Story of Isaac and Rebecca in Genesis
The story of Isaac and Rebekah, primarily found in Genesis 24–27, details the marriage of Abraham's son Isaac and the subsequent birth and early lives of their twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Isaac, whose name means "laughter" [9], was the only son Abraham had with Sarah [5]. He was forty years old when he married Rebekah [2, 6], who was the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean and sister of Laban, from Padan-Aram [2, 10].
Abraham initiated the search for a wife for Isaac, sending his servant (traditionally identified as Eliezer) to his homeland to find a suitable spouse from among his own kindred, rather than from the Canaanites [14]. This decision was crucial for maintaining the covenant faith, which could have been imperiled by marriage into the "corrupt, syncretistic people" of Canaan [13]. The servant's journey and encounter with Rebekah at a well are recounted in detail in Genesis 24. Rebekah, described as an "ensnarer" [7] or "noose" [10], demonstrated a readiness to leave her father's house immediately [10]. Both Laban and Bethuel acknowledged that the matter of Rebekah's marriage to Isaac had "come forth from the Lord" [15].
Upon Rebekah's arrival, Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and "he loved her: and so was Isaac coforted over his mother" [4]. Rabbinic tradition interprets this passage to mean that Rebekah restored the spiritual blessings associated with Sarah's tent; specifically, a cloud that had been suspended over the tent entrance during Sarah's lifetime returned with Rebekah's arrival [11].
For nineteen years, Rebekah was childless [7]. Isaac "besought the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and he heard him, and made Rebecca to conceive" [1]. When Rebekah became pregnant, she experienced a tumultuous pregnancy, with the children struggling within her. The Lord revealed to her that "two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels: and the one people shall overcome the other, and the elder shall serve the younger" (Genesis 25:23). This prophecy foreshadowed the future rivalry between her sons, Esau and Jacob [13].
Esau was born first, red and hairy, and Jacob followed, grasping Esau's heel [7]. Isaac favored Esau, who was a skillful hunter, while Rebekah loved Jacob, who was a quiet man dwelling in tents (Genesis 25:27-28). This parental partiality is identified by some commentators as an "unwarrantable parental attachment" that led to division within the family and "a long catalogue of both natural and moral evils" [12].
A significant event in their story is Jacob's acquisition of Esau's birthright for a bowl of stew (Genesis 25:29-34). Later, Rebekah orchestrated a deception to ensure Jacob received the blessing intended for Esau from a blind Isaac [7]. She directed Jacob in carrying out the deceit, foresaw Esau's anger, and then moved Isaac to send Jacob away to Padan-Aram to avoid his brother's wrath and find a wife from her own family [7]. While Jacob did receive the promised blessing, some interpretations suggest he obtained it "not because of his deceit, but in spite of it," as God's promise would have been fulfilled in another way [8].
Isaac and Rebekah also faced challenges during a famine, which led them to Gerar. There, Isaac, fearing for his life because of Rebekah's beauty, presented her as his sister, echoing Abraham's earlier actions with Sarah [16]. King Abimelech discovered the deception and reproached Isaac [16]. The couple also experienced distress from their sons' choices; Esau's marriages to Hittite women were a "grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah" (Genesis 26:35, KJV) [3]. The narrative of Isaac's family, particularly the struggle between Jacob and Esau, constitutes a major part of the book of Genesis, highlighting themes of divine promise, human fallibility, and the unfolding of God's covenant plan [13].
Sources
- Genesis “Genesis 25:21 (DRC) — And Isaac besought the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and he heard him, and made Rebecca to conceive.”
- Genesis “Genesis 25:20 (Darby) — And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebecca as wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian.”
- Genesis “Genesis 26:35 (DRC) — And they both offended the mind of Isaac and Rebecca.”
