Was Rebekah 3? (Genesis 24:59)

Was Rebekah Three? (Genesis 24:59)
One claim against the Bible is that Rebekah was three. We already have an overall refutation available here, but there is another claim that focuses on Genesis 24:59. Rebekah is asked if she will leave her home to be married. Rebekah accepts and they begin to leave. The passage states: "Thus they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse with Abraham’s servant and his men," (Genesis 24:59 NASB1995).

The claim goes that the word for "nurse" actually means "breastfeeding" or "to suck"; however, this is entirely fallacious. The word used is "מֵנִקְתָּ֑הּ" and it would not make sense to be translated as "to suck" or "to breastfeed" in the passage. This claim comes from an etymological fallacy. The root of the words is "ינק" which does mean "to suck" or "to breastfeed", but merely because a word is derived from a word does not mean it has the same meaning as the word. Even if we ignore this point, we still run into issues. The verse is a list of people who were leaving with Rebekah.

"וישלחו את־רבקה אחתם ואת־מנקתה ואת־עבד אברהם ואת־אנשיו׃"

The verse starts with "וישלחו" which means "and they sent". Who did they send? "את־רבקה אחתם" or "their sister, Rebekah". Who else? "את־מנקתה" or "the nurse". Finally, "ואת־עבד אברהם ואת־אנשיו׃" or "and the servants of Abraham and his men". This is a list of who is going back to Abraham so Rebekah being breastfed in the middle of it would not make much sense in the text.

Later in Genesis, it is said: "Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; it was named Allon-bacuth," (Genesis 35:8 NASB1995). In this verse, the same word, "מֵינֶ֣קֶת" is used, referring to Deborah her nurse who died. The only difference between these two words is, "מנקתה", is in the smikhut or construct form (i.e. similar to the genitive case, possessive). Unless we are to argue that Rebekah's nursing died and was buried, we must realize that "מֵנִקְתָּ֑הּ" merely means "a nurse".

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Image by Gustav Doré