In Pursuit of a Bride

Genesis 24

Immanuel – 5/7/23

Today we come to the longest chapter in the book of Genesis. It’s a chapter of transitions. As Sarah’s journey has ended, Abraham’s is nearing its end. He is now exceedingly old. But before his journey of faith is concluded, and as a matter of faith, Abraham sets his mind on securing a wife for his son. In this whole process the transition is clear, Isaac succeeds his father and Rebekah succeeds Sarah.

There are four scenes to chapter 24, and because the chapter contains 67 verses, we are going to approach the text according to these four scenes.

1. Abraham’s Household (vs 1-9)

2. A Well of Nahor (vs 10-28)

3. Laban’s Household (vs 29-61)

4. Isaac’s Household (vs 62-67)

In these scenes we will see God’s miraculous provision through everyday means, the beauty of hard-work and hospitality, a budding romance, and a galvanized trust in God’s unfailing promises. We will see people devoted to prayer and a God delighting in His provision.

Read Genesis 24:1-9

Abraham’s Household

Abraham is well advanced in years. Remember from last week, when Sarah died, Abraham was 137. Now a year or two has passed. Especially in the ancient world, great age was a sign of great blessing. Indeed, as verse one says, the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. As we continue through the passage, we will again be reminded that God has blessed Abraham with great wealth.

Abraham left his homeland and followed God to a strange country because, in part, God promised to bless Abraham. Now, nearly at the end of his life, that promise has been fulfilled. But God’s promise also included Abraham’s offspring. So it is not just a matter of practical wisdom, but a trusting in God’s promises, that Abraham turns his attention towards imminent succession, and finding a worthy wife for his son.

But among all the peoples of Canaan, there is not a single woman worthy of Isaac. For Abraham understood that God’s chosen family did not come from the Canaanites, but from the Semites – from his family. Isaac’s wife must, therefore, come from the Semitic people still dwelling in Mesopotamia.

So Abraham calls in his chief servant and offers him an incredibly significant commission. Clearly, this is Abraham’s most trusted servant. Because of the magnitude of these things, Abraham begins by asking him to take an oath by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth.

And then, ready to entrust the servant with his future, Abraham essentially says, “Do not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan, but travel to my homeland and find a woman from among my family.” Abraham asks him to embark on a journey of 500-600 miles – one way!

In verse 5, the servant shows his wisdom and asks, “What if she does not return with me? Do you want me to go back with Isaac?” The servant knows Abraham is asking him to do something a bit unusual. He is to travel this great distance without Isaac, and ask a woman none of them know, if she would leave her home and her family to marry a man she has never met. The servant discerns that it is very likely no woman would agree to this.

I think the implication in the servant’s question is, “Shall I take Isaac with me to start? It might be more effective.” But whether initially or upon a return trip, Abraham will not hear of it. “Whatever you do, do not take my son back to where I came from!”

In verse 7, Abraham then repeats promises that God has spoken to him – promises of land and promises of offspring. God promised his offspring this land, not that land. Isaac must stay in the land of promise. Abraham knows by his own bad experiences, leaving the Promised Land has only caused him heartache. He forbids Isaac from leaving Canaan.

Abraham is confident God will provide, that God will fulfill His promises. He has seen it happen again and again. He knows God will provide again. So he says that the Lord will send an angel to go before the servant. It’s the same thing as saying, “There is a woman, and God is already preparing her heart.”

But Abraham concedes the servant's point, if the woman is not willing, then the servant is released from the oath. “Just whatever you do, don’t take Isaac there!” The servant agrees and pledges himself to this oath. He will do as Abraham asks.

Again, in the account of Abraham, we have a balancing of God’s sovereign will and man’s will. God will work in this woman’s heart, and yet that woman must still make a choice. In some mysterious way, God will guide her will without violating her will. The Bible – even here in Genesis 24 – presents this reality as a tension, not a problem. We would do well to learn from that.

This whole scene in Abraham’s household contains Abraham’s last recorded words. Every single word is either motivated by or directly contains the promises of God. Abraham entered history having heard the promises of God from afar. He exits history having been fully united to those promises.

