Genesis 24
INTRODUCTION
"Genesis chapter 24 is the longest chapter in Genesis containing 67 verses. It is the longest single episode except for the flood that occupies 75 verses. It is the story of a father and a son, a servant and a master, and a groom and a bride. The main characters are Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah and the unnamed servant of Abraham. Abraham is 140-years old and his son Isaac is 40. It is time for Abraham to find a bride and time for Isaac to take a bride. The story ends with the unnamed servant bringing Isaac a bride it was love at first sight."
A man on a plane sat down next to a beautiful young lady. She was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen. It was love at first sight. He struck up a conversation with her, “Are you married?” “No,” she said. “Are you engaged?” “No.” “Are you dating anyone?” “No.” “Why isn’t a beautiful woman like you not dating?” She replied, “I am looking for a man with certain qualities." He asked, "What kind of qualities are you looking for in a man?" She replied, "I like native American Indians. I love their skin color and high cheekbones. I also like Jewish men. Jewish men seem so brilliant and are financially successful. But I also like the good ole boys from the south, their southern drawl and the way they treat a woman. By the way, what’s your name?” He answered, “My name is Geronimo Berstein, but my friends call me Bubba.”
1 Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.
1. Abraham was around 140 years old, and his son Isaac was 40. Abraham would go on living until he was 175, but he was old 35 years before he died, and so he knew what it was to live a long time as an old man. He, no doubt, could tell many stories of aches and pains that come with a body that is getting old. The text says he was blessed in every way, and this may mean that his health was so good that he did not suffer the same problems that most old folks do. It may be an exaggeration, however, to say he was blessed in every way, for he had no grandchildren yet, and that was an essential blessing if he was to be the father of a multitude. Many parents are waiting for the day they get the news that a grandchild is on the way. Abraham has waited 40 years, and he has only one son, who for some reason has not even found a steady girl, let alone gotten married. He had to wait 25 years to get this one son, and now it is 40 more and still no grandson. Most married at 30 or younger, and so he is a decade behind. This great nation God promised Abraham is really getting a slow start, and it is remaining steady with a population of one. So finally Abraham takes action to get the ball rolling on a bride for Isaac, and a grandson for himself.
2 He said to the chief [1] servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, "Put your hand under my thigh.
1. This verse makes plain the way language changes due to the passage of time and culture. Is an important leader in our nation said to one of his assistants, "Put your hand under my thigh," he would soon be in the news as a pervert, and be the center of a scandal. There is no sexual connection at all with the words of Abraham to his chief servant. We are dealing here with a custom, rite, or oath, which gives assurance that the orders of the master will be carried out to the letter. Abraham did not want circumstances to alter his goal, and so his servant had to swear to do just what he sent him to do, and not let anything or anyone persuade him to waver from his assignment. It was an oath he would make to God, and so it would involve betrayal of God himself, and not just Abraham to defy his promise and disobey it. He would be a traitor to his master and his Lord by double-crossing Abraham and getting a wife from the Canaanites for his son. The whole point of this is to stress just how serious Abraham is about the bride of Isaac coming from his relatives and not from the local people. One author wrote, "The privacy of the thigh made the oath all the more solemn. Jacob made Joseph swear in the same way that he would take his bones back to Canaan for burial (47:29). It is a practice akin to placing one's hand on a Bible when one swears an oath."
2. Most agree that it is likely that this chief servant was Eliezer of Damascus, for Abraham declared in 15:2 that he would be his heir. It says, "And Abram said, ‘O Lord GOD, what wilt Thou give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" He was the chief servant if he was going to inherit everything, and so though it is not stated that this servant was Eliezer, it is a logical assumption. And if it is true, it is all the more wonderful how effective he was in bringing back just the kind of wife Abraham wanted for his son. This man who might have inherited Abraham's fortune was doing all that was possible to guarantee that he would never get it, by making sure that Isaac would, and that is just what did happen. It can be assumed this man was greatly honored by Abraham and Isaac and was rewarded with abundance. One author said, "The devotion of this servant to his master and to his master’s God is one of the highlights of the chapter. His piety, prayer life, and practical wisdom set a high standard for the believer in any age." Another adds, "...he is faithfully seeking the welfare of the one who displaced him as Abraham's heir. Like John the Baptist, he is as much as saying, let me decrease and let him increase." He stands out as one of the great minor characters of the Old Testament.
3. Calvin was convinced that he was uncertain about the origin and meaning of this strange request of Abraham, but he shares some of the speculations of others. He wrote, "It is sufficiently obvious that this was a solemn form of swearing; but whether Abraham had first introduced it, or whether he had received it from his fathers, is unknown. The greater part of Jewish writers declare that Abraham was the author of it; because, in their opinion, this ceremony is of the same force as if his servant had sworn by the sanctity of the divine covenant, since circumcision was in that part of his person. But Christian writers conceive that the hand was placed under the thigh in honor of the blessed seed. Yet it may be that these earliest fathers had something
different in view; and there are those among the Jews who assert that it was a token of subjection, when the servant was sworn on the thigh of his master. The more plausible opinion is, that the ancients in this manner swore by Christ; but because I do not willingly follow uncertain conjectures, I leave the question undecided."
3 I want you to swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living,
1. Abraham had a good relationship with the Canaanites among whom he lived with, but he did not want his son to marry one of their daughters. They were idol worshipers, and he knew the power of a woman to lead her husband into idolatry. He assumed that he could die before his son found a wife, and so he had his servant swear he would not take the easy route and find him a local bride. The Bible is clear on the dangers.
Deuteronomy 7:3-4: "Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord's anger will burn against you and quickly destroy you."
1 Kings 11:4: "As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God..." And this was the wisest man who ever lived, save one. Young people don't tell us that marrying an unbeliever will not have that effect on you when it brought down even a man as wise as Solomon!
2. Abraham had no idea that he would live for another 35 years, for he was well advanced in years the text says, and so he felt he could be near to the end of his life. It was time to make sure that his son had a wife to carry on the family name and begin the fulfillment of a great nation coming from his seed. He was like God the Father who wanted to get a bride for his Son the Lord Jesus, and so he sent the Holy Spirit into the world to persuade people to become that bride. Abraham sends his most trusted servant back to the old world of his family to get a bride for his son Isaac. The surprising thing is that he waited this long. He was to be the father of a great nation, and yet he waits until his son is 40 before he seeks a mate for him. It makes you wonder if Isaac was a slow learner and did not mature as fast as others. The fact is that he is the least exciting of the patriarchs, and does no praiseworthy deeds to speak of, and has the less space devoted to his life than any other. The way Spurgeon writes of him would suggest he was too shy to try and get a wife for himself. Spurgeon says, "Isaac was now forty years old, and had shown no sign of marrying. He was of a quiet, gentle spirit, and needed a more active spirit to urge him on. The death of Sarah had deprived him of the solace of his life, which he had found in his mother, and had, no doubt, made him desire tender companionship." Who knows how long he would have remained single had not his father hired a servant to go find him a mate?
3. One pastor used this passage to make a strong point to youth and their parents to take serious the dangers of marrying someone who is not a believer. He wrote, "Think about what a marriage between a believer and an unbeliever means. One is going to heaven the other is going to hell; one loves God the other hates him; one loves his Word and law and seeks to live by them in all things, the other cares nothing for such things. No wonder this should be such a sinister situation for children growing up in the home, children who already have within them a tendency to unbelief and disobedience that one of their own parents is enforcing in the most powerful way possible -- as a parent in the home. It is one thing to fine oneself in such a marriage, but to ask for it, to seek it, to choose it is an act of high treason to the covenant of God. But, what it is also, is an act of betrayal of your children -- even your children yet to be born, and their children and their children's children. This is no private sin. This is the most public sin imaginable. You are killing your children and your descendants. By marrying a child of the Devil you are choosing the Devil for your father-in-law and for your children's grandfather, when in the covenant God has made you could have had and they could have had the God of Abraham instead."
4. Dave Merck wonders about the aggressiveness of Abraham, and the passiveness of Isaac in this whole issue of getting a wife. What he says on this matter suggests that Abraham was eager to have a new wife himself, but he did not want to take that step before he got his promised son married. Merck writes, "When we take into account the fact that the entire chapter of Gen. 24 has to do with obtaining a wife for a single, 40-year old Isaac, and then read the chapter with the eyes of a 20th C. American, we are caused to raise the question, "Where is Isaac?" We don't see him doing anything, it appears, until the very end of the chapter when Rebekah is, as it were, delivered at his doorstep by the servant of Abraham. And when we look back at the beginning of chapter 24, who is it that we find taking the initiative in the matter of finding a wife for Isaac? It was the relatively new widower, Daddy Abraham.
Could it be that the recent loss of his beloved wife, Sarah, and the pain of his renewed, and even more acutely felt singleness, had made Father Abraham more sensitive than ever before to the problem of his son's continued singleness. Immediately following chapter 24, in 25:1, we find the account of Abraham marrying another wife, so this need was obviously one acutely felt by this very elderly, approximately 140 year old patriarch. But notice, Abraham did not merely stop with being sensitive to the problem and struggles of singleness for his son. He took concrete steps to alleviate the problem. He sent off his most trusted servant to obtain a wife for Isaac from a source where he had reason to believe he would find the most sympathy and willingness to help -- his larger family."
5. Merck makes a very practical point of this story by motivating parents to help singles find a mate. He writes, "This is true in general regarding all of our children. All parents should as much as possible and legitimate take a significant role in the marriage of their children. This should be done in giving them counsel, usually in giving (or not giving) permission to marry, and in other involvement in the marriage arrangements. Parents especially should do what they can to bring their single, marriageable children into contact with other singles whom they may legitimately marry. This in a real, howbeit unusual, way was what Abraham was doing here since there were no proper marriage prospects for Isaac where they lived." Abraham established a patter for all Jewish fathers to come by this deed for his son. Later on the rabbis said, "When a man got to heaven, God would ask him four questions to determine whether he had faithfully carried out his parental responsibilities toward his son. The questions are: First, did you provide your son with an inheritance? Second, did you teach him a skill? Third, did you teach him the Torah? And finally, did you provide for him a wife? These were the four gifts that every father was to grant his son."
4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac."
