Now the 24th Chapter of the Book of Genesis, Friends, is one of the richest sections of the Word of God because it tells a love story that goes way back to the very beginning.  You can see how social life was way back in those days.  And this is a very dramatic account that is given here of the way that a bride was secured for Isaac.  And again, there is a fantastic picture that is presented here to us, which we’ll see a spiritual picture.

CHAPTER 24

A WIFE FOR ISAAC

Now last time we barely got our foot in the door.  I merely read one verse just to introduce us to this chapter.  And here we saw that Abraham, he’s old, well stricken in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.  Now he wants to get a bride for his son Isaac, and he doesn’t want to get a bride in that section of those people there that were given to idolatry and paganism, and so he sends back to his people back in the land of Haran.  Now notice how he does it.  

And, actually, we’ve come in Chapter 24 to a break in the division.  You will recall that I said that the first part of Genesis, first 11 chapters, four great events.  The last section beginning with Chapter 12 through 50, has 4 outstanding individuals.  Now from Genesis 12 to 23, we’ve had Abraham, the man of faith.  Now we have Isaac, the beloved son.  And there are 3 great events in the life of Isaac.  And frankly, we’ve already seen 2 of them.  One is his birth, and the second was his offering by Abraham, and, third, his bride.  They say there are three great events in a man’s life; one’s his birth, one’s his death, and then one is his marriage, and they say that he has no choice except of the middle one, of marriage.  And sometimes they don’t seem to have much choice in that connection.  But, nevertheless, these are the three great events.  Now two of these events, the birth of Isaac and now we come to the one his bride and how he secured that bride.  

This is a very wonderful chapter, and there are two things that I want you to notice as we go through the chapter. One is the leading of the Lord in all the details of the lives of those involved here.  It’s a remarkable statement that’s made time and time again, how God led.  And that leads me to say even in this early day, there were those in that climate—that social climate—that were looking to God and following his leading.  And this is supposed to be way back yonder in the “stone age” when man was a caveman and pretty much uncivilized.  Don’t believe a word of it.  Here’s a record that goes back there, and man’s not that kind of a man at all.  He’s a caveman today, but not back then.  And we find here the leading of God.  Now if God could lead back in that day in the lives of these folks, He can lead today in your life and my life.  And this puts down a pattern for us.  That’s the first thing to notice.

The second thing is the straight forward manner in which Rebekah made her decision to go with the servant, become the bride of Isaac.  That is a tremendous thing.  We’ll notice it as we go through; we get to that later on, but you keep your eye out for that and your ear open.  

I’m reading now Verse 2, Genesis 24.

And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:

And I will make thee swear by the Lord—

Now that’s the way men took an oath in that day.  Didn’t raise their right hand and put the left hand on a Bible.  Didn’t have a Bible to begin with.  Frankly, I don’t think it’s necessary if anybody puts your hand on a Bible to swear.  If it’s necessary to get you to tell the truth to do that, then it may be you won’t tell the truth.  But here, this was the method in that day.  A man put his hand on the thigh of the man he’s going to make an oath to.  And so this servant, and I think it’s Eleazor (he was the head servant in the home of Abraham, and he had a son; remember Abraham called God’s attention to that.)  Now God says to him, in Verse 3:

And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell.

My Christian Friends today, you got a boy in your home or a girl in your home that’s marriageable, you ought to pray that they’ll not marry one of the Canaanites because they’re still in the land.  There is always a danger of our young people marrying one of the Canaanites.  And if you do—someone has said if you’re going to have the devil for your father-in-law, you’re going to have troubles with him; you always do.  

And now will you notice, Abraham here says to his servant, Verse 4:

But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.

And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest?  

And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again….  (Genesis 24:4-6)

The servant said, “Now suppose I can’t find a girl that’ll come with me?  Shall I come back and get Isaac and take him to that land?”  And Abraham said, “Never take him back.  This is the place where God wants him, and do not return him to that land under any circumstance.”  That’s very important, by the way, to see.  Now Verse 7.

The Lord God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.

