Genesis 24

Genesis 24:1-67

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A Bride for Isaac

1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. 2 So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please, put your hand under my thigh, 3 and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; 4 but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

5 And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?”

6 But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there. 7 The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 8 And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, for all his master’s goods were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. 11 And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water. 12 Then he said, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 Behold, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. 14 Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”

15 And it happened, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. 16 Now the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin; no man had known her. And she went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up. 17 And the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.”

18 So she said, “Drink, my lord.” Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand, and gave him a drink. 19 And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” 20 Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. 21 And the man, wondering at her, remained silent so as to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.

22 So it was, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden nose ring weighing half a shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold, 23 and said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please, is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge?”

24 So she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.” 25 Moreover she said to him, “We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge.”

26 Then the man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord. 27 And he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.” 28 So the young woman ran and told her mother’s household these things.

29 Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban, and Laban ran out to the man by the well. 30 So it came to pass, when he saw the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, “Thus the man spoke to me,” that he went to the man. And there he stood by the camels at the well. 31 And he said, “Come in, O blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels.”

32 Then the man came to the house. And he unloaded the camels, and provided 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 about my errand.”

And he said, “Speak on.”

34 So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. 35 The Lord has blessed my master greatly, and he has become great; and He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. 36 And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and to him he has given all that he has. 37 Now 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 dwell; 38 but you shall go to my father’s house and to my family, and take a wife for my son.’ 39 And I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’ 40 But he said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I walk, will send His angel with you and prosper your way; and you shall take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house. 41 You will be clear from this oath when you arrive among my family; for if they will not give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.’

42 “And this day I came to the well and said, ‘O Lord God of my master Abraham, if You will now prosper the way in which I go, 43 behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass that when the virgin comes out to draw water, and I say to her, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,” 44 and she says to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also,”—let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’

45 “But before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah, coming out with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ 46 And she made haste and let her pitcher down from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels a drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels a drink also. 47 Then I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the nose ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. 48 And I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the way of truth to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son. 49 Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. And if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”

50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you either bad or good. 51 Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as the Lord has spoken.”

52 And it came to pass, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, that he worshiped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth. 53 Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother.

54 And he and the men who were with him ate and drank and stayed all night. Then they arose in the morning, and he said, “Send me away to my master.”

55 But her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman stay with us a few days, at least ten; after that she may go.”

56 And he said to them, “Do not hinder me, since the Lord has prospered my way; send me away so that I may go to my master.”

57 So they said, “We will call the young woman and ask her personally.” 58 Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?”

And she said, “I will go.”

59 So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her:

“Our sister, may you become

The mother of thousands of ten thousands;

And may your descendants possess

The gates of those who hate them.”

61 Then Rebekah and her maids arose, and they rode on the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed.

62 Now Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he dwelt in the South. 63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there, the camels were coming. 64 Then Rebekah lifted her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from her camel; 65 for she had said to the servant, “Who is this man walking in the field to meet us?”

The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took a veil and covered herself.