1. Abraham wanted him to make an oath that he would make a 500 mile trip to get a wife from his own family back in Haran. This shows that there was true faith in the true God among his relatives, even though there is also some idolatry mixed with their faith. It was the only place on earth that Abraham knew of where a wife of true faith could be found. Abraham calls it his country because Mesopotamia is where he was born and raised, and where he found his wife Sarah. The family moved out of Ur with him and settled in Haran. He lived there for a while himself, and his brother and his growing family were still there and that is where he wanted his son to find his bride. In our day we prefer to look for a mate outside the family of relatives, but in the ancient world it was a preference to find a mate within the circle of relatives. Spurgeon wrote, "Therefore, with great anxiety, which is indicated by his making his servant swear an oath of a most solemn kind, he gave him the commission to go to the old family abode in Mesopotamia, and seek for Isaac a bride from thence. Although that family was not all that could be desired, yet it was the best he knew of; and as some heavenly light lingered there, he hoped to find in that place the best wife for his son"
2. Adrian Rogers preached a sermon called The Romance of Redemption in which he sees the finding of a bride for Isaac a romantic story illustrating the work of the Holy Spirit finding a bride for Jesus. He said to his congregation, "Now, folks, I'm going to say something reverently but it will startle you. Jesus Christ is incomplete without his church. Jesus Christ is incomplete without his church. I am incomplete without Joyce. Joyce fulfills me. Joyce completes me. It is not by happen-stance that we call our husbands, our wives the other half or the better half. And uh, the bible teaches that that uh, a, a wife or a husband is to complete their mate. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, I say it reverently, but I believe I say it scripturally, the Lord Jesus Christ is not yet complete in this sense without his bride." I think we can all agree that the story of salvation could never be complete without the picture we have in the book of Revelation with the Bride and Jesus at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. The whole plan of redemption is really a romance story, and it is the love story of all love stories, and like the best of them, it has a happy ending.
5 The servant asked him, "What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?"
1. This servant has lived long enough to know that the best laid plans do not always work out as expected, and so he wonders what he should do if plan A does not pan out. His suggestion of plan B being to take Isaac back with him was not acceptable to Abraham. He insisted that his son never be taken out of the Promised Land, for there was a risk that he would not come back, but settle outside this special land. Abraham was not willing to take this risk, and so he insisted that Isaac never be taken to his homeland to find a wife.
2. It is hard to believe that a woman would not want to marry a man as rich as Isaac, with an inheritance that would make him even richer. But to add to that he was a promised child who would bear a son himself who would be the seed of the 12 tribes of Israel, and the history of these sons would lead to the Messiah who would bless the whole world and give eternal life to multitudes. This woman could be the mother of this great line that leads to eternal values beyond the dreams of any other women. But the fact is, she may be unwilling to make the sacrifices necessary to leave her home and go to a land she does not know and to a man she does not know. She would not grasp the full implications of her destiny, and so might choose to miss the greatest opportunity of her life. It is always a possibility that people will turn down the offers that God makes to them. Many do turn it down when they hear the Gospel that offers forgiveness and eternal joy in heaven. They choose to stay put in their lives that will end in death for the sake of just avoiding all change that they do not understand.
6 "Make sure that you do not take my son back there," Abraham said.
1. Isaac never left the Promised Land, because Abraham did everything necessary to make sure he never had to. Those who make too big an issue out of the analogy of Rebekah being the church and bride of Isaac, who is like Christ, often do not see how the analogy breaks down here, for Christ did not stay in heaven, but came into the world to seek his bride. Analogies that are not based on direct words of Scripture, but are those made up by clever men, are often very weak in the details, and this is a prime example. There are parallels, but there is also major weakness in the analogy, and so it is not a God given analogy that is to be stated as what the Scripture is actually teaching by this story. Isaac never left his home to go looking for his bride, but Jesus did leave heaven to go, and not only look for his bride, but die for her.
2. "Abraham knew that if Isaac went to Mesopotamia, he would most likely have never come back to the promised land, and his offspring would have undoubtedly fallen under the influence of the heathenism in Mesopotamia. Abraham did not want Isaac wandering from the Promised Land. Abraham surely remembered how he himself stumbled every time he wandered away from the Promised Land toward Egypt, into the world (see Gen. 12:10ff; Gen. 20)."
7 "The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, `To your offspring [2] I will give this land'--he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.
1. Abraham was completely confident that the Lord God of heaven would guide him to find a wife for his son. God promised him offspring, and this could not happen without a wife, and so God had to guide him to a suitable wife in order to keep his promise. How he knew about the role of the angel is not stated, but somehow God had communicated that he would give angelic guidance, which we see was clearly the case in the amazing details of how he found Rebekah.
8 If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there."
1. Abraham is confident the angel will lead him to the right woman and that she will come, but just in case she is unwilling, because God will not force her to obey his leading, he releases his servant from any obligation to keep the oath. You do not have to do what even the leading of God's angel cannot accomplish, but don't let that lead you to take my son back there in a human attempt to succeed where the angel fails. Basically, Abraham is saying, there is no back up plan, for I have complete confidence that you will succeed by the help of God's angel, and if that plan fails, there is no other plan. So don't worry about what if, for it has to work out in the way God wills.
9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.
1. The servant was willing to make this solemn oath now that he knew he was not responsible to bring back the right mate for Isaac if she chooses not to go along with the leading of God's angel. He could not swear to bring her back in this way if she refused to come, and so he needed the assurance that Abraham gave him that he was not under obligation in a case where he had no control. Now that he knew he was free to respect her right to say no, he was ready to enter into the agreement and swear to bring back the girl God would lead him to find.
10 Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and left, taking with him all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor.
1. He had a ten camel caravan loaded with all kinds of gifts that were needed to make sure there was cooperation on the part of the family he would have to bargain with to get a mate to come back with him. Girls were not cheap, and parents would expect a good size dowry to risk sending their daughter so far away.
2. Morgan writes, "Large gifts were customary for betrothal negotiations of that day, but a dowry of ten camels was exceptional. It speaks not only Abraham's great wealth and generosity, but also of his commitment to finding the proper marriage partner for his son. So this small convoy heads off to Haran ("the city of Nahor") in northern Mesopotamia. The arduous journey of over four hundred and fifty miles is hardly mentioned." Some say it was 500 miles away, and others 400, so he takes the middle road and says 450. By camel this is a long trip any way you look at it.
11 He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.
1. We do not know if this servant had ever gone out to find anybody a wife before this, but he has the smarts to know that the best place to find an ideal girl for a mate was at the well on the edge of town. And he also knew that the time to be there is toward evening, for this is when the women come to the well for their daily supply of water. In other words, you have to know where the fish are biting to be a good fisherman, and you have to know where the girls are gathered to be a good mate finder. He did not have to pray about these things, for they were a matter of common sense, and it was just a logical place to go at a logical time. God does not have to give us all the answers, for many things are obvious, and we are to do our part and follow the way that any reasonable person would take. The success of this mission called for the cooperation of human intelligence and divine guidance. He did his part to get to the right place, and he has done what human reason can do. Now he knows he cannot go another step without the guidance of God, and so he goes to prayer.
2. Gill comments, "Which these creatures are used to do when they are loaded and unloaded, and also when they take rest, and it was for the sake of the latter they were now made to kneel. It seems that this is what is not natural to them, but what they are learned to do: it is said (r),"as soon as a camel is born they tie his four feet under his belly, put a carpet over his back, and stones upon the borders of it, that he may not be able to rise for twenty days together; thus they teach him the habit of bending his knees to rest himself, or when he is to be loaded or unloaded this was done."
3. Gill also writes, "Rauwolff (s) says, that near Haran, now called Orpha,"there is a plentiful well still to this day (1575), called Abraham's well, the water of which hath a more whitish troubledness than others. I have (says he) drank of it several times, out of the conduit that runs from thence into the middle the great camp, and it hath a peculiar pleasantness, and a pleasant sweetness in its taste.''
12 Then he prayed, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
1. One author speculates on how a younger servant may have dealt with this task he was assigned, and he writes, "A younger servant would probably have gone about this task in a very different manner. I can imagine him coming into town, advertising the fact that he worked for a very wealthy foreigner with a handsome, eligible son who was to be his only heir. His intention to find a bride would have been publicized, and only one lucky girl was to be chosen. To select such a bride the servant might have held a “Miss Mesopotamia” contest. Only those who were the most beautiful and talented would be allowed to enter, and the winner would become the wife of Isaac. How different was the methodology of this godly servant. When his small caravan came to the “city of Nahor,” he immediately sought the will and guidance of God in prayer."
2. The task was almost impossible for any man to achieve, for trying to find a girl willing to travel back to a land so far away, and so primitive compared to the city life she was used to, was highly unlikely of success. This servant knew the odds were against him, and that is why he did not depend on human reason and planning. He knew he needed divine guidance, and so he went to prayer immediately. He did not waste days in trying some man made scheme to find the right girls of God's choice. He went directly to God and sought the guidance only he could give.
3. Here is prayer for the providential guidance of God, which is probably the prayer that should be most common in the life of the believer. Asking God’s help to find His best should be our daily prayer. Here we have an example of a marriage that was made in heaven, and this mate was chosen by God. To make this a universal rule is without biblical basis. Isaac was himself a special child chosen for the bloodline to the Messiah. Not all children are so chosen, and so not all have God selected mates anymore than God selects all to be the chosen line.
13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water.
1. He talks to God as one who is looking on his life and actions. He gives God a picture of what is happening around him as the daughters come for their daily water. This servant has an intimacy with God that makes God his constant companion, and he keeps God informed about his every move. God honors the man who maintains this kind of intimate relationship with him, for it means he really believes God is present in all of life, and that he cares about helping his children achieve success in those goals that are a part of his overall plan. He is looking to find a daughter who will play a major role in keeping the line going to the Messiah, and he knows God wants this as much as Abraham does, and so he keeps God informed concerning every detail.
2. Here is a man of God in the right place at the right time, and yet it could be misinterpreted as a negative thing if one did not know his mission. If you saw some stranger standing by the town well eyeing all the girls coming for water you might be suspicious of his motive and be anxious to see him move on. There would be no way to know he was seeking the guidance of God
14 May it be that when I say to a girl, `Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,' and she says, `Drink, and I'll water your camels too'--let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."
1. This is really specific prayer requests, and seldom will anyone be able to repeat anything quite as marvelous as this, for he asked that the future encounter with a girl have specific acts and words be produced in her in response to his request. He found the ideal mate for Isaac by means of prayer. It should be that prayer plays a vital role in the finding of any believer's mate, but let us note also that even the perfect mate can sometimes be a pain. Later in life Rebekah deceived her husband and helped Jacob get the blessing he meant to give to Esau. The right woman can still do a man wrong, but if she is convinced it is the will of God to go against her husband, then she is to be forgiven, for God does. The servant knew that any girl who would be willing to give his camels water was one who would go the second mile in pleasing her man, and that is just the kind of woman Isaac needed.