Read vs 10-28

A Well of Nahor

The servant travels north with 10 camels. As we’ve seen before, in Abraham’s day only the wealthiest could afford camels. Abraham was in the top 1% of the 1%. The camels, combined with the choice gifts, meant that the servant journeyed with a significant amount of wealth. In verse 32 and elsewhere, we see there’s a company of men also with the servant; likely, to help protect all the riches on a dangerous road.

But the narrative entirely skips months of journeying and lands the whole procession suddenly on the outskirts of Nahor, a city apparently founded by Abraham’s younger brother. Nahor lies in the northwestern reaches of Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is a word meaning “between the rivers”: obviously that’s the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

The servant strategically plans his arrival as the sun is getting low and things are cooling off, when the women would customarily draw water for their families. He arrives at the well and he prays.

Notice the non-formal nature of the servant’s prayer. It’s conversational, situationally practical, and personal. In fact, in the ESV translation, it doesn’t even say that the servant prayed, but that he said.

Read vs 12-14

It’s good for all of us to have times of formal prayer or public prayer. But I hope that the majority of our prayers are like this servant’s. You come upon some situation, you need God’s guidance, or someone else does, and you just begin speaking to God in your heart. It’s natural and effortless and entirely pleasing to the Lord. This whole story is about God’s provision. For when He is the one providing for your needs – and not you or the government or wealth or whatever else – it is God being God.

And God provides. Even before the servant finished talking to God, his prayer is answered. A beautiful young woman appears, carrying a water jar upon her head.

Eager to see if she is God’s answer to prayer, the servant hurries to catch up to her. He asks for a drink and she happily obliges. But she doesn’t stop there, she then draws water for all the camels. A thirsty camel can drink 25 gallons of water; watering 10 camels was no small task! This was a hard-working young woman!

And as she goes about getting all this water, the servant remains silent. See that in verse 21. He gazes at her, watches her closely. He is gradually gripped by a quiet realization: she is the one!

(Parenthesis)

Let’s take a moment to pause and consider a profound reality. Young men and young women, you’ll want to pay close attention to this. The servant recognizes that Rebekah is physically beautiful. She looks good. But that wasn’t enough. Her looks are not what made her worthy.

What made her worthy was her character. When asked, she was eager to meet a need. She then generously offered more than was asked. She worked incredibly hard to meet that need. And as the text presents it, it seems that she did all of this with joy in her heart, not begrudgingly at all.

In other words, Rebekah displayed perfect hospitality. All throughout Abraham’s journey we have seen hospitality elevated to one of the highest virtues. Rebekah possesses good-natured, happy hospitality in spades. Her physical beauty is eclipsed by her beautiful hospitable nature.

Women, you want to be beautiful, one of the things you can do is learn to be genuinely hospitable. Men, you want a worthy woman who rises above the shallowness of our age; ask, is she hospitable?

(Close Parenthesis)

Again, the servant sees the beauty of Rebekah in her hard-working hospitality, realizes that she is God’s answer to prayer, and then adorns her with costly gifts of gold. There’s no shame in it, the man wants to impress Rebekah and her family.

But to truly identify if she is the one, and to honor the oath to his master, he asks about her family. Turns out, she is the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother, Nahor. If I have this right, she is Isaac’s first cousin once removed.

At this point, Rebekah doesn’t know who the man is that she has been speaking to, but she happily offers for him, and his entourage, to spend the night in her father’s house. More generous hospitality.

Rebekah is beautiful and her character is of the highest quality. She comes from Abraham’s family. There is no doubt now, this is the woman the servant has journeyed for.

Meeting Rebekah at the well was no chance meeting. This is God’s provision. Every minute circumstance, all the years of context behind them, all of it has been masterfully orchestrated by the Lord of heaven and earth. It’s just as Abraham said, the Angel of the Lord has gone ahead. The God of Abraham has led the servant to the new mother of covenant.

In verse 27, Abraham’s servant worship’s God for His answer to prayer and His steadfast love and faithfulness towards Abraham. This servant is truly a man of God. No wonder Abraham trusted him so completely.

