pation of Rebekah, her beauty, courteous kindness, « til- ing consent and lesly, and Success in retaining her
husband's love. For nineteen years she was childless; then, after the prayers of [saac and her journey to in- quire of the Lord, Esau and Jacob were born: and, while the younger was more particularly the companion and favorite of his mother (Gen. xxv,19 28), the elder be- lief of mind to her ixxvi. 35). When Isaac was driven by a famine into the lawless country of the
Philistines, Rebekah's beauty beanie, as was appre- hended, a source of danger to her husband. But Abim- elech was restrained by a Bense of justice such as the conduct of his predecessor (ch. xx i in the case ol Sarah would nol lead Isaac to expect It was probably a con- siderable time afterwards when Rebekah suggested the
deceit that Was practiced by Jacob on his blind father.
She directed and aided him in carrying it out, foresaw the probable consequence of Esau's anger, and prevented it by moving Isaac to send Jacob away to Padan-aram (.Ii. xxvii) to her own kindred (xxix, 12). B.C. L927. I heTargum Pseudo-Jon. states (Gen. xxxv, 8) thai the news of her death was brough Jacob at Allon-bachuth.
1 It has been conjectured that she died during his sojourn in Padan-aram; for her nurse appears to have left Isaac's dwelling and gone back to Padan-aram before that pe- np. xxiv, 59, and xxv. 8), and Rebekah is not mentioned when Jacob returns to his father, nor do we hear of her burial till it is incidentally mentioned by Jacob on his death-bed | xhx. :;i i. Paul | Rom. ix, in") refer- to her as being made acquainted with the pur- pose of God regarding her children before they were born. For comments on the whole history of Rebekah, see Origen, Horn, in Genesin x and xii; Chrysostom, Horn, in Genesin, v. 18 54. Rebekah's inquiry ol God, and the answer given to her. are discussed by Deyling, Obser. Sac. i. 12, p. 53 sq., and in an essay by J. A. Schmid in Nov. Thes. Theol.-phttolog. i, L88; also by Ebersbach (Helmst 1712). Smith. The agreement of the description of Rebekah in Gen. xxii with modern Eastern customs and scenes is well noticed by Thom- son, Land and Book, ii, 103. See [saa< ; Jacob.
Reber, Juki. l... a minister of the t German Reformed Church, was born in Berks County. Pa., Nov. 8, 1816. He spent his youth on a farm, and afterwards learned the printing business. He pursued his studies in the college and seminary at Mercersburg, Pa., from 1837 to L842, and was ordained in May, 1843. He was pa- tor successively in Brush Valley. Centre County. Pa.; Jonestown, Lebanon County.Pa.; Millersville, Lancas- ter County, Pa.; Codorus, York County. Pa. II. ■ died Aug. 15, 1856. In 1850 .Mr. Reber published a small work in German entitled An Earnest Wordon Spirit ami Sect-Work, which passed through two edi- tions, lie also wrote much for the periodicals of the daj in ( rerman and English, in both of which languages lie was able to write with equal vigor and correctness. He was possessed of a strong, original mind, was an earnest and powerful preacher, and manifested a labo- rious, self-sacrificing spirit.
Recanati, Mbnahem di, a Jewish writer, was born in Recanati (the ancient Recinetum) about 1290, and is the author of a commentary on the Pentateuch (U311B ~-"r~ bs), which is little else than a commentary on the Sohar. This commentary, which was first pub- lished by Jacob ben-Chajim in Bomberg's celebrated printing establishment (Venice, 1523; then again ibid. 1545; and in Lublin. 1595), has been translated into Latin by the famous Pio della Mirandola. lie also wrote E^in C. a treatise forensic, moral, and c< rc- monial (Bononia, 15:58) :— T*Z~n T03B, an exposition of tin' precepts of i he law (Constantinople, 1544). Be- sides these works, he wrote a number of others, which are still unpublished. See Fttrst, Bibl. Jud. iii. 135 sq.; De Rossi, Dizionario Storico (Germ, transl.), p. 275; Steinschneider, Catalogus Libr. Hebr. in Bibl Bodlei. col. 1733 :'.7: Etheridge, Tntrod. to Ihhr. Literature, p. •JS0; Ginsburg, Kabbalah, p. lbs sip; Jost, Getch. </. Jud nth. a. s. Si Cten, iii. 77. (B. P.) Receipt ok Custom. See Custom. Recensions of the Old Testament. Under this
head we present an outline of the history of the print- ed Hebrew text, not in the manner of Bartolocci, Wolf,
and Le-Long-Mash, who give a Ion-- li-i of editions, but
according to the different recensions which the Hebrew text underwent from time to time. The hi-tory of the imprinted text in it- dill, rent periods has already been Heated in the article Old Testament (q. v.). Prom
the article MANUSCIUPT8 (q. V.) it will be seen that
some of the most important MSS. are lost, and that they are only known to us from quotations. JTel a great many MSS. of the < Hd Test, existed iii the differ- ent countries where Jews resided; and, as certain rules and regulations were laid down by the scribes accord- ing to which M^S. were to I.,- written, it i- but nat- ural to infer that the MSS. of the different countries would, in the main, correspond with each other. After the invention of printing, many were desirous of pub-