As I think of my Mom after her recent passing, I have taken some consolation in the daily presence and activity of my youngest daughter Rebekah. I surmise that Rebekah may be very much like my Mom was at seven years of age and that I have the privilege to gain that insight into my heritage on a routine basis.
Rebekah, nicknamed Itsy Bit, means "a snare" and "a yoke". This could probably be interpreted numerous ways. It is a biblical name of Hebrew origin. Rebekah was the wife of Isaac and the mother of two sons, Esau and Jacob. By the way, a yoke is a harness-type device linking two animals so they work together and can pull a load in tandem. It seems the dynamics between Esau and Jacob are tightly wound together. A colloquial use of the word "yoke" is to fool or deceive as in "the pickpockets yoked the target victim".
We were fairly sure that our Rebekah was the chosen name before she was born but we reserved the privilege of waiting her arrival before finally deciding. We had to meet her!! I also nicknamed my Rebekah as a "Peach" before she was born because I liked the connotation associated with a Victorian period historical nickname and I had reddish highlights in my blond hair and beard as a young man depending on the light. Although of pale complexion generally, I had some ruddiness to me particularly as I tanned in the sun.
Right out of the womb, my Itsy Bit of a Peach was a healthy tinge of pinkish peach with a high APGAR score. She fit the nickname. And the family's world was definitely yoked and arranged in concert around the youngest child over time. She has been lots of fun, peachy keen, and is a focus of our lives. She was aptly named aforehand.
Copyright James E. Martin 2007 Rebekah Peach
Since the biblical Esau was known to be "ruddy" in complexion, I like to think that the biblical Rebekah probably had fetching, reddish hair, a peachy complexion, and beauty that was visually ensnaring. Hence the nickname used by me for my own Rebekah. Itsy Bit's two older sisters, Rachel and Anna, also had some ruddiness in their hair color at an early age. Fetching.
Copyright James E. Martin 1995 Rachel and Anna
The biblical Rebekah was a probably a snare in some shape or fashion. As were her children. And her children's children. In my opinion, the story of Jacob and Esau is a trap and a snare to many in the human endeavor throughout history even to this day. As brothers, their personal conflict was foreshadowed in the womb. Conflict was also to continue between their descendant nations throughout time foreshadowing current world events.
Isaac favors Esau. Rebekah favors Jacob. Esau, headstrong and of impulsive nature, relinquishes his birthright for a meal negotiated from Jacob. Jacob, deceptive and using forethought in his nature, receives the birthright through the negotiation with Esau and further deceives his father Isaac with Rebekah's assistance to ensure his obtaining the birthright for the blessings associated with God's covenant and the consequent founding of the Jewish people.
Esau is enraged and vows to kill Jacob revealing his potentially passive-aggressive, rebellious, and murderous nature. Esau does not value his birthright nor the values surrounding it. Jacob escapes the threat of violence with Rebekah's assistance and leaves to a distant land away from the mainstream maelstrom within Isaac's realm. He leaves behind the worldly wealth of Isaac's inheritance in Esau's hands. He starts out with nothing, is initially deceived by Rebekah's brother Laban for the hand of Rachel, receiving the older Leah instead. Only later does he also earn Rachel's hand through extended servant labor. He is blessed eventually with great wealth and eventually returns with trepidation to his paternal family. Jacob reconciles with Esau after many years. These happenings and their importance catch or ensnare many even to this day for God declares "Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated". The declaration goes against current prevalent thoughts and teachings. It is difficult to comprehend to most. The story portends of the future.
Perhaps for biblical Rebekah, her beauty was a snare and an entrapment to the men around her. I can see that being a part of the meaning.
Perhaps the manner in which she interacted with other's through dialog, people felt trapped or caught or limited during conversation. Their response would be to avoid the snare in the future. Perhaps she was very intelligent and was so erudite in her thinking that she could ensnare other's logic and arguments. Perhaps there is an element of being deceptive to accomplish her objectives. I have this sense of the meaning. I am mindful that all my daughter's are thinkers, superb debaters of the first order. Their arguments and rationale run wide and deep. They can be occasionally laughingly conniving and mysterious. Apples don't fall from the tree.
My Rebekah's middle name is derived with forethought and deliberate intent. My Mom's name is Doris. Mom was named after her Mom, Dora. And then there is my favorite Aunt Gwen. Itsy Bit's middle name is then derived after two names comprised of my maternal lineal heritage and my favorite aunt's name. Thus, it becomes Dora Gwendolyn. My Mom is Aunt Gwen's older sister. Two amazing women in whom I have admired their character and personalities over my lifetime. And the two of them were the best of friends, always "gallavanting" [a favorite family cliche] around New England, having the best of fun through the years.
Doris or Dori or Dora is Greek derived from a Peloponnesian tribe and means a gift or wealth from the sea. For me, Itsy Bit was a welcome, desired, suitable, and precious present from amidst the sea of humanity. Peloponnesia is in southern Greece and is a peninsula attached to the mainland through the Isthmus of Corinth. The Greek war of independence was fought there so the history depicts the attributes of the people. Based on my recent review of the history in the context of today's blog, I find it remarkable that, along with French expeditionary forces [I married a French girl so my daughters have the bloodline], the Peloponnese evicted the Turkish-Egyptian forces from the peninsula to establish the first independent Greek state. There is a sense of organized, independent, conquering, and then dominating political, governmental, and military leadership from the region's history. There is a sense of traditional and conservative aura in the ensuing heritage.
Gwen or Gwendolyn is English, Celtic or Welsh and means white-browed, fair, fair-headed, white, and blessed. In the meaning, there is a sense of feminine gentleness, innocence, graciousness, and purity with a perspective view of the heavenly, honored, and royal endowment of physical beauty of the head and smart sensibility of the mind in the meaning, I think. My favorite Aunt Gwen is fair and blessed. My Itsy Bit and her namesakes are all well-named.
My last name, Martin, by the way, is depicted after the god of war, Mars, and means warlike or martial in bearing. There's the rational, organizing, mission-oriented attributes in the persona. During the ensuing Roman period after the Greek war for independence, the Greek peninsula remained prosperous but became a provincial backwater based on it's physical isolation from mainstream Roman affairs. Our oldest daughter has a middle name Corinne, by the way, named after her maternal grandmother and meaning gentle, maiden. The original Greek derivation was latinized during the Roman period in the Gaul region and results in the presented French spelling for my daughter's use.
My wife's maiden name is LeCompte. Sounds like a french royal to me. The Count. Or alternatively, "one who takes care of the accounts" which is an disciplined and organizing attribute. We understand that both of our genealogies trace back in some branches to the people in the Alsace-Lorraine mountains in France on the German border. Again, I sense the mountain regions were protected from the mainstream human drama found in political, government, and military affairs.
Striking the way this all seems to work together.
As I look to my maternal roots, my Mom's maiden name was Rines presumably derived from the Germanic Rhine river area.
In Germany Along the Rhine - Internet Fair Use
The family lineage in New England may be comprised of one to three genealogical branch-roots of the Rines bloodline and seems to have populated the early provincial backwaters of New England during and after the American revolution and war for independence. Particularly up and down the Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine coastlines and mountains.
Based on my thoughts about what I am doing in my remaining years, these roots may portend who I am and what I am about and what my mission is in the near and lasting term. That's part of the outlook. It fashions my world-view and influences my Creative Endeavor and Artistic Pursuit. I am becoming. My blog moniker does remind me that I am in the midst of a "remodeling and restoration". So what's in a name? A people. A goodly heritage. The roots may run even deeper than I depict. We are who are ancestors have been. It's amazing to me and all suitably interconnected and meaningful.
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