A Wife for Isaac
By now Abraham was old and well along in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. Psa 112:1-3Gal 3:9Gen 13:2Pro 10:22Mat 6:33Gen 12:2Gen 18:11Eph 1:3 So Abraham instructed the chief servant of his household, who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh, Gen 47:29Gen 39:4-6Gen 15:2Gen 24:9-10Gen 39:8-9Gen 44:11Ch 29:241Ti 5:17 and I will have you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am dwelling, Gen 26:34-352Co 6:14-17Deu 7:3-4Gen 28:8Neh 13:251Co 7:392Ki 19:15Exo 34:16 but will go to my country and my kindred to take a wife for my son Isaac.” Gen 28:2Gen 11:25Gen 12:7Gen 22:20-23
The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” Jer 4:2Exo 20:7Exo 9:2Gen 24:58Pro 13:16
Abraham replied, “Make sure that you do not take my son back there. 2Pe 2:20-22Gal 5:1Heb 10:39Heb 11:9Heb 11:13-16 The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me from my father’s house and my native land, who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—He will send His angel before you so that you can take a wife for my son from there. Exo 33:2Psa 34:7Exo 23:20-23Gen 13:15Heb 1:14Exo 32:13Gen 15:18Psa 103:20 And if the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” Jos 2:17-20Num 30:5Num 30:8Act 7:2Gen 24:4-6Jhn 8:32Jos 9:20
So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter. Gen 24:2
Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all manner of good things from his master in hand. And he set out for Nahor’s hometown in Aram-naharaim. 1 Deu 23:4Gen 11:311Ch 19:6Act 2:9Gen 24:2Gen 27:43Gen 29:1Gen 29:4-5 As evening approached, he made the camels kneel down near the well outside the town at the time when the women went out to draw water. 1Sa 9:11Exo 2:16Jhn 4:7Gen 24:13-20Gen 33:13-14Pro 12:10
“O LORD, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “please grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. Gen 24:27Exo 3:6Gen 26:242Ki 2:14Exo 3:15Gen 24:42Gen 24:48Psa 122:6 Here I am, standing beside the spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. Gen 24:43Psa 37:51Sa 9:11Exo 2:16Gen 24:11Gen 29:9-10Jdg 5:11Jhn 4:7 Now may it happen that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels as well’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. By this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.” Jdg 6:37Jdg 6:17Gen 15:82Ki 20:8-112Sa 5:24Isa 7:111Sa 14:8-10Exo 4:1-9
Rebekah Is Chosen
Before the servant had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. Gen 11:29Gen 24:45Isa 65:24Dan 9:20-23Psa 65:2Exo 2:16Gen 22:20-23Isa 58:9 Now the girl was very beautiful, a virgin who had not had relations with any man. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up again. Gen 26:7Gen 39:6Gen 4:1Num 31:17-18Sng 5:2
So the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me have a little water from your jar.” Jhn 4:71Ki 17:10Gen 26:1-35Isa 21:14Isa 30:25Isa 35:6-7Isa 41:17-18Isa 49:10
“Drink, my lord,” she replied, and she quickly lowered her jar to her hands and gave him a drink. 1Pe 3:81Pe 4:8-9Gen 24:14Pro 31:26
After she had given him a drink, she said, “I will also draw water for your camels, until they have had enough to drink.” Gen 24:141Pe 4:9Gen 24:45-46 And she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran back to the well to draw water, until she had drawn water for all his camels.
Meanwhile, the man watched her silently to see whether or not the LORD had made his journey a success. Gen 24:12Psa 107:432Sa 7:18-20Luk 2:19Luk 2:51Psa 116:1-7Gen 24:56Psa 107:1
And after the camels had finished drinking, he took out a gold ring weighing a beka, 2 and two gold bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels. 3 Ezk 16:11-12Exo 32:2-3Gen 23:15-16Gen 24:30Gen 24:47Jer 2:32Est 5:1Isa 3:19-23 “Whose daughter are you?” he asked. “Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”
She replied, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milcah bore to Nahor.” Gen 24:15Gen 22:23Gen 11:29Gen 22:20 Then she added, “We have plenty of straw and feed, as well as a place for you to spend the night.” 1Pe 4:9Isa 32:8Gen 18:4-8Jdg 19:19-21
Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD, Gen 24:48Exo 4:31Gen 24:52Exo 12:271Ch 29:202Ch 20:182Ch 29:30Exo 34:8 saying, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld His kindness and faithfulness from my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.” Gen 24:48Gen 24:12Gen 32:10Psa 98:3Rut 4:141Sa 25:32Exo 18:102Sa 18:28
The girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things. Gen 24:48Gen 24:55Gen 24:67Gen 31:33 Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he rushed out to the man at the spring. Gen 29:5Gen 24:55Gen 29:13Gen 24:60 As soon as he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and heard Rebekah’s words, “The man said this to me,” he went and found the man standing by the camels near the spring.
“Come, you who are blessed by the LORD,” said Laban. “Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” Gen 26:29Rut 3:10Psa 115:15Jdg 17:2Pro 18:16Pro 17:8 So the man came to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and feed were brought to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of his companions. Gen 43:24Jdg 19:21Gen 18:41Ti 5:10Gen 19:2Luk 7:441Sa 25:41Jhn 13:4-14
Then a meal was set before the man, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I came to say.” Psa 132:3-51Ti 6:2Eph 6:5-8Ecc 9:10Jhn 4:14Jhn 4:31-34Job 23:12Pro 22:29
So Laban said, “Please speak.”
