The Faithful: Women of the Bible Episodes 3-4 Recap & Review
- Kevin Keating
- 2 days ago
- 8 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
“The Woman Who Risked Everything,” Episodes 3 and 4 of Fox’s new Bible show, The Faithful: Women of the Bible continues the story of the Genesis matriarchs, telling the story of Rebekah (played by Alexa Davalos), her stubborn husband Isaac (played by Tom Mison), and her rival sons, the insightful Jacob (played by Tom Payne) and the strong but impulsive Esau (played by Ben Tobson). Below, I'll share a big picture summary of the episodes as well as my review and reaction to the latest installment of The Faithful.
The Faithful: Women of the Bible Resources
What Happened in The Faithful Episodes 3-4 (Summary)
“The Woman Who Talked to God” begins with a brief depiction of Rebekah’s childhood in Haran. We see her build a special relationship with a goat, only to see it disappear during a storm, with her father insisting that it must have some other purpose. Later, as Rebekah considers potential suitors, she's reminded of her kinswoman, Sarai, who left with Abram to follow his God. That very day, she encounters Abram’s servant, Eleazar, and becomes a providential answer to his prayer for a wife for his master’s heir, Isaac, and then union is blessed by her father and brothers (Genesis 24:1-60).
When Eleazar brings Rebekah and her maidservant to Isaac’s homestead in Canaan, she covers herself and Eleazar tells him all that happened (Genesis 24:61-66). But Isaac rejects the potential wife, whom he didn't ask for and was brought by the servant of his father, from whom he has been estranged since he was nearly sacrificed. But Isaac’s resistance - and Rebekah’s annoyance at his rude welcome - are eventually overcome as they learn to empathize with one another, while waiting for Eleazar to bring Rebekah back home. Moreover, they realize that the goat Rebekah lost as a child was actually the Ram sacrificed in Isaac’s place - a sign that being with Isaac is Rebekah’s purpose.
Jumping forward, Rebekah conceives but can't understand why her womb seems to be at war with itself. After praying for insight, God speaks to her in the midst of a storm and reveals that she is carrying twins. As she later explains to Isaac, the older is destined to serve the younger (Genesis 25:21-23). When the twins arrive, the red haired Esau comes out first (Genesis 25:24-26). Rebekah urges Jacob to remember the prophecy she received but he forbids her from bringing it up or telling the boys.
Fourteen years later, Jacob has grown into a quiet but clever teen, while Esau has become a strong but impulsive hunter, who earns his father's favor by bringing home game (Genesis 25:27-28). After one particularly long day of hunting and skinning game, Esau is disappointed to find that all of his favorite stew has been eaten - except Jacob’s bowl. When Jacob half-jokingly offers the bowl in exchange for Esau’s birthright, Esau grabs the food, implicitly agreeing to the deal (cf. Genesis 25:29-34). Rebekah can see that Esau is too impulsive to lead and continues to urge Isaac to take God’s word to her seriously, but he continues to resist, not wanting to recreate the strife that took place when his father passed over his older brother Ishmael to give him the birthright. He also seems to resent that God chose to speak to Abraham and Rebekah and not to him.
When word arrives that Abraham is dying, the family goes to pay their respects. Abraham bids Isaac farewell, entrusting the leadership of his servants to him. Sensing that Isaac is too attached to Esau, however, he urges Rebekah to make sure that Jacob leads, since he seems to be more driven by faith.
Episode 4 opens twelve years later, with Jacob and Esau in their mid-twenties and Isaac struggling to lead and unite his people and those entrusted to him by Abraham. When news arrives that the Hittites have seized some of Abraham’s wells (c.f. Genesis 26:17-22), Esau goes to negotiate, only to be attacked and injured, prompting Isaac and Esau to prepare for war. Rebekah and Jacob sense that the situation is more complicated and so Rebekah finally reveals the prophecy to Jacob and urges him to step in and avert war. It turns out that the conflict actually began because Esau slept with the daughter of the Hittite chieftain and so the conflict is resolved when he reluctantly agrees to marry her, even though she is a pagan (c.f. Genesis 26:26-35).
Jacob is troubled by the idols of Esau’s pagan wife. When Esau dismisses the concern, Jacob accidentally reveals what he knows about Rebekah’s prophecy. Isaac is furious at Rebekah’s defiance, but God strikes him blind and sick for his own defiance of the prophecy. Fearing that his days are numbered, Isaac asks Esau to bring him food to eat so that he can pass on his blessing to him. When Rebekah overears, she has Jacob disguise himself as Esau using some fur so that he can receive the blessing instead (Genesis 27:1-29). Esau arrives just after Jacob leaves and is so furious that he is prepared to kill his younger brother, but his wife warns Rebekah, who sends Jacob off into exile (c.f. Genesis 27:3-45).
