In the book’s final denouement, Job is granted seven sons and three daughters to replace those that God earlier allowed to be taken from him. The sons are not named, but the daughters are. And it is stated that they are not only exceptionally beautiful, but also are granted the same land and inheritance rights as their brothers. This is quite unusual in Torah.

The third of the three daughters is named Keren-happuch — the word “Keren” (קרן) means “horn” … as in the horn of a sheep or goat. happuch seems to mean “upturned” in this context … so I guess this person’s name would be “upturned horns” — a very curious and goat-like image for what amounts to a princess.

Much on the connections between Keren-happuch, Abraham and Rebecca is to be found in this piece by Rabbi D. Steinberg. Therein, he cites the Talmud (Bava Batra, 91a)

R. Hanan b. Raba further stated in the name of Rav: [The name of] the mother of Abraham [was] Amatlai the daughter of Karnebo

ואמר רב חנן בר רבא אמר רב אמיה דאברהם אמתלאיבת כרנבו

I have four observations about this:

First the Talmud seems to speak of a matrilineal line of descent here — unusual for a toldot.  Amatlai is the daughter of Karenbo … a woman.  We don’t know who the father is. So in search of Abraham’s unnamed mother, we must first pass by an unnamed father.

Second, there’s the clear similarity in the names of Karenbo and the third daughter of Job — both contain the word “horn” which evokes an association with the goat.  According to Rabbi Steinberg, they are likely the same person. 

Third, Amatlai is probably an aramaic version of the Greek name Amalthea. 

And finally from this one fragmentary sentence we can derive the family relationships here — Abraham’s mother Amatlai is the wife of Terach, Abraham’ father. The pair also begat Abraham’s brother Nahor, who begat Bethuel, father of Rebecca.  So this makes Amatlai Rebecca’s great grandmother, and Karenbo her great-great grandmother, and Job her great-great-great-grandfather, whereas they would be Abraham’s mother and grandmother and great-grandfather respectively.

Let us now turn to two distinct stories which shed light on this particular lineage.

First, a dramatic medieval midrash from Sefer HaYashar — Genesis — Noach which relates the story of Abram’s birth. The full story is quite lengthy, so I will attempt to distill it like this:

Terach was a general in Nimrod’s army… and when Abram was born he had a big party for all of the officials of Ur to celebrate the birth of his son.  When some were walking home late at night after the festivities, they suddenly saw a bright star or comet in the sky.  The next day they reported this to Nimrod the king, who was afraid that it was an omen concerning the newborn boy, and ordered the baby killed.  Using his wiles (and — horrifically — sacrificing a servant girl’s newborn in place of Abram) he was able to trick Nimrod into letting the boy live, though he had to hide him in a cave for 10 years under the care of his wife Amatlai.  She is said to have nurtured and nursed the boy in the cave.

And now another story, this one from Greek mythology:

The Titan lord Cronus was fearful of being overthrown by his own child, and so each time Rhea, his wife gave birth, he would swallow the baby, imprisoning it within his stomach. Five children … were thus imprisoned, but when a sixth child, Zeus was born, Rhea conspired with Gaia to have him spirited away to a cave in Crete. Cronus was subsequently tricked into swallowing a stone in the place of Zeus. Zeus was hidden away safely in the cave … but Rhea could not stay with her son, and so care was given over … to Amalthea — who was a nymph associated with the she-goat.  Zeus was fed with goat’s milk while in hiding.

So We have this lineage of women, flowing from Amatlai bat Kerenbo (upturned horns!), who the midrash credits with saving Abraham’s life as a boy, and who is identified in the Talmud through her name with another goat figure — the nymph Amalthea. Both of the mythical women who shared this name saved great leaders (Zeus, Abraham) by hiding them from death in caves from vengeful father-kings and nursing them throughout childhood.  

It should be clear now that these are not two distinct stories at all — they are indeed one.

Here is Poussin’s 17th c. painting of the nurturing of Zeus by Amalthea (note the goat being milked and the goddess feeding the boy from a jug)

Let us now consider these tales as backdrops to the story of Isaac from parshas חיי שׂרה. Our ancestor is abroad at sunset, saying ma’ariv in the field. At that moment he first spies the approach of the camels bearing Eliezer and Rebecca. In this highly cinematic moment I want to see Rebecca as the returning inheritor of a mighty matrilineal line descending from Kerenbo — a woman, as we’ve seen, with land and her own story to tell.  And here comes Kerenbo’s great-great-granddaughter Rebecca — glorious, unheralded, powerful. Isaac has no idea what he’s getting into. On Shabbat we sing Lecha-Dodi: “Come in peace, crown of her husband, Both in happiness and jubilation, amidst the faithful of the treasured nation. Come O Bride! Come O Bride!” Perhaps in this case, Isaac’s bride bears a crown not of gold, but of brilliant horn.

This also helps decipher the oft-discussed oddity of where the couple immediately take up residence. This is not in the house of Abraham, but in the still-standing (dynastic?) household of Isaac’s late mother Sarah, from whom Abraham was estranged after the Akedah. It is as if Rebecca is coming home — not only to (victim-child) Isaac or (perpetrator-father) Abraham — but into a secret queenly house that has been waiting to receive her ever since Sarah’s death. 

Rebecca’s cosmic mission is to make sure that the Akedah is never repeated. She is possessed of the same child-saving power as her great grandmother Amatlai — the very motherly power that saved Abraham himself as a boy from Nimrod in the cave. She is there to atone, too, for Sarah’s failings. Our foremother could not protect Isaac from Abraham and God, nor could she restrain herself from murderous cruelty to his half-brother Ishmael and his mother. Therefore it is significant that Rebecca takes her place in a hidden seat of feminine power within the family. (Perhaps it is this tug of destiny that causes her to not delay her return with Eliezer)  In any case, it is alluring — this image of Rebecca assuming her place as the descendant of Kerenbo — the goat-royalty of Uz, nurturer of great leaders (Jacob), savior of sons (Isaac), צדיקה, comforter. This theme also explains why this parshah deeply merits its title, חיי שׂרה  — this story is about the continuation of a feminine line and the fulfillment of Sarah’s life.