Bathuel (Hebrew: Bethá'el)

BATHUEL (Hebr. Béthá'él). – Son of Nachor and father of Rebecca (Gen. 22:23; 24:24). When Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, asked for Rebecca as a wife for Isaac, B. appears only briefly to give his consent (Gen. 24:50). Exegetes explain in various ways the secondary role that B. occupies in his daughter’s marriage. The most probable explanation is that B. was advanced in age or otherwise incapable of acting, and that responsibility for domestic affairs had therefore passed to Laban, his son and Rebecca’s brother. Perhaps Genesis also dwells preferentially on Laban because of the part he would play in the history of Jacob (Gen. 29–31).

Angelo Penna