2. Boice writes, "How could the servant determine quickly which of the girls that would soon be arriving would have the qualities necessary for Isaac? It would be necessary for him to make the first approach toward conversation, and the obvious thing would be for him to ask her for a drink of water from her pitcher. However, almost any girl, out of common courtesy, would agree to such a request as that, so that act alone would not be sufficient. If, however, she would then, on her own initiative, offer to help in some further way, going a second mile as it were, this would definitely be a good sign. Perhaps the most severe test would be whether she was willing not only to give him some water, and perhaps even his attendants, but also his ten camels. Surely, if she would do this, without grumbling, it would go far toward proving that she was the kind of wife Abraham was seeking for his son. Drawing enough water to satisfy the thirst of ten large and tired camels would be a hard and wearisome task, to say the least. He couldn't really ask a girl to do such a thing. Nevertheless, if she would do it voluntarily, it would be a strong indication that she was the right one. [Boice, GENESIS Vol. 2 p. 719, 720]
3. The problem with making this a prayer that you try to make as your model for guidance is that it leads to making your own plan and then asking God to bless it. It makes you the planner, and God is the servant that fulfills your dream. It is very close to the genie who comes out of the bottle and gives you three wishes that he will fulfill for you. This is also very much like putting out the fleece like Gideon did, and these types of prayers are for real, but they are also risky and counting on them can be a road to disaster. Just because God worked in specific lives in an unusual way does not mean that he has established a pattern by which he is going to work in every life. To assume that you can choose which girl or boy you should marry by praying, "If this is your choice Lord, let them offer to buy me a diet coke instead of a 7-up," you are being presumptuous, and risking making a very unwise choice based on very insufficient information. This account shows the providence of God in leading this servant to find the right girl for Isaac, but there is no promise given that this is how God will lead all of his people to find a mate. Abraham was old and could not make the trip, and he desperately needed God's special guidance for his servant to succeed in this quest for the right girl. The servant did not have the time to search the whole town and interview all available marriageable girls. He would not know how to choose if he had the time or the know how to interview them. Those circumstances do not happen in the lives of most people looking for a mate, and so this is not a general pattern for the way God works.
4. Calvin wrote, " But the method which he uses seems scarcely consistent
with the true rule of prayer. For, first, we know that no one prays
aright unless he subjects his own wishes to God. Wherefore there is
nothing more unsuitable than to prescribe anything, at our own will, to
God. Where, then, it may be asked, is the religion of the servant, who,
according to his own pleasure, imposes a law upon God? Secondly, there
ought to be nothing ambiguous in our prayers; and absolute certainty is
to be sought for only in the Word of God. Now, since the servant
prescribes to God what answer shall be given, he appears culpably to
depart from the suitable modesty of prayer; for although no promise had
been given him, he nevertheless desires to be made fully certain
respecting the whole affair. God, however, in hearkening to his wish,
proves, by the event, that it was acceptable to himself. Therefore we
must know, that although a special promise had not been made at the
moment, yet the servant was not praying rashly, nor according to the
lust of the flesh, but by the secret impulse of the Spirit."
5. Another author points out the close relationship this man had with God that is revealed in his prayer life. He writes, "We have three such prayers of this good man in this narrative. The prayer he prayed at the well in v. 12 which he mentions again in v. 42 -- he had arrived at the well and was committing the opportunity to God. The prayer of thanksgiving and worship after Rebecca behaved as she did at the well, mentioned in v. 26 and again in v. 48. And, finally, the prayer of v. 52, the thanksgiving he gave to God in the presence of Rebecca's family, between their granting approval to the marriage and his bringing out the gifts to seal the agreement. God was so much a Presence to this good man, God's nearness so real and so constantly a matter of his thought and reflection, that it was the most natural thing for him to turn his concerns and needs, even those of the moment, over to the Almighty, and to honor his God for every happy development even in front of others. The living God was too near to him for him to imagine that God was not always and in everything the one with whom he had to do and the knowledge of God's nearness was such a pleasure to Abraham's servant that it was natural for him to see his life in terms of this being with God, walking with God, and his communion and conversation with a present and interested heavenly Father."
15 Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor.
1. Here again we see the extremely unusual nature of God's involvement in the answer to this prayer. The servant was not even done asking for guidance, and the answer was there in front of him. He is still pleading for the right girl to appear, and she has already appeared. This is one step up from instant, and it is pre-instant. It is the response before the request is finished. Isa. 65:24 reveals God's sense of humor in doing this sort of thing. It says, "It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear." It would be like your little boy kneeling beside his bed praying for that baseball glove he wants for Christmas, and you hearing of it quickly grab the glove you bought and slipping it on the bed before his face and watching as he finished his prayer and looks up. You delight with him as he sees the very thing he longs for laying there even before he finished his praying for it. He is thrilled and you are too, for your desire is to fulfill the dream. That is what God is doing here, for he delights to meet the need of this servant quickly.
2. Gill writes, "a daughter of Bethuel, which Bethuel was the eighth and last son of Milcah, and who was the daughter of Haran and the wife of Nahor, both brothers to Abraham: this is the genealogy of Rebekah, and for the sake of her is the account of Nahor's family given, Gen_22:20."
16 The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.
1. The beauty of Rebekah is stressed because that is a major factor in the attractiveness of the sexes. It says she was very beautiful, and that means she was a "knockout." She had the kind of beauty that appealed to all men. There are many different kinds of beauty, and some men find one woman beautiful that other men do not see that way. There are women who have a beauty that all men agree is beautiful, however, and that was the kind Rebekah had. When he brings her back to Isaac he is going to want to see a girl who is attractive. The servant would be failing to do his job if he did not find beauty in the girl he brought back. It was, of course, a requirement that she had not lain with another man, for she was to be the mother of the seed that would lead to the Messiah, and so not contaminated by any outside influence.
17 The servant hurried to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water from your jar."
1. Rebekah was such an energetic girl doing her work so fast that he had to run to catch up with her, or she could be off for home before he had a chance to see if she might be the one. Sometimes we need to act fast or we lose the opportunity to do the thing that leads to success. Had this servant not been alert and ready to run to meet her, he could have missed the very one he came to find. Haste does not always mean waste, and in some cases, as here, it means success. All he wanted was a sip of her water, for he had already gotten his drink after his long journey, but he wanted to test her willingness to share.
18 "Drink, my lord," she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink.
1. Note, there is no hesitation, but she quickly lowers her jar to give him what he requests. It is a key ingredient in this whole story that everything happens with speed. God answers his prayer before he is even finished, and so God sets the pace. This is followed by the servant hurrying to catch her, and then she being quick to give him a drink. In verse 20 we see her quickly pouring her water into the trough and then running back for more water. In verse 28 we see her making a dash for home to share what has happened, and then in verse 29 Laban is rushing out to the spring to meet this stranger. This whole story is in rapid motion for God is working in top speed to get this mission accomplished. It is one of the paradox's of Scripture that God sometimes works so slow that it drives us crazy, but at other times so fast that it also drives us crazy. We hate to wait, and we also hate to be under stress in having to move too fast, but one or the other are quite common when you are seeking to do the will of God.
19 After she had given him a drink, she said, "I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking."
1. Chuck Smith gives us a picture of what is happening here, with some details, as he writes, "And she said, Drink, my lord: And she hurried, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and she gave him a drink. And when she had done giving him a drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they are through drinking. And she hurried, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. And the man wondering at her held his peace (Gen 24:18-21), But don't you know his heart was pounding at this point? Man, Lord, that's fast! She's so beautiful! As he watched her he thought, "Oh, could this possibly be it?" And he just was holding his peace. He was wanting to burst out, but he held back. And so, the next question,
As the camels were through drinking, he took a golden [it says] earring [literally, it's a nose ring] of a half-shekel weight (Gen 24:22), Now, a half-shekel weight would be about a quarter of an ounce. A shekel is about a half an ounce. So about a quarter-ounce little nose ring and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold [or about five ounces of gold]; And he said, whose daughter are you? (Gen 24:22-23) Question number two. This is gonna be the clincher. Who's your father? Whose daughter are you? I pray thee: let's see, is there room in your father's house for us to dwell? And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, which she bore to Nahor. And she said moreover unto him, we have both straw and food enough, and room to lodge in. And the man bowed down his head, and he worshipped the LORD (Gen 24:23-26). Man, hit it right off the bat. She's one of Abraham's relatives, and, you know, can it be? I'm sure that his heart was just really filled with excitement and anticipation. And he worshipped the Lord.
2. Michael S Piazza wrote, "It would have been easy enough to have offered the servant a sip of water and simply gone on about her business. He didn't ask her to water his camels. He didn't offer to make it worth her while. He didn't threaten her or cajole her. Rebekah offered to give more than was asked of her because of the kind of person she was. She had gold in her soul and she wasn't satisfied letting it be buried there. The generosity and passion with which she lived allowed the gold that was within her to shine through. Thousands of years before Jesus taught about going the second mile. Rebekah was already exemplifying a Christ-like spirit of generosity. She was willing to do more than was required or reasonably expected. That “more than” trait is so rare that it makes winners stand out in any area of life. She gave 101%. Rebekah didn't water the camels because of what was in it for her, but because of what was within her. She was a person who lived with generosity and great passion."
3. Maclaren wrote, “ There was no miracle, no supernatural voice, no pillar of cloud or fire, no hovering glory round the head of the village maiden. All the indications were perfectly natural and trivial. A thousand girls had gone to the wells that day all about Haran and done the very same things that Rebekah did. But the devout man who had prayed for guidance, and was sure that he was getting it, was guided by her most simple, commonplace act; and that is how we are usually to be guided. God leaves a great deal to our common sense. His way of speaking to common sense is by very common things. If any of us fancy that some glow at the heart, some sudden flash as of inspiration, is the test of a divine commandment, we have yet to learn the full meaning of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. For that Incarnation, amongst all its other mighty influences, hallowed the commonest things of life and turned them into ministers of God’s purposes. So remember, God’s guidance may come to you through so insignificant a girl as Rebekah. It may come to you through as commonplace an incident as tipping the water of a spring out of an earthen pot into a stone trough. Nonetheless is it God’s guidance; and what we want is the eye to see it. He will guide us by very common indications of His providence."
20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.
1. There are all kinds of conjectures about just how many gallons of water this took, and how much energy it took to get the job done. All we know is, she was willing to do a major task to express loving kindness to a stranger. It was above and beyond what anyone could expect, and that is what made her stand out as an obvious choice of God for Isaac. He needed a strong woman, for he appears not to be very strong himself. She had to bring enough water to quench the thirst of ten camels, and that would take a good number of trips.
2. We need to keep in mind that this servant had other men with him also, and they appear not to lift a hand to help this young girl in doing this hard labor on their behalf. It is not a pleasant picture of the males involved. They stand by and watch this beautiful young girl haul jar after jar to water their camels and do not volunteer to help. This was female work and they were not going to embarrass themselves by giving her a hand. Notice, she ran back to the well, and as she was running back and forth to get enough water for all 10 camels they sat and watched. Even this godly servant of Abraham did not step in and carry at least one jar, and so we see the sexism of the day where men would not do what it was a woman's place to do. There is still a lot of this that goes on in the world today.
21 Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful.
1. Clarke wrote, "The man, wondering at her, and he was so lost in wonder and astonishment at her simplicity, innocence, and benevolence, that he permitted this delicate female to draw water for ten camels, without ever attempting to afford her any kind of assistance! I know not which to admire most, the benevolence and condescension of Rebekah, or the cold and apparently stupid indifference of the servant of Abraham. Surely they are both of an uncommon cast."