“I am Abraham’s servant,” he replied. “The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels and donkeys. Gen 13:2Gen 24:1Pro 10:22Psa 107:38Gen 12:16Mat 6:33Gen 12:2Gen 25:11 My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and my master has given him everything he owns. Gen 25:5Gen 21:10Gen 21:1-7Gen 17:15-19Gen 18:10-14Rom 4:19Gen 11:29-30
My master made me swear an oath and said, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell, Ezr 9:1-3Gen 24:2-9Gen 27:46Gen 6:2 but you shall go to my father’s house and to my kindred to take a wife for my son.’ Gen 24:4Gen 12:1Gen 31:19
Then I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not come back with me?’ Gen 24:5
And he told me, ‘The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you may take a wife for my son from my kindred and from my father’s house. Exo 23:20Psa 16:8Exo 33:2Gen 17:1Gen 5:241Ki 8:232Ki 20:3Dan 3:28 And when you go to my kindred, if they refuse to give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.’ Gen 24:8Deu 29:12
So when I came to the spring today, I prayed: O LORD, God of my master Abraham, if only You would make my journey a success! Neh 1:11Ezr 8:21Gen 24:12-14Psa 37:5Psa 90:17Rom 1:10Act 10:22Act 10:7-8 Here I am, standing beside this spring. Now if a maiden comes out to draw water and I say to her, ‘Please let me drink a little water from your jar,’ Gen 24:13-14 and she replies, ‘Drink, and I will draw water for your camels as well,’ may she be the woman the LORD has appointed for my master’s son. Gen 24:141Pe 3:81Ti 2:10Gen 2:22Heb 13:2Isa 32:8Pro 16:33Pro 18:22
And before I had finished praying in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ Act 10:30Act 12:12-17Dan 9:23Gen 24:15-20Isa 65:24Mat 7:71Sa 1:13-152Sa 7:27
She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels as well.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels. Gen 24:18-19
Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ Ezk 16:10-13Gen 24:22-24Gen 24:53Isa 62:3-5Psa 45:13-14Eph 5:26-27Psa 45:9
She replied, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. Then I bowed down and worshiped the LORD; and I blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who led me on the right road to take the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son. Gen 24:26-27Pro 3:5-6Psa 32:8Psa 48:14Gen 24:52Isa 48:17Exo 18:20Ezr 8:21
Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; but if not, let me know, so that I may go elsewhere.” Gen 47:29Jos 2:14Gen 32:10Pro 3:3Deu 2:27Num 20:17
Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the LORD; we have no choice in the matter. Psa 118:23Gen 31:24Gen 31:292Sa 13:22Mrk 12:11Gen 24:15Gen 24:28Gen 24:53 Rebekah is here before you. Take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, just as the LORD has decreed.” Gen 20:152Sa 16:10Gen 24:15
When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD. Gen 24:26Gen 24:48Psa 116:1-2Psa 95:61Ch 29:202Ch 20:18Psa 107:21-22Psa 34:1-2 Then he brought out jewels of silver and gold, and articles of clothing, and he gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother. Gen 24:10Gen 24:22Exo 11:2Exo 12:35Exo 3:222Ch 21:3Deu 33:13-16Ezr 1:6 Then he and the men with him ate and drank and spent the night there. Gen 24:56Gen 24:592Sa 18:19Ecc 7:10Gen 28:5-6Gen 45:24Pro 22:292Sa 18:27-28
When they got up the next morning, he said, “Send me on my way to my master.”
But her brother and mother said, “Let the girl remain with us ten days or so. After that, she may go.” Gen 4:3Jdg 14:8Lev 25:29
But he replied, “Do not delay me, since the LORD has made my journey a success. Send me on my way so that I may go to my master.” Isa 48:15Jos 1:8Pro 25:25Gen 45:9-13
So they said, “We will call the girl and ask her opinion.”
They called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?” Luk 1:38Psa 45:10-11
“I will go,” she replied.
So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men. Gen 35:81Th 2:5Gen 24:50Gen 24:53Gen 24:60Num 11:12 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, Gen 22:17Gen 17:16Rut 4:11-12Gen 28:3Gen 1:28Gen 48:15-16Gen 9:1Gen 48:20
“Our sister, may you become the mother
of thousands upon thousands.
May your offspring possess
the gates of their enemies.”
Then Rebekah and her servant girls got ready, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left. Gen 2:24Psa 45:101Sa 30:17Est 8:10Est 8:14Gen 31:34
Isaac Marries Rebekah
Now Isaac had just returned from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev. Gen 16:14Gen 25:11Gen 12:9Gen 20:1 Early in the evening, Isaac went out to the field to meditate, and looking up, he saw the camels approaching. Psa 119:15Jos 1:8Psa 1:2Psa 104:34Psa 143:5-6Psa 119:27Psa 119:48Psa 139:17-18
And when Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, she got down from her camel Jdg 1:14Jos 15:18 and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?” 1Ti 2:91Co 11:5-61Co 11:10Gen 20:16
“It is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself. Then the servant told Isaac all that he had done. Mrk 6:30
And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah as his wife. And Isaac loved her and was comforted after his mother’s death. Eph 5:22-33Sng 8:21Th 4:132Co 11:1-2Gen 18:6Gen 18:9-10Gen 23:1-2Gen 25:20