Letter to Rebekah (Gen 25)

Dear Rebekah,

I find you an interesting character. You seem to have known exactly what the deal was in Gen 24 and seem to have been happy when you met Isaac.

What was it like meeting Abraham for the first time?

I am confused slightly by the English wording of this chapter, it says he married again and had children but then concubine is later used to describe the mothers of all children apart from Isaac.

We know polygamy was the practice of the time and this is something that I find maddening .In a lot of the current debates around marriage the language used has been about promoting a biblical view of marriage and verses from Genesis have been used along with spurious arguments allowing marriage to be recognised on an equal basis for same sex couples may lead to polygamy. The truth is that same sex couples want monogamous committed loving marriage to be recognised and what was in the bible was not that.

What I worry about this chapter is the way it can be used to promote that it is ok for a man to have a wife who gives her a child who has the legitimate inheritance rights but also ok to have women who give birth to his children too, but are not recognised. This I know was the model used in the British Royal family in the 17^th and 18^th century for example. Today we have moved on and see this is not a healthy state of affairs and that monogamy is the ideal. Thus, when we look at Genesis I argue it should be used carefully and that we can easily see the use by fundamentalists is very selective.

I find it really interesting that Ishmael buries Abraham with Isaac. I take it from that contact had been re-established at some point between Ishmael and his father. I would love to know more about that relationship because it has so much to teach us about modern relationships between absent fathers and their children.

Was it when Sarah died that Abraham was able to re-establish contact or had it been there in some form all along. It is clear that whilst Isaac was the key inheritor that Abraham did give his other sons some of his wealth. Yet, also gave instructions to try and ensure that Isaac was able to prosper without the others around to give him a hard time.

It seems that Isaac and Ishmael got on or atleast were able to work together whilst grieving for their father. How did you feel about it all.

It seems as if the sons of Ishmael were well aware their father was the eldest and really should have been the prime inheritors rather than Isaac, if all had been different. That probably explains their hostility. I also wonder though if it were to do with poverty.

Sorry, this letter is to you, yet I am talking about the others and people you probably thought relatively little of.

When it describes you as barren what was the acceptable length of time in your society between getting married and having children? At what time did you find yourself being described as barren? I find this fascinating, the number of women in the bible who get described as being infertile but than can actually give birth. It makes me wonder if there was something in the genetics of the line of Abraham which caused problems. I have referred before to the inter-breeding worries I have and I wonder if this was one way they were manifested, also as if nature were trying to deal with the problem. That then takes me on to wondering if you did get pregnant but miscarried, something which is not discussed in the bible.

What was it like with the twins? You must have been so glad when you realised you were pregnant and going to go full term? Yet t doesn’t sound like your pregnancy was easy and if you went to ask the Lord what was going on it sounds as if you were scared about what you were feeling inside you.

I find it interesting the description of Jacob and Esau. Was it because of what the Lord had said to you that you favoured your younger son or was it just he was easier and Isaac loved the elder more? It sounds as if Esau sums up what the ideal of a masculine man was whilst Jacob appears somewhat effeminate. I have heard Peterson Toscano talk about this before in a way which was really interesting. He makes the point that Jacob would be described as having the characteristics with gay men today, whilst Esau represents the ideal which the ex-gay movement for example put forward about masculinity.

Had you told Jacob about what the Lord had said about him going to be the more powerful of the two and inheriting? Did you advise him to look out for opportunities to cheat his brother? If so why did you dislike Esau so much you would do that? Was it that he took Isaac’s time and attention away from you? Or were you always having to defend Jacob to Isaac when he compared him to Esau. Or I wonder was it that Esau had a negative view towards women, including yourself?