2. Calvin does not excuse his laziness and indifference to her hard labor, but he does give him a break for his wavering faith here. He wrote, "And the man, wondering at her, held his peace." This wondering of Abraham's servant, shows that he had some doubt in his mind. He is silently inquiring within himself, whether God would render his journey prosperous. Has he, then, no confidence concerning that divine
direction, of which he had received the sign or pledge? I answer, that
faith is never so absolutely perfect in the saints as to prevent the
occurrence of many doubts. There is, therefore, no absurdity in
supposing that the servant of Abraham, though committing himself
generally to the providence of God, yet wavers, and is agitated, amidst
a multiplicity of conflicting thoughts. Again, faith, although it
pacifies and calms the minds of the pious, so that they patiently wait
for God, still does not exonerate them from all care; because it is
necessary that patience itself should be exercised, by anxious
expectation, until the Lord fulfill what he has promised. But though
this hesitation of Abraham's servant was not free from fault, inasmuch
as it flowed from infirmity of faith; it is vet, on this account,
excusable, because he did not turn his eyes in another direction, but
only sought from the event a confirmation of his faith, that he might
perceive God to be present with him."
22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka [4] and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. [5]
1. This is the first and most mentioned ring in the Bible. In verse 30 it was this nose ring that caught Laban's attention, and in verse 47 the servant says he put the ring in her nose. This does sound improper for a stranger to do to a young girl, even if there were other people all around the well, but it does not seem out of place to Moses as he tells of it. The ring was a common piece of jewelry for both men and women. Joseph had a ring fit for a king. Gen. 41:42 says, "Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck." Expensive jewelry was a sign of royalty, or of high society, just as it is today. It was an honor to wear the ring of the king, and it was the highest reward that could be bestowed. Esther 8:2 says, "The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman's estate."
2. The ring was also a means of encouragment as we read in Job 42:11. "All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver [ Hebrew him a kesitah ; a kesitah was a unit of money of unknown weight and value. ] and a gold ring." We see it again in the story of the Prodigal's return in Luke 15:22, ""But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet." But a problem arises when the gold ring leads people to discriminate and treat the man with such a ring in a way that he does not treat the ring less man. This was the problem James deals with in James 2:2 following when he writes, "Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in."
3. It is the reality of abuse that leads to this text becoming an issue of controversy. Up to this point the servant of Abraham seems to be without flaw, but now that he draws out of his pocket a gold nose ring he sinks in the estimation of those who are opposed to female jewelry. Calvin expresses the deep concern of those with this hang-up as he writes, "The man took a golden earring." His adorning the damsel with precious ornaments is a token of his confidence. For since it is evident by many proofs that he was an honest and careful servant, he would not throw away without discretion the treasures of his master. He knows, therefore, that these gifts will not be ill bestowed; or, at least, relying on the goodness of God, he gives them, in faith, as an earnest of future marriage. But it may be asked, Whether God approves ornaments of this kind, which pertain not so much to neatness as to pomp? I answer, that the things related in Scripture are not always proper to be imitated. Whatever the Lord commands in general terms is to be accounted as an inflexible rule of conduct; but to rely on particular examples is not only dangerous, but even foolish and absurd.
Now we know how highly displeasing to God is not only pomp and ambition in adorning the body, but all kind of luxury. In order to free the heart from inward cupidity,
he condemns that immoderate and superfluous splendor, which contains
within itself many allurements to vice. Where, indeed, is pure sincerity
of heart found under splendid ornaments? Certainly all acknowledge this
virtue to be rare. It is not, however, for us expressly to forbid every
kind of ornament; yet because whatever exceeds the frugal use of such
things is tarnished with some degree of vanity; and more especially,
because the cupidity of women is, on this point, insatiable; not only
must moderation, but even abstinence, be cultivated as far as possible.
Further, ambition silently creeps in, so that the somewhat excessive
adorning of the person soon breaks out into disorder. With respect to
the earrings and bracelets of Rebekah, as I do not doubt that they were
those in use among the rich, so the uprightness of the age allowed them
to be sparingly and frugally used; and yet I do not excuse the fault.
This example, however, neither helps us, nor alleviates our guilt, if,
by such means, we excite and continually inflame those depraved lusts
which, even when all incentives are removed, it is excessively difficult
to restrain. The women who desire to shine in gold, seek in Rebekah a
pretext for their corruption. Why, therefore, do they not, in like
manner, conform to the same austere kind of life and rustic labour to
which she applied herself? But, as I have just said, they are deceived
who imagine that the examples of the saints can sanction them in
opposition to the common law of God. Should any one object that it is
abhorrent to the modesty of a virtuous and chaste maiden to receive
earrings and bracelets from a man who was a stranger, and whom she had
never before seen. In the first place, it may be, that Moses passes over
much conversation held on both sides, by which it is probable she was
induced to venture on the reception of them. It may also be, that he
relates first what was last in order. For it follows soon afterwards in
the context, that the servant of Abraham inquired whose daughter she
was. We must also take into account the simplicity of that age. Whence
does it arise that it was not disreputable for a maid to go alone out of
the city, unless that then the morals of mankind did not require so
severe a guard for the preservation of modesty? Indeed, it appears from
the context, that the ornaments were not given her for a dishonourable
purpose; but a portions is offered to the parents to facilitate the
contract for marriage. Interpreters are not agreed respecting the value
of the presents. Moses estimates the earrings at half a shekel, and the
bracelets at ten shekels. Jerome, instead of half a shekel, reads two
shekels. I conceive the genuine sense to be, that the bracelets were
worth ten shekels, and the frontal ornament or earrings worth half that
sum, or five shekels. For since nothing is added after the word "bekah,"
it has reference to the greater number. Otherwise here is no suitable
proportion between the bracelets and the ornaments for the head.
Moreover, if we take the shekel for four Attic drachms, the value is
trifling; therefore I think the weight of gold is indicated, which makes
the sum much greater than the piece of money called a shekel.
4. There is no escaping the facts of God's Word that God is not opposed to the beauty of jewelry even though it can be abused. The misuse of something is not to eliminate the proper use of it. In the following quote from Ezek. 16 we can read on beyond this quote and see that Israel did go on to abuse the jewelry God gave her, and she suffered judgment because of it, but the fact remains, God blest her with this jewely, and it was a precious thing in his sight or he never would have done it. Jewelry is not in itself a problem with God, but only the abuse of it. Ezek. 16:9-14 is all the proof anyone needs who believes in God's own words. It says, "I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. 10 I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put leather sandals on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. 11 I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, 12 and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was fine flour, honey and olive oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. 14 And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign LORD."
5. There is a great deal to study if you really want to get into the subject of jewelry in the Bible. Clarke gives some guidelines as to the various kinds and places to read of them. He writes, "In different parts of the sacred writings there are allusions to ornaments of various kinds still in use in different Asiatic countries. They are of seven different sorts. 1. for the forehead; 2. for the nose; 3. for the ears; 4. for the arms; 5. for the fingers; 6. for the neck and breast; 7. for the ankles. See ver. 22, 47; also Ezek. xvi. 12; Prov. xi. 22; Isa. iii. 21; chap. xxxv. 4; Exod. xxxii. 2, 3; Job xlii. 11; Judg. viii. 24. The principal female ornaments are enumerated in the third chapter of Isaiah, which are very nearly the same that are in use in Persia and India to the present time."
23 Then he asked, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?"
1. By these questions he would be able to know quickly if she was the one, for he would learn of her family and if she was from that of Abraham's relatives. He would also know by the size of the house if it was a prosperous family, and this would also be a clue as to the likelihood of her being the proper mate for Isaac.
24 She answered him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milcah bore to Nahor."
1. Gill comments, "Which Milcah was the daughter of Haran, Abraham's elder brother, and, as thought by many, sister to Sarah, Abraham's wife, see Gen_11:29, which she bare unto Nahor; Abraham's brother; so that her father was Nahor's son, not by his concubine Reumah, but by his lawful wife Milcah, which sets Rebekah's descent in a true light, see Gen_22:20; whether she told her own name is not certain, it may be, since the servant bade it, Gen_24:45.
25 And she added, "We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night."
1. She answered both questions to his delight, for he heard just what he wanted to hear. She was from the right family and was a girl used to the better things of life, which was the kind of girl Isaac needed.
26 Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD,
1. To worship, to praise, and to give thanks to God for his guidance are all much the same, for they are all acknowledging God as the author of all your blessings.
2. He had experienced the fulfillment of two precious promises in the Old and New Testaments. "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own
understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." (Prov. 3:5-6, KJV) Again, hear this word of James in the New Testament, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5, KJV).
27 saying, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives."
1. He is overwhelmed with joy and gratitude for this marvelous demonstration of the providence of God leading him in a way that was just short of a miracle. God had led him right to the house of Abraham's relatives. It was like the star of Bethlehem that led the wise men right to the house where the child Jesus was with Mary and Joseph. This is very specific diving guidance where there is no doubt that God is directly involved. This leads me to disagree with those who say all that happens is God's directing the steps of all people. If this was the case then this wondrous leading of God is no different than that of all of us in our everyday journey in life. For something to be spectacular, as this providence in leading him to the very girl and family he needed to find, then other events need to be less providential and open to human folly and mistakes. There is no point in praying, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," if in fact, all that happens is God's will. This servant had the right spirit and the right commitment to find God's choice, and the result is, he had the special providence of God working for him. Once you say everything that happens is the will of God, you take away the wonder of this special working of God in this servant’s life. It is special because it does not happen all the time.
2. Maclaren could not write of this story what he did, if it was just commonplace and routine in life. He wrote, "There is no more beautiful page, even amongst the many lovely ones in these ancient stories, than this domestic idyll of the mission of the faithful servant from far Canaan across the desert. The homely test by which he would determine that the maiden should be pointed out to him, the glimpse of old-world ways at the well, the gracious courtesy of the fair damsel, and the simple devoutness of the speaker, who recognizes in what to others were trivial commonplaces God’s guidance to the end which He had appointed, his recognition of the divine hand moving beneath all the nothings and littlenesses of daily life—may teach us much."
28 The girl ran and told her mother's household about these things.
1. Clearly she was an energetic young woman, for after her running back and forth to give water to the whole caravan she is again running home to tell her family about what has happened.
2. Clarke writes, " Her mother's house] Some have conjectured from this that her father Bethuel was dead; and the person called Bethuel, ver. 50, was a younger brother. This is possible, but the mother's house might be mentioned were even the father alive; for in Asiatic countries the women have apartments entirely separate from those of the men, in which their little children and grown-up daughters reside with them. This was probably the case here, though it is very likely that Bethuel was dead, as the whole business appears to be conducted by Rebekah's brothers."
29 Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring.
1. This brother of Rebekah named Laban plays a major role in the life of Jacob later on, but we see a hint of his material mindedness here in the way he looks on the gifts of this stranger to his sister. Wikipedia gives us a brief look at his future role. "Laban first appears in the story in Genesis 24:29-60, where he is impressed by the gold jewelry given to his sister on behalf of Isaac, and plays a key part in arranging their marriage.
