Deborah (Nurse)

Deborah was in all likelihood a slave in the house of Nahor, brother to Abraham. It became her duty to care for his daughter Rebekah. When Rebekah left home to become the wife to her cousin Isaac, Abraham's son, she most likely served as nurse to Isaac's twin sons, Jacob and Esau.

Years later, after staying with her mistress as her sons moved away, she is found to be with Jacob's family when she died. This was after the birth of eleven children to Jacob by his wives and concubines. Based on this fact, it is probable that she assisted in the care of these children as they grew up.

When she died, she was buried with honor under an oak tree near Bethel. The place where she was buried was called Allon-bacuth, which means "oak of weeping." Having lived from young adulthood in the house of Nahor, and seeing the births of Jacob's children, she would have been quite old at her death.