Genesis 25: Abraham in the afterlife. Patriarchal period? What about Rebekah?

Genesis 25:8

Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.

Abraham was gathered to his people? What does that mean? Here are some useful thoughts:

NKJV Study Bible (Thomas Nelson):

A burial. The phrase also indicates that there is an afterlife (see Genesis 15:15; 35:29; 49:33).

John Walton, NIV Cultural Study Bible:

This expression finds its roots in ancient views about burial and afterlife. Both the practice of burials in family tombs and the view of continuing social relationships in the afterlife retain the concept of the ancestors as a distinguishable group. One’s place in the family of deceased ancestors was just as central to one’s identity as one’s place in the family in the land of the living. The living family honored the deceased both individually and corporately through a variety of practices that did not stop after burial.

John E. Hartley, Understanding the Bible Commentary:

The phrase gathered to his people refers to the idea that the deceased became numbered with his departed ancestors. This language, which occurs only ten times and only in the Pentateuch, hints at a belief in some type of life after death.

See also 2 Samuel 12:23; Genesis 37:35

So, while being gathered to one's people seems to be a euphemism for being buried (1 Kings 14:20 and many like it), It seems to betray a very early belief in an afterlife. The concept of life after death may very well be much older than many assume.

Gen 25:22-23

The children struggled together within [Rebekah]; and she said, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.
And the LORD said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples born of you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
the elder shall serve the younger.”

While this historical period is customarily identified as the Patriarchal Dispensation—when God spoke to the patriarchs—God spoke to the female heads of household too! Women have always been in personal relationship with God and they did not need their husbands to mediate for them. (Recall that Sarai boldly called upon Yahweh to take her side against her husband Abram in Genesis 16:5). This biblical history ought to inform the notion of gender based roles in the modern church and Christian families.

If Isaac would have paid better heed to Rebekah's revelation he would have spared his family a lot of trouble.