Tag: Rebekah

In the 24th Chapter of Genesis of The Hebrew Bible, Abraham, the Patriarch of the Abrahamic Faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, calls his servant to him, and bids the servant to swear a most solemn oath, by either holding his, Abraham’s genitals, or placing his hands next to his genitals, a means of oath-taking attested in various ancient cultures, to the following effect:

Put your hand, pray, under my thigh, that I may make you swear by the Lord, God of the heavens and God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanite in whose midst I dwell. But to my land and to my birthplace you shall go, and you shall take a wife for my son, for Isaac.”

Genesis, Chapter 24: 1-4

Genesis records in Chapter 24, 9-10, “And the servant put his hand under Abraham’s thigh and he swore to him concerning this thing. And the servant took ten camels from his master’s camels, with all the bounty of his master in his hand, and he rose and went to Aram-Naharaim, to the city of Nahor.”

When the servant arrived outside the city of Nahor by the well, he said:

“Lord, God of my master Abraham, pray, grant me good speed this day and do kindness with my master Abraham. Here, I am poised by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the town are coming out to draw water. Let it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Pray, tip down your jug that I may drink,’ if she says, ‘Drink, and your camels, too, I shall water,’ she it is whom You have marked for Your servant, for Isaac, and by this I shall know that You have done kindness with my master.” He had barely finished speaking when, look, Rebekah was coming out, who was born to Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her jug on her shoulder. And the young woman was very comely to look at, a virgin, no man had known her. And she came down to the spring and filled her jug and came back up. And the servant ran toward her and said, “Pray, let me sip a bit of water from your jug.” And she said, “Drink, my lord,” and she hurried and lowered her jug onto her hand and let him drink. And she let him drink his fill and said, “For your camels, too, I shall draw water until they drink their fill.” And she hurried and emptied her jug into the trough and she ran again to the well to draw water for all his camels. And the man was staring at her, keeping silent , to know whether the Lord had granted success to his journey. And it happened, when the camels had drunk their fill, that the man took a gold nose ring, a beqa in weight, and two bracelets for her arms, ten gold shekels in weight. And he said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, pray, Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?” And she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah who she bore to Nahor.” And she said to him, “We have abundance of bran and feed as well and room to spend the night.” And the man did obeisance and bowed to the Lord, and he said, “Blessed be the Lord, God of my master Abraham, Who has not left off His steadfast kindness toward my master – me on this journey the Lord led to the house of my master’s kinsmen.”

Genesis Chapter 24: 12-27

Chapter 24 of Genesis concludes with the servant negotiating the betrothal of Rebekah to Isaac, transporting Rebekah to Isaac, and Isaac taking Rebekah as his wife.

This post was inspired by the gorgeous cast bronze statue of Rebekah in my collection and the recent acquisition of The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary by Robert Alter for my library. The Hebrew Bible is highly recommend as a sensitive and inspired translation with deeply insightful scholarly commentary.

It is not to be doubted that soon I will be looking for a scholarly paper or two on the solemn oaths which the ancients took that involved the holding of the genitalia of others … as I am most curious as to when such intimate habits were abandoned for less hands on formalities. I can hardly imagine any Muslim, Christian, or Jew not doing other than seeking criminal charges if someone went near their genitalia in the name of an oath these days – even in the name of the Lord with appropriate appeals to Abrahamic precedents.

I am also intrigued by the citation of weights in the Biblical verses of this chapter. I study weights, and the importance of weights to early trade and civilization cannot be overstated.