Read: Genesis 24
In this
chapter we see the change from focusing on Abraham to now focusing on Isaac.
Abraham is growing old. He has already
buried his wife Sarah and now he now desires to find a suitable wife for Isaac
before he dies. Abraham calls his
trustworthy servant Eliezer for this task, requesting that he not take for him
a wife from among the Canaanites (v. 1-3).
Abraham desires for Isaac to have a wife from his own kin (v. 4). The servants asks what he should do if the
woman is not willing to come with him, should Isaac go there to get her (v.
5)? Abraham gives him strong assurance
of God’s direction (v. 6-7) and assures him that if the woman doesn’t follow he
will be freed of the oath (v. 8), so the servant swore the oath (v. 9).
The servant
makes preparations for his journey and sets out for Mesopotamia, the residence
of Abraham’s kin (v. 10). He arrives at
a well just outside the city (v. 11) and prays to God asking for a sign. Eliezer is leaving the choosing of Isaac’s
wife up to God (v. 12-14). Before he
could even finish praying, Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor,
Abraham’s brother, comes to the well to draw water (v. 15). Eliezer and Rebekah engage in conversation in
which everything took place according to Eliezer’s prayer (v. 17-21) as Rebekah
offered to water his camels. Watering
ten camels would have been hard work.
Rebekah is showing both physical strength and benevolence. Upon realizing that this was God’s chosen
bride for Isaac, Eliezer offers gifts and asks for lodging at her father’s
house (v. 22-23). She replies favourably
and invites him to her father’s house (v. 25).
The servant then worships the Lord and thanks Him for the prosperous journey,
acknowledging how God directed his steps (v. 26-27). Rebekah informs her family (v. 28) and her
brother Laban comes out and invites Eliezer home (v. 29-31). Laban offers food for the camels, water to
wash his feet and food for him to eat (v. 32-33). Before accepting the food, Eliezer describes
the mission that he is on for his master (v. 33-41). He continues to describe how he prayed for
God to provide the right woman and asks her to be Isaac’s wife (v. 42-44). Recognizing that this is of the Lord, Laban
responds favourably and gives Rebekah to be Isaac’s wife (v. 50-51). The servant responds by worshipping God (v.
52) and gives presents to Milcah, Laban and Rebekah (v. 53). They then eat and they ask Rebekah to leave
with him and she consents to go (v. 54-58).
She is accompanied by her nurse (v. 59) and after receiving a prophetic
blessing from her parents and relatives (v. 60) they depart (v. 61). They are met by Isaac, who was on an evening
walk for the purpose of mediation (v. 62-65).
The servant relates to Isaac all that he had done (v. 66) and Isaac and
Rebekah are married (v. 67) and he loved her.
Prayer and Journaling
1. It
is clear from this account that God guided the servant to Rebekah, showing His
sovereignty in finding a wife for Isaac.
It is commonly known that the journey from Abraham to where Rebekah
lived was over 520 miles and would have taken 21 days to travel. Only God could have orchestrated their
meeting and her positive response! What
does this show about the importance of following the Holy Spirit and letting
Him lead in your life?
2. One
of the biggest barriers to experiencing the supernatural in your everyday life
is control. When we try to control
things and when we call the shots, God is virtually pushed out of our
lives. We must give complete control
over to the Lord, we must let Him lead and guide our lives and we must let Him
call the shots. We do this through
obeying the Word and through intentionally listening in prayer about all areas
of our lives. Ask the Lord to show you
two areas of your life where He wants control today. Let Him speak (write them down in your
journal). Then, ask Him what He wants to
say about each of those areas of your life.
Commit to following through on what He showed you!
3. Abraham
desired that Isaac get a suitable wife. He knew the importance of not
intermarrying with the pagan Canaanites.
He knew this was not acceptable because their sinful ways would more
than likely permeate his son and future grandchildren. As Christians, we too are called to be set
apart yet there are many believers who have been permeated with the world. We are to be in the world but not of the
world, we are to be salt and light yet many of us are unsalty and our lights
are dim. Ask the Lord to speak to you
about these things. What does He want to
tell you about this? Give him permission
to show you areas of your life that have been permeated by the world.
