… Moreover, delaying the verb until after the genealogy would also have been awkward. For example, when the servant heads to Abraham’s home town, the text states that he was headed to “the city of Nahor” (v. 10), not the city of Betuel. Gloom and loneliness prevailed where light and life had been pulsing before, as long as Sarah had lived. The text was likely added by a redactor for exactly this purpose. He was Isaac’s cousin, and later he became Isaac’s brother-in-law after Rebecca’s marriage. Esau was born first, and he was Isaac’s favorite son (Genesis 25:28). Academic Study of the Torah Is Essential, Not Just for Academics, Study the Torah with Academic Scholarship, By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use, https://thetorah.com/article/who-was-rebekahs-father, “I am the daughter of Betuel the son of Milkah, whom she bore to Nahor” (Gen 24:24) – Why the unusual and cumbersome genealogical description?[1]. (Genesis 27:34)” You can almost hear his despair, can’t you? Yet it is Rebekah herself who is chosen as God’s instrument, ensuring that His protection and blessings are bestowed upon Jacob and the nation of Israel. Esau cries out in anguish, “Bless me—me also, O my father! For example, Ramban (1194-1270), in his commentary (ad loc.) He told Esau that he wished to bestow his blessing upon him before he died. Genesis 25:20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. Milkah bore these eight sons to Abraham's brother Nahor. [1] This piece is an expanded version of an older archived piece, “Was Betuel Lavan’s Father? He can be found on the Bible Timeline around 1829 BC. Rebekah first watered the camels of Abraham's servant who was sent to find a bride for his son Issac. Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah. But in both J and P, Rebekah’s father lives among the Arameans, or is himself an Aramean, implying they were already a people![9]. See, John Skinner, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Genesis, 2nd Edition (International Critical Commentary; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1930 [1910]), 343. Her mother gave birth to Freya, Finn, and Elijah in the Old World, but after Freya was sent away with Esther's sister Dahlia as payment for Esther's fertility spell (which was later covered up by Esther, who claimed Freya had died of the plague), Esther and Mikael were so devastated that … (NIV) Genesis 27:14-17 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. See discussion in Zev Farber and Daniel M. Zucker, “Rebekah Ran to her “Mother’s Household”: Where Was her Father?” TheTorah.com (2017). Please support us. Eliezer ’s Mission. A Wife for Isaac: From Abraham’s Hometown or Family? But even with the best medical care and over an hour of doctors trying everything possible, my father died. The parents of the foster father of Jesus raised a "just man," who would guard the Savior of the world. Rebecca appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. 5), and grandson of Nahor (xxii. Dr. When Rebekah is first introduced, the verse says (24:15): As noted above, the introduction is long and cumbersome. On September 20, 1851, I.O.O.F. The inside of their cozy barn was ablaze. 22:23 —Betuel being the father of Rebekah. Esau became the father of the Edomites, who warred against Israel for ages and were finally wiped out (Obadiah 1:1–21). Some other verses in this story also suggest that Nahor is the father of Laban and Rebekah. When Isaac tells Jacob to go to Paddan Aram, he tells him to go to the house of “Laban son of Betuel.” If Isaac did not know that Laban preferred to be called “son of Nahor,” how could Jacob have known? Genesis 24:59 So they said good-bye to Rebekah and sent her away with Abraham’s servant and his men. // Javascript URL redirection See his analysis of the revisions in this chapter (which he again attributes to Bridger) in Yoreh, Genesis, 204-211. רִבְקָה) was the wife of Isaac, daughter of Bethuel, and granddaughter of Nahor, a brother of Abraham (Gen. 22:23; 24:15, 24, 47).Rebekah is also described as he sister of Laban (24:29, 50; 25:20).When Abraham sought a wife for his son, he sent his servant to his homeland, Aram-Naharaim, for he wanted to avoid marriage with the Canaanites. Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Deborah helped her stand strong and pious in the face of immorality and deprivation. This is clear from the fact that it references Aram—the eponymous ancestor of the Arameans—as the son of Kemuel and thus Nahor’s grandson and Betuel’s nepew. [8], The list was probably not created out of whole cloth by the editor, but borrowed from somewhere else and adapted to its current context. Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died — It appears, on computation, that this event took place not less than a hundred and twenty-five years after Rebekah’s marriage with Isaac. Not only does she mention her father (Betuel), and her grandfather (Nahor), but even her grandmother (Milkah)! Rebekah was Isaac's wife and Jacob and Esau's mother. He told them that Jehovah had blessed Abraham greatly in Canaan and that Abraham and Sarah had a son, Isaac, who was to inherit everything. Have you only one blessing, my father? With regard to the editing of vv. Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. Abraham, advanced in years and blessed with wealth, charges his servant with finding a wife from outside the local Canaanite families, for Isaac: After the servant asks what to do if the woman prefers that Isaac move to her land instead, Abraham warns the servant never to bring Isaac out of Canaan, but reassures him that the plan will work: Abraham’s reference to YHWH taking him out of his homeland, his birth place, and his father’s house harkens back to the first command Abraham received from YHWH in the opening of the Abraham narrative: Abraham does not name this homeland when speaking with the servant, but the text tells us soon after that the land is called Aram-naharayim: The city is here referred to incidentally, as the city of Nahor, who is Abraham’s brother. It is only in the combined and redacted Pentateuch text that we find both traditions combined into one extensive and cumbersome genealogy in which Rebekah is both the daughter of Betuel, the granddaughter of Nahor and Milkah, and a cousin of Isaac. Rebekah is the second daughter of Mikael and Esther, wealthy land owners from the Kingdom of Norway in the 10th century. In addition to these eight sons from Milcah, English Standard Version. TheTorah.com is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.We rely on the support of readers like you. Isaac & Rebekah: The Fairytale Romance. 20 (see v. 14), ‘Zechariah, son of Iddo,’ Ezr. For three years Sarah ’s tent remained vacant. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. descendant, Laban being in reality son of Bethuel (xxviii. Bethuel (Hebrew: בְּתוּאֵל ‎ – Bəṯūʾēl, “house of God”), in the Hebrew Bible, was an Aramean man, the youngest son of Nahor and Milcah, the nephew of Abraham, and the father of Laban and Rebecca.. Bethuel was also a town in the territory of the tribe of Simeon, west of the Dead Sea. According to biblical tradition, Rebecca's father was Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, also called Aram-Naharaim. [7] The genealogy here continues with four more sons born to Nahor from his concubine: [8] Tzemah Yoreh identifies this text as coming from what he calls the Bridger; a late redactional layer that smooths over rough spots in the text. (Gen 25:21) She then conceived twins. In addition to academic training, Zev holds ordination (yoreh yoreh) and advanced ordination (yadin yadin) from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCT) Rabbinical School. Something went wrong while submitting the form. Bible Timeline around 1829 BC a redactor for exactly this purpose her appearance befitting someone of such stature their... The latest essays from TheTorah.com it adopted the Degree of Rebekah uncle to Jacob through marriage to Leah Rachel. 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