When reading through Parshat Toldot,
one may conclude that Rivka was a prophetess. In fact, we find in Breisheet
Raba and Yalkut Shimoni that all of the foremothers, Sara, Rivka, Rachel and
Leah were prophetesses.
If Rivka was a prophetess then why
is Sara the only one of our foremothers who is listed in the Talmud, Megilla 14a:
Seven prophetesses- Who were they?
Sara, Miriam, Devora, Chana, Avigail, Hulda and Ester.
The Taz (Breisheet 29:34) explains:
Rivka, Rachel and Leah are not
included in the list of prophetesses (Megilla 14a) since the women listed there
all had prophecies about someone else. For example, Sara’s prophecy was that
Yishmael would not inherit with Yitzchak. Rivka, Rachel and Leah’s prophecies
were about what would happen to them personally, not what would happen to
others and therefore they were not included on the list even though they did
have prophecy.
We see Sara’s prophecy in Breisheet
21:10:
She said to Avraham, “Drive out this
slave-woman and her son, for the son of this slave-woman will not inherit with
my son, with Yitzchak.”
Avraham was worried and therefore
God told him (Breisheet 21:12):
“Do not consider this wrong in your
eyes on account of the boy and your slave-woman. Regarding all that Sara tells
you listen to her, for only through Yitzchak will seed be considered yours.”
Rashi comments that we learn from
here that Avraham was inferior to Sara with regard to prophecy.
Since Sara was sure of her prophecy,
she spoke up and told Avraham what needed to be done.
Dr. Tamar Frankiel points out in her
book, The Voice of Sarah:
Sarah saw the character of Yishmael
and had him banished from the household. Rivka saw the character of Esav and
contrived to have his father’s favor taken away, then separated him from his
brother by sending Yaakov far away…Rivka’s story adds something new. The
rivalrous sons were both her own sons, not children of two different wives; and
she had to send her favorite son away, not, as in Sarah’s case, the misbehaving
one…
Rivka, as far as we see in the text,
did not discuss the prophecies that she received about her children with
Yitzchak. Instead, she took action behind the scenes to make sure that Yaakov
would inherit the Land of Israel.
