Rebecca, the Hidden Prophetess

The Talmud writes:

^{בבלי מגילה יד.} ת"ר ארבעים ושמונה נביאים ושבע נביאות נתנבאו להם לישראל ולא פחתו ולא הותירו על מה שכתוב בתורה...

^{b. Megillah 14a} Our rabbis taught: Forty-eight prophets and seven prophetesses prophesied for the Israelites, and they didn’t subtract or add to what was written in the Torah….^[1]

Then it asks:

^{בבלי מגילה יד.} שבע נביאות מאן נינהו? שרה מרים דבורה חנה אביגיל חולדה ואסתר.

^{b. Megillah 14a} Who were these seven prophetesses? Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Ḥuldah, and Esther.

The Bible explicitly refers to Miriam, Deborah and Huldah as נְבִיאָה “prophetess” (Exod 15:20; Judg 4:4; 2 Kgs 22:14).^[2] Sarah,^[3] Hannah, Avigail, and Esther, however, require midrashic proofs. Take Sarah, for example:

^{בבלי מגילה יד. [הספריה הבריטית 400]} שרה דכת[יב] (בראשית יא:כט): "בת הרן אבי מלכה ואבי יסכה." אמ[ר] ר' יצחק: "יסכה זו שרה. ולמה נקרא שמה יסכה? שסוכה ברוח הקודש. הינו דכת[יב] (בראשית כא:יב): 'כל אשר תאמר אליך שרה שמע בקולה.'"

^{b. Meg 14a} “Sarah” as it is written (Gen 11:29): “Daughter of Haran, the father of Milkah and the father of Jessica (=Yiscah).” Rabbi Isaac said: “Jessica is Sarah. So why does it refer to her as Jessica? Because she could foresee (sokhah) with the holy spirit. This is what is [meant when it is] written (Gen 21:12): “Everything that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice.” ^[4]

The Talmud understands that if God commands Abraham to listen to what Sarah says—namely, her instruction to expel Hagar and Ishmael—then what she says is the word of God, even though the Bible doesn’t say this explicitly.

If the Talmud is willing to go to such lengths to find hints at Sarah being a prophetess, why does it leave out Rebecca—the most obvious candidate for a prophetess of all the matriarchs?^[5]

Rebecca Consults with YHWH

After Rebecca is barren for twenty years, Isaac prays on her behalf, and she becomes pregnant with twins. But the pregnancy is painful, and Rebecca wants to know why, so she goes to ask YHWH:

^{בראשית כה:כב} וַיִּתְרֹצֲצוּ הַבָּנִים בְּקִרְבָּהּ וַתֹּאמֶר אִם כֵּן לָמָּה זֶּה אָנֹכִי וַתֵּלֶךְ לִדְרֹשׁ אֶת יְ־הוָה.

^{Gen 25:22} But the children struggled in her womb, and she said, “If so, why do I exist?” She went to inquire of YHWH.

Rebecca is not praying to God here, but inquiring of God (discussed below), and God actually answers her:

^{בראשית כה:כג} וַיֹּאמֶר יְ־הוָה לָהּ שְׁנֵי (גיים) [גוֹיִם] בְּבִטְנֵךְ וּשְׁנֵי לְאֻמִּים מִמֵּעַיִךְ יִפָּרֵדוּ וּלְאֹם מִלְאֹם יֶאֱמָץ וְרַב יַעֲבֹד צָעִיר.

^{Gen 25:23} And YHWH said to her: “Two nations are in your womb, two separate peoples shall issue from your body. One people shall be mightier than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.”

This direct divine communication should surely make her a prophet. And yet, the Talmud doesn’t include her in the list.

Rebecca Spoke with Shem or Eber—Genesis Rabbah

Genesis Rabbah (ca. 5^th cent. C.E.) reinterprets the scene of Rebecca inquiring of God to include an intermediary, i.e., God does not speak to her directly.^[6] The midrash first asks where she went:

^{בראשית רבה (וטיקן 30) פרשה סג} "ותלך לדרוש את י"י"—וכי בתי כנסיות ובתי מדרשות היו באותה הימים? והלא לא הלכה אלא לבית מדרשו שלעבר?

^{Gen Rab §63} “She went to inquire of the LORD”—were there synagogues or study houses in those days? Did she not go to the study house of Eber?

The rabbis believed that, during the time of the Patriarchs, Noah’s son Shem together with his great-grandson Eber, had an active study house where Torah was taught, and that this would be the obvious place for Rebecca to consult with God. So why does the verse not specify that she went to ask Eber? The midrash answers since it wants to teach you the importance of respecting elders:

אלא ללמד שכל מי שהוא מקביל פני זקן כאילו מקביל פני השכינה.

