Read with Me

 Genesis 24:22-33 (HCSB)
After the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing half a shekel, and for her wrists two bracelets weighing 10 shekels of gold. “Whose daughter are you?” he asked. “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 son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” She also said to him, “We have plenty of straw and feed and a place to spend the night.”
Then the man bowed down, worshiped the LORD, and said, “Praise 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.”
The girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things. Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and Laban ran out to the man at the spring. As soon as he had seen the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he had heard his sister Rebekah’s words—“The man said this to me!”—he went to the man. He was standing there by the camels at the spring.
Laban said, “Come, you who are blessed by the LORD. Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” So the man came to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and feed were given to the camels, and water was brought to wash his feet and the feet of the men with him.
A meal was set before him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.”
So Laban said, “Please speak.”

Listen with Me

So far, God had answered the servant’s prayer to the letter. The girl who looked like a good match for Isaac had not only given the servant a drink when asked, but had also volunteered for the arduous task of watering his ten thirsty camels until they were satisfied.

But Abraham’s instructions were very specific. The servant was to choose a wife for Isaac from among Abraham’s relatives. At this point, the servant had no idea who this young woman was, or if she met that requirement. So, he asked her for her family’s name.

Rebecca’s answer confirmed to the servant that God had truly been guiding him. She was the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother, Nahor. That meant that she satisfied Abraham’s requirements! (For the genealogy buffs, Rebecca and Isaac were first cousins once removed.)

The servant’s next move was to present Rachel with a small nose ring (about 1/5 of a gram) and two heavy gold bracelets, each about 4 ounces. The girl was stunned. She had rarely seen gold, and this was a lot of gold.

Rebecca was confused as to what all this meant until the servant began to chant a prayer in which he invoked the name of the God of Abraham and indicating that he was Abraham’s servant. Rebecca had heard her grandfather, and her father talk about her grand uncle, Abram, who had followed his God to a new land to the west, but the family had received very little word of him since then.

The girl was so excited by these strange events that she simply started running for homes so that she could share the news with her family. At this point, Nahor was long dead, and Rebecca’s father Bethuel had also died, leaving her brother, Laban, as the head of the family. So, up on hearing the news and seeing the gold jewelry the stranger had given to his sister, Laban hurried to the well to invite the stranger to spend the night, and to find out what this was all about.

Pray with Me

Father, Your faithfulness is on full display here. Not only did You lead the servant of Abraham to the right town, You led him to the very woman you had selected for Isaac, and You opened the way to securing her as his wife. Although Laban is later shown to be a man of less than sterling character, You used Abraham’s resources to open his heart and mind to allow his sister to be taken as a wife to Isaac, who looked like he would be the heir of a great fortune. Lord, You know all people so well, so intimately, including our deepest thoughts and motivations. May my thoughts and my motivations always be centered on You. Amen.