Talk:Rebecca

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Rebekah Royalty?[edit]

Is it possible that Rebekah was royalty? She lived in a city named after her grandfather. I think I have heard this before, but I am not sure. Has anyone heard this before? 71.131.0.249 03:16, 9 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Spelling[edit]

The title is spelled rebecca, but the article has Rebekah all through it. Anyone know the correct spelling? phocks 05:06, 26 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What's just as bad is that the last section explains for the second and third time that Rebekah = Rebecca, which is obvious anyway. Chris the speller 15:16, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I think that this should be moved to Rebekah, or changed to Rebecca throughout. Soliloquial (talk) 01:47, 6 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If this article refers to a "Rebecca" being in the bible. The correct biblical spelling is "Rebekah" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.254.39.161 (talk) 21:07, 19 June 2008

Surely this page should be the disambiguation page, never heard of the subject of this article. Seems just another nondescript fictional character amongst a cast of thousands. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.168.217.182 (talk) 09:46, 21 July 2008

The Biblical spelling is "Rebekah", not "Rebecca". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Binglebongle2000 (talk • contribs) 13:16, 11 August 2008

The Biblical spelling is "Rebekah."I think they need to do a little research and fix the mistakes. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rsmith1011 (talk • contribs) 01:45, 14 November 2008

There is a common misconception that "Rebekah" is the original (or only) Biblical spelling of the name, but that is incorrect. (1) Rebecca is used in the King James Version of the Bible too (see Romans 9:10). (2) Furthermore, Rebecca is the older Biblical spelling. The Latin Vulgate version of the Bible was compiled in the 4th Century A.D. and was used for many centuries before the Bible was translated into English. The Latin Vulgate uses the spelling Rebecca exclusively. Here is a quote from the Latin Vulgate for Genesis 49:31 (emphasis added): "ibi sepelierunt eum et Sarram uxorem eius ibi sepultus est Isaac cum Rebecca coniuge ibi et Lia condita iacet." (An old English translation of the verse is: "There they buried him, and Sara his wife: there was Isaac buried with Rebecca, his wife: there also Lia doth lie buried.") When the Bible was translated into English in the 1600s, the spelling Rebecca was retained in Romans 9:10, while the spelling Rebekah was used in Genesis. So both spellings of the name are Biblical; although, Rebecca is the older spelling.---- Martha Hicks 5/12/12

Here is a link to an online version of the Latin Vulgate: http://www.latinvulgate.com/verse.aspx?t=0&b=1&c=49 And, here is a link to "The Official King James Bible Online." http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/1611_Romans-9-10/ ---- Martha Hicks 5/12/12

The spelling "Rebecca" has been the more widely used Anglicized spelling for centuries. The name Rebecca is derived from an ancient Hebrew name, which was pronounced "Rivka."---- Martha Hicks 5/12/12

The 'Rebecca' spelling in the KJV is a completely different character. The character this article is talking is generally referred to as 'Rebekah'.Jcvamp (talk) 01:29, 13 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
My mistake, she's the same character, but the spelling 'Rebecca' is a only used once, whereas 'Rebekah' is the most commonly used spelling.Jcvamp (talk) 01:34, 13 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Esau Wicked?[edit]

"Rebekah is buried quickly and without eulogies, for it would be a disgrace to publicize that she was the mother of a wicked person like Esau"

Where has this been noted? Esau had his birth right stolen, then he forgives his brother for it, what has he done to be labelled as 'wicked'? 68.112.120.18 02:35, 14 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]


  • Esau's wickedness:

WHY is Esau wicked? This is G-d's fulfillment of the prophecy given to Rivka about the 2 nations growing in her womb. Esau's wickedness is predestined, foreshadowed by the midrash that when Rivka passes houses of G-d's people Jacobs tries to get out, and when she passes houses of idolatry, Esau tries to get out. He naturally gravitated toward evil from the time before he was born.

