Rebecca or Rebekah () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical tradition, Rebecca's father was Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, also called Aram-Naharaim. Rebecca's brother was Laban the Aramean, and she was the granddaughter of Milcah and Nahor, the brother of Abraham. Rebecca and Isaac were one of the four couples that some believe are buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs, the other three being Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, and Jacob and Leah. Most scholars have considered Rebecca's historicity uncertain.
Early life
Rabbinic tradition states that Rebecca was born concurrent to the Binding of Isaac. After Sarah died, Abraham went about finding a wife for his son Isaac. He commanded his servant (whom the Torah commentators identify as Eliezer of Damascus)Scherman, Rabbi Nosson (1993). The Chumash. Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah Publications, pp. 109–21. to journey to Aram Naharaim in Mesopotamia to select a bride from his own family, rather than engage Isaac to a local Canaanite girl. Abraham sent along expensive jewelry, clothing and dainties as gifts to the bride and her family. If the girl had refused to follow him, Abraham stated that the servant would be absolved of his responsibility, and on no account was he to take Isaac back to Mesopotamia.
The servant devised a test in order to find the right wife for Isaac. As he stood at the well outside the city of Nahor, with his men and ten camels laden with goods, he prayed to God:
Let the maiden to whom I say, 'Please, lower your jar that I may drink,' and who replies, 'Drink, and I will also water your camels'—let her be the one whom You have decreed for Your servant Isaac. Thereby shall I know that You have dealt graciously with my master. — Genesis 24:14
Immediately, and even before he had finished praying, a young girl suddenly came to the well,United Bible Societies, Translation commentary on Genesis 24:15, based on Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG., A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators), New York: UBS, 1997, accessed on 22 June 202 6 and offered to draw water for him to drink, as well as water to fill a trough for all his camels. Rebecca continued to draw water until all the camels were sated, proving her kind and generous nature and her suitability for entering Abraham's household.
The servant immediately gave her a golden necklace (Septuagint translation) or nose ring (Masoretic translation) and two golden bracelets,, , which Rebecca hurried to show her mother. Seeing the jewelry, Rebecca's brother Laban ran out to greet the guest and bring him inside. The servant recounted the oath he made to Abraham and all the details of his trip to and meeting with Rebecca in fine detail, after which her brother Laban and her father Bethuel agreed that she could return with him. After hosting the party overnight, the family tried to keep Rebecca with them longer. The servant insisted that they ask the girl herself, and she agreed to go immediately. Her family sent her off with her nurse, Deborah (according to Rashi), and blessed her as she left: "May you, our sister, become thousands of myriads; may your offspring gain possession of the gates of their foes".: New Revised Standard Version Abraham had also, previously, been promised that his offspring would "possess the gate of their enemies".: NRSV
As Rebecca and her entourage approached Abraham's home, they spied Isaac from a distance in the fields of Beer-lahai-roi. The TalmudBerachot 26b. and the Midrash explain that Isaac was praying, as he instituted Mincha, the afternoon prayer. Seeing such a spiritually exalted man, Rebecca immediately dismounted from her camel and asked the accompanying servant who he was. When she heard that this was her future husband, she modestly covered herself with a veil. Isaac brought her into the tent of his deceased mother Sarah, married her, and loved her.
According to Rashi, the three miracles that characterized Sarah's tent while she was alive, and that disappeared with her death, reappeared when Rebecca entered the tent. These were: A lamp burned in her tent from Shabbat eve to Shabbat eve, there was a blessing in her dough, and a cloud hovered over her tent (symbolizing the Divine Presence).
Marriage and motherhood
According to the traditional counting cited by Rashi, Isaac was 37 years old at the time of the Binding of Isaac. The reasoning for that age is that Sarah, who gave birth to Isaac when she was 90, died after the binding when she was 127 years old, making Isaac around 37 at that time. The Biblical text is silent on Rebecca's age at marriage, while the Book of Jubilees (written before 100 BCE.) determines her age at 20 years. Later rabbinical commentators have disagreed on her age; some (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, dated by most scholars after the Islamic Conquests) interpreted Rebecca's age at 3 at the time of her marriage based on the idea that she was born when Abraham ascended Mount Moriah, but other rabbis concluded that she was 14 years old (11 years before the ascension); both numbers are present in the Seder Olam Rabbah (edited after 160 CE). Twenty years elapsed before they had children; Rebecca was said to be barren, and throughout that time, both Isaac and Rebecca prayed fervently to God for offspring. God eventually answered Isaac's prayers and Rebecca conceived.