Rather it teaches that whoever greets the face of an elder is like greeting the face of the divine presence.

In other words, Eber is the prophet, not Rebecca.

The midrash then continues by claiming that God doesn’t speak to women, and only spoke to Sarah, among the matriarchs, begrudgingly:

"ויאמר י"י לה"—ר' יודה ביר' סימון, ר' יוחנן בשם ר' לעזר ביר' שמעון: "מעולם לא נזקק הק[דוש] ב[רוך] ה[וא] להשיח עם אשה אלא עם אותה צדקת. אף היא על ידי עולא.

“The LORD said to her”—Rabbi Yudah son of Rabbi Simon, R. Yoḥanan in the name of R. Lazar son of R. Shimon: “The Blessed Holy One never spoke with a woman other than that righteous one (=Sarah), and even with her, it was only due to a pretext.”

The midrash then explains that God only spoke to her since she denied to Abraham that she laughed in disbelief when hearing she would have a child and God felt it necessary to set the record straight:

ר' אבא בר כהנא בשם ר' כיריי: "כמה כירכורים כירכר להשיח עימה (בראשית יח:טו) "ויאמר לא כי צח[קת]."

R. Abba son of Kahana in the name of R. Kiriy: “How many leaps did he leap to speak to her (Gen 18:15) ‘And he (God) said: “No, for you did laugh.”’”^[7]

The midrash then challenges the claim that God spoke only to Sarah, noting that God speaks directly with Hagar, after she runs away from Sarah:

והכ[תיב] (בראשית טז:יג): "ותקרא שם י"י הדובר אליה"? ר' יהושע ביר' נחמיה בשם ר' אידי: "על ידי מלאך."

But does it not say (Gen 16:13): “And she called the LORD who spoke to her…” R. Joshua son of R. Nehemiah in the name of R. Iddi: “By way of an angel.”

Then the midrash then turns to Rebecca going to consult with God:

והכ[תיב] (בראשית כה:כג): "ויאמר י"י לה"?

But does it not say (Gen 25:23): “The LORD said to her”?

The midrash offers two answers:

ר' לוי בשם ר' חמא ביר' חנינא אמ[ר]: "על ידי מלאך."

Rabbi Levi in the name of Rabbi Chama son of Rabbi Chanina said: “by way of an angel.”

ר' לעזר בשם ר' יוסי בן זמרא אמ[ר]: "על ידי שם."

Rabbi Lazar in the name of Rabbi Yossi son of Zimra said: “by way of Shem.”

Rabbi Chama son of Rabbi Chanina’s interpretation at least has Rebecca as the human in direct communication with the divine emissary, though it falls just short of prophecy. Rabbi Yossi son of Zimra’s, however, strips Rebecca even of this, and hands over the prophecy to a male in her proximity. It connects with the opening midrash, since Shem is the great-grandfather of Eber, and the rabbis often envision them as running a study house together.

Continuing in the Medieval Period and Later

The trend to strip Rebecca of her prophecy continues into the commentaries of later interpreters, who offer several alternatives for the intermediary:

• Angel (Lekach Tov, Naftali Herz Wessely)
• Shem (Midrash Aggada, Rashi, Sekhel Tov)
• Unnamed Prophet (Saʿadiah, R. Yosef Kara,^[8] Rashbam, Abraham Ibn Ezra, Joseph Bekhor Shor, Radak, Hizkuni, Ralbag, Yitzchak Shemuel Reggio)
• Abraham (Avraham Ibn Ezra, Hizkuni,^[9] Isaac Abravanel)

The first two answers are the same as found in Genesis Rabbah, but the latter two are new. Even the peshat commentators—those who favor the plain meaning of the text and are not beholden to rabbinic midrash—do not have Rebecca speaking with God directly.

Admittedly, some rabbinic texts do assume Rebecca was a prophet, though they do not attach it to this passage. For example, Genesis Rabbah later claims that when the verse says that Rebecca learned of Esau’s intention to kill Jacob—even though Esau only “spoke these words in his heart” וַיֹּאמֶר עֵשָׂו בְּלִבּוֹ (v. 41)!—it means she learned this through prophecy:

^{בראשית רבה סז:ט [וטיקן 30]} "ויוגד לרבקה את דברי עשו וגו'"—מי הגיד לה? ר' חגיי בשם ר' יצחק: "האימהות נביאות היו, ורבקה היתה מן האימהות."

^{Gen Rab 67:9} “The words of Esau… were reported to Rebecca” (v. 42) Who told her? R. Hagay in the name of R. Isaac: “The matriarchs were all prophetesses, and Rebecca is one of the matriarchs.”

