Why did Rebekah cover herself when she first approached Isaac?

tonychanyt

24/7 Christian
Oct 2, 2011
4,190
1,266
Toronto
Visit site
✟116,991.00
Country
Canada
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Abraham's servant took Rebekah from Paddan Aram and headed back to Canaan in Gen 24:

62 Now Isaac had returned from Beer-lahai-roi and was dwelling in the Negeb. 63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming. 64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel 65 and said to the servant, “Who is that man, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself.
What was the significance of covering herself?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown explained:

The veil is an essential part of female dress. In country places it is often thrown aside, but on the appearance of a stranger, it is drawn over the face, as to conceal all but the eyes. In a bride it was a token of her reverence and subjection to her husband.
Isaac was a stranger and a soon-to-be husband to Rebekah.

Similarly, Gill:

therefore she took a veil, and covered herself; both out of modesty, and as a token of subjection to him: for the veil was put on when the bride was introduced to the bridegroom, as among the Romans (x) in later times. The Arab women always have veils when they appear in public, so that their faces cannot be seen; and though in the summer months they walk abroad with less caution, yet then, upon the approach of a stranger, they put on their veils (y).
(x) Vid. Lucan. l. 2. & Martial. Epigr. l. 2. 74. (y) See Shaw's Travels, p. 228. Tertullian. de Virgin. Veland, c. 17.
Why did Rebekah cover herself when she first approached Isaac?

As Isaac was a stranger, she covered herself as a sign of modesty.

As Isaac was her future husband, she covered herself like a bride to demonstrate her acceptance of him as her husband and to show respect and submission to him.

66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
It was a romantic scene :)