| |
|
|
|
|
 - Yes, date unknown
-
| Name |
Bethuel |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
Yes, date unknown |
| Notes |
- «b»http://www.rpi.edu/~holmes/Hobbies/Genealogy/ps31/ps31_394.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethuel
Bethuel«/b» ( \endash «u»Hebrew «/u» for "house of «u»God «/u»"), in the «u»Hebrew Bible «/u», was an «u»Aramean «/u» man, the youngest son of «u»Nahor «/u» and «u»Milcah «/u», the nephew of «u»Abraham «/u», and the father of «u»Laban «/u» and «u»Rebekah «/u».
Bethuel was also a town in the territiory of the «u»tribe of Simeon «/u», west of the «u»Dead Sea «/u».Some scholars identify it with Bethul and «u»Bethel «/u» in southern «u»Judah «/u», to which «u»David «/u» gives booty.
«b»Hebrew Bible
«/b»The man Bethuel appears nine times in nine verses in the Hebrew Bible, all in «u»Genesis «/u». Adherents of the «u»documentary hypothesis «/u» often attribute most of these verses to the «u»Jahwist «/u» source. and the remainder to the «u»priestly source «/u».
Bethuel lived in «u»Padan-aram «/u». Bethuel's uncle Abraham sent his senior servant (possibly «u»Eliezer of Damascus «/u») to the land of his birth to find a wife for his son «u»Isaac «/u». By the well outside the city of «u»Nahor «/u», in «u»Aram-naharaim «/u», the servant met Bethuel's daughter Rebekah. The servant told Rebekah's household his good fortune in meeting Bethuel's daughter, Abraham's relative. Laban and Bethuel answered, "The matter was decreed by the LORD; we cannot speak to you bad or good. Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be a wife to your master's son, as the LORD has spoken."
After meeting Abraham's servant, Rebekah "ran and told all this to her «i»mother's«/i» household", that Rebekah's "«i»brother and her mother«/i» said, 'Let the maiden remain with us some ten days'", and that "they sent off their «i»sister«/i» Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham's servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, 'O «i»sister«/i»! May you grow into thousands of myriads." Some scholars thus hypothesize that mention of Bethuel in «u»Gen. 24:50 «/u» was a late addition to the preexisting story. Other scholars argue that these texts indicate that Bethuel was somehow incapacitated. Other scholars attribute the emphasis on the mother's role to a matralineal family structure.
A generation later, Isaac sent «u»Jacob «/u» back to Padan-aram to take a wife from among Bethuel's granddaughters, rather than from among the «u»Canaanites «/u».
«b»Rabbinic interpretation
«/b»In the «u»Talmud «/u», Rabbi Isaac called Bethuel a wicked man. The «u»midrash «/u» identified Bethuel as a king.
In the Talmud, Rab in the name of Rabbi Reuben b. Estrobile cited Laban's and Bethuel's response to Abraham's servant that "The matter was decreed by the Lord" as a proof text for the proposition that God destines a woman and a man for each other in marriage. Rabbi Joshua b. Rabbi Nehemiah in the name of Rabbi Hanina b. Isaac said that the decree with regard to Rebekah that Laban and Bethuel acknowledged came from Mount Moriah.
Noting that «u»Genesis 24:55 «/u» reports that the next day, Rebekah's "brother and her mother said, 'Let the maiden remain with us some ten days'" («u»Gen. 24:55 «/u»), the Rabbis asked: "Where was Bethuel?" The midrash concluded that Bethuel wished to hinder Rebekah's marriage, and so he was smitten during the night. (Genesis Rabbah 60:12.) The Rabbis said that Abraham's servant did not disclose Bethuel's fate to Isaac.
In his retelling of the story, «u»Josephus «/u» reported that Rebekah told Abraham's servant, "my father was Bethuel, but he is dead; and Laban is my brother; and, together with my mother, takes care of all our family affairs, and is the guardian of my virginity."
|
| Person ID |
I59975 |
Glenn Cook Family |
| Last Modified |
19 Jun 2013 |
|
|
|
|
|
