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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." ~ Genesis 24:9-19
Today, we return to our study of the longest chapter in the book of Genesis, Genesis 24. In our previous study we saw Abraham approach his main servant to go to his family back in his hometown to find a wife for his son Isaac. In this chapter the focus is on the faith of the father, the hope of the servant and the love of the son for his bride to be.
In v.9 of today's passage we read, "So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter."
Abraham asked the servant to find a bride for his son on an oath which required him to place his hand under Abraham’s thigh. When Abraham's servant placed his hand under Abraham's thigh, it was directed by the father for the benefit of the son. Even though the son, Isaac, wasn’t explicitly seen in this picture, he was seen implicitly, because of the placement of the hand during the oath. Abraham’s seed issued from there and in this true story is pictured the Holy Spirit receiving His direction from God the Father through God the Son.
In v.10 of today's passage we read, "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."
The number ten is the biblical number for fullness. There are 613 different commands in the Old Testament but they are all summed up in the Ten Commandments which are the fullness of the law. The servant of Abraham took ten camels with "all his master’s goods" which meant he took a fullness or a full representation of everything Abraham owned to aid him in his trip. This is exactly what the Holy Spirit does; He sets out with His goods at the direction of the Father on the behalf of His Son. The Lord Jesus described this in John 16:14-15 which reads, "14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you."
In v.11-14 of today's passage we read, "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.'"
The well was the first spot that Abraham's servant went to after his long journey from Canaan to Mesopotamia, and it was evening when he arrived there. It was good timing because it was the custom for the women of the city to fetch water from the well during the early morning and the evening allowing them to avoid the heat of the day.
After Abraham's servant arrived, he waiting by the well, having his camels kneel by the well. Then, he did the most important thing he could do, he prayed in the name of the Lord. The prayer of Abraham's servant was all about the will of God. His prayer reveals that he expected God to be there and that He was involved in the matter. He asked for success in his mission which was on the behalf of his master. The servant acknowledged the Lord first and then he petitioned the Lord regarding his mission.
C.S. Lewis once said, "I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God. It changes me."
Then the servant of Abraham prayed his simple prayer, asking God to indicate to him the one to whom God would have him speak. He didn't pray for a pretty girl, but he was about to discover that she was quite beautiful. Like this servant, we do well to pray for God's will and not ours. All too often we tell God how things should be when in the end we discover that God's will is the best. When we pray selfishly we all too often find ourselves disappointed.
Phil Keaggy once sang, "Disappointment, His Appointment! Change one letter then I see that the thwarting of my purpose is God's better choice for me."
In v.15 of today's passage we read, "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."
The meaning of the name Rebekah denotes the tying up of cattle for their own protection in order to keep them from wandering off. Within this name lies the notion that individuals are placed together by some higher authority or someone smarter than they. In fact, this account is the perfect fulfillment of Rebekah's name. God in His wisdom sent her to Eliezer even before he finished his prayer in order to fulfill His plans for all of the people of the world.
In v.16-18 of today's passage we read, "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."
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being attracted to our spouse. However, we must be careful to not let that be the primary reason for the attraction. Someone once said, "Reality is that which abides unchanged." In other words, what is real will be that which lasts, like one's character. We must always remember: "We keep our marital partner by the way we get them." This means our relationship must be built on that which is eternal, not that which is temporal. Our looks will not last, the laws of thermodynamics will see to that.
Notice that God reveals here that Rebekah was "a virgin, that no man had known her." To "know" in this sense specifically means sexual intercourse. God is saying here, make sure that you are attracted to the character of the one that you want to spend the rest of your life with more than their physical outside beauty. God desires for the marriage to be filled with the right kind of intimacy. Someone once said, "It is far easier to bare your bottom than it is your soul." It takes a well adjusted person to establish this kind of relationship. And, when we base the relationship on our pursuit of the Lord and His culture, the relationship will have the depth that it needs to withstand the pressures that inevitably comes upon a marriage.
Rebekah was a picture of us. She knew where the water was and she went down to it. This well was lower than ground level and she had to descend to it before drawing out the water. The symbolism here is seen in our descending to the Water of Life, the Lord Jesus Himself.
After we obtained the Water through crying out to God, something wonderful happened. As when Rebekah received the water from the well, the servant ran to her. And in the same way, the moment we received the Water of Life into our jar of clay, the Holy Spirit rushed into us, sealed us for the day of that the Lord Jesus will come to get us.
Finally, in the same way that Rebekah was the carrier of the water from the well, the "born again" believer in Christ is the carrier of the Water of Life to those who are parched and are therefore thirsty. The key is that we see ourselves as the servants of God who have been placed on this earth to do His will and not ours.
