Laughing Trap Wordplay

Came across an interesting translation yesterday in my M’Cheyne which led me down a rabbit hole looking into “wife-sister narratives” in Genesis. Not gonna get into that here; just wanted to look at Genesis 26:8 which renders in the NRSVUE as

⁸ When Isaac had been there a long time, King Abimelech of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw him fondling his wife Rebekah.

Genesis 26:8 NRSVUE

I have never read it with “fondling.”^[1] I went back to other translations and found

• laughing with (CEB, ESV with a footnote about “intimate relationship”)
• sporting with (KJV, ASV)
• caressing (NIV, NLT, CSB, NASB)

And I thought to myself, What an interesting word!

The word carries a mix of mockery, pleasure, intimacy, and play (for Isaac at least, unfortunately the woman’s perspective isn’t usually acknowledged). And when I looked up the verse, the word was מְצַחֵק (mehtzahek) from the root צָחַק (tsahahk)^[2]. It’s plain meaning is to “laugh, mock, play”; it’s the root from where Isaac got his name (Gen 18, 20).

Similar to Sarai/ah^[3], Rebekah’s name carries a meaning as well. Rebekah’s name comes from “an unused root probably meaning to clog by tying up the fetlock.”^[4] She was trap. An ensnarer because of her beauty.

All this put together makes verse 8 so interesting! Abimelech looked out his window…

 וְהִנֵּה יִצְחָק מְצַחֵק אֵת רִבְקָה אִשְׁתּוֹ׃

[ve-Hineh (and Behold!) Yizahk (Laughter/Isaac) mehtzahek (laughing) et (with) Ribehkah (Snare/Rebekah) issahoht (his wife/woman).

Knowing the familiar plot of this narrative, King Abimelech is upset because he (and his people) almost fell into a snare/trap! He didn’t want to get mocked/laughed-at by Laughter because of Snare/Trap.

Isaac used Rebekah to ensnare Abimelech for his benefit. In the next chapter, Rebekah orchestrates a trick and uses Jacob (meaning trickster) to ensnare/trick Isaac to give his blessing to who Rebekah wanted to receive it.

Bible wordplay is fun.