Matriarchs and Mothers
Rebekah
Chosen Bride of Isaac
Description
Selected by divine providence to be Isaac's wife, Rebekah's kindness at the well revealed her character.Wells served as crucial community gathering places in ancient Near Eastern culture, making them natural settings for significant encounters. Abraham's servant sought God's guidance through a specific sign involving hospitality at the well—Rebekah's willingness to water not only him but also his ten camels (requiring drawing perhaps 25-30 gallons of water) demonstrated extraordinary kindness and industriousness, confirming God's providential selection. Her favoritism toward Jacob and complicity in deceiving Isaac demonstrated human weakness, yet God's purposes prevailed.
Key Verses
And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.
And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.
And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.
And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
And the LORD said unto her, The two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.