Bethuel

the son of Nahor and Milcah. He was Abraham’s nephew, and father to Laban and Rebekah, the wife of Isaac, Gen 22:20; Gen 22:23.

Bethu´el, son of Abraham’s brother Nahor, and father of Laban and of Rebecca, whom Isaac married (Gen 22:22-23).

Be’thuel. (dweller in God). The son of Nahor, by Milcah; nephew of Abraham, and father of Rebekah, Gen 22:22-23; Gen 24:15; Gen 24:24; Gen 24:47; Gen 28:2. In Gen 25:20 and Gen 28:5, he is called "Bethuel, the Syrian."

"The Syrian" (Aramite).

1. Nahor’s son by Miclah, nephew of Abraham, father of Rebekah (Gen 22:22-23; Gen 24:15; Gen 24:24; Gen 24:47; Gen 28:2). Bethuel appears personally only in Gen 24:50, and then after his son. Blunt (Undesigned Coincidences) notices Bethuel’s consistent insignificance in the whole affair of his daughter’s marriage. When Abraham’s servant at the well asks Rebekah, "Is there room in thy father’s house for us?" she "ran and told them of her mother’s house" (not of her father’s, as Rachel did when Jacob introduced himself: Gen 29:12).

Laban her brother ran out and invited him in, not Bethuel, the natural person to do it. The servant makes presents of jewels and precious things to Rebekah, "and to her brother, and to her mother," but not to Bethuel. The brother and mother propose her abiding a few days before going. Finally, in the next generation, Rebekah’s son, in inquiring after his kindred, asks, "Know ye Laban, the son of Nahor?" the father’s name being omitted and the grandfather’s substituted (Gen 29:5). The consistency of omission is too marked to be accidental, and yet such as a forger would never have devised. Bethuel was probably incapable, from age or imbecility, of managing his own affairs; but see Laban. (See LABAN.)

2. A place (See BETHUL.) (1Ch 4:30).

[Bethu’el]

Son of Nahor, a Syrian, Abraham’s brother, and father of Rebekah. Gen 22:22-23; Gen 24:15-47; Gen 25:20; Gen 28:2; Gen 28:5.

By: Morris Jastrow, Jr., B. Eerdmans, Louis Ginzberg

—Biblical Data:

1. According to Gen. xxii. 22, a descendant of Arphaxad (compare Gen. xi. 13-22). He was the son of Nahor and Milcah, and father of Laban and Rebekah. Since in Gen. xxv. 20 and xxviii. 2, 5, Bethuel is called "the Syrian [Aramean] of Padan-aram," he must have been, according to this source, a descendant of Aram, the brother of Arphaxad (Gen. x. 22; compare Budde, "Urgeschichte," pp. 421-426). In the story of Rebekah's marriage (Gen. xxiv.) he is only mentioned once, as taking an active part in events (verse 50, "then Laban and Bethuel answered"). Some critics omit his name here, and assume that Bethuel was already dead at that time (Ball, "S. B. O. T." ad loc.; Holzinger, Commentary to Gen. p. 170). Other critics (e.g., Dillmann, in loco) suppose that throughout Gen. xxiv. the name "Bethuel" is a later addition. Gunkel (Commentary to Gen. pp. 226, 229) finds here two traditions, and supposes the Bethuel of verse 50 to be a younger brother of Laban. Some critics think that Bethuel may have been the name of an Aramean tribe in Mesopotamia.

2. Name of a town in the tribe of Simeon (Josh. xix. 4; I Chron. iv. 30), the site of which has not yet been identified.

—In Rabbinical Literature:

Bethuel, being king of Haran, exercised the jus primœ noctis in his dominions. The people consented, only on condition that he should use this privilege also toward the members of his own family. God, therefore, let him die suddenly when Eliezer wooed Rebekah for Isaac, in order to spare her the dreadful ordeal. This explains why, in the Biblical account of Eliezer's wooing (Gen. xxiv. 50), Bethuel is at first mentioned, but afterward only Rebekah's mother and brother are referred to, Bethuel having died during the night (Yalḳ. i. 109, probably from the lost Midrash Abkir). Another legend states that Bethuel intended to kill Eliezer when he saw the treasures which the latter brought with him, and, not being able to carry out his purpose, on account of Eliezer's great strength (see Eliezer, in Rabbinical Literature), he mixed poison with his food. The angel who accompanied Eliezer changed the plates, however, so that Bethuel ate the poisoned portion which he had intended for Eliezer, and died therefrom (Yalḳ. l.c., Midrash Aggadah, ed. Buber, Vienna, 1894, i. 58, 59). According to the old Midrashim, Bethuel refused to give his daughter in marriage, and for that reason God caused him to die suddenly, while Eliezer was staying in his house (Gen. R. lx. 12).

BETHUEL.—1. The son of Nahor and Milcah, nephew of Abraham, and father of Laban and Rebekah (Gen 22:23; Gen 24:15; Gen 24:24; Gen 24:47; Gen 24:50; Gen 25:20; Gen 28:2; Gen 28:5). In Gen 28:5 (P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ) he is called ‘Bethuel the Syrian.’ 2. 1Ch 4:30; or Bethul (Jos 19:4). See Bethel, 2.

be-thū´el (בּתוּאל, b^ethū’ēl; “dweller in God”): A son of Nahor and Milcah, Abraham’s nephew, father of Laban and Rebekah (Gen 22:23; Gen 24:15, Gen 24:24, Gen 24:47, Gen 24:50; Gen 25:20; Gen 28:2, Gen 28:5). In the last-named passage, he is surnamed “the Syrian.” The only place where he appears as a leading character in the narrative is in connection with Rebekah’s betrothal to Isaac; and even here, his son Laban stands out more prominently than he - a fact explainable on the ground of the custom which recognized the right of the brother to take a special interest in the welfare of the sister (compare Gen 34:5, Gen 34:21, Gen 34:25; 2Sa 13:20, 2Sa 13:22). Ant, I, xvi, 2 states that Bethuel was dead at this time.