HOW is Esau wicked? Four ways: 1.He is a hunter, which is later (in D'varim) shown to be forbidden for Jews, as is eating the hunted meat. He was committing a sin that G-d new was wrong, even if the people didn't understand it yet. 2. He marries 2 idolatrous Hittite wives, and thus, will raise his children to be idolaters. Thus, rather than repenting and attempting to atone for his evil ways (which would make him at least somewhat "good"), he extends his wickedness in the generations to come. 3. He sold his birthright to Jacob in exchange for a "mess of pottage" (meal of lentils)--suggesting that temporary personal fulfillment was of higher importance to him than his birthright, which was the covenant from G-d with Abraham. 4. He is a spiritual/ideological descendant of Cain: Esau vows to kill his own brother Jacob (Genesis 27:41).

See: http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/15573/jewish/Jacob-and-Esau.htm


--67.162.64.187 (talk) 13:25, 30 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]


Yet interestingly according to the Old Testament, Jacob bowed in prostration of respect to Esau in Genesis 33:3 and Genesis 33:10 says that Esau's face allegedly looks like the "face of God".Historylover4 (talk) 10:43, 12 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Wrong tense[edit]

The "perpetual present tense" used in two sections would be appropriate for fiction, but not for historical events. I am sure at least some readers consider these historical events, so this should not be written in the tone of a fairy tale. Chris the speller 16:01, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Rebecca is a person who exists only in mythological literature. Her story is part of the grander scheme of Genesis. It is appropriate to use present tense, just as it is appropriate to use it in all other kinds of literature. According to WP:NPOV, Bible has no precedence over other works of literature. Personally, I consider Rebecca to be a historical person, but that is my religious view, which has no impact on Wikipedia. --MPorciusCato 06:47, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Among other edits I supplied past tense, as I observe to be standard for other Biblical or Greek mythology articles. Perpetual present tense is a convention for fiction and, per Chris, demeans lore that is presently believed by large bodies of people of differing monotheistic religions. What WP calls for is not present tense, but a careful distinction between primary and secondary sources, which I have supplied. If a source for the past tense is required, we can use Josephus's Antiquities et al. for most of it. JJB 20:13, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

I know of no proof that the Bible is mythological. (PeacePeace (talk) 19:46, 24 July 2017 (UTC))[reply]

Title name?[edit]

This article is about "Rebekah", the woman from the bible. THe biblical spelling of her name is "Rebekah". Her name is spelled "Rebekah" throughout the article, so why is the title "Rebecca"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Binglebongle2000 (talk • contribs) 13:25, 11 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

  • It appears that some people keep fiddling with the spelling according to their preferences. The only verifiable spelling of the name is its Hebrew spelling in the Bible: רבקה, which is pronounced, "Rivkah." The time-honored English spelling is Rebecca, although some people from England prefer "Rebekah." I've gone ahead and changed all the Rebekahs back to Rebecca. Yoninah (talk) 05:42, 20 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You know, the biblical persons have been around the English-language sphere about longer than the language has existed. During that time, the names have changed quite a bit, quite the same as any other English word. First, these names have been adopted into Latin (perhaps via Greek), then to old English (or even Anglo-Saxon). Every time, the names have taken forms that fit better into the language than the original form. Because of this, the names have have varied quite a lot. E.g. St. John is in Greek Iohannes, St. James, Iakob. Because of this, it is not inappropriate to use the time-honoured spelling, regardless of Hebrew original. (Similarly, we talk about Eugene Onegin, instead of the original Russian Yevgeniy.)--MPorciusCato (talk) 07:09, 20 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I would agree with MPorcius. Using the "time honored way" is not appropriate because the modern way is the appropriate usage for this time period. --Ajedi32 (talk) 19:25, 20 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ajedi32, you probably misread my meaning. I specifically think that using the nameforms honoured by about 30 English-speaking generations is the correct approach. I'm sorry for writing so unclear text. --MPorciusCato (talk) 14:02, 21 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Bot-generated content[edit]

