Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
word for "
queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
") was the
daughter of
Haran
Haran or Aran ( he, הָרָן ''Hārān'') is a man in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. He died in Ur of the Chaldees, was a son of Terah, and brother of Abraham. Through his son Lot, Haran was the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonite ...
genealogies of Genesis
The genealogies of Genesis provide the framework around which the Book of Genesis is structured. Beginning with Adam, genealogical material in Genesis 4, 5, 10, 11, 22, 25, 29–30, 35–36, and 46 moves the narrative forward from the creation to ...
. She is identified as the grandmother of
Rebecca
Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...
Sarah
Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a piou ...
s sister.
Sister of Sarah
One of the
Yahwist
The Jahwist, or Yahwist, often abbreviated J, is one of the most widely recognized sources of the Pentateuch (Torah), together with the Deuteronomist, the Priestly source and the Elohist. The existence of the Jahwist is somewhat controversial, ...
passages from Genesis identifies Haran as the father of
Iscah
Iscah ( ''Yīskā''; gr, Ἰεσχά) is the daughter of Haran and the niece of Abraham in the Book of Genesis. The passage in which Iscah is mentioned is extremely brief. As a result rabbinical scholars have developed theories to explain it, t ...
tradition have identified the aforementioned Iscah as
Sarah
Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a piou ...
. According to the
Babylonian Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
,
Rabbi Isaac Nappaha Rabbi Isaac Nappaha (Hebrew ''Rabbi Yitzhak Nappaḥa'', רבי יצחק נפחא), or Isaac the smith, was a rabbi of the 3rd-4th centuries (second generation of Amoraim) who lived in the Galilee. Name
He is found under the name "Nappaha" only in t ...
, who was one of the
Palestinian rabbis
Palestinian rabbis encompasses all rabbis who lived in the region known as Palestine up until modern times, but most significantly refers to the early Jewish sages who dwelled in the ancient Holy Land and compiled the Mishna and its later commentar ...
, said that Iscah and Sarah were the same person: "And why was she called Iscah? Because she saw through the Holy Spirit".
Ancestor of Rebecca
She is identified as the grandmother of
Rebecca
Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...
in the
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...
, but some scholars believe that Milcah may have originally been Rebeccas mother. They have argued that
Bethuel
Bethuel ( – ''Bəṯūʾēl''), in the Hebrew Bible, was an Aramean man, the youngest son of Nahor and Milcah, the nephew of Abraham, and the father of Laban and Rebecca.
Bethuel was also a town in the territory of the tribe of Simeon, west ...
, who is identified as Rebecca's father by the
priestly source
The Priestly source (or simply P) is perhaps the most widely recognized of the sources underlying the Torah. It is both stylistically and theologically distinct from other material in the Torah, and includes a set of claims that are contradicted b ...
, was a later addition to the text, and that Rebecca was the daughter of Milcah and Nahor.
Marriage to Nahor and descendants
According to Genesis Chapter 22, Milcah and Nahor have eight children: Uz, Buz, Kemuel, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and
Bethuel
Bethuel ( – ''Bəṯūʾēl''), in the Hebrew Bible, was an Aramean man, the youngest son of Nahor and Milcah, the nephew of Abraham, and the father of Laban and Rebecca.
Bethuel was also a town in the territory of the tribe of Simeon, west ...
.
Targum Jonathan
Targum Jonathan (), otherwise referred to as Targum Yonasan/Yonatan, is the official eastern (Babylonian) targum (Aramaic translation) to the Nevi'im ("prophets").
It is not to be confused with "Targum Pseudo-Jonathan", an Aramaic translation of ...
says that
Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
granted Milcah conception in the merit of her sister Sarah. Milcah's son Bethuel moves to
Padan-aram
Paddan Aram or Padan-aram ( he, , ''Padan ʾĂrām'') was a region referring to the northern plain of the former kingdom Aram-Naharaim. Paddan Aram in Aramaic means ''the field of Aram'', a name that distinguishes the flatland from the mountainou ...
(also called
Aram-Naharaim
Aram-Naharaim ( he, אֲרַם נַהֲרַיִם ''ʾĂram Nahărayīm''; syc , ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, ʾAram Nahrayn; "Aram between (the) rivers") is the biblical term for the ancient land of the Arameans referring to the region along the great ...
) and fathers
Rebekah
Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...
. Milcah's granddaughter Rebekah eventually marries Milcah's nephew
Isaac
Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...
and gave birth to Jacob who became
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. There is a ''midrash'' that Milcah was the forbearer of all
prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
s in the non-Jewish world.
Incest
Ibn Ezra wrote in his commentary on Gen. 11:29 that Haran, Milcah's father, was a different person from Haran, Abraham's brother. Milcah was married to Nahor, who was also a brother of Abraham. Under Ibn Ezra's interpretation Milcah's husband was not also her uncle.
In the Babylonian
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
, Rabbi Isaac presumes that the two men with the name Haran are one person. If that is true, then Milcah married to her uncle. Although Leviticus would later outlaw marriages between aunt and nephew 20:19 , it did not rule out marriage between uncle and niece. (See, e.g.,
Gunther Plaut
Wolf Gunther Plaut, (November 1, 1912 – February 8, 2012) was an American Reform rabbi and writer who was based in Canada. Plaut was the rabbi of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto for several decades and since 1978 was its senior scholar.
L ...
, ''The Torah: a Modern Commentary'', 881. New York: UAHC, 1981.) The Talmud approved of a man who married his sister's daughter. (Yevamot 62b-63a.) And in the Talmud, Rabbi Isaac equates Milcah's sister Iscah with
Sarah
Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a piou ...
(then Sarai), in which case Abraham would have married his brother Harans daughter.Sanhedrin 69b
See also
*
Bethuel
Bethuel ( – ''Bəṯūʾēl''), in the Hebrew Bible, was an Aramean man, the youngest son of Nahor and Milcah, the nephew of Abraham, and the father of Laban and Rebecca.
Bethuel was also a town in the territory of the tribe of Simeon, west ...
*
Chayei Sarah Chayei Sarah, Chaye Sarah, Hayye Sarah, or Hayyei Sara (—Hebrew for "life of Sarah," the first words in the parashah), is the fifth weekly Torah portion (, ''parashah'') in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes . The parashah t ...
*
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...