- 23rd Patriarch of Genesis
- Son of Patriarch Nahor and Matriarch Milcah
- Grandnephew, nephew and co-father-in-law of Patriarch Abraham and Matriarch Sarah
- Father of Matriarch Rebekah and Patriarch Laban
- Cousin and father-in-law of Patriarch Isaac
- Grandfather of Patriarch Jacob and Matriarch Leah
- Ancestor of the Israelites and Edomites
Biography
Bethuel, Son of Nahor and Milcah, grandnephew, nephew and co-father-in-law of Abraham and Sarah, cousin and father-in-law of Isaac, father of Rebekah and Laban, and grandfather of Jacob and Leah (Gen. 22:22–23; 24:15, 24, 47, 50; 25:20; 28:2, 5).
Genesis Summary
The man Bethuel appears nine times in nine verses in the Hebrew Bible, all in Genesis.
Bethuel lived in Haran, Padan-aram, Mesopotamia, and is described as "Aramaean", although his Chaldean background is also indicated, as a descendant of Terah. Bethuel's uncle and granduncle Abraham sent his senior servant Eliezer to Padan-aram to find a wife for his son Isaac. By the well outside the city of Nahor, in Aram-naharaim, the servant met Bethuel’s daughter Rebekah. The servant told Rebekah’s household his good fortune in meeting Bethuel’s daughter, Abraham’s relative. Laban and Bethuel answered, “The matter was decreed by the LORD; we cannot speak to you bad or good. Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be a wife to your master’s son, as the LORD has spoken.”
After meeting Abraham’s servant, Rebekah “ran and told all this to her mother’s household”, that Rebekah’s “brother and her mother said, ‘Let the maiden remain with us some ten days’”, and that “they sent off their sister Rebekah and her nurse Deborah along with Abraham’s servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, ‘O sister! May you grow into thousands of myriads.” Some scholars thus hypothesize that mention of Bethuel in Gen. 24:50 was a late addition to the preexisting story. Other scholars argue that these texts indicate that Bethuel was somehow incapacitated. Other scholars attribute the emphasis on the mother's role to a matrilineal family structure. Despite the obvious importance of Rebekah's mother in the narrative of this bible passage, scholars have yet to reveal the name of Rebekah's mother. Some sources indicate that the name of Rebekah's mother is not revealed because she was not of the same tribe. Rebekah gave birth to Jacob, who became Israel, and Laban fathered Leah, who became the wife of Jacob and matriarch of Israel.
A generation later, Isaac sent Jacob, Bethuel back to Padan-aram to take a wife from among Bethuel’s granddaughters, rather than from among the Canaanites.
Siblings
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Uz ben Nahor | |||
| Buz ben Nahor | |||
| Kemuel ben Nahor | |||
| Kesed ben Nahor | |||
| Hazo ben Nahor | |||
| Pildash ben Nahor | |||
| Jidlaph ben Nahor | |||
| Bethuel ben Nahor | City of Ur, Chaldea, Mesopotamia | City of Harran, Padan-aram, Mesopotamia | |
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Tebah ben Nahor | |||
| Geham ben Nahor | |||
| Tahash ben Nahor | |||
| Maacah ben Nahor | |||
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel | City of Harran, Padan-aram, Mesopotamia | Mamre, Hebron, Land of Canaan | Isaac ben Abraham |
| Laban ben Bethuel | City of Harran, Padan-aram, Mesopotamia | City of Harran, Padan-aram, Mesopotamia | |
References
Offspring
| ||||||||||||||||||||