It oracle foreshadows the stress which can define the partnership ranging from their sons, Jacob and you may Esau, just like the figures regarding Genesis narrative and also as eponymous forefathers of Israel and you can Edom
The next (immediately after Sarah) of matriarchs on predecessor tales of Genesis, Rebekah the most common lady-when it comes to the woman energetic role along with her command over events-in the Hebrew Bible. The latest remarkably built narratives inside the Genesis twenty four–twenty seven identify how she becomes Isaac’s wife, offers delivery so you can irish dating dual sons shortly after initial barrenness, ultimately obtains the key added the latest origin on her younger son, Jacob, who is bound to getting ancestor of the many Israel. Whether or not tricky for some, this lady deceit for the manipulating Isaac having Jacob’s benefit contributes to her depiction just like the a keen admirable and you can assertive lady.
, 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, serves to emphasize 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 certain expected motifs that appears 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 especially the 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 into the decision about her departure from her homeland and birth family (–58). When she first sees Isaac in Gen –65, she dismounts from her camel and veils herself, a nonverbal act perhaps signaling her status as a soon-to-be betrothed woman as it does for elite women in ancient Assyria. That she dons the betrothal veil herself may also indicate her independence. Once she arrives in the promised land, she enters Isaac’s home (called “his mother Sarah’s tent,” ).
Just after 2 decades regarding matrimony, when Rebekah fails to get pregnant, Isaac prays to help you God, which grants new prayer you to she will get consider. Various other sorts of-world, that the newest barren spouse, therefore goes into brand new Rebekah tale, calling attention to the new unique role of your children sooner born so you’re able to the woman. A divine oracle is actually addressed so you can her when the woman is pregnant; God proclaims that “one or two nations” are located in their uterus and can contend with each other ().
Around this woman is “loved” () from the their husband, the initial woman regarding Hebrew Bible to own just who relationship like try proclaimed
In the next episode in 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 (Gen –14, 19), Sarah seems to have had sexual relations with Pharaoh to ensure the safety of her husband and their household, although this is not the case in the second wife-sister story involving Sarah (Gen 20: 1–8). Rebekah’s marital fidelity, in contrast, is never compromised (Gen 26:7–11). Her relationship with her husband is consistently monogamous, unlike the other matriarchs of Genesis: Sarah, who provides her husband with the slave wife Hagar and perhaps has extramarital sex with the pharaoh; and Rachel and Leah, who are co-wives and also provide slave wives to Jacob.