Jacob - Benjamin's Older Brother

Jacob is Rebakah's other uncle. He lives in Jerusalem in a large home with servants. His wife and son live an easy life with all the luxuries that could be provided them. Jacob, as the oldest son, inherited his father's trading business and built it up to become very wealthy. He gave his brother, Benjamin, a small piece of the business and put him in charge of a small shop in Bethany.

The brother's wives don't get along and Mara is jealous of the position and wealth that her sister-in-law enjoys only a few miles away from her small home with Benjamin.

Jacob spends much of the year on caravans to Damascus, Caesaria and to Egypt. He doesn't even realize he has a niece. When visiting Benjamen's home, he ignores the servants and never recognizes his sister's child, Rebekah.

Hannah - Mara's house servant

After Benjamin and Mara decide to keep six year old Rebekah as a servant, they turn her over to the old woman Hannah. Hannah has cooked, cleaned, and done everything around the home by herself. She is bent and wrinkled from her tasks and the hot Judean sun.

The old woman sees the fear and uncertainty in Rebekah's small face. She seems rigid and uncaring at first, but soon becomes Rebekah's protector. She is the only one who seems to care anything about the child. Hannah tries to keep the little girl away from harm, but cannot protect her from Mara's unpredictable temper tantrums.

Hannah provides one person in Rebekah's life that she feels she can trust, but one morning something happens that will change the little girl's path.

Mara - Rebekah's Aunt

Mara is a Canaanite woman married to an Israelite man, Benjamin. He is a member of the tribe of Judah. She is bitter and jealous of her brother-in-law. She comes up with a plan to get her husband a better and more lucrative part of the trade business that belongs to Benjamin and his brother Jacob. She is a cruel, selfish woman who treats Rebekah like a servant instead of her niece.

Benjamin - Rebekah's Uncle

Benjamin lives in Bethany with his pagan wife, Mara. He is surprised to find out that his sister who had been disowned when she married a shepherd, had a daughter. Benjamin is a business man. He runs his own shop in Bethany. However, his older brother has control of the merchants business left to them by their father. As the younger brother, he is jealous and wants to be more than he is.

When Rebekah arrives, her uncle takes her in because he fears that his friends and neighbors will condemn him if he doesn't. After all, it is his responsibility to take in this orphaned niece according to the law. Besides, she looks strong and he can present her as a household servant to his wife without spending a sheckle for her.

Meet Rebekah

Rebekah is the daughter of Eleazar, a shepherd living near Bethlehem. She loves playing with the lambs as a child and picks flowers and makes chains with them to hang around her neck or put on her head. Her mother died in childbirth. Rebekah misses her terribly, but her father tends to dote on her - a rarity among first century Hebrew society.

She is strong and helps with the sheep, as well as working with the wives and daughters of the other shepherds. She sleeps under the stars at night around a camp fire with her father and their friends. Rebekah is safe and content under her father's watchful eyes until tragedy strikes and changes her future. She must live and work in her uncle, Benjamin's home as a servant.

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Synopsis

Rebekah Redeemed is the story of a girl born to one of the young shepherds who witnessed the angels and the Christ child’s coming. Rebekah is taken to her uncle’s house in Bethany after her father’s death. Treated as a servant, she is traded from relative to relative; the young girl suffers through hard labor, neglect, and abuse. She meets Martha and Mary drawing water at the well each morning. The sisters offer her compassion. After a Roman soldier assaults her at her uncle’s home, she runs away in the night and hides in the barn behind Lazarus’ home. Is there no kinsman redeemer who can save her from this brutal life? She meets the Nazarene and hears his teachings. But can she forgive and forget? Will he change her, or will she remain a captive of her past?