Isaac's Second Marriage

Alice C. Linsley

Isaac was the proper heir to Abraham's holdings in Edom. Abraham's territory extended on a north-south axis between his two wives Sarah and Keturah. Sarah was Abraham's half-sister wife, the bride of his youth. Keturah was Abraham's patrilineal cousin wife, the bride of his old age.

The map shows Hebron (Kiriath-arba) , where Sarah resided, and Beersheba, where Keturah resided. These settlements marked the northern and southern boundary of Abraham's territory. His territory was entirely in the land of Edom, called "Idumea" by the Greeks. Idumea means "land of red people."

Rebekah was to Isaac what Keturah was to Abraham. Both women were second wives and both were related to their husbands patrilineally, that is, they share a common male ancestor. Both named their first born sons for rulers from whom the sons descended. Keturah named her first born son Joktan (Yaqtan) after her father. The Joktanite clans still reside in this region.

Rebekah named her first born son Esau. Esau is a royal name associated with the kingdom of Edom, and it was noted that Esau was red and had an abundance of hair: “The first to be born was red, altogether like a hair cloak; so they named him Esau.” (Gen. 25:25) More than one ruler of Edom was named Esau and the name is a variant of Issa which is also the name Jesus. Variants of the name Jesus include Yeshua, Joshua, Issa, Esse and Esau.

The cousin bride's naming prerogative was an established custom in the time of the Proto-Saharan ruler Lamech (Gen. 4). Lamech’s daughter, Naamah, married her patrilineal cousin Methuselah and named their first born son Lamech (see diagram below). This is a distinctive feature of the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the Horite Hebrew who ruled Edom. Some of those rulers are listed in Genesis 36.

The evidence of kinship analysis indicates that Rebecca was Isaac's second wife. His first wife would have been a half-sister living in the area of Beersheba. His first wife would be the mother of Oholibamah who is named in Genesis 36 as being of the clan of Seir the Horite Hebrew. Oholibamah married Esau the Younger around the age of 17 or 18. She was his half sister, as Sarah was to Abraham.

Isaac's first wife would have been a daughter of Abraham and Keturah. This was the bride of Isaac's youth, long before he could ascend to the throne of his father Abraham he needed a second wife. Abraham's rightful heir was Isaac so Abraham took great care to assure that he married according to the custom of the Horite Hebrew rulers of Edom. This way his ascension to the throne was less likely to be challenged.

As Abraham approached his death in Beersheba, Isaac had not taken his second wife, a prerequisite for ascension to his father's throne. As the second wife was usually a patrilineal cousin or a niece, Abraham enjoined his servant to seek a wife for Isaac among the women of Paddan-Aram in the territory of Abraham's older brother Nahor. Abraham's servant asks what he is to do if the woman refuses to come back with him to Beersheba. Abraham answered: "If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there." (Genesis 24:8) Isaac was to remain in the territory over which he would rule. As the proper heir to the throne of his father, Isaac was not to leave Abraham's territory in Edom. Abraham was confident that the Lord would insure the servant's success, and this would not entail Isaac leaving the territory he was to rule.

Abraham's servant was divinely guided to the proper bride for Isaac in the person of Rebekah. Rebekah consented to return to Beersheba in the Negev (Gen 24:62) where she married Isaac, and Isaac then ascended to the throne of his father Abraham.

Note that the New Testament speaks of Jesus taking His bride at the time of His revealing as the Son of God.  Jesus is a descendant of these Horite Hebrew rulers, as was David. David and Esau are both described as having a red skin tone. Perhaps this was true of Jesus also.

Here is a diagram of the clans of Seir the Horite. This includes Job’s clan of Uz.




Note that there are two named Esau. This is explained by the cousin bride's naming prerogative.  Esau the Elder was a contemporary of Seir. Esau the Younger was Jacob’s half-brother, reinforcing the suggestion that Isaac had a sister wife in Beersheba before he married Rebecca, his cousin wife.  As Isaac's first born son by his cousin wife, Esau would have been a vizier in the hill country of Seir in Edom. Not being a first born son, Jacob would have been sent away to establish a kingdom for himself, which is exactly what Genesis 28:2-4 describes. Note the contrast between Isaac’s admonition to Jacob to leave and not marry a local girl (Genesis 28:1-4) and Abraham’s admonition to his servant never to take Isaac from his territory, but instead to fetch a wife for him from his own Horite people in Paddan-Aram (Genesis 24:4-8).

Before he died, Abraham gave gifts to all his other sons and sent them away. These sent-away sons  would have to establish territories for themselves, with God's help. This feature of the Horite Hebrew marriage and ascendancy pattern drove the Kushite expansion out of the Nile Valley. The oldest known Horite shrine was there at Nekhen. Votive offerings at Nekhen were ten times larger than the normal mace heads and bowls found elsewhere, suggesting that this was a very prestigious shrine.

The pattern of two wives for the ruler insured a rightful heir to the father's throne and a strong alliance between the Horite Hebrew/Habiru clans. This was not the practice of the common folk. Isaac's two wives would have lived in separate settlements on a north-south axis.

Related reading:  Abraham's Sons; Genesis on Ancient Kingdom Builders; Kushite Brides; Jacob's Journeys; Abraham's Complaint; Jacob Leaves Beersheba; Twins Sent-Away Sons and Heirs to the Throne; Isaac's Wealth; Methuselah's Wife; Adam was a Red Man; Edo, Edom, Idumea; Archaic Rulers, Ascendancy, and the Foreshadowing of Christ

Isaac's Cousin Bride: A Poem

Genesis XXIV
By Arthur Hugh Clough

Who is this man
that walketh in the field,
O Eleazar,
steward to my lord?

And Eleazar
answered her and said,
Daughter of Bethuel,
it is other none
But my lord Isaac,
son unto my lord,
Who, as his wont is,
walketh in the field,
In the hour of evening,
meditating there.

Therefore Rebekah
basted where she sat,
And from her camel’
lighting to the earth,
Sought for a veil
and put it on her face.

But Isaac also,
walking in the field,
Saw from afar
a company that came,
Camels, and a seat
as where a woman sat;
Wherefore he came
and met them on the way.

Whom, when Rebekah
saw, she came before,
Saying, Behold
the handmaid of my lord;
Who, for my lord’s sake,
travel from my land.

But he said, O
thou blessed of our God,
Come, for the tent
is eager for thy face.
Shall not thy husband,
be unto thee more than
Hundreds of kinsmen
living in thy land?

And Eleazar answered,Thus and thus,
Even according
as thy father bade,
Did we; and thus and
thus it came to pass:
Lo! is not this
Rebekah, Bethuel’s child.

And, as he ended,
Isaac spoke and said,
Surely my heart
went with you on the way,
When with the beasts
ye came unto the place.

Truly, O child
of Nahor, I was there,
When to thy mother
and thy mother’s son
Thou madest answer,
saying, I will go.
And Isaac brought her
to his mother’s tent.