And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
| Word | Hebrew | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bethuel | וּבְתוּאֵ֖ל u.ve.tu.'El | H1328 | Bethuel · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name |
| begat | יָלַ֣ד ya.Lad | H3205 | to bear young · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular |
| Rebekah | רִבְקָ֑ה riv.Kah | H7259 | Ribkah · proper noun, a woman's name |
| eight | שְׁמֹנָ֥ה she.mo.Nah | H8083 | a cardinal number · cardinal number, both genders singular absolute |
| Milcah | מִלְכָּ֔ה mil.Kah | H4435 | Milcah · proper noun, a woman's name |
| bear | יָלְדָ֣ה yal.Dah | H3205 | to bear young · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular |
| Nahor | לְנָח֖וֹר le.na.Chor | H5152 | Nochor · preposition + proper noun, a man's name |
| Abraham’s | אַבְרָהָֽם 'av.ra.Ham | H85 | Abraham · proper noun, a man's name |
| brother | אֲחִ֥י 'a.Chi | H251 | a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · noun, common masculine singular construct |
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
This is recorded here, 1. To show that though Abraham saw his own family highly dignified with peculiar privileges, admitted into covenant, and blessed with the entail of the promise, yet he did not look with contempt and disdain upon his relations, but was glad to hear of the increase and prosperity of their families. 2. To make way for the following story of the marriage of Isaac to Rebekah, a daughter of this family.
Abraham lifted up his eyes . . . and behold . . . a ram, &c.--No method was more admirably calculated to give the patriarch a distinct idea of the purpose of grace than this scenic representation: and hence our Lord's allusion to it (Joh 8:56). Next: Genesis Chapter 23
Bethuel begat Rebekah - Who afterward became the wife of Isaac.
And Bethuel begat Rebekah,.... Who was to be and was the wife of Isaac; and, for the sake of her genealogy, the above account is given, as Aben Ezra observes, and so Jarchi; and this is observed to pave the way for the history of the chapter; for no notice is taken of any other of Bethuel's children but her, not even of Laban her brother: these eight Milcah did bear, to Nahor, Abraham's brother; this is observed, and the exact number given, as well as their names, to distinguish them from other children of Nahor he had by another woman, as follows:
And they rose up, and went together to Beer-sheba. Moses repeats, that Abraham, after having passed through this severe and incredible temptation, had a quiet abode in Beersheba. This narration is inserted, together with what follows concerning the increase of Abraham's kindred, for the purpose of showing that the holy man, when he had been brought up again from the abyss of death, was made happy, in more ways than one. For God would so revive him, that he should be like a new man. Moses also records the progeny of Nahor, but for another reason; namely, because Isaac was to take his wife from it. For the mention of women in Scripture is rare; and it is credible that many daughters were born…
Descendants of Nahor. - With the sacrifice of Isaac the test of Abraham's faith was now complete, and the purpose of his divine calling answered: the history of his life, therefore, now hastens to its termination. But first of all there is introduced quite appropriately an account of the family of his brother Nahor, which is so far in place immediately after the story of the sacrifice of Isaac, that it prepares the way for the history of the marriage of the heir of the promise. The connection is pointed out in Gen 22:20, as compared with Gen 11:29, in the expression, "she also." Nahor, like Ishmael and Jacob, had twelve sons, eight by his wife Milcah and four by his concubine; whereas Jacob…
Read the whole note in the consoleBethuel was the youngest of Nahor’s eight sons by Milcah; he was the father of Rebekah, Isaac’s future wife (see 24:15, 67). Rebekah would follow Sarah as matriarch of the clan (23:1-2).
ובתואל ילד את רבקה AND BETHUEL BEGAT REBECCA — The entire genealogical record is given only for the sake of this verse (i. e. to lead up to this verse).
Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