Fifteen years later, Isaac is still alive, but blind, while Esau has become a dissolute and resentful drunkard. Rebekah is left trying to hold the camp together, while yearning for Jacob and praying for Esau to become a better man, and questioning her own sense of purpose. When news of Jacob’s approach arrives, Esau assumes that he intends to reclaim the camp by force and prepares to respond in turn. Rebekah insists that this is not what God wants, but Esau rejects her plea, insisting that she only cares about what she herself wants.
From a nearby hill, Rebekah prays and watches anxiously as Jacob approaches Esau, apologizing, and offering his own life. Esau nearly takes the opportunity but instead forgives his brother and even cedes rule of the camp over to him, happy to be free to go hunt (c.f. Genesis 33). Afterward, Esau’s wife inspects his sword and discovers that it was secretly broken by Rebekah, so that if he had come to blow with Jacob, he would have been surprised and killed. Rebekah does not deny it, but only insists that she has done what was necessary, trusting God to forgive her for however she may have transgressed along the way.
Review of The Faithful Episodes 3-4
Episodes 3 and 4 of The Faithful are an improvement on Episodes 1-2 in several respects:
Isaac: Isaac is a much more interesting foil to Rebekah than his father was to Sarah in Episodes 1 and 2, having clearer flaws and personality that drive conflict and force Rebekah to take action. The portrayal of Isaac isn’t totally in line with Genesis – he does indeed receive direct revelation from God at a few points during his life and doesn’t appear to have been the total doubter that The Faithful makes him out to be. But he does appear to be flouting God’s prophecy when he insists on blessing Esau and not Isaac, so there are reasons to think that he was less committed than his father. Connecting that lack of commitment to his past trauma, having almost been sacrificed by his father, makes sense and is an interesting start for the character.
Justified Simplification: Episodes 3-4 do make several changes to the underlying material, but in most cases I think these simplifications are justified for the sake of clearer and more focused storytelling. For example, Isaac’s conflict over the well is with Philistines, but the show instead has it be with Hittites, so that it can tell a cohesive story that connects the wells and Esau’s marriage.
Creative Connections: Episodes 3-4 include several creative decisions that tie the story of Rebekah to the rest of Scripture. I particularly appreciated how Rebekah raises the ram that Abraham sacrificed in the place of Isaac and how God appears to Rebekah in the storm, just as he appears to Job.
But there are several aspects of Episodes 3-4 that are not quite up to the level that I would like to see:
Fake Romantic Complications: I wasn’t a big fan of the decision to shoehorn romantic complications into Isaac’s first meeting with Rebekah. The biblical text clearly gives the impression that he received her immediately as a positive. And the way that their initial dislike of each other was portrayed just didn’t feel convincing or natural.
Too Much/Too Little: Ultimately, I’m beginning to think that the format of The Faithful is fundamentally flawed. Trying to cover such long periods of time in just two episodes forces the show to rush through events and under-develop its characters. I wish The Faithful would either commit to spending more episodes with each character or narrow the scope of its storytelling to focus only on one or two key events, with exposition filling us in on the gaps. My ideal pacing would be something like Andor, with narrowly focused mini-arcs, spaced apart by years.
Essentialism: The characterization of Jacob and Esau feels a little one-note and essentialist. Are we really supposed to accept that the essential character of these two men was clearly recognizable at age two and remained consistent over the course of the next forty years? I’m not saying you can’t have a through-line, but the way it’s done is a little too simplistic and definitive.
Jacob: The show portrays Jacob in a far too innocent light. Genesis makes it clear that he isn’t just wise in an innocent sense – he’s a cunning deceiver. That’s why God disciplines Jacob by allowing his uncle Laban to deceive him in a manner that reflects how he deceived his father – he needs to be humble and taught to trust in God and not his clever schemes.
Rebekah’s Deception: The show seems to take an overly-positive view of Rebekah’s deception because it is done in service to God’s prophecy. It misses the clear parallel between Rebekah and Sarah – both did underhanded things in service to God’s purposes and God used their efforts, while also making it clear that he didn’t approve (again, see the Laban story). One of the key themes of Genesis is that God is able to use evil for his good purposes (Genesis 50:20) but that never entails an excuse or endorsement of the evil actions.
Episodes 3 and 4 are a step in the right direction for The Faithful – but not a seismic one. If Episodes 1-2 didn’t float your boat, I doubt that Episodes 3-4 will win you over. But, if you enjoyed the opening episodes – or at least were on the fence, this installment will probably cement your interest.
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