MORNING MESSAGE: John Cline
Reader: Karen Cline
Genesis 24
With the horrible cold weather this week, Keith Harcus began quoting to me “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert Service, a poem set in the bitter cold of the Yukon Territory in the late 1800’s which miners were experiencing in the Klondike Gold Rush. It starts thus: “There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee.” I encourage you to go home and read the rest of it. You will identify with the bitter cold described and laugh at the humorous ending to the tale. Every Canadian should know that poem!
Keith’s reciting of a famous poem written by a Canadian reminded me of another famous Canadian poem everyone should know, one written by soldier John McCrae in WWI in 1915. That poem was set in Flanders Fields, fields in Belgium which had beautiful red poppies growing in them, but which had become warzones and then cemeteries with white crosses on them marking the lives lost in battle. “In Flanders fields the poppies blow between the crosses, row on row, that mark our place; and in the sky the larks, still bravely singing, fly, scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago, we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, loved and were loved, and now we lie, in Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw the torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die we shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders fields.”
Today, we will finish looking at the life of Abraham and we will see that there was one last task he had to accomplish before he died, the urgency of which was brought home to him by the death of his wife Sarah, that task being the passing on of the “torch”, so to speak, of the covenantal promises of God. Abraham did not want the covenant God had given him to die out after his and Sarah’s deaths. Abraham and Sarah had a son, Isaac, but Isaac would need a wife and together they would need to have a son through whom God’s given covenant would carry on.
Abraham was now very old, & the Lord had blessed him in every way. He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven & the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives & get a wife for my son Isaac.” (Gen 24:1-4)
Putting the hand under the thigh was an Ancient Near Eastern custom recognizing that the loins in the thigh area were the source of life. For the servant, that act committed him to being bound to Abraham’s wishes in the very deepest part of Abraham’s life. This was a solemn oath, similar to today’s practice in a court of raising one’s right hand as a pledge to do what the court wants – to speak truthfully. The servant was likely Eliezer of Damascus, a man mentioned earlier in Genesis, the person Abraham had assumed would be the one inheriting his possessions until God had corrected him, telling him, “No, Abraham. Eliezer will not be the one inheriting your possessions. Rather, you will have a son, Isaac, and he will be the one to inherit all that you have, including the covenantal promises of land, wealth, fame, and blessings.”
The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?” “Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said. “The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land & who spoke to me & promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” So, the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and
swore an oath to him concerning this matter. (Genesis 24:1-9)
As a result of Abraham understanding God’s covenantal promises, he spoke five essential points here:
- Isaac needed to have a wife, for God promised descendants.
- Isaac’s wife must not come from the Canaanites, lest she draw Isaac away from YHWH, the God of promise, and lead him to follow other gods, which would mean the end of God’s covenantal promises.
- The servant was to go to Abraham’s homeland of Mesopotamia to find a suitable wife. His family back there had favourable thoughts, a predilection as it were, towards the one true God, YHWH.
- God would be the one choosing a wife for Isaac, if only the servant would trust Him, for God would be sending an angel before him to prepare things.
- Isaac must not leave the Promised Land of Canaan to go to Mesopotamia, for God had promised Canaan as the everlasting possession of Abraham and his descendants.
Abraham had once sinned by going to Egypt and it almost cost him his life. He didn’t want Isaac to similarly mess up. He wanted Isaac to embrace God’s promise of the land of Canaan, so Isaac had to remain in the Promised Land.
Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim & made his way to the town of Nahor. (24:10)
Aram Naharaim was the name for Mesopotamia at that time while Nahor was one of the main cities in the north-western portion of that nation. You can see on this map that Abraham’s servant set out from Hebron, the place of Sarah’s tomb, and journeyed north. Meanwhile, Isaac was living in the far south, in Beer Lahai Roi in the Negev Desert, but would later journey north to Hebron to meet his new wife.
Project map of Genesis 24 journeys – https://headwatersresources.org/map-of-abrahams-servant-finding-isaac-a-wife/
Journeying north with ten of Abraham’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things and gifts for his relatives, the servant thus set out. The journey involved traveling 550 miles and likely took several weeks. Finally, the servant and those with him, reached the town of Nahor.
He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water. Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ & she says, ‘Drink, & I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.” (24:11-14)
The servant prayed a very bold and specific prayer, an example for us to also do when we are praying.
Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. (Genesis 24:15)
Back in Genesis 11, where we first read about Abraham, we found that
Abraham had two brothers: Nahor and Haran. Haran died and his daughter Milkah married Abraham’s other brother, Nahor. Nahor and Milcah had a son, Bethuel, whose daughter was Rebekah, making Rebekah Abraham’s great-niece.
Rebekah is believed to have been a teenager at that time. Isaac was 40, so there was quite an age difference, though not uncommon in that day. Bethuel, Rebekah’s father, as well as her brother Laban, will figure prominently in today’s passage. Laban, or Uncle Laban as he would become, we will read about in future chapters when Rebekah and Isaac’s son, Jacob, would fall in love with his daughter, Rachel.
