bible women :: essays research papers

RebekahThe values in genesis be disobeyed by yet another(prenominal) woman who does not conform to the female model of a fertile mother. While fertility is an overriding value in theologys compassionate construct that women in Genesis threaten to undermine women also obstruct the natural course of history which god has set in motion as part of his ideal world. After god reconstructs the world through Noah and then Abraham, the divine element withdraws from the world slightly, and a natural historical course begins to race out through the momentum that god has initiated. The incident in Genesis in which a woman interferes with this momentum involves Rebekah, who intervenes on behalf of her second born son, Jacob. As a result of Rebekahs manipulative orders, Jacob, the younger son, inherits the divine blessing from Isaac, though it is clear from the text that Jacobs brother, Esau, had been Isaacs favored child. Rebekahs legal actions are rebellious because they result in the vio lation of the law of primogeniture that seems to have been the standard practice of inheritance in the book of Genesis. And by reassigning the inheritance, Rebekah threatens to destroy the course of events god has anticipated en route to the creation of his select nation. While the text shows that Rebekah had received a prophecy that the older would serve the younger (2523), whenever women in Genesis take assertive actions that ramifications, conflict always ensues. Just because Rebekah received a prophecy, there is no indication that she was in any position to actively hear its fulfillment. Jacob, as a result of his mothers initiative, is forced to flee his home for fear that Esau will kill him. The hate between the brothers endures, and just as Saras infertility caused family conflict, Rebekahs actions likewise cause disruption in the house of Isaac and its descendents. Unlike the instances where the men in genesis take the fate of their familys lives into their own hands under o pen direction from god, the rare occasions when women, such as Rebekah, take aggressive action, the result is battles and feuds. As in the baptismal font of infertility, a womens inheritance with the divine scheme can be seen as a multiple threat to the thematic framework of Genesis. Rebekah takes assertive, independent action with regard to her familys development, and this action clearly crosses over the rigid boundaries of the prescribed female role.