Genesis 24:28-67--Isaac Marries Rebekah

Genesis 24:28-67
World English Bible
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28 The young lady ran, and told her mother’s house about these words. 29 Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man, to the spring. 30 When he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “This is what the man said to me,” he came to the man. Behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. 31 He said, “Come in, you blessed of Yahweh. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.”

32 The man came into the house, and he unloaded the camels. He gave straw and feed for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. 33 Food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told my message.”

Laban said, “Speak on.”

34 He said, “I am Abraham’s servant. 35 Yahweh has blessed my master greatly. He has become great. Yahweh has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, and camels and donkeys. 36 Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son to my master when she was old. He has given all that he has to him. 37 My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, 38 but you shall go to my father’s house, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’ 39 I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not follow me?’ 40 He said to me, ‘Yahweh, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you, and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son from my relatives, and of my father’s house. 41 Then you will be clear from my oath, when you come to my relatives. If they don’t give her to you, you shall be clear from my oath.’ 42 I came today to the spring, and said, ‘Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, if now you do prosper my way which I go— 43 behold, I am standing by this spring of water. Let it happen, that the maiden who comes out to draw, to whom I will say, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,” 44 then she tells me, “Drink, and I will also draw for your camels,”—let her be the woman whom Yahweh has appointed for my master’s son.’ 45 Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. She went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ 46 She hurried and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink.’ So I drank, and she also gave the camels a drink. 47 I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her hands. 48 I bowed my head, and worshiped Yahweh, and blessed Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter for his son. 49 Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. If not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.”

50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “The thing proceeds from Yahweh. We can’t speak to you bad or good. 51 Behold, Rebekah is before you. Take her, and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as Yahweh has spoken.”

52 When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth to Yahweh. 53 The servant brought out jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and her mother. 54 They ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, and stayed all night. They rose up in the morning, and he said, “Send me away to my master.”

55 Her brother and her mother said, “Let the young lady stay with us a few days, at least ten. After that she will go.”

56 He said to them, “Don’t hinder me, since Yahweh has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.”

57 They said, “We will call the young lady, and ask her.” 58 They called Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?”

She said, “I will go.”

59 They sent away Rebekah, their sister, with her nurse, Abraham’s servant, and his men. 60 They blessed Rebekah, and said to her, “Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your offspring possess the gate of those who hate them.”

61 Rebekah arose with her ladies. They rode on the camels, and followed the man. The servant took Rebekah, and went his way. 62 Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he lived in the land of the South. 63 Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes and looked. Behold, there were camels coming. 64 Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she got off the camel. 65 She said to the servant, “Who is the man who is walking in the field to meet us?”

The servant said, “It is my master.”

She took her veil, and covered herself. 66 The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

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Rebekah ran home to her mother's house (a strange phrasing unless her father was dead, which seems to fit with the fact that her brother seems to be playing the role of the head of household and deciding to give her away).  There she speaks with her brother Laban and she showed him the ring and the bracelets, and Laban went out to the servant of Abraham who was outside taking care of the camels and invited him inside.  It would seem that Laben was familiar with the name of the LORD, though he uses it here in a way that feels "greasy" like a used car salesman.  It is only after he has seen the expensive ring and bracelets that he decides that the servant is blessed and highly favored of the LORD and that he should invite him to sleep inside and feed and bed the camels as Rebekah said, so we start to wonder if he has a covetous spirit that is going to play a role in this story.

The camels were unloaded and fed and given straw for bedding and water was brought to wash the feet of all of the servants of Abraham that came with Abraham's chief servant (he did not come alone but brought an entire entourage).  Food was prepared and set before all of them, but Abraham's servant would not eat or sleep until he had delivered the message he had been sent to deliver.  This certainly got Laban's attention, and Laban replied with "Speak on."

The servant tells Laban who he serves, the reason Abraham has sent him back to his people to find a wife for his son Isaac, because he was not to marry from among the Canaanites of the Land, and how Abraham prayed for the LORD to send His angel before the servant to make his journey successful, and that is exactly what He did.  The servant is careful to give God all the glory.   He has made the proposal to Rebekah and given her the nose ring and bracelets, and, now, he awaits her answer as to if she will return with him to be the wife of his master's son.  The servant is interested in nothing else (not even food or sleep) until he receives an answer, because if the answer is "No," then he has more work to do to find the person that the LORD wants him to find.

Laban again speaks the name of the LORD to make it appear that he is a God-fearing man saying that if it is the will of the LORD they can say nothing good or bad (he doesn't want to say yes, but realizes that he had better not say no, so he says nothing at all).  He knows he cannot stand against the LORD and win, especially after the story the servant just told him of how the LORD had prepared the way and led him directly to Rebekah.

When they woke up in the morning, the servant was ready to leave and return home with Rebekah, but Laban wanted to keep her for as long as they could saying, "just a few more days."  The servant knew the game that was being played and said that he was not be hindered or delayed in completing his mission.  Finally, Laban said that he would leave the decision up to Rebekah if she wanted to go with him.  She replied, "I will go."

Rebekah is then sent away from her family, taking only her nurse with her.  She left with all of Abraham's servants that had come on this important journey.  They blessed Rebekah praying, "May you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your offspring possess the gate of those who hate them." (I think this was one of those moments where the Spirit led them to pray this and they didn't understand the significance of what they were saying).

The next scene is as they approach the camp of Abraham and Isaac and Rebekah sees Isaac coming towards them and she asks who it is.  The servant replies, "It is my master."  Up to this point, Abraham had been his master and Isaac had been "my master's son," but the servant knows that now that Isaac is getting married, he will now be serving Isaac--the best way that he can serve Abraham is to serve Isaac.  Rebekah quickly covered herself with her veil and Isaac immediately took her into his mother's tent to consummate the marriage.  Then we are told something that should have been obvious, but was not mentioned until now--Isaac was grieving greatly at the loss of his mother and Abraham knew he needed to take a wife to comfort him during his time of grief.  Once he took Rebekah as his wife, he was greatly comforted.

We also are comforted in a different way reading this story because we've been wondering how in the world this child of promise is going to become the great nation that was promised when he hasn't even gotten married yet.  We might have been concerned for him about the women of the region that he had to choose from who were wicked and would turn him and the hearts of his children away from God (we will only need to turn a few pages to see what happened to Esau who took wives from among the Canaanites to see how he turned out).  We know the LORD is sure to keep His promises, but it certainly seems like He enjoys taking us to the point where we have to remember, "With man it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible" and "Nothing is impossible with God."