Isaac and Rebekah

Story: Isaac and Rebekah

Passage: Genesis 24

Characters: Abraham, His servant, Rebekah, Laban, Isaac

Summary: Abraham made his servant swear to pick a wife for Isaac from his own family and not from the Canaanites. The servant wanted to know what to do if the woman would not return with him. Abraham said that he would be released from his oath, only don’t bring Isaac back to his family’s country. The servant went to the city of Nahor. He asked God to show him who Isaac was supposed to marry. The deal was that when the servant asked for water, the woman He wanted Isaac to marry would offer to water his camels as well. Sure enough, when Rebekah walked out the servant asked her for water and she offered to water his camels as well. He found out she was a relative so he found Laban, her brother, and told him his mission. Laban said that he could take Rebekah back with him but he wanted to wait ten days. When the servant expressed his wish to leave immediately, they consulted Rebekah and she said she would go. They left and Isaac saw them coming from far away so he married her immediately.

Notes: This is the first account of a marriage relationship prior to marriage that we see in the bible. However, as we have just read, there was really very little relationship before marriage. Here are a few observations I made from this story. I am going to analyze this by character.
Abraham trusted his servant a lot! He gave him control of his house, his son, his son’s marriage, his wealth, etc. Abraham was insistent on two things: staying separate from Canaan, and staying on the land which God was giving him. So he wanted Isaac to not mix with Canaan, but continue living on their land. Having Isaac marry a family member was a good way to keep their family separate. When his servant prayed, he prayed to the God of his master Abraham. I wonder if he considered God to be his god as well. He must have trusted God since he asked a very specific request of God. I feel like serving a man like Abraham would make it easy to trust God. He finishes his prayer by saying that if God does this, the servant would know that God has shown steadfast love to his master. I really get the idea that he looked at God as his master’s god. God would come through indeed. In fact, before Abraham’s servant had finished praying, Rebekah had come out. The servant asked her the question and she responded by offering to water his camels. The servant did not jump to conclusions though. As she watered the camels, he silently watched her and prayed about whether she really was the one God wanted. It was later that he found out that Rebekah was family. God had led him straight to Abraham’s family. It was perfect! The servant retold his entire journey and what God had done and then demanded an answer. When he was told his journey was going to be successful, he wanted to get back home as fast as possible! The servant’s job was complete. He had been blessed with a successful journey.

Rebekah’s family was a little unusual from what I can tell. Her brother Laban was the one who did most of the negotiations in this story. The dad, Bethuel, was around because he was involved in giving the servant permission to take Rebekah back as Isaac’s wife. However, Laban was just as involved in giving his sister away. In fact, his name is mentioned before Bethuel’s name. It was not Bethuel who wanted Rebekah to stay another ten days, but rather it was Laban and her mom. The dad sounds like he was just not too involved in running the family. Her family blessed her as she left. They had no idea that their blessing mirrored the promise given to Abraham about his descendants. When Laban saw the man talking to his sister, he ran out to see what was going on. He was obviously very protective of Rebekah.

Rebekah is definitely wise and polite. She is portrayed as very mature in this story. She is also described as very attractive. I find it interesting that physical attraction played a role in this divine match. Is it possible that God’s design for marriage, physical attraction is actually quite important? I would say that it is very possible! Christians today are very quick to point out that a marriage cannot be based on physical attraction. This is true, but it also cannot ignore attraction. God designed marriage to involve a certain level of physical attraction! We also read in previous chapters that Sarah was very beautiful as well. Beauty played a big role in marriages in these stories! I find it amazing that Rebekah went from minding her own business, to riding on a camel towards her future husband, away from her family and land, all within a day! The faith and maturity she shows is amazing to me! To leave her family like to that to marry a man she doesn’t know who lives in land which he doesn’t owe take incredible faith!

Isaac sounds like he was still grieving his mother’s death. He was in a field meditating when Rebekah arrived. I suspect he was praying still as a result of his mother’s death. When he saw Rebekah he took her into his mother’s former tent, which was still set up apparently, and he married her. Marriage was not built around getting to know the other person and making sure you are compatible, it was a beautiful practical thing ordained and set up by God himself. It says that she became his wife and he loved her. Love is the result of marriage not the basis for marriage. And this marriage comforted Isaac after Sarah’s death.

Questions: What did Abraham think of this match? Why was Rebekah so willing to leave her family like this? Why was Laban the primary protector of Rebekah? Did Abraham’s servant truly fear God? How attached to his mother was Isaac? Why was he meditating in the field?

Lessons: Pray specifically. The servant prayed a very specific prayer and God answered it immediately. We need to pray specifically and expect God to be able to listen. This story also teaches me a lot about what marriage should look like. You do not need to love someone or get to know them perfectly before marriage, all of that will come after marriage. Marriage can be a very comforting thing. Laban is also a good model of how protective a brother should be of his sister. If the father and the brother accept their responsibility as protectors, then it is less likely that a guy will take advantage of a young woman.