Facts About Rebekah: Are They True or False? Quiz

Answer: False

Bethuel was Rebekah's father, according to Genesis 22:23. He was the son of Nahor, a brother of Abraham. According to the Web site Christiananswers.net, Bethuel means "man of God, or virgin of God, or house of God".

Bilgah is the name of a priest who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel, as per Nehemiah 12:5.

Answer: True

True. Genesis 24:29 states Rebekah was the sister of Laban. In the 29th chapter of Genesis, Laban is identified as the father of Rachel and Leah. Laban's two daughters are arguably the best-known sisters in the Bible. They were both wives of Jacob. Their children formed part of the original Twelve Tribes of Israel.

Answer: False

False. Rebekah was the daughter-in-law of Abraham. She married Abraham's son Isaac, as per Genesis 24:67.

Incidentally, Terah was the father of Abraham, as per Genesis 11:26. In other words, Rebekah was the daughter-in-law of Terah's son.

Answer: False

To the contrary, Rebekah favored Jacob while her husband Isaac preferred Esau. Genesis 25:28, in the NIV Bible, states: "Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob."

Rebekah would play a major role in enabling Jacob to receive his father's blessing over Esau, as per the 27th chapter of Genesis.

Answer: True

It's a bit of long story, but Isaac and Rebekah basically pulled off the same ruse as that of Abram and Sarai, who later became Abraham and Sarah. Scripture states Isaac and Rebekah were in Gerar due to a famine -- the same reason Abram and Sarai moved to Egypt. Genesis 26:7, in the NIV Bible, states: "When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, 'She is my sister,' because he was afraid to say, 'She is my wife.' He thought, 'The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.'"

Answer: True

While it's a foregone conclusion Rebekah would've been praying to be able to conceive, Scripture does not tell of her doing so.

However, Genesis 25:21 tells of her husband Isaac praying to the LORD. The verse in the NIV Bible states: "Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant."

Verses 22 to 26 tell of Rebekah inquiring of the LORD after she became pregnant with twins: "The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, 'Why is this happening to me?' So she went to inquire of the LORD. The LORD said to her, 'Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.' When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. he first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them."

Answer: False

Rachel is the one involved in the theft, not Rebekah. The unusual story is told in the 31st chapter of Genesis. Verse 19 tells of Rachel stealing the household gods after her husband Jacob had a quarrel with her father Laban. Verses 34-35, in the NIV Bible, tells what happened when Laban went looking for his missing items: "Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel's saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing. Rachel said to her father, 'Don't be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I'm having my period.' So he searched but could not find the household gods."

Rachel was the mother of Joseph of Benjamin. She and her sister Leah were both married to Jacob. However, Rachel was largely depressed during her marriage because she couldn't conceive a child while Leah was bearing children. According to Scripture, things changed for Rachel later in her life. Genesis 30:22-23, in the NIV Bible, states: "Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, 'God has taken away my disgrace.' She named him Joseph, and said, 'May the LORD add to me another son.'" Later she would die giving birth to Benjamin.

Answer: False

To the contrary, it appears Rebekah was highly depressed over her son Esau marrying two women of whom she strongly disliked. In fact, Rebekah is quoted in the NIV Bible as saying she was "disgusted with living" because her son had married two Hittite women. She also said her "life will not be worth living" if her other son Jacob married a Hittite woman, according to Genesis 27:46.

According to Genesis 26:34, Esau married two Hittite women, Judith and Basemath, when he was 40 years old. Verse 35 goes on to state the women were a "source of grief" to Isaac and Rebekah, but no details are given.

Answer: True

While the name Deborah is usually associated with the dynamic female judge and prophetess who led Israel, Rebekah's nurse also had the same name.

According to Genesis 35:8, Rebekah's nurse died and was buried under an oak tree outside Bethel. Scripture states the tree was named Allon Bakuth. According to notes in the NIV Study Bible, Allon Bakuth means 'oak of weeping'.

The story of Deborah, the female judge, is told in the fourth and fifth chapters of Judges.

Answer: True

Rebekah's name can be found in Romans, a book written by Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. In the ninth chapter of Romans, Paul writes about his anguish over Israel and God's sovereign choice.

Romans 9:8-10, in the NIV Bible, states: "In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: 'At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.' Not only that, but Rebekah's children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac.'"

In the KJV and the NKJV, Rebekah is spelled as Rebecca in Romans 9:10.