Much later, Laban promises his younger daughter Rachel to Jacob (Rebekah's son) in return for seven years' service, only to trick him into marrying his elder daughter Leah instead. Jacob then serves another seven years in exchange for the right to also marry his choice, Rachel, see Genesis 29.
Laban's flocks and fortunes increase under Jacob's skilled care, but there is much further trickery between them. Six years after his promised service has ended, Jacob, having prospered largely by proving more cunning than his father-in-law, finally leaves. Laban pursues him, but they eventually part on good terms, see Genesis 31."
30 As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring.
1. Laban has a nose for making a profit, and when he saw the nose ring he smelled a potential for cash in his pocket. He was not going to wait for the man to come to him, but he hurried out to the man. He did not want to let him get away, for he appeared to be willing to pay for anything he received.
2. Scott Hoezee writes, "Her father, Bethuel and brother Laban take one look at the small fortune in gold the girl is wearing and suddenly become very interested in this stranger at the spring! Commentators note that it is quite probable that this family had not heard of the God Yahweh. Abraham, after all, had been gone for decades with no known contact with his extended family. But no sooner does the family see the trinkets with which Rebekah has been showered and they get very religious very quickly! Verse 30 says that the first thing Laban noticed was all the gold--his eyes sparkled at the wealth of it all. Rebekah then mentions what the stranger had said, including his song of praise to some God named "Yahweh." Laban then replies, "Yahweh, did you say? Well, then, praise Yahweh! Invite this fellow into the house!" After all, when opportunity knocks, you open the door!"
31 "Come, you who are blessed by the LORD," he said. "Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels."
1. Laban gives this stranger the royal treatment by complimenting him as blest of the Lord, and then urging him to come to his house, which he has prepared for him and his camels. He had just run out of the house, and so you know he did not do a thing to prepare the house for guests. The women were back there hurrying up the house cleaning to get ready for him, but he takes the credit, as many men do for the hard work their wives do in preparing for guests.
32 So the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels, and water for him and his men to wash their feet.
1. This was a major effort to get all prepared, for he had ten camels that needed to be unloaded and then fed. The number of men with him is not noted, but it was several and they had to be washed up to join the family for a meal. It was indeed a great act of hospitality to take on this labor for strangers.
33 Then food was set before him, but he said, "I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say." "Then tell us," [Laban] said.
1. "The response of the family is interesting, for not the father, but the brother, speaks first. We may conclude then, that Laban has the stronger position and a definite function in the family equal to that of the father. Afterward, it was Laban and the girl’s mother who received gifts. The Nuzu tablets throw light on the arrangement. What is seen in Rebekah’s household is a fratriarchy or the exercise of family authority in Hurrian society by which one son has jurisdiction over his brothers and sisters. So Laban with his mother decides to put the matter of prompt departure up to Rebekah (v. 58). This independence of action is also reflected in the Nuzu documents concerning the wife of one Hurazzi who said, ‘With my consent my brother Akkuleni gave me as wife to Hurazzi.’ This parallels the biblical incident as to circumstances of the question to the bride, the decision by Laban to ask her, and her answer. (Stigers, Genesis, p. 201.)"
2. Clarke wrote, "I will not eat until I have told] In Hindoostan it is not unusual for a Brahmin to enter a house and sit down, and when meat is offered, refuse to eat till he has obtained the object of his errand. Here is a servant who had his master's interest more at heart than his own. He refuses to take even necessary refreshment till he knows whether he is likely to accomplish the object of his journey. Did not our blessed Lord allude to the conduct of Abraham's servant, John iv. x24: My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work?"
34 So he said, "I am Abraham's servant.
1. Now for a rerun of all we have already read and commented on. This is not necessary for us, but it was for that family that had no idea of what the history was that brought this man into their lives and home. They needed to know all of these facts and details in order to make a decision about their daughter going with this man.
2. The only author I found dealing with the why of all this repetition was Scott Hoezee, and I quote a large portion of his message, for he gives us a better understanding of why this repetition is here. He writes, "This evening for the sake of time, I skipped over the shank of Genesis 24, partly because once Abraham's servant settles down for dinner with Rebekah's family, he thoroughly recounts the exact same story we read in the first 27 verses of this chapter. In fact, large portions of the servant's speech are nearly word-for-word repetitions of what we already read. The narrative pace here is leisurely. In fact, this is the single longest narrative in the Book of Genesis. Why do you think that is?
Surely this is not the most important story in the book, so that cannot explain the amount of space devoted to it. So why this protracted attention to so many details? Maybe because God himself is in the details. Unlike other narratives earlier in Genesis, God nowhere speaks in Genesis 24. The servant does not receive a heavenly vision, is not told by God where to go. Likewise God's Spirit does not tip off Bethuel, Laban, and Rebekah by telling them to be on the lookout for a certain stranger who will soon be coming their way. As Walter Brueggemann notes, with the exception of the servant's brief prayer in verses 12-15, this story is "secular" in the sense of being the report of some very ordinary-sounding events. God is not reported as saying or doing anything in particular, and yet throughout this chapter you have the feeling that God is directing everything.
In retrospect the servant can see how this has all come together just so. Even before he prayed his prayer at the spring, God had already brought him to just the right place. Maybe that's why he takes the time so lovingly and thoughtfully to recount every last detail to Rebekah's family over dinner. Maybe that is why the author of Genesis likewise takes care to write it all out again. After all, would you have batted an eye or sensed that something was missing from Genesis 24 if in verse 34, instead of recounting the whole long story all over again, the text had said, "And so the servant then told Bethuel and Laban the story of his journey."
It could have been left at that, right? As a reader, you don't need to review the whole thing. You might even get impatient. Suppose you are reading a novel some evening in which chapter 3 is the story of the main character's trip to Chicago one weekend. You read about what hotel he stayed at, where he went out for dinner, the stores he shopped at, and the particular display he saw at the Chicago Art Institute. It might all be very interesting, but what would you think if you then went on to chapter 4 only to find that this chapter was about how this same character came back home to Grand Rapids and then told his roommate about the whole weekend, once again repeating every last hotel, museum, and restaurant detail you had just read in the previous chapter? You might get rather frustrated with this book. "Why doesn't this author just get on with it?" you might say to yourself.
But the author of Genesis is making a vital point: even ordinary-sounding stories such as the one the servant so carefully re-tells can be, and often are, full of God. But if we rarefy this story, make it about just what happens when someone important like Isaac is taking center stage, then we may miss that. This is about us, too. Because listen: if you want to be a "spiritual person," then that spirituality is going to be active not just on those rare mountaintop moments of life but in and through the very mundane details of your day-to-day life. A while back I mentioned the line from St. Teresa of Avila who once noted "Christ dwells among the pots and pans." It was Teresa's way of saying that if we don't bump into Jesus in the run of a typical day, we maybe won't run into him much at all.
Thomas Merton once tried to make a similar point when he observed that a spiritual life is first and foremost just a life. If you want to be a holy or spiritual person, you need to be a person first, and what's more you need to be the very specific person God already created you to be. The "spiritual" part of being a Christian is not way out there somewhere beyond the horizon waiting for you to arrive. It's here, it's now.
I once heard a pastor say that once upon a time she lamented all of the "distractions" that would come to her in the course of the average week. She was trying to write sermons, prepare catechism lessons, and do other obviously "spiritual" work but the phone kept ringing with people who had a question or a comment on this or that. Someone was at the door, emails cried out to be answered, and so forth and so on. But then one day she realized: these so-called "distractions" were themselves a big part of ministry. If she couldn't be spiritual in and through those times, then when would she be spiritual?"
35 The LORD has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, and camels and donkeys.
1. Someone wrote, "Having found the woman who should be Isaac’s wife, the servant now had to convince the family that Abraham’s son Isaac was the right man for Rebekah. The fact that Rebekah would need to move far away was an obstacle, which must be overcome by strong argumentation. This delicate task was skillfully handled by the servant. The urgency of his mission was indicated by his refusal to eat until the purpose of his journey was explained.
First, the servant identified himself as a representative of Abraham, Bethuel’s uncle (verse 34). This would have set aside many objections of these relatives, who were concerned to protect the purity of Rebekah’s descendants. Then the success of Abraham was reported. Abraham had not been foolish to leave Haran, for God had prospered him greatly. By inference, this testified to Isaac’s ability to provide abundantly for the needs of Rebekah, who was not living on a poverty level herself (cf. verses 59, 61). Isaac was said to be the sole heir of Abraham’s wealth (verse 36)."
36 My master's wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.
1. You can bet on it that Laban was wide-awake now. His sister could be married to a man who will inherit a fortune. He just loved that bit of information, for he loved wealth and would love to have wealthy relatives. This Isaac guy is looking pretty good at this point. Any father or brother, however, would be happy to know that his daughter or sister was going to marry a man with solid financial security, and so we cannot be too hard on Laban, for it is a legitimate concern. Nobody wants his little girl to marry into poverty. The servant does seem to be making it more enticing by mentioning the old age factor, as if to say, it may not be long before Isaac has the whole fortune in his own possession. Any woman who has a chance should jump at getting a man like this as her husband.
37 And my master made me swear an oath, and said, `You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live,
1. This whole section where the servant tells the family what his mission was in the name of Abraham is repetition, and so there is little to say that has not already been said.
38 but go to my father's family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.'
1. Here is a strong compliment to the family, for he is saying we had no one at home to be worthy of being Isaac's wife, but you folks are just the kind of people that can provide a fit mate for him.
39 "Then I asked my master, `What if the woman will not come back with me?'
40 "He replied, `The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father's family.
41 Then, when you go to my clan, you will be released from my oath even if they refuse to give her to you--you will be released from my oath.'
42 "When I came to the spring today, I said, `O LORD, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come.
43 See, I am standing beside this spring; if a maiden comes out to draw water and I say to her, "Please let me drink a little water from your jar,"
44 and if she says to me, "Drink, and I'll draw water for your camels too," let her be the one the LORD has chosen for my master's son.'
45 "Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, `Please give me a drink.'
1. Clarke writes, " Before I had done speaking in mine heart] So we find that the whole of this prayer, so circumstantially related Genesis xxiv. 12-14, and again ver. 42-44, was mental, and heard only by that God to whom it was directed. It would have been improper to have used public prayer on the occasion, as his servants could have felt no particular interest in the accomplishment of his petitions, because they were not concerned in them, having none of the responsibility of this mission."
2. Chuck Smith writes, "Now here to me is an interesting thing, and that is that God hears the prayers of our heart. It isn't necessary that prayers be verbalized. So often we think we haven't prayed if we haven't spoken out. But God knows the prayers of your heart. The servant wasn't out there with hands raised saying "Now Lord, God of my father, Abraham," you know. Had he been doing that, then all of the girls around there thinking "oh, you know, look at the loot, you know, and everything else. And they'd all be running to get water..... Jesus said go in your closet, shut the door, your father that sees in secret will reward you openly. And prayer doesn't have to be uttered."
