A motif is a pattern that appears in a written text. At its most rudimentary, such a pattern is something that we notice in an individual biblical text. For example, as we read the story of Jacob’s meeting Rebekah at a well (Gen 29:4–12; see Well, Meeting at the), we can identify a pattern unfolding: the arrival of the man from a foreign land, the appearance of the woman at the well to fetch water, a dialogue between the man and woman, the drawing of water from the well by either the man or the woman