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Milcah
Milcah (Hebrew: ‫ – ִמלְ כָּה‬Milkāh, related to the Hebrew word for
Milcah
"queen") was the daughter of Haran and the wife of Nahor, according to
the genealogies of Genesis. She is identified as the grandmother of Born Mesopotamia,
Rebecca in biblical tradition, and some texts of the Midrash have present-day Iraq
identified her as Sarah's sister. Other names Milkāh
Spouse(s) Nahor
Parent(s) Haran
Contents
Relatives Lot (brother), Iscah
Sister of Sarah (sister), Abraham
Ancestor of Rebecca (uncle), Nahor
(uncle)
Marriage to Nahor and descendants
Incest
Family tree
See also
References

Sister of Sarah
One of the Yahwist passages from Genesis identifies Haran as the father of Iscah and Milcah.[1][2] Some
rabbinic texts within the Midrashic tradition have identified the aforementioned Iscah as Sarah.[3]
According to the Babylonian Talmud, Rabbi Isaac Nappaha, who was one of the Palestinian rabbis, said that
Iscah and Sarah were the same person: "And why was she called Iscah? Because she saw through the Holy
Spirit".[4]

Ancestor of Rebecca
She is identified as the grandmother of Rebecca in the Book of Genesis, but some scholars believe that
Milcah may have been originally been Rebecca's mother. They have argued that Bethuel, who is identified
as Rebecca's father by the priestly source, was a later addition to the text, and that Rebecca was the
daughter of Milcah and Nahor.[5][6]

Marriage to Nahor and descendants

According to Genesis Chapter 22, Milcah and Nahor have eight children: Uz, Buz, Kemuel, Chesed, Hazo,
Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.[7] Targum Jonathan says that Providence granted Milcah conception in the
merit of her sister Sarah.[8] Milcah’s son Bethuel moves to Padan-aram (also called Aram-Naharaim) and
fathers Rebekah.[9] Milcah’s granddaughter Rebekah eventually marries Milcah’s nephew Isaac[10] and gave
birth to Jacob[11] who became Israel.[12] There is a midrash that Milcah was the forbearer of all prophets in
the non-Jewish world.[13]

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Incest
Ibn Ezra wrote in his commentary on Gen. 11:29 that Haran, Milcah's father, was a different person from
Haran, Abraham's brother. Milcah was married to Nahor, who was also a brother of Abraham. Under Ibn
Ezra's interpretation Milcah's husband was not also her uncle.[14]

In the Babylonian Talmud, Rabbi Isaac presumes that the two men with the name Haran are one person. If
that is true, then Milcah married to her uncle. Although Leviticus would later outlaw marriages between
aunt and nephew (Lev. 18:14, (https://www.biblica.com/bible/?osis=niv:Leviticus.18:14–18:14) 20:19 (htt
p://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0320.htm#19)), it did not rule out marriage between uncle and niece.
(See, e.g., Gunther Plaut, The Torah: a Modern Commentary, 881. New York: UAHC, 1981.) The Talmud
approved of a man who married his sister’s daughter. (Yevamot 62b-63a.) And in the Talmud, Rabbi Isaac
equates Milcah’s sister Iscah with Sarah (then Sarai), in which case Abraham would have married his
brother Haran's daughter.[15][16]

Family tree
Terah

Sarah[17] Abraham Hagar Haran

Nahor

Ishmael Milcah Lot Iscah

1st 2nd
Ishmaelites 7 sons[18] Bethuel
daughter daughter

Isaac Rebecca Laban Moabites Ammonites

Esau Jacob Rachel

Bilhah

Edomites Zilpah

Leah

1. Reuben 7. Gad 5. Dan 11.

2. Simeon 8. 6. Joseph
3. Levi Asher Naphtali 12.
4. Judah Benjamin
9. Issachar

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10. Zebulun
Dinah (daughter)

See also
Bethuel
Chayei Sarah
Genesis
Tanakh
Hebrew Bible

References
1. Genesis 11:29
2. Max Radin (1922). "Teknonymy in the Old Testament". The Harvard Theological Review. 15 (3): 293–
297. doi:10.1017/s0017816000001504 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2Fs0017816000001504).
JSTOR 1507653 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1507653).
3. Segal, Eliezer (January 1992). "Sarah and Iscah: Method and Message in Midrashic Tradition". The
Jewish Quarterly Review. 82 (3/4): 417. doi:10.2307/1454865 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F1454865).
ISSN 0021-6682 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0021-6682). JSTOR 1454865 (https://www.jstor.org/stab
le/1454865).
4. Segal, Eliezer (January 1992). "Sarah and Iscah: Method and Message in Midrashic Tradition". The
Jewish Quarterly Review. 82 (3/4): 417. doi:10.2307/1454865 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F1454865).
ISSN 0021-6682 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0021-6682). JSTOR 1454865 (https://www.jstor.org/stab
le/1454865).
5. "BETHUEL - JewishEncyclopedia.com" (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3227-bethuel).
Retrieved 2018-04-28.
6. Emerton, J. A. (January 1992). "The Source Analysis of Genesis XI 27-32". Vetus Testamentum. 42 (1):
37. doi:10.1163/156853392x00170 (https://doi.org/10.1163%2F156853392x00170). ISSN 0042-4935 (ht
tps://www.worldcat.org/issn/0042-4935). JSTOR 1519118 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1519118).
7. Gen. 22:21. (https://www.biblica.com/bible/?osis=niv:Genesis.22:21–22:21)
8. Targum Jonathan to Gen. 22:20.
9. Gen. 22:23 (https://www.biblica.com/bible/?osis=niv:Genesis.22:23–22:23), Gen. 24:15 (https://www.bibl
ica.com/bible/?osis=niv:Genesis.24:15–24:15), Gen. 24:15-47 (https://www.biblica.com/bible/?osis=niv:
Genesis.24:15–24:47)
10. Gen. 24:67; (https://www.biblica.com/bible/?osis=niv:Genesis.24:67–24:67), Gen. 25:20; (https://www.bi
blica.com/bible/?osis=niv:Genesis.25:20–25:20))
11. Gen. 25:21–26 (https://www.biblica.com/bible/?osis=niv:Genesis.25:21–25:21)
12. Gen. 32:28; (https://www.biblica.com/bible/?osis=niv:Genesis.32:28–32:28), Gen. 35:10 (https://www.bi
blica.com/bible/?osis=niv:Genesis.35:10–35:10)
13. Yalkut Shimoni Balak, 23.
14. "MILCAH - JewishEncyclopedia.com" (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10829-milcah).
Retrieved 2018-04-28.
15. "Sarah: Midrash and Aggadah" (https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/sarah-midrash-and-aggadah).
Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2018-04-28.
16. Sanhedrin 69b
17. Genesis 20:12: Sarah was the half–sister of Abraham.
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18. Genesis 22:21-22: Uz, Buz, Kemuel, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, and Jidlaph

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