Rebekah Indirect Power

Biblical women are not often in a position to exert their power or influence, as they are often considered mere property, but there are several instances when they do either directly or indirectly exert their power and affect a situation’s outcome. Some women show their power by simply keeping their faith or by mothering a powerful son while others show their power by leading armies or assassinating the enemies of their people. Because women were considered the property of their fathers or husbands, they were expected to act in prescribed ways. The expected precision of behavior leaves ample room for women’s rebellion in seemingly insignificant and trivial of ways at times. Other women seem to have held power in the political or military realm and stood on roughly equal footing with their male counterparts. There are even four female prophets in the Bible, a position
When she first appears in Genesis 24, Rebekah is extremely hospitable to Abraham’s servant that she meets at the well. Perhaps she was so hospitable because she observed that the servant must belong to a wealthy master in which case her generosity may have been merely a ploy to gain his favor and perhaps some of his wealth — a display of indirect power. Rebekah shows direct power by offering so much to the servant without first consulting a man. She offers a place for the servant to sleep and to feed his camels. That is a lot for a girl to offer without first having it approved by her father or husband. After her and Isaac are married, Rebekah gives birth to twins, Esau and Jacob. When her sons are grown, she helps to advance God’s will, told to her while she was pregnant, that the first born twin will serve the younger. She uses indirect power when she tricks Isaac into blessing the younger Jacob as his successor, rather than Isaac’s intended