- Also spelled:
- Rebecca and Rivka
- Hebrew:
- רבקה (Rivqah)
Rebekah
Rebekah, in the Hebrew Bible, matriarch who is the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob, both key patriarchs. She is also the mother of Jacob’s twin brother, Esau. She is the second Hebrew matriarch after Sarah, the wife of Abraham. For some readers her account illustrates women’s agency in a text historically read as focused on male figures. Rebekah is the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah and Nahor, Abraham’s brother; thus Rebekah is Abraham’s grandniece. Her kindness to Abraham’s servant at the well, her reception of God’s prophecy about her twin sons, and her role in the Hebrew lineage are often considered religiously meaningful.
Marriage to Isaac
In Genesis 24 Rebekah enters the text immediately following the death of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. As he grows older, Abraham requests that his oldest servant, Eliezer of Damascus, find a wife for Isaac—not among the people of Canaan but among Abraham’s own relatives. Abraham sends his servant off with camels, gifts, and a stipulation that the chosen bride must be willing to follow Eliezer.
Eliezer reaches the well at Nahor, where Abraham’s relatives dwell in the region of Aram-Naharaim (in northern Mesopotamia). He prays to God that the woman destined to be Isaac’s wife will appear, draw water from the well, and give it to him and his camels. Before his prayer ends, Rebekah appears and does precisely what Eliezer had asked for, even repeating the very words he had hoped she would say.
Abraham’s servant is welcomed and discusses his mission with Rebekah’s father, Bethuel, and her brother, Laban. He recounts how Rebekah fulfilled his prayers and thirst at the well. Laban and Bethuel acknowledge the divine role in the match and grant consent but suggest that she wait before departing. Rebekah, however, agrees to return with Eliezer at once, fulfilling Abraham’s condition. Upon their return, Rebekah sees Isaac and veils herself while Eliezer informs Isaac of the news, after which Isaac takes Rebekah into the tent of his mother, Sarah. Rebekah becomes his wife, he loves her, and he is “comforted after his mother’s death” (Genesis 24:67).
Birth of Jacob and Esau
Rebekah’s story continues in Genesis 25. For almost two decades she is barren. Isaac prays to God on her behalf, God answers the prayer, and Rebekah conceives. During Rebekah’s pregnancy with the twins, Jacob and Esau, she feels them fighting in her womb and she asks God why. God replies (Genesis 25:23):
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples born of you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other;
the elder shall serve the younger.”
Esau is born first and is described as red and hairy, and the latter quality is said to be the meaning of his name. Jacob is born second but emerges holding the heel of his twin brother. Esau grows up to be a talented hunter and the favorite of his father, whereas Jacob grows up to be a quiet, indoor-favoring child and the beloved of his mother.
The sister deception
A famine forces Isaac to relocate to Gerar under the rule of the Philistine king Abimelech. As recounted in Genesis 26, Isaac fears that because Rebekah is attractive, the men of the place might kill him and take her, so he introduces her as his sister. Later Abimelech glimpses Isaac fondling Rebekah and realizes that she is his wife. The king rebukes Isaac for misleading them, warning that someone, thinking she was his sister, might have slept with her and brought shame on the country. Abimelech orders that anyone who touches Isaac or Rebekah will be punished with death.
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Role in Jacob’s blessing
In Genesis 27, when Isaac is old, blind, and believes himself near death, he promises to bless Esau. Rebekah overhears this plan and urges Jacob to disguise himself as Esau. She puts animal hides on his arms and neck so they would feel hairy should Isaac try to touch him. Jacob goes to Isaac with this hairy disguise, deceitfully announces himself as Esau, and obtains his father’s blessing—much to the chagrin of his brother. Esau threatens to kill Jacob, but Rebekah sends her beloved son to the home of her brother Laban in Harran in Mesopotamia.
Death and burial
In Genesis 49:31 Rebekah is listed as having been buried at the cave of Machpelah, but her death is not mentioned directly in the Hebrew Bible. This is unusual since the deaths of most other major figures in Genesis are noted in the narrative, and the silence has sparked speculation. In Genesis 35:8 there is a mention of the death of Rebekah’s nurse, Deborah, who had gone with her when she departed her family home to marry Isaac. Commentary in the Midrash suggests that the explicit mention of Deborah’s death refers instead to Rebekah’s death but the name was intentionally changed. The Midrashic text reasons that Rebekah died when Jacob was away and that only Esau was present for the burial—a situation that would have been shameful in that cultural context.
Religious significance and interpretations
In Judaism Rebekah is regarded as one of the most significant matriarchs, and she is invoked in prayer. For example, she is listed with Sarah, Rachel, and Leah during the blessing of the children when blessing daughters on Friday night (the beginning of Shabbat). In some Jewish congregations she is mentioned along with those matriarchs in the amidah prayer.
Biblical interpreters have read Rebekah’s stories and character in different ways. Some readers have been troubled by the moral implications of her orchestration of Jacob’s deception of Isaac. Other readers, however, have seen in her a strong woman worthy of emulation. In the pseudepigraphical Book of Jubilees (c. 100 bce) Rebekah’s character as a matriarch and key leader within Abraham’s family is foregrounded, and she appears more formidable than as depicted in Genesis. Some exegetes see great significance in that Rebekah inquires of God during her pregnancy and that God speaks directly to her. St. Paul, in Romans 9:10–11, mentions God’s declaration to her about Jacob and Esau as evidence of a divine plan.
In the Jewish commentary tradition, however, some rabbis in Genesis Rabbah found the divine speech to Rebekah troublesome and either denied it happened or suggested an angel, not God, spoke to her. Early Jewish interpreters also struggled with the fact that Rebekah’s favoritism toward Jacob and her insistence upon his subterfuge nevertheless align with God’s plan. They further feared that Isaac appears unaware and misguided in his love for Esau. The incident of the birthright raises the question of whether he knew of God’s choice of Jacob or just ignored it. A reading that casts the patriarch in a bad light would contradict a traditional interpretive preference for Isaac. For these early commentators, there is also a tension between Rebekah’s traditional feminine righteousness and her role in a fraud that was nevertheless necessary to fulfill a divine prophecy.
Modern feminist readers of the Bible, interested in recovering women’s voices and roles in the text, emphasize that Rebekah inquires of and speaks to God and that she, rather than Isaac, carries forward God’s will. The story of Rebekah’s marriage to Isaac that comprises Genesis 24 is the longest chapter in Genesis. Some scholars have interpreted this length as evidence of the value of women’s stories in the Hebrew Bible. Subtle hints of women’s prominence also appear throughout her story. For example, after the scene at the well, Rebekah first reports the events to “her mother’s household” (Genesis 24:28), and when Jacob first meets Rachel in Genesis 29:12 he introduces himself as a relative of her father and “Rebekah’s son,” with no mention of Isaac. For some readers, although Isaac is the second patriarch and Abraham’s aborted attempt to sacrifice him is central to the biblical tradition, Rebekah is more instrumental for the continuity of the lineage and divine covenant through her support of her beloved son, Jacob.