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Summary
- Rachel is a biblical name: she is the younger daughter of Laban and the wife Jacob loved, for whom he served fourteen years (Genesis 29).
- Her Hebrew name, Raḥel, means “ewe,” the word also used for the sheep silent before its shearers in Isaiah 53:7.
- After years without children she bore Joseph, and she died giving birth to Benjamin on the way to Ephrath, “that is, Bethlehem” (Genesis 30:22–24; 35:16–20).
- Jeremiah pictures “Rachel weeping for her children” in Ramah, and Matthew applies the verse to Herod’s killing of the children of Bethlehem (Jeremiah 31:15; Matthew 2:18).
- Jewish tradition counts her among the four matriarchs; Augustine and Michelangelo took her as a figure of the contemplative life.
- The name reached 9th place for American girls in 1996; Raquel, Rachele and Rahel are among its other forms.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Behind the Name, “Rachel” and “Rachelle,” with United States and Israeli popularity figures. https://www.behindthename.com/name/rachel
- Strong’s Hebrew 7353, raḥel, “ewe,” and 7354, Rachel, Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/hebrew/7353.htm
- “Rachel” and “Rachel’s Tomb,” Wikipedia, on the burial traditions, early pilgrim accounts and Rachel in Islam. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel%27s_Tomb
- “Matriarchs (Bible),” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matriarchs_(Bible)
- Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 13b, William Davidson Edition, Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Megillah.13b
- Genesis Rabbah 82:10, Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Bereshit_Rabbah.82.10
- Augustine, Reply to Faustus the Manichaean, book 22, chapter 52, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 4. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/140622.htm
- “Tomb of Pope Julius II,” Wikipedia, on Michelangelo’s Rachel and Leah. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_Pope_Julius_II
- Nominis, Église catholique en France, “Sainte Rachel.” https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/438/Sainte-Rachel.html
- Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version, with its footnotes on Genesis 35:18: Genesis 29:9, 17, 20, 26; 30:1–2, 22–24; 31:19, 35, 38; 35:19–20; 1 Samuel 10:2; Romans 11:1; Isaiah 53:7; Jeremiah 31:15–16, 20; Matthew 2:16–18; Ruth 4:11. References: Genesis 27:43; 29:4, 10–11, 27–30; 30:3–8; 31:34; 41:52; 48:7; 49:31; Joshua 18:25; 1 Samuel 9:1–2; Jeremiah 40:1; Acts 8:32–35.
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