Rebekah
Rebekah ( Hebrew רִבְקָה Rivkah ; also Rebecca ) is a biblical person of the Jewish Torah in the Tanakh and the Christian Old Testament .
The events surrounding Rebekah related to the Erzelternerzählungen in the first book of Moses (Genesis) 24-27 EU . Rebekah is the sister of Laban , daughter of the Aramean Bethuel (Betuël; genealogy in Gen 22.23 EU ; 24.24–47 EU ) and granddaughter of Milka and Nahor (Abraham's brother who stayed in Mesopotamia ). She is the great niece of Abraham, the cousin and wife of Isaac , the son of Abraham , and mother of the twins Esau and Jacob .
etymology
The meaning of the Hebrew name is controversial. Nestle leads the name back to the Hebrew phrase רב קוה ("great patience", "great expectation"). Even in Philo's work , Rebekah embodies patience and virtue. Tribe interprets Rivqāh as a subsidiary form of biqrāh , which can be traced back to the Arabic baqarat ("cow"). Similar animal names can also be found in Leah or Rahel. Interpretations of Arabic rabkatun ("loop") or a connection with the neo-Hebrew word רבקה ("coupling"), which is supposed to symbolize the connection between the peoples of Israel and Edom, are considered uncertain .
Biblical stories - literary figure
Gen 24 EU tells how the very old Abraham sends his servant (presumably Eliezer, Gen 15.2 EU ) back to the country of his relatives (meaning the city of Harran in Syria, today Turkey) to buy one for his son Isaac Finding a godly wife because he doesn't want his son to marry a woman from Canaan, where pagan gods are worshiped. When he arrived in Haran late in the afternoon, the servant was camped at a well in front of the city when the women came out to fetch water. Rebekah is among them. The servant asks her for a drink of water from her jug, whereupon she also gives his camels to drink. This is the sign for the servant that Rebekah is the right wife for Isaac, because in a prayer he had previously turned to YHWH with the request that the woman destined for Isaac should behave in this way (Gen. 24.14 EU ).
In the house of Laban, Rebekah's brother, the servant announces his assignment, presents his master with valuable gifts and asks for Rebekah's hand for Isaac, which is granted to him. Rebekah also agrees with the decision and follows Abraham's servant to Canaan. She is accompanied by her nanny Debora (Hebrew דְּבוֹרָה, dəvorah), who later belonged to Jacob's household and died in Bethel (Gen 35.8 EU ), and several servants (Gen 24.61 EU ). In her new home she becomes the wife of Isaac, who was forty at the time and who wins her love (Gen 25.20 EU ). For many years the marriage was childless because of Rebekah's sterility. Only after years of constant prayer from Isaac, YHWH lets her become pregnant (Gen 25.21 EU ). When Rebekah gives birth to twins, her husband Isaac is already sixty years old (Gen 25.26 EU ).
Gen 25,25–26 EU tells how the twins Esau and Jacob were born. The unusual thing about Gen 25: 22-23 EU is that Rebekah speaks directly to YHWH and receives from him the promise of a great offspring. In a dream their God prophesies that the elder Esau will have to serve the younger Jacob. This prefigures the future of the peoples who have descended from both ( Gen 25,23 EU ). The people of the Edomites are derived from Esau, the Twelve Tribes of Israel from Jacob .
In Gen 26 EU the motif of endangering the ancestor appears, which can also be found in Abraham and Sarah. Isaac denies his marriage to Rebekah in Gerar ( Philistine city ) and presents her as his sister because he is afraid of being killed for her sake (because of her beauty). The deception is recognized when Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, watches through the window how the two treat each other. Contrary to expectations, Abimelech places Isaac and Rebekah under special protection ( Gen 26.1–11 EU ). Later there is even a bond between the two.
In Gen 27 EU , like in Gen 24 EU , Rebekah is presented as a very active woman. She uses a trick to help her younger son Jacob to sneak the firstborn blessing from his father by pretending to be his brother Esau. In doing so, it violates applicable law, but on the other hand tries to fulfill the promise of YHWH from Gen.25.
