I. Name

Rachel is in biblical tradition Jacob’s favourite wife and mother of Joseph and Benjamin (Gen. 30.23–24; Gen. 35.16–20). Outside the Pentateuch she is mentioned in 1 Sam. 10.2; Ruth 4.11 and Jer. 31.15. Rachel was originally an animal name. The noun rāḥēl, ‘ewe’, is attested in Hebrew (Gen. 31.38; Isa. 53.7), Aramaic (also the Deir Alla inscription I,11) and classical Arabic. Stade (1881), Haupt (1909), O. Procksch (Die Genesis [KAT 1; Leipzig 1913] 334–335), and M. Noth (Das System der Zwölf Stäm…