Rebekah hurries home to tell all of this to her family.

Read vs 29-61

Laban’s Household

Even though this is technically Bethuel’s household, Bethuel is almost entirely absent except for one brief moment in verse 50. Rebekah’s brother, Laban, in every way acts as the head of the household; and Laban is very different from his sister.

As soon as Laban sees Rebekah’s new jewelry and hears her story, he rushes to meet this wealthy traveler. I’m sure he was delighted to find the man next to his 10 very expensive camels. Laban is then quick to offer hospitality.

Rebekah’s hospitality flowed out of her character; acting before she understood there was anything to gain. Laban’s hospitality is motivated by his greed. The narrative makes it clear that he is excited by wealth. Laban will appear again when Jacob – Isaac and Rebekah’s son – comes looking for a wife. In that account Laban is both greedy and treacherous. Genesis 24 is setting the stage for Genesis 29.

Laban addresses Abraham’s servant with flourish, calling him the blessed of the Lord. Though that was true, it reeks with insincerity. He’s got gold in his eye. Likely hoping for a return, Laban makes every provision for man and beast – provisions that certainly would have been enormous.

But Abraham’s shrewd servant is not stricken by temptation. In verse 33 he will not accept Laban’s food, not until he continues with his mission. The servant knows how to respectfully control the situation, and the hosts are just as eager to hear as the servant is eager to speak.

Abraham’s servant puts on a masterclass of persuasion by two-pronged approach. First, observing Laban’s greed, he starts by flashing Abraham’s great wealth. He neglects to mention Abraham’s age but does speak of Sarah’s age at Isaac’s birth. This both implies the security of Abraham’s blessing and Isaac’s young age relative to his parents. Young women are not usually excited to marry old men. He also states that Isaac will inherit everything from Abraham.

You see that Abraham’s servant first engages the material cravings of Laban. Then, the servant dives into the more important theological matters. He gives testimony of what Abraham has commissioned him to do, according to God’s promises; recites the words of his prayer by the well; and shows that, according to God’s design, Rebekah was the exact fulfillment of his prayer.

The servant frames this entire second portion of his speech theologically. He wants Laban’s household to know that it is God’s will that Rebekah return to Canaan with him. And then in verse 49 he says, “Now then, if you are going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or the left.” In other words, “After hearing of God’s prolific material and spiritual blessing upon Abraham, how do you choose?

Only the most obtuse observer will not see that this is literally a match made in heaven. The servant understands his audience, knows how to draw them in, and effectively reveals the Divine will.

In verse 50 Laban and Bethuel are in complete agreement. They say, “The thing has come from the Lord…let [Rebekah] be the wife of your master’s son.” Arranged marriages seem so strange to us, but in Abraham’s day it was the most common form of marriage. “Take her and go,” they say. It’s the same sequence of words that God has spoken to Abraham so many times: take and go.

Upon hearing these words, Abraham’s servant falls on the ground and worships the Lord. At every turn this servant is ready to acknowledge and worship God.

Then the servant lavishes riches upon Rebekah and her family. Likely this is the bride price; something like a compensation for the economic loss of their daughter. It would seem that Laban’s household receives over and above the bride price.

When all these things are resolved, with an urgency to complete his mission, Abraham’s servant requests to take Rebekah and go. But the family counters with a 10 day period for farewells. They know that this is probably the last time they will ever see their daughter. But the servant insists that they leave now, and implies that they are acting against God’s will if they tary.

Remembering this, Laban will force a delay of 20 years upon Jacob, the next suitor who will come to his household looking for a bride.

Ultimately, the decision is left to Rebekah herself. To the servant's relief, and according to the will of God, Rebekah matches Abraham’s faith and chooses to leave her family and her country, to go to an unknown place and wed an unknown man. The story is intentionally putting her in parallel with Abraham – a female Abraham. Such a parallel implies that Rebekah is not motivated by material gain, but by faith.

In verse 60, as Rebekah leaves, her family remarkably speaks a blessing over her that is a mirroring, or paralleling, of the promises God has spoken over Abraham. They are almost verbatim.

I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.

