Rebekah

Family: Bethuel's family · Role: daughter of Bethuel · First appears: The Wooing Of Rebekah

As Bethuel’s daughter, Rebekah chose to leave with Eliezer, and her mother and Laban sent her off with their blessings. When she reached Isaac, she learned she was destined to be the mother of Esau; terrified, she fell from her camel and injured herself. Isaac took her to his mother Sarah’s tent, where Rebekah proved worthy to succeed her, and comforted Isaac after Sarah’s death. Isaac married her after mourning for three years; they remained childless for twenty years before praying together at Mount Moriah and being granted children, including Jacob.

At Gerar, Isaac pretended Rebekah was his sister to protect her. After three months, Benmelek—whom the original text calls Abimelech, the name of his father, the earlier king—declared them husband and wife and threatened anyone who touched them. Later, troubled by Esau’s chosen wife, Rebekah urged Jacob not to marry a Canaanite and gave him her maternal blessing. She instructed him to prepare savory meat for Isaac and disguised him in Esau’s garments so he could receive Isaac’s blessing, adding her own blessing to his.

When Jacob left his father’s house, Rebekah wept with distress. About the time his fourteen years of service ended, she sent Deborah, her nurse, and two of Isaac’s servants to urge him to return; later she dispatched seventy-two retainers to help him against Esau. Rebekah and Deborah went with Jacob to Beth-el. A short time after Deborah’s death, Rebekah died, and she was buried at night.