46 "She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, `Drink, and I'll water your camels too.' So I drank, and she watered the camels also.
1. An unknown author wrote, "One source I looked at said a camel can go three days without water with little difficulty, and that it will drink 5 to 7 gallons of water per day if available. If we assume that these camels had for some time been without water, we probably can assume that they drank at least 3 gallons each at one time here. That would be 30 gallons of water weighing 10gal. or a total of 300. If you have ever carried a 5-gallon bucket of water, you know that Rebekah surely was not carrying that much in a heavy earthen vessel on her shoulder. Most likely her water jar held 2 or 3 gallons. Thus she would have had to make ten to fifteen trips in order to satisfy these ten thirsty camels. Furthermore, verse 16 indicates that she had to go down to the spring to fill her jar -- language which may mean that she descended steps into a large hole to reach the water of the spring and then had to carry that water up out of the hole. In fact, such springs with steps leading down to them have been found in the Middle East. All in all, Rebekah here was asking for a lot of work. And notice how she did it according to verse 20. "She quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw . . ." In this she fully fulfilled the sign which Abraham's servant had asked of the Lord, and even went beyond it.
2. Leupold observes: “The condition imposed is unusually apt. Readiness to serve embodies a number of other virtues: cheerfulness, courtesy, unselfishness, and readiness to work. The amount of service required in this case would demand the prerequisite of good health and strength. For camels are notorious for their capacity to absorb water. The servant's stipulation was not for an ordinary favor easily bestowed. The girl measuring up to this requirement would certainly be very distinctly marked from all others by virtue of this accomplishment."
3. Matthew Henry writes "He desires that his master's wife might be a humble and industrious woman, bred up to care and labor, and willing to put her hand to any work that was to be done; and that she might be of a courteous disposition, and charitable to strangers. When he came to seek a wife for his master, he did not go to the playhouse or the park, and pray that he might meet one there, but to the well of water, expecting to find one there well employed." It is clear that the goal was to find a woman who could work hard and enjoy it as a service, for such a wife would be of great benefit to any man.
47 "I asked her, `Whose daughter are you?' "She said, `The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.' "Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms,
1. Young people will not want to read this verse, for it destroys their idea that a ring in the nose is some kind of new fad invented by those who want to see the older generation squirm with frustration at the crazy practices of the younger generation. It was apparently an accepted custom to wear a nose ring thousands of years ago. The bracelets on the arm are probably standard in every age and culture, for where else can you wear a bracelet? But rings can go other places than the nose, and so you wonder why anyone would ever come up with the idea. I am sure this servant of Abraham was not the inverter of the idea, for it would be an offense to impose a new custom like this if it was not already a common practice among young women.
48 and I bowed down and worshiped the LORD. I praised the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son.
1. This servant knew that he had been directed by the providence of God to find the one person that fit all that he desired for Isaac's bride. The chances of this happening by chance are highly unlikely, and that is why he is praising God with all his heard, for he knows this could not be happening without the clear guidance of God. Good luck is what we call it in the secular language, but when we see it as the direct leading of God, we call it providence. Providence differs from miracle in that all is worked out by natural and normal means. Nothing has to happen that is supernatural. It is just the right timing of persons and events coming together to achieve a purpose that is prayed for by one seeking to do the will of God.
49 Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn."
1. He wanted to know if they would be a blessing to Abraham in the light of all he just told them, or if they would say no. He had to have an answer to know what his next step should be. It seemed clear that Rebekah was God's choice, but he could not force them to give her up. She was such an energetic worker that it would be a loss for that home, and someone else would have to go get the water every day.
50 Laban and Bethuel answered, "This is from the LORD; we can say nothing to you one way or the other.
1. They were stunned by the amazing providence of God, and they knew God was in this, but they could not say one way or the other about what choice Rebekah might make, for it was hers to make and not their's. It is clear that God wants it, but she still has to make the decision to go.
51 Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has directed."
1. They recognized the hand of God in the events he just told them, and they consented to have Rebekah go and be the wife of Isaac.
52 When Abraham's servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD.
1. This servant spent a lot of time on the ground because he was always being overwhelmed with thankfulness because of how God was using him to achieve the goal of Abraham. He is celebrating the benefits of being guided step by step, and he cannot help but worship the God who is granting him such perfect success.
53 Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother.
1. Now we are talking in a language that everyone can understand, for it is the language of costly gifts. Who does not love getting costly gifts? It is Christmas and birthday party all in one here as the servant begins to unpack his pack like an ancient Santa. The whole family would stare in wide-eyed wonder at all the riches he was pulling out before them. This is not a common event in the life of anyone where a stranger comes into town and finds his way to your house and begins to shower you with wealth beyond your wildest dreams. It was like the lottery, or the sweepstakes in our day. You can just imagine the joy that was welling up within the hearts of this family as they viewed with awe the abundance of the gifts.
2. Can't you just imagine how clever Abraham would be in packing up all these gifts? He would put in one of the most elaborate and ornate wedding dresses any young girl ever saw in her life. How must she and mom and brother felt when the servant pulled up that one of a kind dress? They could just imagine their daughter, or sister looking like the bride of the century in that gown. It would play a role in their decision to send her so far away to marry a man she never met. The Bible is realistic in that it recognizes that people have a need to benefit by relationships. Why should this family send off a lovely daughter and sister to marry some unknown guy 500 miles away, and why should she even give it a second thought? Reward is a motivating factor. If we are going to come out way ahead in our financial status by cooperation with this stranger, why not? It seemed like a logical move to marry within the family, and there is so much to gain by it that it seems foolish to turn down the opportunity. The point is, people do need to see the benefits or rewards for doing what you want them to do. All we do as people has a motive, and the number one motive is what is in it for me. The Gospel has the same appeal, for it offers forgiveness of sin, and eternal life. Would there be many takers if the Gospel just said trust Jesus as your Savior and maybe it will benefit you somewhere down the line?
54 Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there. When they got up the next morning, he said, "Send me on my way to my master."
1. Here we are made aware that this servant was not alone. Abraham had sent a crew of men to go along to care for the many gifts that would be easily robbed by the notorious dessert bandits if only one man was carrying all this loot. They had to care for the camels except for the one time that Rebekah had done the job of getting them water. The servant had these familiar men with him and so it was not a lonely experience, but one of good fellowship as they ate and drank and had a good time around the fire before they retired to their separate tents. The servant was anxious to get back to Abraham and so the next morning he urged them to send him off. In other words, my business is done here so let me go.
55 But her brother and her mother replied, "Let the girl remain with us ten days or so; then you may go."
1. We do not know the motive of mom and brother here, for it could be that they just have a hard time letting go of this daughter and sister. On the other hand, they may have been hoping for even more gifts now that they have agreed to the deal to let her go. We know from future dealings with Jacob that Laban is a wheeler-dealer who will take advantage of others if it pays off for him. He wants his cake and eat it too, for he has the dowry now, and he wants to keep Rebekah around as long as possible, for she was a good worker.
56 But he said to them, "Do not detain me, now that the LORD has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master."
1. He knew that Abraham and Isaac are back home praying for him to succeed in his mission, and he does not want to keep them in anxiety any longer than necessary. His job is completed in getting a wife for Isaac, but now he has a long journey to get her back to him, and he is anxious to get on the trail. There are times when we have to turn down hospitable requests because our priorities demand that we give up something pleasant for ourselves to meet the requests of one we want to please most. In this case the servant wanted to get home with the good news to Abraham, and see the response of Isaac when he sees the girl of his dreams.
57 Then they said, "Let's call the girl and ask her about it."
1. That was a clever thought. We are being asked to send our daughter and sister with a stranger into a land far away that we have never seen, and to live a life that is completely different and harder than what she is used to. Why don't we ask her if this is something she would like to do? It was an obvious direction to go, but we have to give them credit for not making this decision for her. The family did not compel her to marry against her will, which was a common practice in that period of history where parents made all the arrangements.
58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Will you go with this man?" "I will go," she said.
1. Here we see that Rachel had a choice in this matter. It was not a decision that her mother or brother made for her, even though they had input, but it was her own free will decision to go and become the wife of a complete stranger in a land far far away. This was a courageous decision for a young girl to make who had not likely ever been anywhere far from home.
2. Spurgeon wrote, "She was expected to feel a love to one she had never seen. She had only newly heard that there was such a person as Isaac, but yet she must love him enough to leave her kindred, and go to a distant land. This could only be because she recognized the will of Jehovah in the matter. Ah, my dear hearers! All that we tell you is concerning things not seen as yet; and here is our difficulty. You have eyes, and you want to see everything; you have hands, and you want to handle everything; but there is one whom you cannot see as yet, who has won our love because of what we believe concerning him. We can truly say of him, "Whom having not seen, we love: in whom, though now we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." I know that you answer our request thus: "You demand too much of us when you ask us to love a Christ we have never seen." I can only answer, "It is even so: we do ask more of you than we expect to receive." Unless God the Holy Ghost shall work a miracle of grace upon your hearts, you will not be persuaded by us to quit your old associations, and join yourselves to our beloved Lord. And yet, if you did come to him, and love him, he would more than content you; for you would find in him rest unto your souls, and a peace which passeth all understanding."
3. Rebekah was like an eastern woman living in the colonies who is challenged to marry a pioneer and head into the West on a covered wagon to face a life of living on the move, for Isaac moved from place to place with his father because their large herds were in constant need of new feeding grounds. She was going from city-slicker to rancher, and the changes would be a challenge, but she was the kind of woman who could handle the challenge, for she was a strong woman who could keep up with the men. She drew water for all of the camels and proved that she was physically ready for the hard work ahead, and beside this, she had her servant girls to help her carry the load.
59 So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men.
1. The camel caravan was heading back to Abraham with a lot less precious jewels and pretty garments, but with more people, for Rebekah had her nurse with her. In Gen. 35:8 this nurse is named Deborah, and she became a faithful servant in the family for the next two generations.
60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies."
1. She became the mother of two peoples-the Edomites and the Israelites, and that did amount to thousands of thousands. And as to possessing the gates of their enemies Gill writes, "..exercise dominion and authority over their enemies: let them not only be numerous, but powerful and victorious, as both the nations were at times, and especially the latter; and particularly this had its accomplishment in Christ, who sprung from her in the line of Jacob, Mat_1:2; some respect seems to be had to the promise made to Abraham, Gen_22:17; of which this family might have knowledge from Abraham's servant, who might report not only how great his master was, but what promises were made to him with respect to his posterity."
2. The Jews say she was about 14 years old at this time, and they were sending her off to marry a 40-year-old man. It was common for an older man to marry a younger woman, for this gave them more hope of having children.