Similarly, when the Aramaic translation Targum Onkelos renders the verse in which Rebecca promises that if Isaac curses him, the curse will fall on her instead, he explains how she could know this:

^{אונקלוס בראשית כז:יג} וַאֲמַרַת לֵיהּ אִמֵּיהּ עֲלַי אִתְאֲמַר בִּנְבוּאָה דְּלָא יֵיתוֹן לְוָטַיָּא עֲלָךְ בְּרִי....

^{Onkelos Gen 27:13} His mother said to him: “It was told to me in a prophecy that the curse will not fall on you my son…”

So why do the commentators not read Rebecca’s receiving the message about her sons’ futures as prophecy?

“Went to Inquire” Implies an Intermediary

The main textual reason for including an intermediary is the phrase וַתֵּלֶךְ לִדְרֹשׁ “and she went to inquire.” The first term, וַתֵּלֶךְ “and she went,” implies that she could not simply consult God where she was.^[10]

The second term, לִדְרֹשׁ “to inquire” is another reason to assume an intermediary, since elsewhere in the Bible, this refers to people asking a prophet a question that should be posed to God on their behalf. For example, Moses explains to Jethro:

^{שמות יח:טו} וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה לְחֹתְנוֹ כִּי יָבֹא אֵלַי הָעָם לִדְרֹשׁ אֱלֹהִים.

^{Exod 18:15} Moses replied to his father-in-law, “It is because the people come to me to inquire of God.”

Moses is here functioning as an intermediary. Similarly, when Saul and his servant are looking for his father’s lost jennies, the servant suggests they go and consult a seer. Then the text explains:

^{שמואל א ט:ט} לְפָנִים בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל כֹּה אָמַר הָאִישׁ בְּלֶכְתּוֹ לִדְרוֹשׁ אֱלֹהִים לְכוּ וְנֵלְכָה עַד הָרֹאֶה כִּי לַנָּבִיא הַיּוֹם יִקָּרֵא לְפָנִים הָרֹאֶה.

^{1 Sam 9:9} Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he would say, “Come, let us go to the seer,” for the prophet of today was formerly called a seer.^[11]

Nevertheless, the next verse does have God speaking to Rebecca, ויאמר ה' לה “YHWH said to her,” which sounds as if it is God directly speaking to her, and she should thus be considered a prophetess. Thus, in an attempt to downplay this explicit divine communication, R. Judah Loew ben Bezalel, known as the Maharal of Prague, reexplains this assertion, in order to conform with the intermediatory model in his supercommentary on Rashi:

^{גור אריה בראשית כה:כג} על ידי שליח. דאחר שהלכה אל הנביא לדעת – בודאי הנביא השיב לה, שאם הקב"ה בעצמו השיב לה, למה לא השיב לה קודם שהלכה אל הנביא.

^{Gur Aryeh Gen 25:23} “[God spoke to her] through a messenger”—since she went to a prophet to find out, certainly the prophet replied to her, for if the Blessed Holy One had answered her, why wouldn’t God have just answered her before she went to the prophet?^[12]

R. Joseph ibn Kaspi (ca. 1280–ca. 1340) defends Rebecca’s prowess by noting that God does in fact answer her, but even he falls short of granting her an experience of direct prophecy:

^{אבן כספי בראשית כה:כג} ויאמר י"י לה" – מי שאמר לה זה, הנה השם הנכבד היה האומר הראשון והרחוק...

^{Ibn Kaspi Gen 25:23} “The Lord said to her”—whoever it was that said this, it was the Glorious God who was the original and transcendent speaker.

While the rabbis are certainly picking up on a real issue when interpreting the phrase “she went to inquire” as meaning of an intermediary, it would not have been very difficult for rabbinic exegesis to depict this story as prophecy despite the usual meaning of this phrase. Certainly, it is simpler than what they do to make Sarah a prophetess. Why didn’t they?

The Trickster Problem

It is possible that the rabbis were bothered by Rebecca’s behavior in the biblical narrative:

Hiding the Prophecy—Rebecca keeps the prophecy to herself. The text never says anything like, ותגד לאישה “and she told her husband,” as we find with Manoach’s wife (Judg 13:10). Indeed, Isaac seems to have no clue about the prophecy that the elder will serve the younger, and he plans to bless his elder son Esau with the inheritance, as already noted by R. Moses Nahmanides (Ramban ca. 1195–ca. 1270):

^{רמב"ן בראשית כז:ד} ונראה שלא הגידה לו רבקה מעולם הנבואה אשר אמר י"י לה: ורב יעבוד צעיר (בראשית כה:כג), כי איך היה יצחק עובר את פי י"י והיא לא תצלח.

