Continuing with the narrative of Isaac and Rebecca, we noticed the important place the women in the story have - more important than we're sometimes led to believe the Bible could reflect. Sarah who played a critical role in the birth of Ishmael and the eventual promise God makes to Hagar and the becomes the one anchor the Hebrews have in the Promised Land. Her small tomb is Isaac's only possession there at the time of his death. Similarly Jacob's wife will play a critical role in the evolving family tale that will follow.
Gen. 23 - Sarah dies at age 127 and is buried at Machpelah (Hebron). The owner of the site tries hard to give it to Abraham, but he finally tells Abraham that it is worth 400 shekels and Abraham pays that amount. The spot is the first land Abraham takes possession of in “the promised land.” It is interesting to me that the promise - the promised heir and the first land right - comes concretely through Sarah — despite the fact that she is depicted as far from perfect in her relationship to God. The faithfulness comes from Abraham.
Gen. 24 - The matter of finding a wife for Isaac occupies this chapter. Abraham sends his steward back to his family’s kinsmen at Haran in Upper Mesopotamia. He finds Abraham’s nephew’s daughter, Rebecca (Rivka) at the well there. Finding that she is indeed of the family of Abraham – she is the daughter of Bethuel who is a son of Abraham’s brother Nahor and his wife Milcah [1st cousin once removed of Isaac]. They show the servant of Abraham great hospitality and the family agrees to the marriage of Rebecca to Isaac; they only ask that she remain with them for ten days. At the end of the ten days, she goes with a “nurse” back to Abraham’s territory with the steward. Rebecca’s brother, who is introduced to us here as well, is named Laban (Lavan).
Gen. 25 - Abraham marries again (Keturah) and has another 6 sons – a strange ending to the story of this man who is said to be 100 when son Isaac was born. He must be nearly 120 at this point. All of the progeny of this period are sent to the east. Abraham dies at 175 and is buried with Sarah. Isaac makes his home near the well of Lahai-roi (well of the Living One who sees me).
Ishmael’s 12 sons are listed in verses 11-18 (northern Arabian tribes), and then the story returns to Rebecca and Isaac. Rebecca is barren. Her pregnancy comes as a result of Isaac’s prayer—the twins struggle even within her—Esau, the hunter and Jacob, the quiet one, his mother’s favorite. They are who they are but they also represent two rival nations—Israel and Edom (the land south of Moab, a land marked by the prominence of a reddish sandstone). Esau is more like his father’s half-brother—Ishmael. He is like Ishmael the first-born, but he is not the promise bearer. Jacob, the quiet man, his mother’s favorite is that. Yaakov also means “heel-holder” or even “heel-sneak” according to the Schocken Bible. The name he will get in the future (Israel-Yisrael) means “God-fighter.”
Gen. 26 - We find another echo-story to the Abraham/Sarah story in Egypt. Here it is Isaac and Rebecca, though, who go into the kingdom of Abimelech in Gerar (see chapter 20). Here in 26, the Lord renews the promise to Isaac, and Isaac and Abimelech “cut a covenant” together too. The NAB says this is the Yahwist version of the story the Elohist writer told in 20.
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