61 Then Rebekah and her maids got ready and mounted their camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.
1. The more you read the more people show up in this caravan of camels heading back to Abraham and Isaac. Before we thought it was only the nurse of Rebekah who went back with her, but now we read that her maids got ready and mounted their camels. It does not tell us how many maids, but we can vision a fairly long line of camels as these women and Abraham's servant headed back to his home. Each of these women knew they were not coming back, and so you can just imagine all the things they packed. The camels had their work cut out for them on this journey, for it was a move, lock, stock and barrel of all that these women owned. Plus, Rebekah had a lot of stuff besides that the servant had given to her. This was a major move. Rebekah was now making the same journey that Abraham made when he first came to the Promised Land. She was leaving her homeland just as he did, and going to live in the land that would one day be given to the seed of Abraham, and she would be the one to produce that seed.
62 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev.
1. "For the first time in the story, Isaac comes into view. He too is seen as coming from a very significant place, a well associated with the birth of his stepbrother, Ishmael. When God appeared to Hagar she named the well, Beer-lahai-roi, which means the "well of the living one who sees me." From that sacred place of vision, Isaac has taken an evening stroll. As providence would have it, he lifts his eyes over the horizon and is given a "vision" of a distant convoy of camels."
63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate, [8] and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching.
1. Isaac knew that it would not be long before the servant returned with or without a wife for him, and he had to deal with the reality that he would soon possibly be a married man with a wife to care for. This would be one of the things he would be giving some serious thought to, and who knows how many other things he would be in meditation about? He was alone in the open field and it would seem that he was out there to be the first to meet his new bride if she would show up this day. Possibly he was out there every day for some time in hopes that this would be the day. Finally that day came as he watched a caravan of camels coming toward him. Could this at last be the answer to his prayer that the servant would return with a suitable wife for him?
2. Someone gives us this description of how Hollywood might portray this meeting of Isaac and Rebekah: "The last five verses of this chapter, 62-67, could probably be produced by Hollywood into an award winning movie scene: Enter Isaac, a ruggedly handsome yet surprisingly gentle man, walking slowly and meditatively through a field just as the evening sun begins to set behind him in a vast array of colors. The music swells as he looks up and sees camels approaching in the distance. As the camera breaks from Isaac and focuses upon Rebekah, gracefully seated upon a well-groomed and friendly camel, she also looks up and sees the silhouette of a man against the setting sun. Knowing that this was her one true love coming to meet her she elegantly dismounts and shyly covers herself with her veil. Isaac approaches, their eyes meet for the first time yet was it the first time? Has he seen her somewhere in a dream perhaps? He sweeps her into his arms and carriers her, without strain, into his tent claiming her as his wife forever. The screen slowly dims to black. Roll credits. Happily ever after, or at least until the children were born."
64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel
1. The modern translations are more accurate, but they miss the humor that is generated by the King James Version. It says here that, "..when she saw Isaac, she lighted off her camel." Those early translators had no idea what this would sound like to the future generations in America where the Camels cigarettes would be so popular, and so they were innocent in implying that Rebekah lit up her cigarette when she saw her future husband coming.
65 and asked the servant, "Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?" "He is my master," the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.
1. She is about to meet the man she came to marry. He was a total stranger to her, and she felt shy at exposing herself right away to his vision. She was seen by the servant unveiled, and so was not afraid to be seen of a man, but this man coming toward her was the man to be her husband, and to keep him a little longer in mystery she took her veil and covered herself. This in contrast to the modern girls approach, which is to uncover and expose herself to attract the opposite sex. The veil was a sign of chastity, modesty and subjection says Clarke. She was giving a message to Isaac about the kind of woman she was, and this would be appealing to him.
66 Then the servant told Isaac all he had done.
1. This whole story was told again as Rebekah sat before him, and what an appealing story it would be to Isaac as he sat listening and looking at this woman who was so beautiful under that veil. He only heard from the servant what a beauty she was, but he believed it and was anxious to see for himself. When the history of finding her was over, he was ready to make his own history with her, and so he took her to be his wife on the spot.
67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
1. This text makes it clear that Isaac was pretty much a mother's boy. It has been about three years since his mother has died, and he is still in a state of grief. He needs to move on, and that is why another woman needs to enter his life and become the leading lady taking the place of Sarah. Rebekah was just the kind of woman Isaac needed, for she was aggressive and not passive like him. One author looking at the arrangements for her to leave her home and come to be the mate of Isaac sees a reason for her being an aggressive woman. He writes, "I think if we go to Gen 24:15 we might see one reason that Rebekah was like this. Notice that the marriage arrangements made by Abraham’s servant for Isaac and Rebekah are all made with Laban. Why? Their father is not dead. Rebekah’s father, Bethuel, is only mentioned in vs 15 as being the father and in verse 50 where he just acquiesces and gives permission for Abraham’s servant to take Rebekah. All the negotiations were made with Laban. I don’t think it is reading too much into the text to conclude that Bethuel was an uninvolved father. We can see the results in Rebekah. She had no advocate, so she took over and became a controlling woman. When she got married, she took over her family."
2. It is true that Rebekah did not know Isaac, but she learned a great deal about him from the servant sent to find him a wife. She had plenty of knowledge, and she was not like the girl in the following conversation who was so desperate to marry. "The story is this fellow was very nervous as he contemplated asking Miss Jones to marry him. So he decided to ask her over the telephone. So he calls on the telephone.
And he says, "Is this Miss Jones?"
And she says, "Yes."
And he says, "Could I talk to you?"
And she says, "Yes."
And he says, "I want to ask you a question, may I?"
And she said, "Yes."
And he says, "Miss Jones, would you marry me?"
And she says, "Yes, who is this?"
3. The text makes it clear that an arranged marriage can lead to love just as well as the romantic method that is the way it happens in our culture. She was his second cousin, and was likely half his age, but they became a happy couple, and never needed another person to come into their marriage, as was the case with most other leading characters in the Bible. They had their problems, and were in conflict over which of their two sons was to be the most loved, but they learned to live a lifetime with each other with the majority of it being happy and peaceful. Someone said, "A good marriage is not a gift which the bride and groom discover among the wedding presents. It’s an achievement, a homemade, lifelong, do- it-yourself project. It is built by two hearts and two pairs of hands, constantly working together at the task over a long period of time.”
4. Stedman has given us his concept of this meeting of Rebekah and Isaac. "I think the conversation here when the two met was probably rather stumbling at first. She was very shy, and he very reserved. She got off her camel, all atwitter inside. She put her veil over her face so he wouldn't see how she was blushing. This strong, manly man came up to her, and said, "Hello." She said, "Hello." He said, "Are you Rebekah?" She said, "Yes," and dropped her eyes. Then he said, "I'm Isaac." (She knew it all the time.) He said, "You can call me Ike." She said, "Well, my friends call me 'Becky.'" And off they go, hand in hand."
APPENDIX
Three sermons on Rebekah
1. REBEKAH, A MARVELOUS MOTHER
Nathan Ausabel tells of the Jewish couple with 9 children who went to the Rabbi to get a divorce. When the question of custody came up the wife said she wanted 5 of the children and he could have 4. The husband said, "Why should I have only 4? You take the 4 and I'll take the 5." In order to resolve the conflict the Rabbi suggested that they live together one more year and have another child. Then they could divide with an equal share of the family. The couple agreed to the plan. But a year later the man came back to the Rabbi and said the plan did not work. The Rabbi asked, "Why? Didn't your wife give birth?" "Yes," he said, "But you see, it was twins." They were right back where they started, and even Solomon in all his wisdom could not divide an odd number of children evenly.
Twins can be a problem. Luis Palau, the Billy Graham of South America, was worried sick when his wife gave birth to twins in 1963. The doctor told him there was a very strange heart beat and they may loose the child. They did not know she had two babies in her. Palau had to make the decision that if necessary they let the baby die to save his wife, but it turned out to be a day of joy as the irregular heartbeat was really the regular heartbeat of two. What a scare these twins gave him. Twins have scared people all through history, and in many cultures they have been immediately killed. Christian missionaries have labored hard to convince natives that twins are not an evil omen, and today there are many healthy twins where once they were killed.
This does not mean that twins are no longer a problem. They are often double trouble, and because of their potential for mischief Walt Disney has been able to make some of his greatest movies about mischievous twins. It is not all fiction either, for there are numerous true stories about the complexity of raising twins. One mother heard both laughing and crying coming from her twin's bedroom at bath time. She went to see what was the matter and the laughing twin pointed to his weeping brother and said, "Grandma has given Alexander 2 baths and hasn't given me any at all."
The problems get greater as they get older. Jean and Auguste Piccard, the famous Swiss twins, decided to have some fun with a barber. Jean went in for a shave and complained that he had the most annoying beard in the world because it grew back so fast. The barber assured him that his trusty razor would keep it off for 24 hours or he would shave him free. Jean let him scrape away and left. Several hours later Auguste came in with a heavy stubble and collected his free shave. He left the barber pondering the most amazing beard he had ever seen.
The reason I share these twin stories is because we are looking at the mother of the most famous twins of the Bible. Rebekah was the mother of Jacob and Esau. These two brothers were as different as night and day. They had the same parents and the same environment, but they were opposites and totally different in personality, and in the way they responded to the will of God. It is superficial to expect all children in a family to be alike. Even in a godly family there will be radical differences. I once had a family in my church where the best kids and the worst kids were from that same family. Two of them ended up in the ministry and another broke the parents hearts with unbelievable ungodliness. This can be tough on parents, but it has to be accepted as a fact of life that the best parents have no guarantee that their children will follow their values.
Rebekah was a great mother, but her twins sometimes became as famous for their folly as for their faith. Some twins become much alike for all of life. The most famous example in our time is Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren. They are both famous counselors, and their advice columns are very much alike. Other twins do not follow the same pattern at all. One of the 12 Apostles was a twin. Thomas called Didymus was a twin. Didymus is Greek for twin, and Thomas means twin in Aramaic. We have no idea about his twin. He may have been an enemy of Christ for all we know. Twins can be opposites and that is what we see in the twins of Rebekah. They were opponents.
Rebekah favored Jacob and her husband favored Esau, but in the end mom's boy became the man God used. Mothers often are the key persons in determining the success of their children. Rebekah Bains Johnson, whose grandfather was a Baptist pastor, and who came from a long line of pastors going back to Scotland, was determined to make her son a great politician. Her father was a politician and she married a politician, and she dreamed that her son could be a great one. She had 4 other children, but she favored Lyndon and pounded it into him that he was destined for leadership. She kept him reading the books and writings of Thomas Jefferson. She guided him through college and on to Washington, and eventually to become the 35th President of the United States.
Like the Rebekah of the Bible she was obsessed by her need to favor one son and do all she could to promote him. This led to her other son, Sam Houston Johnson, being hurt. He worked for Lyndon and went to law school, but he never practiced. He never got equal time and encouragement from his mother, and that made a world of difference in their careers. A mother motivating her children makes a world of difference. We want to look at Rebekah as a mother, and try to learn from lessons from her life.