66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ge 24:1-67

• Transcript

  sure that that starts recording, go live over there, send out the text message. We always like to make sure that we send out text message. Anybody who has told us that and I think we're good to go. All right. Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions. It's not the morning. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Yep, it is. Let's see, Monday, February 27 301. In the afternoon, but it's still time to have coffee. You ready for coffee? No. Well, this is where every day you and I will get together we get Nick God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year 2023. Lord willing, we'll make it from Genesis to Leviticus, you got it, man, you got it. So Genesis to Leviticus, we're at Genesis chapter 24. Today, why don't we have some coffee? We'll pray we'll get into God's word Okay, Genesis 24 You want to grab your Bible grab mine here. We forgot to play. I forgot to pray. Oh, that's horrible. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much, that you give us a blessing of getting to open Your Word to hear from you. And we pray now that as we read your word that it would be a blessing to our souls that we would understand this piece of history and why it matters in our lives in in the covenant of redemption in Jesus's name, Amen. Okay, Genesis 24. Nathan, I were talking before we got online here is a long chapter, but it's all one story. So there's a reason for it. So stick with us as we read this together. I'm going to kind of Genesis 24 you stick with us and as we read this, we will kind of talk it out together. So Genesis chapter 24. So it starts on the previous page Nathan has a super gigantic toId mega print Bible. Okay, one more page. means big pages. You got it. All right, Genesis 24 Why don't Nathan do you see when it has a bold number that means it's a new paragraph. So we'll just go paragraph by paragraph. Okay, so you'll read one through four. Go ahead. Now, those are just the beginning of each verse was old. Well, I glanced Well, advanced in age and Lord are blessed Abraham and all things Inc. So Abraham said the oldest all the sovereign of his as you were all that he please put your hand and oh my god, and I will make you swear by the Lord the God of heaven in the God of the odds that you will not take a wife for my son, the daughters of teenage moms who might well but you shall go to my country, to my family and take a look for wife for my son Isaac. Alright, so what is good or what is Abraham doing there? He's asking servant to go find as you quite good, good. And the servant said to him, perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came? But Abraham said to him, beware that you do not take my son back there. The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me saying to your descendants, I give this land. He will send His angel before you and you should take a wife for my son from there. And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from this oath. Only do not take my son back there. So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter. What do you think's going on there? He's making sure that Isaac doesn't go with him but he brings back a wife. That's right. That's right. He does this Abraham, Isaac to go back to Earth. Nope, nope. Okay, you want to read 10 through 14 in the top 10 of his masters, camels and potful on all his bachelors good on his hand. And he was on what to mesh potom Mesopotamia to the city of New York, and he made his candles near them outside to see but uh, well water at evening. time when, when, what when women go out to drink water. There he said, over God Oh my natural event please give me a success the state and feel kindness to my Nashville area Behold, who I steered by the world and the daughters of the of the man of the city are coming out to Jawwad let it be that the young woman to Hawaii say please, please let down no picture that I'm a jerk. And she says drink and I will also give you cameras. That will be the one you have appointed for your, for your son Isaac and by this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master. Okay, so he takes 10 of his masters camels he departed he goes with a whole bunch of stuff. He goes to land and Mesopotamia and there where does he stop? By well, he stops by Well, and what time of day is it? When everybody comes down to get while not everybody when the when the women come out and get water and what does he do when he's by that? Well, yes God to show him which one to pick. That's right and the sign is going to be sorry, there's a fly there. The sign is going to be when a woman comes and what does she do? She when he asks if she'll give him tomorrow? She says yes, I'll let your camera struggle so then that's the work. Okay, good. And it happened before he had finished speaking that Behold, Rebecca, who was born to Bethel Well, son of Milka, the wife of Neha, Abraham's brother, came out with her picture on her shoulder. Now the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin. No man had known her, and she went down to the well filled her picture and came up and the servant random meet her and said, Please, let me drink a little water from your pitcher. So what happens there? Yes. Who's a someone he asks. Generation. It's a relation to ice. It's a relation, right? And so it is almost like its cousin. Right? So this is this is Rebecca. Right? So it gets down off his camera on he asked her for a drink. I wonder what's going to happen? Verse 18, you want to read 18 through 21? Sure. So she said drink my lords and she quickly I'll put you down to her hand and gave him a drink and when she had finished given him a ship, I will draw water for your cameras off till they have finished drinking. Then she quickly in the top drawer under the trough went back to the world draw water in June. He always Gamble's the plan, one wonder one wondering her main SHOT Show that show us to know whether the Lord has made his joy prospers or not. Okay, so what's happening there? She does everything pretty much has got to do. Isn't that amazing? Yeah. So it was when the camels had finished drinking that the man took a gold nose ring, weighing half a shekel and two bracelets for her wrist weighing 10 shekels of gold, and said, Whose daughter are you telling me please? Is there room