BATHUEL (Hebrew: Béthû'él). — Son of Nachor and father of Rebecca (*Gen. 22:23; 24:24*). When Eliézer, Abraham’s servant, asked for Rebecca’s hand in marriage for Isaac, BATHUEL appears only to give his consent (*Gen. 24:50*). Various hypotheses have been proposed by exegetes to explain the secondary role played by BATHUEL in his daughter’s marriage. The most plausible is that BATHUEL was advanced in age or otherwise incapacitated, so that the management of household affairs had passed to Laban, his son and Rebecca’s brother. It is also possible that *Genesis* focuses primarily on Laban because of the role he would play in the story of Jacob (*Gen. 29–31*).
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