Gen 24:50-67 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
Isaac was the son of Abraham and Sarah. “Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him” (Gen 21:5). Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me” (Gen 21:6). For his birth, and for the day his father took him up to the land of Moriah (Gen 22), see Abraham, Lessons 6 and 7.
Later, his mother died. “Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years. This was the length of Sarah’s life” (Gen 23:1); “Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her” (Gen 23:2).
When Abraham was old, he said to his oldest servant: “But you shall go to my country, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac” (Gen 24:4). The servant went there, and by the well outside the city he prayed: “please give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham” (Gen 24:12). Before he had finished speaking, Rebekah came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. The servant said afterward: “the LORD has led me on the way to the house of my master’s relatives” (Gen 24:27).
This lesson begins where Rebekah’s family answers the servant.
50Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “The thing proceeds from the LORD. We can’t speak to you bad or good.
51Behold, Rebekah is before you. Take her, and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as the LORD has spoken.”
52When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth to the LORD.
53The servant brought out jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and her mother.
54They ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, and stayed all night. They rose up in the morning, and he said, “Send me away to my master.”
55Her brother and her mother said, “Let the young lady stay with us a few days, at least ten. After that she will go.”
56He said to them, “Don’t hinder me, since the LORD has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.”
57They said, “We will call the young lady, and ask her.”
58They called Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.”
59They sent away Rebekah, their sister, with her nurse, Abraham’s servant, and his men.
60They blessed Rebekah, and said to her, “Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your offspring possess the gate of those who hate them.”
61Rebekah arose with her ladies. They rode on the camels, and followed the man. The servant took Rebekah, and went his way.
62Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he lived in the land of the South.
63Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes and looked. Behold, there were camels coming.
64Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she got off the camel.
65She said to the servant, “Who is the man who is walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” She took her veil, and covered herself.
66The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.
67Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
The thing proceeds from the LORD. The servant has told everything that happened at the well, and asks Rebekah’s family for their answer. Laban and Bethuel say: “The thing proceeds from the LORD. We can’t speak to you bad or good” (v. 50); “Behold, Rebekah is before you. Take her, and go” (v. 51). “When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth to the LORD” (v. 52).
Don’t hinder me. The next morning the servant wants to go back. Rebekah’s brother and mother say: “Let the young lady stay with us a few days, at least ten. After that she will go” (v. 55). The servant says: “Don’t hinder me, since the LORD has prospered my way” (v. 56).
I will go. The family says: “We will call the young lady, and ask her” (v. 57). They ask her: “Will you go with this man?” “She said, ‘I will go’” (v. 58).
A blessing. She goes with her nurse and her ladies, following the servant (vv. 59, 61). As she leaves, her family blesses her: “Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your offspring possess the gate of those who hate them” (v. 60).
Meditating in the field. Only now does the passage turn to Isaac: “Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he lived in the land of the South” (v. 62). “Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes and looked. Behold, there were camels coming” (v. 63). Rebekah saw him too, and “she got off the camel” (v. 64). She asked the servant, “Who is the man who is walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master,” and “She took her veil, and covered herself” (v. 65).
He loved her. “The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done” (v. 66). “Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her” (v. 67). The passage goes on: “So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death” (v. 67).
Afterward. The next chapter gives Isaac’s age at the time: “Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah … to be his wife” (Gen 25:20).
When Abraham sent his servant, he said: “The LORD, the God of heaven—who took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’” (Gen 24:7). God had also said to Abraham: “your offspring will be named through Isaac” (Gen 21:12).
Rebekah’s family blesses her: “let your offspring possess the gate of those who hate them” (v. 60). On the mountain in Moriah, God had said something much like it to Abraham: “Your offspring will possess the gate of his enemies” (Gen 22:17).
Readers can see this: this is more than a marriage. The offspring God promised to Abraham was to come from this family, Isaac and Rebekah’s.
Perhaps you, too, are waiting on a decision: you don’t know whether to go, or whether this road is the one God is leading you on. Perhaps, like Isaac, you have lost someone very close; time has passed, and your heart has not yet found comfort.
This lesson does not say that if you pray, God will arrange things the way you hope. What it shows you is this: a servant prayed all along the way; a family said, “The thing proceeds from the LORD” (v. 50); and a man who had lost his mother went out into the field in the evening, and afterward “Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death” (v. 67). The Psalms say: “He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds” (Ps 147:3).
This week: If you are standing at a crossroads, find a time each day this week to tell God about it plainly, as the servant did. If your heart still aches for someone you have lost, find an evening this week to take a quiet walk alone and tell God what is in your heart.
Scripture: World English Bible.