Rebekah

Scripture: Genesis 24; Genesis 25:19–28; Genesis 27

Abraham sent his servant, named Eliezer in tradition, to find a wife for Isaac from among his own kin in Nahor. The servant arrived at the well in the evening and prayed with specificity: "O YHWH, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today... Let the young woman to whom I shall say, 'Please let down your jar that I may drink,' and who shall say, 'Drink, and I will water your camels', let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac" (Genesis 24:12, 14). Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She gave him water from the jar. He said: "Please give me a little water to drink." She did, then said: "I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking" (24:19).

Camels that have traveled far drink fifteen to twenty gallons each. The servant had ten camels. Rebekah ran back and forth to the well, filling and emptying her jar repeatedly until all ten had finished. The servant watched in silence while she worked, learning whether YHWH had prospered his journey (24:21). When she was done he gave her a gold ring and two gold bracelets. She ran home and told her family what had happened. They called her and asked the one question that mattered: "Will you go with this man?" She said: "I will go" (24:58). Not after a period of reflection. Not pending further discussion. She said: I will go.

She went. She saw Isaac walking in the field at evening and lifted her eyes and asked who he was. When she heard it was Isaac she covered herself with her veil. Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent. She became his wife. He loved her (24:67). This is one of the quietest and most complete love notices in Genesis, stated without ceremony, after a long journey, with Sarah's tent as the frame.

The pregnancy was hard. Rebekah inquired of YHWH, and YHWH spoke directly to her: "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger" (25:23). This oracle was given to Rebekah, not to Isaac. She held it for decades. Esau was born first, then Jacob grasping his heel. Isaac loved Esau; Rebekah loved Jacob (25:28). The text states this plainly and without apology.

When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim he called Esau to receive his blessing before he died. Rebekah heard. She went to Jacob and told him what to do. She dressed him in Esau's clothing, put the skins of young goats on his hands and neck so his skin would feel like Esau's, and prepared the savory food herself. Jacob went to his father and deceived him. Isaac felt his hands, smelled his garments, and gave Jacob the blessing that was meant for Esau: "Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you" (27:29). When Esau returned and understood what had happened he wept bitterly. Isaac said that he could not reverse what had been spoken. The blessing stood.

Rebekah acted on the oracle she had been given, "the older shall serve the younger", by means that cost Jacob his relationship with his brother and required him to flee to Haran for years. She told him: "Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?" (27:45). She had secured YHWH's stated purpose. She had destroyed a family's peace doing it. The Scripture does not justify her method. It shows what she did and what came of it. The oracle was true. The blessing held. Esau's bitterness lasted a generation.

Rebekah occupies the Sanctum's Matriarchs wing as the second matriarch of Israel, the woman who received a direct oracle from YHWH before her sons were born and who carried that word into action at great cost. The Sanctum holds her complete record without smoothing the edges: the beauty of Genesis 24, the oracle of 25:23, and the deception of Genesis 27 belong to the same woman.