Preview: A generational leader seeks to arrange a marriage for his child. A test is posed to determine the appropriate partner. A request is made for water. A suitor rises to the challenge. A brother features prominently in the matchmaking. The husband and wife come from the same extended family. The wife travels to meet her husband, apparently in the Negev. Upon arrival, she conspicuously disembarks from the animal she had been riding. There unfolds a fateful encounter between the peoples of Aram and of Avraham. Which Biblical story does this describe? Two, actually.

Some thoughts on the connection between Yitzchak/Rivkah and Otniel/Achsah – and the meaning of those connections.