Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Peter Kirk" <Peter_Kirk AT sil.org>]

There is a clear fallacy here, that Rebekah's birth was reported immediately
to Abraham. In fact it is clear that the events reported to Abraham in Gen
22:20-24 took place over a considerable number of years, at least long
enough for one woman to bear eight children and for one of them to be old
enough to have a daughter. It seems more probable that this was a report
brought to Abraham of many, perhaps 20+, years of family history from
relatives with whom he had lost touch. Also there could have been a
considerable lapse of time between this report reaching Abraham and Sarah's
subsequent death; the report could have come shortly after the near
sacrifice of Isaac, which seems to have taken place when he was still a boy,
so perhaps 20 years before his mother died.

Peter Kirk

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Christine Bass [mailto:christinebass AT home.com]
> Sent: 07 September 2001 18:58
> To: Biblical Hebrew
> Subject: Genesis 22 thru 24: Rebekah's age
>
>
> Did Isaac marry Rebekah when she was three years old? In reading
> the account
> in Genesis 22 through 24 she is described as a fair damsel, a
> virgin who was
> out drawing water for some ten camels and who went into Sarah's tent with
> Isaac and comforted him not long afterwards. That Abraham's servant would
> select a three year old bride for 40 year old Isaac does not seem
> to be how
> this
> text reads. Am I missing something?
>
> Thanks for any insights on this.
> Christine Bass
>
> (The interpretation I am inquring about is below.)
>
> **************************
> Someone asked how it is derived that Yitzchak married Rivkah when she was
> three years old?
>
> Here is how Rashi derives the chronology, on the verse Genesis
> 25:20 at the
> beginning of Parashat Toldoth.
>
> CHUMASH:
> And Yitzchak was forty years old when he married Rivkah, the daughter of
> Bethuel the Aramean of Padan-Aram, the sister of Laban.
>
> Rashi:
> FORTY YEARS OLD
> For when Abraham came back from Morah after the Akedah, he was informed of
> the birth of Rivkah (Genesis 22:23, at the end of Parashat Vayera), and
> Yitzchak was thirty-seven years old at that time, for it was at
> the time of
> the Akedah that Sarah died. And from the time Isaac was born, until the
> Akedah, there were 37 years, since Sarah was 90 at the time she gave birth
> to Yitzchak, and 127 when she died, as it says, "This is the life
> of Sarah,"
> etc. (Genesis 23:1). See, now Yitzchak was 37 years old when
> Sarah died, and
> it was at that time Rivkah was born. He waited three years and
> then married
> her.
>
>
>
> What you're saying is that the description of Rivka seems to you to be
> beyond the capabilities of a normal three year old. Let me remind you that
> Rivka was not a normal three year old, she was one of the great
> Matriarchs,
> and therefore was a very extraordinary, remarkable person.
>
> Even recent history gives us examples of child prodigies who perform far
> beyond what is considered normal development for their age. It is hard to
> imagine, listening to the symphonies of Mozart, that some of that
> music was
> composed when he was only four and five years old.
>
> You also have to consider that Rivka was not only extraordinarily advanced
> for a girl of her age, but her conduct was so remarkable that to
> Eliezer it
> was a clear sign that she was chosen by G-d.
>