Now Abraham is really a man of faith.  He demonstrates it again and again, and here he’s magnificent!  He says to this servant, “You can count on God leading you.  God has promised me this.”  Now you see he’s not taking a leap in the dark.  Faith is not a leap in the dark; it must rest upon the Word of God.  I find a great many people today, they say, “Well, I believe God, and it’ll come to pass.”  “Well, fine.  It’s wonderful for you to believe God, but do you have something in writing from God?”  Abraham always asked for it in writing, and he had it in writing from God.  God had made a contract with him, and he says, “God has promised me that through my seed, and that’s Isaac, that He’s going to bring a blessing to the world.  Now you can be sure of one thing; God has a bride back there for Isaac.”  And you see he rests upon what God has said.  We need not be foolish today.  Faith is not foolish.  It’s resting upon something; it’s always reasonable; never a leap in the dark.  It’s not betting your life that this will come to pass or that’ll come to pass.  It’s not a gamble.  It’s a sure thing.  Faith is the real sure thing.  And Abraham here is sure.  He said, “You can be sure of that.”

Now, he says, though:  

 And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.  (Genesis 24:8)

“Don’t ever return my son back there, but if the woman won’t come, then you are discharged.”  Well, what does that mean?  It means simply this:  Abraham would have, I think, of told you very frankly, “Well, God has another way of working this out. I don’t know what it will be, but,” he says, “I’m sure of one thing; that this is the way God wants it done.”  Now, Friends, that’s what faith is.  Faith is acting upon the Word of God.  It rests upon something.  

And God wants us to believe His Word, and not just believe this pious nonsense that I hear today:  That you can “force God to do something” and that “God has to do it because I believe it.”  May I say to you, no one wants to be healed more than I have, and I believe in divine healing, and I’ve made it through now with cancer in my body and don’t tell me now that I don’t believe in faith healing.  I do.  But I want to say this:  When somebody comes along and says that you can force God and that God has to do it, God will heal you and demand it, I’m not in that position yet.  I don’t know what His will is.  But whatever His will is, I want that done.  But I want to make very sure that we pray and ask God to do something.  But God’ll have to be the one to determine whether it’s His will or not.  Abraham’s got something to rest upon.  He’s not demanding anything of God.  He says, “Well, if this doesn’t work out, then God has another way to work it out.”  And we can always be sure of that.  Verse 9:

And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swears to him concerning that matter.

Now watch the servant as he goes out to get a bride for Isaac.

And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. (Genesis 24:10)

Now may I stop just to make this comment?  I made the statement that there weren’t just three wise men that came in on three camels to Jerusalem.  That wouldn’t have created a stir in the city.  I believe there were nearer 300 camels that came in and three hundred wise men.  And the Scripture would seem to bear that out.  There’s no number given, of course.  The number of gifts; that is, the kinds of gifts…three kinds of gifts…but that doesn’t confine it to three wise men.  But you’ll notice here that even the servant that’s going to Mesopotamia to get a bride for Isaac, he takes 10 camels along, and that means somebody had to ride them.  He took along quite a revenue of servants.  Now notice what he does.  He says here, “And he departed for all the goods of his master were in his hand.”  In other words, he had charge of all of the chattel and all of the possessions of Abraham.  

…and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor.   And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.  (Genesis 24:10-11)

Now that may seem strange to you, that the women came out to draw water.  But they were the ones that did the watering of the camels in that day.  Very frankly, women did lots more work in those days, Friends, than they do today.  I mean by that hard work.  The women were the ones that watered the stock and took care of them.  Now the men were supposed to be out trading, of course, and they were supposed to be out doing other work.  Now they were not always loafing by any means, but it’s interesting to note that this was the custom of that day, even the time women go out to draw water.  

Now this servant was waiting.  It was not the proper thing for him to water his camels, a stranger, before others that came there that lived in that community.  And he said—now notice this servant that’s depending on God—and you find Abraham also, but all of this in the hands of the LORD.  And now the servant, listen to him; he prays.