I. HER MARRIAGE.
Ideal motherhood always begins with being a good mate. We have looked at this theme before and have concluded that the best thing any mother can do for her children is to love their father, just as the best thing a father can do is love their mother. Marriage comes before children, and it is the foundation that must be well laid before the family is built upon it. In spite of Rebekah's deception of Isaac we have to recognize she was one of the most loved wives in the Bible. Isaac is the only one of the Patriarchs who did not take a second wife or a concubine. In a culture where polygamy was perfectly acceptable Isaac was a one‑woman man. Rebekah had to be some kind of woman to keep a man a monogamist in that day. He never saw Rebekah until the day he met her and married her, but from that day he loved her, and only her, for the rest of his life. She also was faithful to him for all of her life.
Here was a couple who had the world's shortest wedding. Gen. 24:67 says, "Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her..." Here was a primitive wedding without benefit of clergy or premarital counseling. There was no courtship and no vows are recorded, and yet they made a commitment for a lifetime. The old system of arranged marriages could work because people were committed to love the one they married. They did not fall in love and then get married, but they married and then grew in love.
The modern idea of selecting a mate by the computer is not as far fetched as it may seem. If two people are brought together with all of the values and qualities that each likes, and they are willing to make the commitment of the ancients to love the one they married, these could turn out to be marvelous mates. The odds are better than the superficial way many do it now. They feel sexual attraction, and their only commitment is to keep their relationship going as long as their hormones keeps pushing them in that direction. We could learn from the ancients that the most important commitment on the human level is to love the one you marry. I've never met a couple who has so many problems that they could not be solved by this single principle.
Isaac loved Rebekah in spite of the problems they had. The first problem was that she was barren. For 20 years Isaac waited for her to have a child. The culture left him free to take another wife, but he never did. He waited and prayed, and God finally answered that prayer, and Rebekah became a mother. They are the only couple in the Bible who are caught making love in public. Gen. 26:8 says that King Abimelech looked down from a window and saw Isaac sporting with Rebekah. We know this does not mean they were playing tennis. Isaac was caressing and fondling Rebekah, and that is how the king knew she was not his sister, but his wife.
The point is, Rebekah was a fun and loving partner. Abraham and Sarah had their fights over Hagar and Ishmael. Jacob and Rachel had their fights over Leah. But in spite of Rebekah's deceit of Isaac there is not one word of dispute between them. They had one of the most ideal marriages in the Bible, and possibly the most ideal. We need to keep her marriage in mind when we look at the negative action of her deceit. She did what she did in all good conscience. It was not to do any harm to her husband, but to assure that the son that she knew was most worthy would be blest. God confirmed her choice and blest Jacob. It seems that mothers tend to have a degree of insight into the spiritual potential of their children. Abraham leaned toward Ishmael and Isaac leaned toward Esau, but the mothers chose Isaac and Jacob, and these were the two that God chose to be in line to the Messiah. Mother's and God seem to be on the same wavelength. Father's look for the more macho type, but mothers look for the spirit that is more willing to follow God's leading.
I have to admit that until I looked at Rebekah through the eyes of Isaac I had some negative feelings about her. I had the same feeling I had toward the wife of Job until I discovered that Job loved her in spite of her faults, and stuck by her, and did not demean her. So also, we see that Isaac has not a bad word for his wife, and that is the final authority in judging a wife. If Isaac loved her and treated her like a queen, then it really does not matter what I think. She was a good wife, and that is where ideal motherhood begins. Being a good wife starts before marriage. Rebekah as a young woman was enthusiastic about serving the needs of others. Motherhood and servant‑hood are linked as one. We see her serving spirit when Abraham's servant came looking for a wife for Isaac. She was the one who volunteered to draw water for his camels. That was the sign that she was God's choice for a good wife. Find a girl who cares about kindness and helpfulness and you are on the right track to a good marriage and good motherhood.
Tally Rand said of a young lady of the court, "She is intolerable, but that is her only fault." Mark Twain once saw a mother with young twins and said, "This one is a girl isn't it?" She replied, "Yes." Twain said, "And is the other one of the contrary sex?" The mother replied, "Yes, she's a girl too." Rebekah was not a contrary person. She took opposite sides from Isaac from which twin was to be favored, but as we will see this was not a serious conflict with Isaac. He found Rebekah to be a marvelous wife, and he was a happy man in his marriage. He considered Rebekah a marvelous mother. So let's go from her marriage relationship and look more carefully at‑
II. HER MOTHERHOOD.
Rebekah was a good wife and a good mother, but one of the facts of life is that good mothers do not necessarily have good children. Her first‑born was Esau, and he married a couple of Hittite women. Gen. 26:35 says, "They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah." Jacob did not marry Hittites, and they were please with him. Isaac had to be pleased with the clever way Rebekah worked out a plan to give the blessing to Jacob. Has Esau been the one to inherit the riches of Isaac it would have all gone to the Hittites. But by her cleverness Rebekah saw to it that it would go to the people of Israel instead. Sometimes husbands are happy that their wives win in a conflict, for in their hearts they know the wife is right. This seems to be the case here.
Rebekah still loved her rebel son, and so she sent Jacob away lest he fight with Esau and she lose both in one day. This is part of motherhood. They have the pain of loving one who is careless and indifferent to God and His will. Love is the cause of much of the suffering of the world, for mothers still love those sons who go astray like Esau. It is a paradox, but it is true that the greatest virtue in life is also the cause of so much pain. If mothers did not love rebel children, mountains of pain would be eliminated, but the mountain stands as testimony to the pain of love. If God did not love the rebel race of mankind, He would not have had to suffer the loss of His Son, and Jesus would not have had to die on the cross. It was all because God so loved the world. God suffers because he loves, and so do mothers.
Gipsy Smith was one of the great evangelists in the history of England and America. He tells of the price his mother paid because she loved her children. His sister was sick and they called for a doctor. When he examined her he said she had small‑pox. He ordered her to get out of town so it did not spread to others. They set up a tent outside of town where the mother and 4 other children stayed. They put the sick girl in a wagon 200 yards away. Soon one of the boys got the pox and was sent to live in the wagon. One day the mother also got the pox. She had to go through great suffering as a mother as she cared for her sick children while she was sick herself. Her great love made a life long impression on Gipsy, for he learned that suffering and love go together. If you love deeply, you will suffer deeply.
The way to escape suffering is to never love, for the more you love the more you suffer. Just ask Jesus. But what a pathetic world it would be if nobody loved enough to suffer. Motherhood would not be exalted role as it is if there were no cost to it. It is the suffering of mother love that makes it the noble thing that it is. Show me a mother who does not care that her children are rebels, and I will show you a mother, who by her lack of suffering, is part of the problem, and not part of the answer. Suffering love is the answer. It is God's answer, and though it does not solve all problems, it has the potential to do so if rebels will respond to suffering love.
Motherhood is linked to servant‑hood, and servant‑hood is linked to suffering, and the result is that good mothering is linked to Christ‑likeness. Motherhood incorporates both the joy and the pain of the cross. Motherhood begins with both the pain of birth and the joy of new life. Pain and pleasure, burden and blessing are combined in becoming a mother. Children are also both a pain and a pleasure in the marriage. They can add so much joy to a couple's life, but they can also add so much pain. Many couples report that the happiest time in their lives are before children are born and after they grow up and leave the home. But people go on having children, because they are the greatest potential for the future. Children give hope that the future can be filled with the blessing of God, and that is why motherhood is so honored. It is the path by which mankind reaches out for God's best.
The Israelites were condemned to die in the wilderness, and yet they went on having children. It was because they knew God had a future for His people, and their children became the children of God who entered the Promised Land. Motherhood was the key to God's plan being fulfilled, and that is why motherhood will always be exalted. Had Isaac and Rebakah given up after 20 years of trying to have a child, Jacob would not have been born. And Jacob was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. He was crucial to God's plan. They never gave up and endured the pain of it all, but out of that pain of waiting, and then of motherhood, came the greatest of blessings, and God changed all of history through them.
Rebekah was an ideal wife and marvelous mother, but that did not mean she was a hundred percent successful. Esau was a rebel and caused her much grief. But she learned to concentrate on what she could do for the best results. She focused on being a good wife and she focused on being a good mother. And this meant she would specialize in seeing that the full potential of her most likely son would be realized. Nobody can do everything and no mother can be everything. She has to learn to focus on what she can do and not become so fragmented in going in all directions. Dr. James Dobson wrote, "I believe more divorces are caused by mutual over commitment by husbands and wives than all other factors combined. It is the number one marriage killer."
Good wives and mothers are those who know they cannot do all things, and so they specialize in doing well what they can do to please their mates and benefit their children. Let us learn from Rebekah to choose some things we give top priority to in order to be the best wives and mothers we can be. If your husband his happy with you, as Isaac was with Rebakah, and one or more of your children are going in a way that pleases God, as was Jacob, then you are succeeding, like Rebekah, as a marvelous mother.
2. REBEKAH A MARVELOUS MATE AND MOTHER
Annie Taylor was the first person to ever go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and lived to tell about it. That was in 1901. In 1932 Pearl S. Buck was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize in literature. In 1979 Susan B. Anthony became the first woman to ever appear on a United States coin. There are whole books written about women who were the first to do specific things. On this Mother's Day we are going to focus our attention on the first woman in history that we have any record of who gave birth to twins.
Rebekah in giving birth to her two boys Jacob and Esau became one of the most unique mothers ever, for her two boys changed the course of history. In fact, her boys represent the two great forces of human history‑good and evil. Jacob was the line to the Messiah, and Esau was the line to Herod the Great, who tried to kill the Messiah as a child. Her twins each took one of the two main roads in life. One took the way of doing the will of God, and the other took the way of defying the will of God. Rebekah then represents both sides of motherhood: the success and failure of motherhood.
We often only look at the positive side of motherhood, but the Bible gives us a balanced picture. The same mother who bears a child who goes on to produce the 12 tribes of Israel, and the very people of God, also bears a child who becomes a rebel who marries pagan wives and produces a people who are great enemies of the people of God. Here is a mother who can be praised for being a mother of the best, even though she bore one who was the worst.
It is important that we see this, for I have a hunch there are millions of mothers who are made to feel rotten and guilty on Mother's Day by sermons that exalt mothers to the heights of sainthood. This can be disturbing to mothers who are like Rebekah. They can point to their Jacobs and feel proud, but they also have their Esaus who have gone a different route, and they feel hurt, bitter, and frustrated. They have done their best, but all of their children are not what they wish, and what they have prayed for. They feel guilty when good mothers are portrayed as always having all their children as wonderful examples of good and godly people. It is a comfort that the Bible gives mothers a break, and portrays one of the great mothers of Hebrew history as one who also had failure, and a truly rotten kid. Mothers need to know they can still be good and even great mothers, even though they have failed to guide all their children in the way they ought to go.
Now I must confess it has ta