Genesis 35:8 - Deborah, Rebecca's Nurse

     This one verse simply states that Deborah, the nurse of Rebecca (or Rebekah, depending upon the translation) died and was buried under an oak tree below Bethel. Jacob named it Allon-bakuth, which means the Oak of Weeping. The only other mention of Deborah is in Genesis 25:59, where the nurse is cited as going with Rebecca when she left her family and home to travel to another land to meet and marry Isaac, the son of Abraham.
      This can be taken as a simple expression of grief over the death of a beloved family employee, the nurse who’d helped care for Jacob as a child. Jacob himself would have felt grief at the loss of someone who had probably been like a second mother. His wives, concubines, eleven sons (it was before the birth of his twelfth son, Benjamin) and one daughter would also have been the recipients of her care and therefore shared the sorrow over her loss. There is something warm-hearted about the thought that this woman was loved and valued so much that the record of her loss was remembered and passed down until it was included in the Biblical story. However, Deborah’s death may have had additional significance.
     From the two brief mentions of her, we can surmise a surprising extent of information.
     Rebecca was a kinswoman of Abraham and Isaac.
     When Abraham was growing old, following the death of Sarah, he worried that his son might marry a Canaanite woman. They were living in the land in which God had led him, but he wanted his son to marry someone from the home he had left behind. His servant traveled there where he met Rebecca, the daughter of Abraham’s brother, Nahor. Rebecca agreed to return with the servant and marry the cousin she had never seen. Thus her nurse, Deborah, also left her native land and family in order to travel with Rebecca.
     Now, many years later, we learn that she is traveling with Jacob and his family. This means that at some point she had returned to her native land. Jacob had gone there as well, sent by Rebecca to escape the anger of his twin brother, Esau, whom he’d cheated out of the paternal blessing. Jacob took up residence with Laban, his mother’s brother. There he fell in love with Laban’s younger daughter, but ended up marrying both sisters (who in sisterly rivalry also gave him their servants as concubines or secondary wives, to achieve more children).
     It is possible that Rebecca had died and Deborah then elected to return to the home of her childhood. But given Rebecca’s fierce love for Jacob, it seems probable that she asked Deborah to go back so that she could watch over Jacob. The request could have been made long before Rebecca’s death.
     Deborah then would have become the nurse for a whole new generation of Rebecca’s family. She would have cared for the children and likely assisted at their births, even though she is not specifically listed as a midwife. After years of experience, she was probably skilled. Rebecca’s own delivery of Esau and Jacob had been difficult. Deborah may well have assisted with the births and illnesses of other servants and neighbors in addition to those of Jacob’s children.
     It is not surprising the Deborah’s death was the occasion of much grief. But this death also deprived the family of an experienced nurse/midwife. This may have been a precipitating factor in the death of Rachel, Jacob’s beloved wife, in childbirth a short time later.

      Regarding medicine in Biblical times: The Hebrews shared many traditions with other people in the Ancient Near East. One was the tradition of the priests who were also trained to respond to a variety of illnesses. In the Pentateuch, it is the priest and the midwife who were held responsible for communal health. In the days of Jacob and Rebecca, however, there was no priesthood yet in the worship of Yahweh. The nurse/midwife may have been especially important under those circumstances.

     Deborah’s qualities are mostly pulled from what we can infer from the story. She was loyal and faithful. She must have had some courage and daring to leave her homeland in the first place. Later she left the familiar place of a lifetime to follow Jacob. Then, at what must have been an advanced age, she went with Jacob once again as he prepared to face Esau.
     Deborah’s personality was such that her employers grieved deeply for her loss. There is every reason to believe that she was a skillful nurse and midwife. Thus Deborah may deserve being accorded the honor of being the first medical professional to be mentioned in the Bible.