in your father's house for us to lodge what happens there? Yes, hope Yes. And ask if there's room for him to watch. So in the ancient Near East, hospitality, showing kindness to strangers was a really, really important virtue. And so he gets her he pays her for the kindness that he's done, or she's done to him. And now she's now he's asked me, Is there a place to stay? You think this is improper? Or do you think at this time, it's proper? It's proper. Are you going to let's find out what she says to members 24 And 25 was when the cameras 24. So she said to him, I am the daughter of Bessie Well, Mike, no know who she bought her nail. Moreover, she said to him, Have we have both try and read it off and learn to watch? Then the man bowed down his head in worship the Lord and he said, Blessed be the law. God, oh my gosh, and Abraham, who has not forsaken his boss, he and his trip to on my master as for me, being on the way, the Lord want me to the house of my masters, points on so the young woman ran and taught her mother's household these things. So what happens in that section? Do you think God and Lubeck says is room? Why does Why does he think God that Abraham designed to do this multiple times? Well, yeah, I mean, this is a miracle. How many women would could have come to that? Well, not and yet he comes there, and at the right time, the right person, and that happens exactly as he's asked the Lord to do it. Right. So he thinks, oh, man, this is definitely of the Lord. I love verse 26. And the man bowed down his head and worship the Lord. Alright, I'm gonna read 29 through 33. Now Rebecca had a brother, whose name was Laban And Laban ran out to the man by the well, so it came to pass when he saw the nose ring and the bracelets on his sister's wrist. And when he heard the words of his sister, Rebecca, saying, Thus the man spoke to me, that he went to the man and there he stood by the camels at the weld and he said, come in are blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside for I have prepared the house and a place for your camels. Then the man came to the house and he unloaded the camels and provided straw and feed for the camels and water to wash his feet and feet of the men who were with him. Food was set before him to eat, but he said I will not eat until I have told about my Aaron. And he said, Speak on. So who are we introduced there? Her brother, what's her brother's name? Maybe Laban right as Laban excited about this. What's he see in his sister's nose? Or they go the thing was, you see on her wrist? Last, quote, gold bracelets, right? And he's like, Whoa, where do you get that girl? She says, wow, there's this guy by the by the well and he's like, I gotta hightail. He puts on his, his Nike sneakers and he runs. It says, You got to come into my house man. The Lord bless you. You got to come in here. Let's find out what he says. Verse 34, you want to read 34 through 41? Sure. So I said I'm able to show that the Lord has blessed my Master Guru, and he has become great and he has given him flocks and herds so long ago, male and female servants in camels and donkeys in Sierra my wife, Master boss, and to my master, when she was old, and to him she he has given all that he has now my maths, maths domain nice will say, you feel not take away for my son, from the daughters of the kid acting like well, but you shall go to my father's house and go to my family take up wait for my son. And I said to my master, we have to work for me. But he said to me, the Lord before who I wa will send his angel with you. Prosper your work, and you shall take a white for my son, from my family from my father's house. You will be clear from this earth when you live among my family. What if they will not give for to you to you? Didn't you will be released from my house. Okay, so what is the servant there's tell them telling him telling them about his eland? That's right. He tells them about as Aaron good. Verse 42. I'm going to read that okay. And this day I came to the wall and said, Oh God of my master Abraham, if you will now prosper the way in which I go Behold, I stand by the well of water, And it shall come to pass that when the Virgin comes out to draw, draw water, and I say to her, please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink. And she says to me drink and I will draw from for you. Camels also, let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master son. But before I had finished speaking, there was Rebecca coming out with her picture on her shoulder, and she went down to the well and drew water and I said to her, please let me drink and she made haste and let her pick her down from her shoulder and said, drink and I will give her Campbell's a drink also. So I drank and she gave the Campbell's a drink awesome. Then I asked her and said, Whose daughter are you? And she said, the daughter of Beth who named her son, who Milka bore to him. So I put the nose ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrist, and I bowed my head and worship the Lord and bless the Lord God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the way of truth, to take the daughter of my masters brother for his son. Now, if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me, if not told me that I may turn to the right hand or to the left. What's he say there? Everything that just happened? Yeah, he's kind of recapping the whole history. Right. Now. We've read this and this is all one chapter. But it probably took him months to get from Canaan to Mesopotamia it's gonna go all the way up the Fertile Crescent all the way so he's probably not going through the desert. He's going up and over and around and down and he's in Mesopotamia and there he's going to tell them the full story of everything that happened sometimes. Have you done that before? Where you're excited about how God has worked something out, and you want to tell all the details? That's what he's doing here. He's really excited about how God is working. Yes, probably. Yeah, and so this last party, right, he's saying so, you're going to let Rebecca come home with me or not. What did they say? In verse 50? And 51 LapBand Laban Laban this you will answer them say the same thing comes from the Lord, we can speak to you either bad or good. Here's your backup before you take off and go right Hoby your masters, Sean's wife as water spoken. And it came to pass when Abraham servant heard their words, that he worshipped the Lord bowing himself to the earth. Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver jewelry of gold and clothing and gave them to Rebecca. He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother. So what did they say what you Laban and her father Beth, you all say is not bad. Good. What do you think it's easy for a dad to give away his daughter. I'm not looking forward to that day. I kind of am because I'll be happy for them. But it'd be sad for me. Yeah. But they're willing to let her go. Right. And it's almost Have you heard the word dowry? So it's almost like Abraham here pays a bride price, or gives lots of gifts to Bethel and Laban. And to Rebecca's mother, right? She gives gifts, his relatives blessings and gifts for this wedding to happen. It was an again, another ancient Near East tradition. Well, let's go ahead and keep on going. You're gonna read we'll go you read 44 or 54 Already 55 You read 56 I read 57 and we'll go like that all the way down to 58. Okay. So you'll read 54 and he ends with an eight and Dragon stayed on there was in the morning and he said, send me away to my master. But her brother and her and her mother said, Let the young woman stay with us a few days, at least 10 After that she may go. And he said to them, do that hinder me since the Lord has prospered my way. So now why should that I may go to my next. So they said we will call the young women and ask her personally. Then they called her back and said, Will you go with this man and she said I will go so do you think it's what's going on in that section? Like if one of us get married and and supporting who marries us asks, carry your weight away to upon it, but you might want us to stay for a few more like say Deborah Ellie met a boy and he was like, I want to marry them tomorrow. We're like, why don't we wait a month or two? Right and so they're in God's blessed us God has prospered this God has done this right so he wants to do it right away. So he wants to do it right away. And what did they do in verse 58? If you think that was an important thing to do, yes. Should a lady consent to who she's being married to? Yes. Yeah, exactly. So they weren't sent away Rebecca their sister and her nurse and Abraham servant and his men and the blessed Rebecca and said to her, our sister, May you become the mother of 1000s of 10 1000s. And may Your descendants possessed the gates of those who hate them. I wonder if they knew the promises that God had made to Abraham, about making Abraham a father of many nations? Maybe? Maybe mom would love to be able for her favorite nurses you stay with? You think so? You want to read 61 then we're back in homemade lunch and they quote on camels and follow me. So the Shogun stuck with Becca and departed. No, Isaac came from the way of bear La La Hey Roy, for he dwelt in the south. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening. And he lifted his eyes and look and looked in there. The camels were coming. Then Rebecca lifted her eyes. And when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from her camel fur, she said to the servant, who is this man walking in the field to meet us? The servant said, It is my master. So she took a veil and she covered herself when really the last two verses and she does show ritual Didac all the things that he had done in magic into his mother's chest and he took a backer and she became his Well, wife and he loved for sure Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. Yeah, so Sarah his mom had died previously and so now he lives in his mother's tent. And she's made it all the way back from Mesopotamia to bear La Jolla, Roy LA. Hi, Roy. And who does she see? Isaac? Right and this is does Isaac treat her cruelly. Now what does it say? Very end of verse 67. She does what he loved. And he loved her. And he loved her. Is that a beautiful picture of what's supposed to happen? Yeah, yeah. So let me ask you a question. Why is this in the Bible? It's a it's a really pretty story, but why is it in the Bible? Because it kind of Foos because one. One of the things is that I just think it's kind of it. The Bible puts it so you can see the family. Why is that important? Because if someone if Isaac married someone from from a Canaanite they God would have had to make a whole nother slew promise. Did that. But because it wasn't just one family. Well, you said that all the nations would be blessed. Nations wouldn't be blessed. But there was just pause that he'd lost. Well, I think that you're right here. In a sense, I think this is tying us back to the promise that God gave in Genesis chapter 315, that God would bring a seed and that seed would crush the head of Satan of the serpent even though the sermon would bruise his heel. And I think this is another thing, right? God, if that if Abraham is really going to have a son, he's going to have Isaac and Isaac is going to have a bunch of kids, then how is that going to happen without Isaac having a wife? And this is a story of God's providence, interweaving the story of how he's going to make sure that this line continues. Yeah, what did you like best in that story? What do you think got to got to the heart of it? That's, that's kind of hard of a big chapter. Well, you don't need this necessarily choose at first but what what do you remember most strongly? Um, here is pretty much God's providence. So it wasn't like, like the go places. Either get a go. Side. It was just gotten Leah said. Here's where you got to go. Find someone way back and that Yeah, I think that's good too. I would take that away. Do you think we let's go ahead and jump to see calling. Do you think that's what we're called to do? Trusting God's providence? Know that his if he's made promises, he's going to make them happen? That's right. That's right. Well, why don't we pray? Father, we thank you so much. This was a long passage but a beautiful story. A story of grace, a story of Providence, a story of your wonderful love for your people. God we pray that you would please help us by your Holy Spirit, to trust you and to walk in your ways in Jesus's name, Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you, may you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ and we'll see you next time you wanna say bye bye. Transcribed by https://otter.ai