A computerised algorithm has generated a version of this page using data obtained from AlgaeBase. You may be able to incorporate elements into the current article. Alternatively, it may be appropriate to create a new page at Rebecca (alga). Anybot (contact operator) 23:18, 21 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Disambiguation[edit]

I moved the bot-generated article to Rebecca (alga) and added a link on the disambiguation page. --MPorciusCato (talk) 11:39, 22 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The servant "Eliezer"[edit]

The "servant" is unnamed in Genesis. Eliezer is the late traditional name applied to him (in Book of Jubilees?). The distinction is not made in the article, however. You'd think it was unimportant. --Wetman (talk) 20:44, 2 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Good point! I'm so used to learning the weekly parashah with the Torah commentaries that I missed this obvious anomaly. I added an in-line reference. Yoninah (talk) 22:03, 2 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wedding[edit]

Where in the Tanakh does it give the details of Rebekah and Isaac's wedding?--81.151.62.46 (talk) 19:32, 27 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

How old was Rebecca when Married?[edit]

The following statement is given in the present wikipedia post:

"According to the traditional counting cited by Rashi, Isaac was 12 years old[citation needed] at the time of the Binding of Isaac, and news of Rebecca's birth reached Abraham immediately after that event.[6] Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebecca,[7] making Rebecca three years old at the time of her marriage."

That math doesn't seem correct. If Isaac was close to being 12 years-old when news came to Abraham that Rebekah was born, then at the time when they married, Isaac would have been 40 years-old and Rebekah would have been closer to 28 years-old, not three. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.185.85.36 (talk) 11:44, 30 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

 Fixed by 108.14.208.231 (16:57, 30/Sep/12). -- -- -- 23:01, 11 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]


Hello, I was doing some research on how old Rebecca was when she married Isaac,the son of Abraham when I came upon this wikipedia article.

It documents 2 opinions on what the age of Rebecca may have been.

The first opinion places Isaac's age at 40 yrs old and Rebecca's age at 3 yrs old when they got married.

The second opinion places Isaac's age at 54 yrs old and Rebecca's age at 39 yrs old when they got married.

Neither of these opinions have any biblical support.

Genesis 25:20 states that "Isaac was 40 yrs old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel..."

So the second opinion should be removed entirely as a possibility. Isaac was not 54 yrs old.

Thus, only the first opinion can come under consideration so as not to contradict Genesis 25:20. But suggesting Rebecca to be only 3 yrs old is perplexing. I'm wondering if the Bible is used as a reference source for the material published in this article. Genesis 24:15-61 gives the story of how Rebecca was chosen to be Isaac's wife. The only deduction from these passages is that Rebecca was already a woman of maturity. To suggest that she was 3 yrs old when she married Isaac would be silly. Can a 3 yrs old water camels or make decisions on leaving with strangers?? I hope your editors will revisit the material is these pages and suggest more reasonable opinions. I would remove those opinions as references as they don't seem plausible.

Finally, the wikipedia stated in the same section:

"In any case, 45 years elapsed before they had children."

Another contradiction of Biblical scripture. Genesis 25:26 records that Isaac was 60 yrs old when Rebekah bore their first sons, Esau and Jacob. That would mean 20yrs had elapsed before they had children.

Most people still regard the Bible as an authoritative source. So even if we can't pinpoint her precise age it can still serve as some guideline to help determine it.

Thank you.

