bible women :: essays research papers

RebekahThe values in Genesis are disobeyed by yet another woman who does not conform to the female model of a fertile mother. time fertility is an overriding value in gods human construct that women in Genesis threaten to undermine women similarly obstruct the natural course of history which god has set in motion as part of his ideal world. After god reconstructs the world finished Noah and then Abraham, the augur element withdraws from the world slightly, and a natural historical course begins to play 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 actions are rebellious because they result in the violation of the law of primoge niture that seems to pitch 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 receive 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 seek its fulfillment. Jacob, as a result of his mothers initiative, is hale 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 happy chance 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 open direction from god, t he old occasions when women, such as Rebekah, take aggressive action, the result is battles and feuds. As in the case of infertility, a womens inheritance with the divine scheme post 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 soused boundaries of the prescribed female role.