- Genesis “Genesis 24:67 (Tyndale) — The Isaac broughte her in to his mother Saras tente ad toke Rebecca and she became his wife and he loved her: and so was Isaac coforted over his mother.”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Isaac — Laughter. (1) Israel, or the kingdom of the ten tribes (Amos 7:9, 16). (2.) The only son of Abraham by Sarah. He was the longest lived of the three patriarchs (Gen. 21:1-3). He was circumcised when eight days old (4-7); and when he was probably two years old a great feast was held in connection with his being weaned. The next memorable event in his life is that connected with the command of God given to Abraham to offer him up as a sacrifice on a mountain in the land of Moriah (Gen. 22). (See [296]ABRAHAM.) When he was forty years of age Rebekah was chosen fo”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Isaac — (laughter), the son whom Sara bore to Abraham, in the hundredth year of his age, at Gerar. (B.C. 1897.) In his infancy he became the object of Ishmael's jealousy; and in his youth the victim, in intention, of Abraham's great sacrificial act of faith. When forty years old he married Rebekah his cousin, by whom, when he was sixty, he had two sons, Esau and Jacob. Driven by famine to Gerar, he acquired great wealth by his flocks but was repeatedly dispossessed by the Philistines of the wells which he sunk at convenient stations. After the deceit by which Jacob ac”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Rebekah — (ensnarer), daughter of Bethuel, (Genesis 22:23) and sister of Laban, married to Isaac. She is first presented to us in (Genesis 24:1) ... where the beautiful story of her marriage is related. (B.C. 1857.) For nineteen years she was childless: then Esau and Jacob were born, the younger being the mother's companion and favorite. (Genesis 25:19-28) Rebekah suggested the deceit that was practiced by Jacob on his blind father. She directed and aided him in carrying it out, foresaw the probable consequence of Esau's anger, and prevented it by moving Isaac to send”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Jacob — (supplanter), the second son of Isaac and Rebekah. He was born with Esau, probably at the well of Lahai-roi, about B.C. 1837. His history is related in the latter half of the book of Genesis. He bought the birthright from his brother Esau, and afterward acquired the blessing intended for Esau, by practicing a well-known deceit on Isaac. (Jacob did not obtain the blessing because of his deceit, but in spite of it. That which was promised he would have received in some good way; but Jacob and his mother, distrusting God's promise, sought the promised blessing in”
- Hitchcock's Bible Names “Hitchcock's Bible Names: Isaac — laughter”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Rebekah — A noose, the daughter of Bethuel, and the wife of Isaac (Gen. 22:23; 24:67). The circumstances under which Abraham's "steward" found her at the "city of Nahor," in Padan-aram, are narrated in Gen. 24-27. "She can hardly be regarded as an amiable woman. When we first see her she is ready to leave her father's house for ever at an hour's notice; and her future life showed not only a full share of her brother Laban's duplicity, but the grave fault of partiality in her relations to her children, and a strong will, which soon controlled the gentler nature of her”
- Midrash Rabbah (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit Rabbah 60:16: “Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah; he took Rebecca, she became his wife, and he loved her, and Isaac was comforted after his mother” (Genesis 24:67). “Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah” 59 The word “of” is actually missing in the Hebrew, so that the verse literally means: “Isaac brought her into the tent. Sarah his mother.” – all the days that Sarah was alive, there was a cloud suspended over the entrance to her tent. When she died, that cloud ceased. When Rebecca came, the cloud returned. All the days that Sarah was ”
- Genesis (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Genesis 25:28: Isaac loved Esau - but Rebekah loved Jacob - This is an early proof of unwarrantable parental attachment to one child in preference to another. Isaac loved Esau, and Rebekah loved Jacob; and in consequence of this the interests of the family were divided, and the house set in opposition to itself. The fruits of this unreasonable and foolish attachment were afterwards seen in a long catalogue of both natural and moral evils among the descendants of both families.”
- Genesis (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Genesis 25:19: 25:19–35:29 This account of the family of Isaac, the chosen son of Abraham, mostly recounts Jacob’s struggle for the blessing (25:27-34; chs 27–33). 25:19-26 Jacob’s struggle for supremacy began before the twins were born (see Hos 12:3). 25:19-20 Isaac . . . married Rebekah: Isaac’s marriage tied him and his family even more closely to Abraham’s ancestors. Had he married a Canaanite, the covenant faith would have been imperiled by this corrupt, syncretistic people.”
- Genesis (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Genesis 24 (introduction): Abraham, being solicitous to get his son Isaac property married, calls his confidential servant, probably Eliezer, and makes him swear that he will not take a wife for Isaac from among the Canaanites, Gen 24:1-3, but from among his own kindred, Gen 24:4. The servant proposes certain difficulties, Gen 24:5, which Abraham removes by giving him the strongest assurances of God's direction in the business, Gen 24:6, Gen 24:7, and then specifies the conditions of the oath, Gen 24:8. The form of the oath itself, Gen 24:9. The servant makes preparations for hi”
- Midrash Rabbah (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit Rabbah 60:10: “Laban and Betuel answered and said: The matter has come forth from the Lord; we can speak to you neither bad nor good” (Genesis 24:50). “Behold, Rebecca is before you, take her and go, and she will be a wife for your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken” (Genesis 24:51). “Laban and Betuel answered and said: The matter has come forth from the Lord” – from where did it come forth? Rabbi Yehoshua bar Neḥemya in the name of Rabbi Ḥanina bar Yitzḥak: It came forth from Mount Moriah. 39 It was immediately after Abraham’s binding of Isaac on Mount Moriah that ”
- Genesis (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Genesis 26 (introduction): A famine in the land obliges Isaac to leave Beer-sheba and go to Gerar, v. 1. God appears to him, and warns him not to go to Egypt, v. 2. Renews the promises to him which he had made to his father Abraham, vv. 3-5. Isaac dwells at Gerar, v. 6. Being questioned concerning Rebekah, and fearing to lose his life on her account, he calls her his sister, v. 7. Abimelech the king discovers, by certain familiarities which he had noticed between Isaac and Rebekah, that she was his wife, v. 8. Calls Isaac and reproaches him for his insincerity, vv. 9, 10. He giv”