Rebekah, a historical figure? - anachronisms
The Rebekah story is characterized by anachronisms . The Aramean people , from which Rebekah is said to come, can only be known from 1300 BC. Be proven. Around 1500 BC When Rebekah is said to have lived, there were no Arameans. The kinship relationship between Israelites and Aramaeans was constructed by the authors of Genesis from the retrospective. It also seems improbable that Abraham's servant sat down by the well and spoke to a woman. According to the applicable social rules, men met at the city gate and women at the well. It was unusual to break these gender-specific regulations. 24.17–25 EU reports a behavior of Rebekah that advances the story, but is difficult to imagine as an “actual event”. In connection with the particular search for a suitable woman, such unusual behavior on the part of the servant could also be understandable.
A programmatic narrative - intentions
For the reasons mentioned above, it can be assumed that the story about Rebekah was written from the retrospective. It is believed that it was written in the Babylonian exile or in the early post-exilic period (587–450 BC). What is certain is that Gen 24 to 27 are not a historical depiction of the events; rather, it can be assumed that model figures, theological images and statements should be passed on in these narratives. From the assumption that the Israelite identity and the monotheistic veneration of YHWH developed primarily during the time of exile, the parent parents described in Genesis are to be understood as programmatic model figures and form the fundamental foundation of Israelite identity. With regard to the story about Rebekah, it is striking how YHWH selects her as Isaac's wife and also directs the events in the following. It should be made clear by way of example that YHWH himself is shaping the history of his chosen people Israel.
Parallels to other people
Rebekah - the feminist counterpart of Abraham?
In comparison with the Abraham story, it is striking that in Genes 24 to 27 similar motifs are used. Just as Abraham portrays the model figure of trust and obedience in God by setting out on the orders of YHWH for a country still unknown to him, Rebekah also accepts the challenge of marrying a man she does not even know. Just as Abraham was chosen directly by God, so was Rebekah also chosen directly by God at the well. Her freedom of choice and the conscious decision associated with it make Rebekah the female counterpart of Abraham. In both stories, the motives of breaking out into uncertainty, abandoning old bonds, trusting in God's guidance and the path to a new country are central. Like Abraham, Rebekah becomes a figure of identification for the Israelite people during their time in exile.
The motif of blessing and promise is also a continuation of the Abraham story: after Rebekah asks YHWH for advice regarding the twins quarreling in the womb, she receives the promise of a rich offspring ( Gen 25.23 EU ). The blessing that Abraham received directly from YHWH ( Gen 22.17 EU ) was bestowed on Rebekah through her family on behalf of:
"You, our sister, become a thousand times tens of thousands, and may your descendants take possession of the gate of their haters!"
This creates a clear connection between the two. Rebekah becomes the only female bearer of a divine promise.
In intervening in Rebekah's sterility, similar to Abraham's wife Sarah, it becomes clear how YHWH is helping her. All in all, the same image of God is passed on in both pictorial narratives: YHWH is on the one hand the one who urges to leave, but on the other hand also the one who prepares his blessing in the uncertainty. In more general terms this means: YHWH is at the same time a demanding, but also a helping, blessing God.
Special features of Rebekah in comparison to the archmothers Sara and Rahel
It is noticeable that Rebekah has more speaking parts in the final literary form of the story than the other two patriarchs in the respective texts. You are free to go with the servant and marry Isaac. She is described as hospitable, helpful, efficient, persistent (drawing water at the well) and kind-hearted. Neither of the other two women become part of so many attributes. Furthermore, Rebekah is characterized by her cleverness and cunning, which, however, is put in a negative light in the course of the deception about the firstborn blessing. In the narratives, Isaac appears passive compared to his wife, while she actively asserts her will. It is explicitly reported that Isaac loves his wife ( Gen. 24.67 EU ).
Martin Noth claims in his book Tradition of the Pentateuch :
“Women only serve as accessories, neither their actions count, nor the action of God on them; as personalities they are to be seen exclusively towards men, in the traditions of the faith of Israel they are meaningless! "
On closer inspection, however, this does not apply to Rebekah, because she actively ensures that God's promise about her sons is fulfilled ( Gen 25:23 EU ): She ensures the blessing of the younger Jacob and thus his priority over his older brother . Furthermore, she helps Jacob escape, who without this advice might have found death through his brother's hand.
Like Sarah and Rachel, Rebekah is one of the patriarchs of the people of Israel. The tension between sterility and the promise of offspring, which always prevails in all three stories, is lifted by divine grace. All sterile women thus become significant figures. They are healed through YHWH's direct intervention (see also Barren in the New Testament).