And he said O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.  Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water:

And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.  (Genesis 24:12-14)

Now his prayer is something like this:  “The daughters of the men of the city will be coming out.  I do not know….” (That is, I’m speaking for this servant now).  That servant would say, “I do not know which one to choose.  And so it’s just left up to me to pick one of them.  Now I pray that the one I pick might be the one that God picks.”  In other words, he calls upon the Lord to lead him in making the right choice.  Now who do you think he’s going to pick?  Well, he’s a man.  He’s going to pick the best looking that comes out.  And you can be sure of one thing Rebekah was a good looking woman.  We need to emphasize that today.  The puritans had an idea that beauty was of the devil.  Well, the devil is beautiful; he’s an angel of light, by the way, but he doesn’t have it all.  God, after all, is the Creator and you’ve never seen a sunset or looked in a beautiful flower that He didn’t make it.  And he makes women beautiful.  And there’s nothing wrong with that.  And this man was going to pick the beautiful one.  He’d be a poor servant if he didn’t, I’ll say that, and I’m sure he picked the best looking one that came out.  Now Verse 15:

And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.  (Genesis 24:15)

Now here comes out the very one.

And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.  (Genesis 24:16)

I told you she’d be good looking.  And I knew it was coming, of course.  But she was good looking.  The Word of God says it, Friends.  Nothing’s wrong with that.  I resent that Hollywood and the devil today in the theatre is against beauty.  Why, I think the Lord ought to have some it.  He made it to begin with, and there’s nothing wrong with Him using a lovely person and a beautiful person—fine looking men and women, I pray always God will call that kind into His service today.  Now will you notice, “the damsel was very fair to look upon”…just not an ordinary girl.  She would have won the beauty contest.  She’s “a virgin, neither had any man known her.  And she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.”  Now Verse 17:

And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.  And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.

And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.  Genesis 24:17-19)

Now the important thing for you and me to note here is that she’s a very polite girl also; very courteous.  She’s beautiful, not dumb, and very polite.  You can be sure that she’s probably not a modern girl by any means.  She could certainly qualify.

And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.  (Genesis 24:20)

And remember there were 10 of those camels there, and I don’t know when the last time they filled their hump.  It’s just like filling a radiator in a car to fill those camels up.  Now will you notice Verse 21?

And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.

The servant, he just stands there in amazement.  He’s wondering whether this is it; whether God is leading or not, and believes he is.  

Verse 22:

And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold; And said, Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there room in thy father’s house for us to lodge in?  And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor.  (And Nahor’s the brother of Abraham.)  She said moreover unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in.  And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the Lord.  (Genesis 24:22-26)

He sees the hand of God in it!  Wonderful to have God leading and guiding, isn’t it!  And notice here. Verse 27.

And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.

And that is a great statement there!  “I being in the way the LORD led me”…and the LORD leads those that are in the way.  That is, in His way that are wanting to be led, that will be led of Him, that will do what he wants done.  God can lead a willing heart any time.  Now Verse 28:

And the damsel ran, and told them of her mother’s house these things.  And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well.  (Genesis 24:28-29)

And Friends, right here let me warn you.  Keep your eye on Uncle Laban; he’ll bear watching at this point and from here on.  He was greatly impressed by material things.  And notice what happens; Verse 30.

And it came to pass, when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister’s hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man; and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well.

And the servant just waited out there at the well to see if anyone would come out to lead him into the home of Rebekah; whether he really had a welcome or not.  Well, believe me, when old Laban saw those rings, he knew it was a very wealthy guest.  And Uncle Laban is not missing a deal.  And if you doubt that, you ask Jacob later on.  Jacob found out Uncle Laban was a real traitor.  In fact, he was a better trader than he was.  And so he went out and he wanted to welcome him.  And notice how he welcomes him.

And he said, Come in, thou blessed of the Lord; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.  (Genesis 24:31)

And even old Laban recognized the fact that there was the Living God, the Creator, one God; very important.  And he welcomed the man.

And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men’s feet that were with him.  (Genesis 24:32)

And here we have this foot washing ceremony again.  “And the men’s feet that were with him”—you see, he had quite a few that had come with him.  Now the man is entertained royally in this home.  Uncle Laban sees to that.  

I see I don’t have time to even develop this, but we’re going to see now how he wins this girl Rebekah and she’s going to go back to the home of Abraham and become the bride of Isaac.  May I say this is a dramatic story, but we’ll have to wait until next time, My Beloved!