In the BSB, Rebekka watered 10 THIRSTY camels and also gave water to Abraham's servant and whoever else was with him on that long trip to find Isaak a wife. One camel drinks about 30 gallons of water at one time and doesn't drink again for 10 months, according to a nature book about camels. So, that's 30 gallons X 10 camels + thirsty people= 300+ gallons of water! After she was done hauling the bucket (~1 gallon) up and down (empty going down) a 100 foot well (I'm guessing), she took care of the animals then went in to her house to prepare dinner for a large party (her family and surprise visitors) from SCRATCH in a kitchen that probably didn't come close to what we have today. Now, I ask you, how many can you lift before you can't lift anymore? I would say it would be comparable to Rebecca lifting 300 gallons of water. She didn't! She couldn't! Not in one setting like they say she did. Your views, sil vous plais Beer steins to buckets, I would say it is the same. Must rest muscles.
Rebekka watered 10 camels???
by White Dove 10 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
LongHairGal
I also thought this account seemed exaggerated about Rebecca lifting all that water. She may have been a strong girl but this is a bit much. Probably, there had to have been a boy around the premises to help her.
This wasn't the only story that I thought exaggerated just a bit. What about the one where Hagar supposedly 'threw her son under a bush'...etc. Her son had to have been at least in late teens. Anybody over the age of 10 would have been heavy enough to lift let alone to throw.
LHG
-
Gopher
Do you all remember the capable wife of Proverbs 31:10-31??
Rebekah had nothing on her. That capable wife probably never got any sleep, and her entire household was perfectly well taken care of .
Good imagination those Hebrew writers had, to help teach men how high to set the bar for their wives. I'm sure this was much appreciated by the wives.
-
SnakesInTheTower
sheesh, I remember using Rebekka as an example in the "Follow the Course of Hospitality" talk I used to give all the time......tying it all into the showing affection for strangers (using Greek not Hebrew word philoxenia, lit, "love of aliens") to show how she showed hospitality to (at that point) a complete stranger. And I used all of those measurements you mentioned to show how much work it really was. I remember the friends just "oohing and ahhing" during and after the talk about how much effort she put forth and how it was good I did all that "research"....
Really, after I had given that talk about a dozen times, I began to think maybe it was an exageration, a hyperbole....but I still used it all the way until I quit giving talks last year.
She had help, no doubt, if she did it at all. They all had servants back then, esp. the wealthy families like hers.
SnakesInTheTower (of the "not believing the hyperbole anymore" Sheep Class)
ps...with the new 30 minute talks, I wonder if I would have had to cut that scenario out to stick to the BorgOutline? Glad its not my worry anymore.
-
fedorE
Oh yee of little faith
Look man! When it says Rebecca watered 10 camels it means she washed or hosed down or threw water at them to cool em down...not that she procured enough water for their sustenance..anyways Reb was a lazy little bitch, why would anyone think she would kill herself to do all that work which would have killed her for sure...Read the context..LOL
-
White Dove
Thanks. My JW dad said the same thing: she must have had help. And it did say "drew water" for all of the thirsty camels.
-
White Dove
I'm sure she was a very hard worker. The hired hands were, I'm sure, extra to help out the family. I would die of bordom back then if I didn't have work to do.
-
jaguarbass
In matters such as this the debil is always in the details.
-
emptywords
maybe she was on steriods
-
Justahuman24
Well, I THINK that she probably had helped from other people, most likely her nurse(s) or maidservant(s). Keep in mind that many times, when the Bible talks about someone doing something, it means that the person did it with the help of someone else but it gives credit to, or focuses on, one person because they took the initiative - Solomon building the Temple. Well, we KNOW Solomon DID NOT build the Temple himself. He probably didn't even put a stone there. But he paid for it and decided to build it. Another point of interest is that in the Bible account, it seems as if Rebekah was alone but it's very unlikely that a young woman would go ALONE to draw water. Again, she was probably was accompanied by her maidservant(s) and probably other men who worked for her father, too. Also, she was the focus of the story so she was the only one mentioned but again, I HIGHLY doubt she was alone for reasons already mentioned. justahuman - but super nonetheless