Furthermore, there are parallels between Sara and Rebekah in the endangerment of the ancestor (Gen 12 EU ; 20 EU ; 26 EU ). Both are in danger of being married by other men because their husbands (who were also their cousins), who fear they will be killed because of the beauty of their wives, pass them off as sisters. Both are described as very beautiful women. YHWH's helping intervention is clear in both narratives of danger (Gen 12.10 - 20 EU ; 26.1-11 EU ).
All three pairs of parents are endogamous marriages because the women come from the same clan. Sarah came with Abraham from Ur, Rebekah and Rachel are from the Aramaic Harran . However, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob each have more than one wife who did not belong to this clan. The scheme of Rebekka's narrative of the birth corresponds to the same pattern as that of the other grandmothers: pregnancy, announcement of a birth or its more detailed circumstances and the birth of the child. It is also noticeable that all three grandmothers only give birth to sons and that their number of children is limited to a maximum of two. Likewise, pregnancy only takes place after the man has prayed to God for his sterile wife and the latter gives his approval. These are typical elements for the motif of the ancestress, which on the one hand create tension in the narrative and on the other hand show the direct connection of the ancestral parents to YHWH.
Representations of Rebekah
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The following information on the representations of Rebekah in music and art can be found in Martin Bocian's Lexicon of Biblical Persons .
In music
The stories about Rebekah were often set to music. In 1761 a first oratorio was written in London, composed by C. Smith. It is believed that he linked Handel's music with the text, as he was his successor at court. Further settings followed in 1766 by Michael Haydn ( Rebekka as bride ), in 1865 by B. Pisani with his opera Rebekka in Milan; In 1883 DF Hodges wrote a dramatic cantata in Boston; Joseph Barnby wrote the oratorio Rebekah for the Music Festival in Hereford and in 1881 César Franck created a biblical scene.
In art
Representations of Rebekah often exist in the Jacob / Esau cycles. For example, the encounter with the servant at the well, the offering of the drink, the watering of the camels, the return journey or the encounter with Isaac are shown. Raphael's four frescoes from the Isaac cycle in the loggias of the Vatican always show Rebekah with her favorite son.
literature
- Angelika Berlejung : Article firstborn / inheritance . In: Handbook of theological basic concepts for the Old and New Testament (HGANT), pp. 163–164.
- Angelika Berlejung: Article social status / society and institution . In: Handbook of theological basic concepts for the Old and New Testament (HGANT), pp. 53–57.
- Martin Bocian: Lexicon of Biblical Persons. With their continued existence in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, poetry, music and art (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 460). 2nd, expanded edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-520-46002-5 (first edition 1989).
- Karl Cramer: Art. Rebekka . Bo Reicke, Leonhard Rost (ed.): Biblisch-Historisches Handwörterbuch , Göttingen 1994, p. 1558.
- Irmtraut Fischer: Art. Rebekka . LThK, p. 869.
- Christian Frevel : Article: Woman / Man . In: Handbook of theological basic concepts for the Old and New Testament (HGANT), pp. 188–190.
- Hans-Christoph Goßmann: Rebekka, daughter of Bethuel. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 7, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-048-4 , Sp. 1435-1436.
- Kurt Hennig (Ed.): Jerusalemer Bibellexikon (Original title: Illustrated Dictionary and Concordance of the Bible , translated by The Jerusalem Publishing House, contributor to the German edition: Gabriele Ackermann et al.). 3rd, corrected new edition, Hänssler, Neuhausen-Stuttgart 1995 (first edition 1989), ISBN 3-7751-1271-5 .
- Fritz Rienecker, Gerhard Maier (Ed.): Lexicon for the Bible . Wuppertal 2003.
- Silvia Schroer: Art. Erotic / love. Bible. Old testament. In: Elisabeth Gössmann u. a. (Ed.): Dictionary of Feminist Theology , 2nd, completely revised and fundamentally expanded edition, Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2002, pp. 112–113, ISBN 3-579-00285-6 .
Web links
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- Literature by and about Rebekka in the catalog of the German National Library
- Renate Klein: Rebekah. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.): The Scientific Biblical Lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff.
- Rebekah in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints