Who
The daughter of Bethuel, found at the well by Abraham’s servant, who left her home for a husband she had not seen: asked “Will you go with this man?”, she said, “I will go” (Genesis 24:58). Barren for twenty years, she conceived twins, and was told, “Two nations are in your womb … The elder will serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23); she then helped Jacob win his father’s blessing. Paul takes her twins as the sign that God’s choice rests on his call, not on works (Romans 9:10–13). The Fathers saw in her ready consent at the well a figure of the Church, the bride brought from afar to Christ.
Key verses
- Genesis 24:58
They called Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.”
- Genesis 25:20
Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife.
- Genesis 25:23
The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples will be separated from your body. The one people will be stronger than the other people. The elder will serve the younger.”
- Genesis 27:15
Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son.
- Romans 9:13
Even as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
Where the Bible names her
Family
- Husband
Discussed by
Comments on the verses that name her (8 of 26).
- Jerome, Against Jovinianus Book 1
Jovinianus, concerning whom we know little more than is to be found in the two following books, had published at Rome a Latin treatise containing all, or part of the opinions here controverted, viz. (1) “That a…
- Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews Chapter 1
Occasion of Writing. Relative Position of Jews and Gentiles Illustrated. VII. It happened very recently a dispute was held between a Christian and a Jewish proselyte. Alternately with contentious cable they each spun…
- Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women II.1
Chapter II.—Perfect Modesty Will Abstain from Whatever Tends to Sin, as Well as from Sin Itself. Difference Between Trust and Presumption. If Secure Ourselves, We Must Not Put Temptation in the Way of Others. We Must…
- Hippolytus of Rome, Exegetical Fragments §4
Quoted in Jerome, Epist. 36, ad Damasum, Num. xviii. (from Galland). III. Isaac conveys a figure of God the Father; Rebecca of the Holy Spirit; Esau of the first people and the devil; Jacob of the Church, or of…
- Tertullian, On Modesty Chapter 8
Of the Prodigal Son. But, however, the majority of interpreters of the parables are deceived by the self-same result as is of very frequent occurrence in the case of embroidering garments with purple. When you think…
- Ambrose of Milan, Exposition of the Christian Faith IV.9
Various quibbling arguments, advanced by the Arians to show that the Son had a beginning of existence, are considered and refuted, on the ground that whilst the Arians plainly prove nothing, or if they prove…
- Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John Tractate 11
23–25; III. 1–5. 1. Opportunely has the Lord procured for us that this passage should occur in its order to day: for I suppose you have observed, beloved, that we have undertaken to consider and explain the Gospel…
- Leo the Great, Sermons Sermon 33
On the Feast of the Epiphany, III. I. When we were yet sinners, Christ came to save. Although I know, dearly-beloved, that you are fully aware of the purpose of to-day’s festival, and that the words of the Gospel…