^{Ramban Gen 27:4} It would seem that Rebecca never told him the prophecy that God said to her, that (Gen 25:23) “the elder would serve the younger,” since how could Isaac “violate the word of God, such a thing cannot succeed” (Num 14:21).^[13]

Coaxing Jacob to trick his father—When she hears Isaac is to bless Esau, instead of telling him why it should be Jacob, she coaxes Jacob into tricking Isaac, by pretending to be Esau, in order to receive the blessing. She even cooks the food herself so Jacob could approach his father before Esau got back from the hunt.^[14]

In other words, Rebecca keeps information to herself and controls her husband and sons through trickery, a family trait, epitomized by her brother Laban HaArami “the Aramean” which the rabbis midrashically interpret as HaRamai, “the Cheater.”^[15] In academic terms, Rebecca is being presented as a “trickster,” an archetype in mythology and folklore described as a character who often possesses secret knowledge but also defies normative rules of behavior.^[16] Even though the “trickster” can be seen favorably in other cultures, the rabbis did not approve of this quality.

Kierkegaard’s Knight of Faith

Rebecca’s decision to trick her husband is spurred by the knowledge she received about her sons through prophecy. Why she never confided this prophecy to Isaac isn’t stated, but she clearly understood that it was her job to navigate the situation while keeping her inside knowledge to herself. In other words, Rebecca made a choice to act outside of normative moral codes of behavior to achieve a higher goal.

This choice may be compared to the similar construct in Fear and Trembling, by the Danish, existentialist philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard (1813–1855). He describes Abraham at the binding of Isaac as a Knight of Faith, a special type of person who is able to temporarily ignore the moral law—“do not murder”—in order to abide by the divine command: sacrifice/kill your son. Kierkegaard calls this the “teleological suspension of the ethical.”

Like Abraham, Rebecca chooses the higher, divine command, in this case, the prophecy that “your eldest son will serve your youngest” while temporarily suspending the moral law (always be truthful). This too is an act of a “Knight (or Dame?) of Faith,”^[17]

Neither Abraham nor Rebecca act on impulse; their decisions involve consideration and forethought in response to a message from God. Abraham has a three-day journey to Mount Moriah in which to consider his actions,^[18] and Rebecca cooks a meal for Isaac and prepares a disguise for Jacob.

Kierkegaard also describes the Knight of Faith’s existential aloneness, which would characterize Rebecca who kept the knowledge of her sons’ fates a secret for decades. Similarly, she can be seen as partaking in the paradoxical acceptance of the absurdity of the ethical/religious challenge, facilitating the charade and then the escape and exile of the son who was supposed to be the dominant/successful one but appears to be the weaker one.^[19]

Undescribed Inner Turmoil

The classically sparse descriptions of inner emotions in the Bible^[20] are frustratingly evident in both Rebecca’s and Abraham’s accounts. Abraham’s inner turmoil is based on his relationship with his son for whom he waited so long and in whose name would be the continuation of the covenant. Rebecca’s inner turmoil would have been about the sons for whom she alone was given the divine knowledge of the disruption of the primogeniture in her family.

Rebecca, not Isaac, is entrusted with a message from God about their sons. It is to be her job to work to ensure that her homebody son Jacob receives the blessing of inheritance and is protected from his older brother, a hunter and warrior. Her husband does not see the sons the way she does, and he was never privy to the prophecy she received; Rebecca is alone in leading this process.

Rebecca Never Sees Her Prophecy Come True

The last we hear about Rebecca, the plan has gone terribly, and the promised leader faces either being murdered or going into exile. Even so, as a prophetess and Knight of Faith, Rebecca knows that she must suspend the ethical and trust in the outcome.

While she promised to contact Jacob once Esau was no longer angry (Gen 27:45), that never happens. Unlike Sarah, Rebecca has no death notice. Upon Jacob’s return, he passes by אַלּוֹן בָּכוּת Allon Bakhut, “The Oak of Weeping,” named after the passing of Deborah, Rebecca’s nurse (Gen 35:8). Genesis Rabbah suggests that this is the Torah’s subtle way of stating that Rebecca too was gone by the time Jacob arrived home:

^{בראשית רבה פא:ה [וטיקן 30]} ר' נחוניה אמ[ר]: "לשון יוונית אלון [אחר]—עד שהוא משמר אבלה שלדבורה באת לו בשורתה שלאימו."

^{Gen Rab 81:5} R. Neḥuniah said: “In Greek allon (ἄλλον) means ‘another’—while he was still mourning Deborah, he got the message about his mother’s passing.”

If so, then Rebecca does not live to see her sons’ reconciliation or Jacob’s successful return. Yet, as a prophetess and knight of faith, she knew the day would come.