Recap: (For Genesis chapters 1-18 see Genesis 18 recap).
So far in the second section of Genesis, we have looked at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham’s move to the area between Gerar and Beersheba, the birth of Isaac and the driving out of Ishmael, the offering of Isaac, and the death and burial of Sarah.
Read Genesis 24:1-27
1 Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. 2 He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, ‘Put your hand under my thigh. 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, 4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.’
Abraham is now a hundred and forty, and Sarah had been dead for three years. Isaac was forty and felt the loss of his mother deeply (v67), and he was also unmarried: this was a problem if Abraham was to have innumerable offspring through him! So he took it upon himself to get Isaac married. But where could he find a suitable wife for him, living as they did in a foreign country?
The servant he chose for this task had obviously been with him for many years – perhaps he was nearly as old as Abraham and had grown up in the family. He was completely trustworthy and would have understood the implications of finding a suitable wife.
Abraham was aware that he too may die soon – maybe even before the servant returns (the journey would be a round trip of about 800 miles and would probably take two months.) So Abraham required his servant to make a solemn oath that the woman he finds will be from his own people: ‘Put your hand under my thigh’. ‘Thigh’ might be a euphemism, but the only other reference to this form of oath in the Bible is in Genesis 47:29 which doesn’t add any more light! So we can only speculate about its significance.
Before the servant agrees to such a binding oath, he needs to clear up something: if he can’t find someone suitable, could he take Isaac back so he himself could look for a wife?
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?’
6 ‘Make sure that you do not take my son back there,’ Abraham said. 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 I will give this land”– he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.
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.’
The promises of God concerned this land, and it was important that Isaac settled here. If he made the long journey back to Mesopotamia he may be tempted to stay there. Abraham was confident that God would lead his servant to the right girl: ‘he will send his angel before you’. But in order that the task doesn’t appear too onerous to his servant he adds v8: ‘If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine.’ (But I believe he was confident that that would not happen).
9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.
10 Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor.
Where was Aram Naharaim? It was a region along the north bank of the Euphrates, between the Upper Euphrates to the West and the Habur River to the East (roughly the area where the word ‘Haran’ is on the map) – Haran itself was another 40 miles to the North of the Euphrates. Nahor may have been a town near Haran, or simply that he lived there!
Map004 http://www.biblenews1.com/maps/BibleAbrahamL.gif
11 He made the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was towards evening, the time the women go out to draw water.
12 Then he prayed, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14 May it be that when I say to a young woman, “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.’
Why was this a good test?
Any girl drawing water from the well would naturally agree to give someone a drink, but no-one would voluntarily agree to fill the trough with sufficient water for ten camels (each of which, if they were thirsty, could drink 30 gallons in ten minutes!). Only a miracle could produce such a girl, but the servant was confident that the Lord would provide. And 15 Before he had finished praying, The Lord did provide a miracle!
Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. 16 The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.
Verses 13 and 16 seem to suggest that the well was not as we might picture it but rather a depression with a spring at the bottom – perhaps with steps cut to enable the women to get down to the water – so verse 20 would have been quite an arduous task.
17 The servant hurried to meet her and said, ‘Please give me a little water from your jar.’
18 ‘Drink, my lord,’ she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink.
19 After she had given him a drink, she said, ‘I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.’ 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. 21 Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.
Perhaps the servant hardly dared to believe that the first girl to appear was the chosen one. Yet so far she had completely fulfilled the test he had set.
The next thing to do was to pay for his water and find out if indeed she was related to his master.
22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. 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?’
24 She answered him, ‘I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor.’ 25 And she added, ‘We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.’
26 Then the man bowed down and worshipped the Lord, 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.’
26 Then the man bowed down and worshipped the Lord.
We can almost feel the relief and amazement that the servant felt. After his long journey all his fears and doubts have been wiped away as he had been led directly to the one girl who would be right for Isaac. He could respond in no other way.
Before we move on we could reflect on Rebekah’s character. Normally going for water was a task for the female servants. What had caused her to come for water that evening?
And she had come before the rest of the girls.
Was she deliberately avoiding meeting the others by coming early?
Would there be much banter, gossip, news-sharing and coarse jokes among those who came?
Now read Genesis 24:28-49
28 The young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things. 29 Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring. 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. 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.’
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. 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.
As we read this story we may not have noticed the speed with which it unfolds. What phrases in verses 12 to 33 indicate the urgency in the story?
12 make me successful today
17 The servant hurried to meet her
18 quickly lowered the jar
20 quickly emptied her jar
20 ran back to the well
28 The young woman ran and told
29 he hurried out
33 ‘I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say.’
34 So he said, ‘I am Abraham’s servant. 35 The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. 36 My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. 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, 38 but go to my father’s family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.”
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 faithfully, 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 You will be released from my oath if, when you go to my clan, they refuse to give her to you – then you will be released from my oath.’
42 ‘When I came to the spring today, I said, “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 young woman 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.”
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.
47 ‘I asked her, “Whose daughter are you?”
‘She said, “The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milkah bore to him.”
‘Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms, 48 and I bowed down and worshipped 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. 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.’
The servant has done all he can. He knows without doubt that the Lord has led him to Rebekah. The only question now is whether the family and Rebekah herself will agree to let her go. And he won’t be able to eat until he is sure of the outcome!
Now read Genesis 24:50-54a
50 Laban and Bethuel answered, ‘This is from the Lord; we can say nothing to you one way or the other. 51 Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed.’
52 When Abraham’s servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord. 53 Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewellery and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother. 54 Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there.
Now at last the servant can relax. He has their agreement to take Rebekah, and he has given the gifts that Abraham had sent. Now he can eat!
Genesis 24:54b-56
When they got up the next morning, he said, ‘Send me on my way to my master.’
55 But her brother and her mother replied, ‘Let the young woman remain with us ten days or so; then you may go.’
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.’
In the cold light of dawn the eagerness for Rebekah to leave the family and travel hundreds of miles to a strange country seems to have cooled.
Effectively the family appear to be saying ‘let’s not rush into this’, the expression ‘ten days or so’ could lead to quite a long delay – if they finally agree at all.
But the servant is having none of that and urges them to let them go.
Genesis 24:57-67
57 Then they said, ‘Let’s call the young woman and ask her about it.’ 58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, ‘Will you go with this man?’
‘I will go,’ she said.
59 So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,
‘Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands;
may your offspring possess the cities of their enemies.’
61 Then Rebekah and her attendants got ready and mounted the camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.
Rebekah was keen to go – a miracle in itself – so the family agreed, blessed her, and sent her on her way.
62 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. 63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. 64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac.
(Note – ‘looked up . . . looked up’. Again an indication that the Lord was providing a miraculous answer to prayer!)
She got down from her camel 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.
66 Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. 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.
Sarah’s tent had not been taken down. Perhaps no-one could bring themselves to remove her memory, but now it was an obvious place for Rebekah to stay until the wedding preparations could be made.
So she became his wife, and he loved her (v67)
What a brilliant end to this true life love story!