The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. The servant hurried to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.” “Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.” So, she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful. (Genesis 24:16-21)
The servant of Abraham had prayed to God asking that a very specific proof be offered; that the woman God had chosen would reveal herself by not only responding to his request for water, but then, on her own accord, offer to water his camels. While Rebekah ran back and forth bringing water for his ten camels – and know that each camel drank between 25-40 gallons of water at a time, thus taking Rebekah a long time to water them – Abraham’s servant was deep in thought. Apparently, the answer to his prayer had come so quickly that he needed time to process what was happening. Eventually, of course, he did perceive that God had clearly answered his prayer, therefore…
When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. Then he asked, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?” She answered him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor.” And she added, “We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.” Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, saying, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.” (Genesis 24:22-27)
The giving of that very expensive jewellery would have been a sign to both Rebekah and others that something special was going on.
`The young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things. Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring. As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring. “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord,” he said. “Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” So, the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels, and water for him and his men to wash their feet. Then food was set before him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say.” “Then tell us,” Laban said. (Genesis 24:28-33)
The servant then reviewed in full detail the events we just read about, beginning by telling Abraham’s relatives that YHWH God had made Abraham a very wealthy man, miraculously giving him a son via Sarah, and that Abraham had sent him on this journey back to them, his relatives, for the purpose of finding amongst them a wife for his son, Isaac. Every sentence revealed the servant’s faith in YHWH, the God who led him to Rebekah. The servant summed up the events by saying,
“I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ “She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milkah bore to him.’ “Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms, and I bowed down and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son. (Gen 23:47,48)
The servant worshipped God, with deep thanksgiving and awe. He knew that everything that had taken place was because of God’s intervention, not his own cleverness. He said to Rebekah’s family,
“Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn.” Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the Lord; we can say nothing to you one way or the other.” (Genesis 24:49,50)
The servant was sure that God was behind all these events, but he needed to hear that Rebekah’s family concurred. Their response was more a shrugging of the shoulders, “If God is obviously behind this, what can we say?” rather than a thrilling endorsement of everything.
“Here is Rebekah; take her and go and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed.” When Abraham’s servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord. Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother. Then he & the men who were with him ate and drank & spent the night there. When they got up the next morning, he said, “Send me on my way to my master.” But her brother & her mother replied, “Let the young woman remain with us ten days or so; then you may go.” But he said to them, “Do not detain me, now that the Lord has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master.” Then they said, “Let’s call the young woman and ask her about it.” So, they called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?” “I will go,” she said. (Genesis 24:50-58)
Did you notice that it had been Rebekah’s father and brother who had said to Abraham’s servant, “Here she it. Take care.” But, once Rebekah’s mother heard about what they had agreed to, she said, “Whoa. Not so fast!” Understandably, Rebekah’s mother and other family members didn’t want to lose Rebekah immediately, for they knew that a “goodbye” in that situation would be forever. They took the rather unusual-in-that-culture move of summoning Rebekah to consult with her to find out her wishes. What a situation for Rebekah, being asked to make a decision that would remove her from her family for the rest of her life, to go across the desert with Abraham’s servant to a place she’s never seen, and to marry a man she’s never met! Rebekah’s affirmative “yes” indicated not just a response to recommit socially and geographically, but also theologically to YHWH as her God.
So, they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the cities of their enemies.” Then Rebekah & her attendants got ready & mounted the camels and went back with the man. So, the servant took Rebekah and left. (Genesis 24:59-61)
The blessings stated by Rebekah’s family was an affirmation, though they couldn’t have realized it, of God’s covenantal promises to Abraham and Isaac, that through Rebekah, offspring would be plentiful and powerful. The “torch” had been thrown and caught by Rebekah.
Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?” “He is my master,” the servant answered. So, she took her veil and covered herself. Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So, she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. (Genesis 24:62-67)
Genesis 24 is the first romantic love story in the Bible, a moving scene of humility, gentleness, expectation, and excitation, all wrapped up in trust of God, devotion to His promises, and the belief that He would bless those in alignment with His will. Abraham, with great faith, looked to the future and believed that God would indeed guide his servant, that the girl chosen by God would be made readily known, and that the passing of the “torch” of God’s covenant with its promises would occur. The choice of a bride for Isaac was God’s choice. He was the One working behind the scenes though no words of His are recorded. Yet the whole point of Genesis 24 was that the search for a wife for Isaac was not just a human search, but a plan orchestrated by God. He was the One who lead the servant step by step.
The lesson for us? When we are faithful, God will guide us. He says to His servants, “I will make sure you get to the right place at the right time.” When you focus on God, He takes responsibility for the details in your life that will get you to the place you should be. He keeps our “torch” lit when we faithfully go toward where He wants us to be.
Do you get anxious at sunrise because all you can see is the tiny rim of the sun? No, because you know that if you wait long enough you will see the sun in all its brilliance. The same is true with God’s plan for your life. You might never see the whole thing in advance, but if you wait long enough, God will fully reveal His will for you. So, relax! God has this. You are safe in His hands. Amen.