-Genesis 22:17-18

They have no idea how truly their words will be fulfilled.

Read vs 62-67

Isaac’s Household

Isaac had been in the Negeb, probably overseeing his father’s significant flocks. This is the first time Genesis casts Isaac in a light independent of Abraham.

It’s evening. The light is failing. Isaac is walking through a field meditating. Based on the context of this section, he is meditating before the Lord as he mourns the loss of this mother. Isaac is here cast in a light for which all of Genesis will observe him: not a perfect man, but a quiet and prayerful one.

He lifts his eyes from prayer and sees Rebekah coming. She lifts up her eyes and sees Isaac walking. The author is going for a touch of romance and conveys the idea that they see each other at the exact same moment. Another “chance encounter” orchestrated by the Lord.

The servant then reports everything to Isaac, calling him “my master.” It was Abraham who sent him, but it is Isaac who he reports to. It’s another indication that the son is succeeding the father.

And Rebekah succeeds Sarah. Isaac takes Rebecca into Sarah’s tent. Isaac was just mourning the loss of his mother before the Lord, and God immediately provides comfort. Where Isaac would have sought motherly comfort, he now consummates his marriage and is comforted by his wife.

The text makes it sound like all this happens immediately. But there was certainly a ceremony and celebration and gift giving and all the things that came with a wedding of that age. The narrative skips over all of that because it’s aiming at a different point: Rebekah has succeeded Sarah, just as Isaac has succeeded Abraham.

It is no small detail that verse 67 adds: Isaac loved Rebekah. Not only has the servant’s quest been successful, not only has God provided, but here is a measure of abounding overflow. There is quick and deep love between this new husband and wife. When God gives, it’s His joy to give generously.

Though there are many themes we could draw out of today’s lengthy passage, there are two that stand out to me: prayer and provision.

Prayer and Provision

Abraham, his servant, and Isaac are all men of prayer. Their prayers are not fancy and formal, but humble, conversational, dealing with the everyday things right in front of them. It’s like breathing for them.

I wonder if your prayer life looks like theirs: it’s conversational prayer without ceasing. Pray while you drive, while you walk, while you wonder. Pray when you have need and praise when there is success. Remember when prayers are answered, and worship.

Though God does not directly speak once in the longest chapter of Genesis, He is speaking the entire time through all the circumstances He has orchestrated. Can you hear His voice?

Just a qualifier: every time in this chapter that God speaks through a circumstance – which is often – His servants test those circumstances against God’s promises; or, you could say, against God’s word. Therefore, if you are not in God’s word, your interpretation of circumstances will be unreliable and faulty.

Pray constantly, conversationally, personally. God will answer you through His promises and through circumstances as filtered through His word.

Provision. There are very many things that separate man from God, but one of the most practical is that God is the Provider, we are the needy. He has everything we need to live, and we need everything in order to live. If we trust in Him/have faith in Him/believe in Him, He will give. And what makes Him such a good God is that He doesn’t just give enough for you to survive, He lavishes more than you could ask or imagine.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. -Ephesians 3:20-21

God may not provide what you think you want, but He will lavishly give what you need.

We ask, through prayer, and God gives. When we receive, then we praise Him, and He gets the glory. Want to glorify God, then do as Abraham’s servant and praise God for His provision. The servant did it right there in Laban’s tent; which was probably very surprising. What if you praised God before your coworkers or family members or whomever else.

Don’t be ashamed. God loves it, He is glorified, when you are not ashamed to acknowledge Him and His provision.

Prayer and provision. How powerfully God has married the two.

Though we have heard Abraham’s last words, saturated with promises, next week we will hear his last breath and again consider the ramifications of those far-reaching promises.

We have a multitude of needs we need God to provide for. But undoubtedly, our greatest need is to be forgiven for our sins and our condemnation removed.

God’s greatest provision is the gift of his one and only son – the greatest descendent of Isaac and Rebekah. The promises spoken to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah are most fully realized in Christ! Blessing beyond measure!

Jesus gave His life to secure these blessings for us: His body torn and His blood spilled. We remember it today as we join together in communion.