-A. Jean — Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.172.169.86 (talk) 16:34, 17 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I think I see the problem - the article assumes that Sarah dies right after the Binding of Isaac, but in reality the Bible does not state this. Just because Sarah dies in the chapter after the one about the Binding does not mean her death happened immediately - the Bible often skips over long amounts of time this way. Therefore, the Binding of Isaac could have happened long before Sarah's death, when Isaac was much younger than 37. So there is no reason to believe Rebecca was 3 at her marriage (and plenty of reason to believe she was not - I don't think a 3 year old could carry a water pitcher or speak that coherently). Can I remove that interpretation? GranChi (talk) 19:37, 30 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The source is cited in the article as Rashi on Genesis 25:20. Your opinion regarding whether you think Rashi is correct or not is original research. -- -- -- 04:38, 4 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

From http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12610-rebekah:

The Rabbis disagree as to the age of Rebekah at the time of her marriage to Isaac. The statement of the Seder 'Olam Rabbah (i.) and Gen. R. (lvii. 1) that Abraham was informed of Rebekah's birth when he ascended Mount Moriah for the 'Aḳedah, is interpreted by some as meaning that Rebekah was born at that time, and that consequently she was only three years old at the time of her marriage. Other rabbis, however, conclude from calculations that she was fourteen years old, and that therefore she was born eleven years before the 'Aḳedah, both numbers being found in different manuscripts of the Seder 'Olam Rabbah (comp. Tos. to Yeb. 61b). The "Sefer ha-Yashar" (section "Ḥayye Sarah," p. 38a, Leghorn, 1870) gives Rebekah's age at her marriage as ten years.

Rashi chooses the version of the Seder Olam Rabbah that concludes she is three.

However, Samuel ben Kalonymus he-Hasid of Speyer שמואל חסיד משפיר"א argues differently in a Tosafot on Yevamot 61b:13 that Rebecca was 14 at marriage. He refers to a Sifri Devarim that dates Rebecca's death at 133 years, and counts backwards.

She was 14 years old [when she married], since the Sifri brings six pairs who lived to be the same age. One of them is Rivkah and Kehas, and Kehas lived 133 years, like a verse says; If she was 14 when she married, the calculation is correct. When Yakov was born she was 34, and Yakov was 99 when Rivkah died, so she lived 133 years. (Tosafot on Yevamot 61b:13).

Although a dates for Samuel are not given, his son was born 1150, and Rashi died 1105, and lived in generally the same area, from Worms to Troyes. He is quoted also by Rashi's grandson Rashbam.

see: https://www.sefaria.org/Tosafot_on_Yevamot.61b.13.2?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_of_Speyer

-December 28, 2018 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.67.200.159 (talk) December 2018 (UTC)

Mistakes in this article[edit]

There too many mistakes in this article to begin to list them all. Midrash selectively chosen mixed in with Biblical material without any real identification. This is simply a terrible entry. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.37.6.114 (talk) 02:21, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Delete the speculative material on Rebekah's Death[edit]

Since there is no reliable source for Rebekah's death, that material should be deleted. (PeacePeace (talk) 19:21, 24 July 2017 (UTC))[reply]

Rebecca's mother (if existed)[edit]

The current Wp article doesn't clarify who eventually was the mother of saint Rebecca. Infact, Genesis 24:15 doesn't mention her name, but we have the name of Milcah, wife of Nacor. Possibly, the wife promimsed from God to Jackob needed to be preserved from the original sin and was created like Eve from the rib of her saint and promised husband. More genrally, the wives were used to be younger than their husbands.

God's will was to preserve the Twelve Tribes of Israel from the original sin of Adame ed Eve, in a time in which Jesus Christ God wasn't yet resurrected from the death on the cross and therefore the priesthood and the Sacraments didn't exist yet. Furthermore, in the Book of Genesis there wasn't yet the Levitic priesthood. We haven't no special mention of the safeness' merits of Rebecca so as to believe she had received a Baptism in Holy Spirit and fire, like the one given by God to the patriarch Abraham. What was his merit? Abraham was the only man to have seen the Most Holy Trinity, as in Genesis 18:1–15 and he was the first to have been invited to eat the Body of Christ and to drunk His holy Blood. It is said in Genesis 14:18, where Melchisedek literally means the Prince of Peace of Isaiah 9:5. Hope someone helps. Best regards, Micheldisaveriosp/Philospher81sp

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