Seeing the severe immobility of his son, that he stayed days and nights alone in the field, Abraham sent his servant to find a good wife for Isaac.
Rebekah loved Isaac and when he took her out to the field and said, “Lie on me, cover me,” she did. When he said, “Tell me who I am,” she said, “You are Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah, and husband to me, Rebekah.” She learned to touch him, saying, “Here are your eyes, Isaac. Here are your ears.” And in this way, she drew him to her so that, in time, Isaac came to love Rebekah.
He loved her even later when they had two sons and she deceived him over the birthright, which she did without pity. Isaac thought, greed isn’t everything. And it isn’t the worst thing. So he found that it was easy to forgive her. Partly because even in deceiving him, she was strong and purposeful, and so was like his mother had been on the day she dressed her hair with belts of velvet and wore her fur-trimmed coat and, standing firm, spoke the words that stopped his father.
Rogier van der Weyden
Portrait of a Lady, 1460
Oil on panel
13.39 x 10.04″
Portrait of a Lady – Rogier van der Weyden by DcoetzeeBot is in the public domain
