Lesson 21: Genesis 24

When the Lord declared to Abraham that Sarah would bear a child and that they would name him Isaac, He promised to “establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him” (Genesis 17.19). The promised heir, Isaac, was born in chapter 21, but their to be offspring after him would require a wife. As we noted in our study of chapter 23, Abraham was a sojourner among the Hittites who were currently living in the land. So where could a bride for Isaac be found?

Notes From The Text:

Vss. 1-9, Abraham Sends His Servant To Find A Bride For Isaac

• Vs. 1, the events of this chapter occurred by the time Isaac was forty years old (see Genesis 25.20). So Abraham was between 137-140 years old (remember Sarah was 127 when she died, Genesis 23.1).
• Vs. 2
  • We cannot be sure, but it may very well be that this servant was Eliezer (mentioned in Genesis 15.2). If so, the former heir of Abraham would now faithfully secure a wife for the true heir.
  • Given that the thigh would have always been concealed (as it was close to the reproductive organs), the oath was particularly solemn. See also Genesis 47.29.
• Vs. 3, Abraham lived among the Canaanites, but he also knew that the Lord would take the land away from the Canaanites and give it to his offspring (Genesis 15.18-21). The Law would go on to forbid Abraham’s descendants from marrying the inhabitants of Canaan (Deuteronomy 7.3-4).
• Vs. 4, recall that Abraham had heard news of his family (Genesis 22.20-24).
• Vs. 6, the land was promised to Abraham’s descendants and there would be no going back (see Hebrews 11.15).
• Vs. 7, “All talk of what might happen if the marital prospect refused to return with the servant was academic. Abraham believed that God would send his angel before the servant. That fact would crown his mission with success. Here then is the logic of faith. God had made promises, and he would keep those promises. Isaac belonged to God, for Abraham had laid him on the altar long before. Therefore, God would supply the need now as surely as he supplied the ram on Moriah.” (James E. Smith)

Vss. 10-61, The Servant’s Prayer Is Answered

• Vs. 10, “Mesopotamia” is literally Aram Naharim, or “Aram of the two rivers”. The city of Nahor was likely Haran (see Genesis 11.31).
• Vss. 12-14, Abraham had declared that the Lord would send His angel before his servant and provide a wife (vs. 7). The servant’s prayer showed that he believed the Lord would do exactly as Abraham promised.
• Vs. 15, see Genesis 22.20-23.
• Vs. 19, “If the servant’s camels had gone several days without water, they could potentially drink up to twenty-five gallons each. Given the standard size of the vessels used to draw water, this would mean that Rebekah would have to draw eight to ten jars for each camel, thus requiring nearly a hundred trips from the well—several hours of work. Since it is already almost evening when the scene opens (24:11), it is sensible to conclude that the camels may have been watered more recently and would have required considerably less water than that. But Rebekah would not have known the current needs of the camels, so the offer remains impressive and extraordinary.” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary)
• Vs. 22, a shekel weighed approximately 11 grams.
• Vss. 26-27, answered prayers (vss. 12-14) deserve gratitude and thanksgiving. “Success, which inflates the natural man, humbles the man of God. This servant’s first thought is for the Lord, his second for his employer (27b), and his final one, with unaffected delight, for himself: ‘he led me—me—straight to the house …’” (Derek Kidner)
• Vs. 30, the jewelry had not escaped Laban’s notice. Laban’s greed will figure prominently in the story of Isaac’s family (see chapters 29-31).
• Vs. 31, Laban used the name “Yahweh”. On the one hand this shows the wisdom of Abraham sending his servant to Nahor’s family. However, future events would show that Laban was not a faithful servant of the Lord.
• Vs. 33, the servant was completely devoted to his master’s will.
• Vs. 52, this was the third time the servant prayed to the Lord (vss. 12-14, 26-27).
• Vs. 53, this was the formal bridal price. Later, Jacob would offer seven years of service to Laban in order to marry Rachel (see Genesis 29.18).
• Vs. 59, Rebekah’s nurse would continue with the family until Jacob returned to the promised land (see Genesis 35.8).
• Vs. 60, though they may not have known it, Rebekah’s family pronounced on her a blessing similar to the one the Lord had sword to Abraham (see Genesis 22.16-17).

Vss. 62-67, Isaac Marries Rebekah

• Vs. 62, recall that Beer-lahai-roi was where the Lord appeared to Hagar (see Genesis 16.13-14). In vs. 67 we see that Isaac was still mourning the loss of his mother, so that may explain why he journeyed to the place associated with God seeing the afflicted.
• Vs. 67
  • Note that Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah (Genesis 25.20).
  • Isaac and Rebekah were strangers, yet Isaac “loved her”. This text, along with many others, emphasizes that love is a choice and not simply an emotion (see Ephesians 5.25; Titus 2.4).

Takeaways:

1. It matters who you marry. This principle had been established long before the time of Abraham and Isaac. Recall that in the days of Noah, “the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose” (Genesis 6.2). This had disastrous results for man as “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6.5). Abraham had married a woman of faith and he wanted to insure that his son also married a woman of similar faith. As we’ve already noted, Israel would be forbidden from marrying the inhabitants of Canaan lest they “turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods” (Deuteronomy 7.4). While a similar prohibition is not found in the New Testament (although some believe that is the point of “only in the Lord” in 1Corinthians 7.39), the injunction to “not be unequally yoked with unbelievers” should certainly be a chief factor in the choice of a mate.
2. “Ask, and it will be given to you…” Both Abraham and his servant exhibited supreme trust in God, and for good reason. Abraham knew the promises the Lord had made to him, thus he was confident that the Lord would provide a bride for Isaac (vs. 7). The servant exhibited the same faith in his prayer and the sign he proposed (vss. 12-14). If the Lord has promised a blessing, then His people should freely ask for God’s help in bringing that promise to fruition. That is the point Jesus was making in Matthew 6.7-11. This is not license to ask for anything we want, but in acknowledging that God gives good gifts to His people, and thus we should ask for and seek after what He has promised.