Rebecca was extremely uncomfortable during her pregnancy as her unborn twins struggled with each other, and she went to inquire of God why she was suffering so. H. E. Ryle suggests that she may have traveled to a sacred place associated with divine revelation such as Beersheba.Ryle, H. E. (1921), Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Genesis 25, accessed on 18 July 2026 According to the Midrash, whenever she would pass a house of Torah study, Jacob would struggle to come out; whenever she would pass a house of idolatry, Esau would agitate to come out.Genesis Rabbah 63:6. Thinking that she was carrying one baby who was displaying conflicting propensities, Rebecca sought enlightenment at the yeshiva of Shem and Eber. There she received the prophecy that twins were fighting in her womb and would continue to fight all their lives. The prophecy also said that the older would serve the younger; its statement, "One people will be stronger than the other" has been taken to mean that the two nations will never gain power simultaneously; when one falls, the other will rise, and vice versa.Rashi on Genesis 25:23. According to tradition, Rebecca did not share the prophecy with her husband.
When the time came for Rebecca to give birth, the first child to come out emerged red and hairy all over, with his heel grasped by the hand of the second to come out. Onlookers named the first עשו, Esau ('Esav or 'Esaw, meaning either "rough", "sensibly felt", "handled", from , asah, "do" or "make";Strong's Concordance 6215, 6213. or "completely developed", from , assui, since Esau had as much hair as a child who was much older).Rashi on Genesis 50:50. The second was named יעקב, Jacob (Ya'aqob or Ya'aqov, meaning "heel-catcher", "supplanter", "leg-puller", "he who follows upon the heels of one", from , aqab or aqav, "seize by the heel", "circumvent", "restrain", a wordplay upon , iqqebah or iqqbah, "heel").Strong's Concordance 3290, 6117. The Bible states that Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.Genesis 25:26.
The Midrash says that as boys, people did not notice much difference between them. When they reached the age of 13, Jacob busied himself in the house of study, while Esau busied himself with idolatry.Genesis Rabbah 63:10. The descriptions of the two young men hint at their opposing spiritual natures: "The lads grew up and Esau became one who knows hunting, a man of the field; but Jacob was a wholesome man, abiding in tents".Genesis 25:27. The description of Esau as a "hunter" hints to his skill of trapping his father with his mouth; for example, he would ask Isaac whether tithes should be taken from salt and straw, making his father think he was scrupulous in keeping the mitzvot.Genesis Rabbah 63:15. Scripture notes that the attitudes of their parents toward the boys differed: "Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of hunting, but Rebecca loved Jacob".Genesis 25:28.
According to the Talmud, immediately after Abraham died, Jacob prepared a lentil stew as a traditional mourner's meal for his father, Isaac.Bava Batra 16b. The Hebrew Bible states that Esau, returning famished from the fields, begged Jacob to give him some of the stew. (Esau referred to the dish as "that red, red stuff", giving rise to his nickname, ('Edom, meaning "Red")). Jacob offered to give Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for his birthright (the right to be recognized as firstborn), and Esau agreed. The Talmudic dating indicates both men were 15 years old at the time.
At a later time, a famine struck the land of Israel and Isaac moved his family, upon God's command, to Gerar, which was ruled by Abimelech, king of the Philistines. Like Abraham before him, who called Sarah his "sister" rather than his "wife" so that the Egyptians would not kill him and take his wife, Isaac told the people of Gerar that Rebecca was his sister. She was not molested, but one day Abimelech looked through the window and saw Isaac "sporting" (a euphemism for sexual play)Genesis Rabbah 64:5. with her. Abimelech called Isaac on his lie, and then warned others not to touch Rebecca. Eventually Isaac parted from Abimelech in peace.
At the age of 40 (the same age his father had been when he married), Esau took two Hittite wives, Judith the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath the daughter of Elon, who vexed Isaac and Rebecca to no end, as these women were also idol-worshippers. One reason why Isaac became blind in his old age was due to the smoke of the incense that these women offered to their idols.Rashi on Genesis 52:1, citing Tanhuma 8.
Deception of Isaac Isaac became blind in his old age and decided to bestow the blessing of the firstborn upon Esau. According to the Midrash, Isaac had reached the age of 132, five years past the age of his mother, Sarah, had been at the time of her death. According to Genesis, Isaac had reached the age of 137. At this time, the Sages state that one should begin to think he might not exceed the age of whichever parent died first.Scherman, Rabbi Nosson (1993). The Chumash. Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah Publications, p. 135. Isaac therefore sent Esau out to the fields to trap and cook a piece of game for him, so that he could eat it and bless Esau before he died.
Rebecca overheard this conversation and realized that Isaac's blessings should go to Jacob, since she was told before the twins' birth that the older son would serve the younger. She therefore ordered Jacob to bring her two goats from the flock, which she cooked in the way Isaac loved, and had him bring them to his father in place of Esau.
When Jacob protested that his father would recognize the deception and curse him as soon as he felt him, since Esau was hairy and Jacob smooth-skinned, Rebecca said that the curse would be on her instead. Before she sent Jacob to his father, she dressed him in Esau's garments and laid goatskins on his arms and neck to simulate hairy skin.