Genesis 24
Notes
Transcript
Oh boy this is Gen 24 the longest chapter in Genesis. So maybe we can get this in one night but I make no promises.
Sarah is dead. And Abraham is getting to the end of his life. Let’s pray.
Before we start there are a a couple of things we need to discuss. The first part is the different servants that were around at this time. The first one is a slave or bond servant. The next indentured servants. They have rights. Almost like an employee. They get housing, food etc. This servant here is trusted to the fullest by abraham. If Abraham needs something done, this is the guy he goes to. Do you have a go to in your life? Are you a go to for someone else?
1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.
I tried yall. I just can’t get past this right here. Abraham is well advanced in years. Bro he was old 35 years ago. Right. The the bible says that the Lord ha blessed him in everything or in all things. At the end of his life, he is not concerned with making more money. He is not concerned with more task to be done. He is concerned about his child. He wants to make sure that he is setting him up for success and that he will follow what God has said. Is this being said of you parents. Men especially. Are you worried about about a good inheritance or who is inheriting. See we spend most of our time trying to raise good children when we should be focused on Godly adults. You so want your kids to be well behaved but what about when they become adults. Also ladies are you preparing your kids to leave. I say that becuase most men are ready for the kids to leave and be on their own and most women are not. The last act of Abraham is to make sure Isaac’s future is prepared by having the correct wife. This is a huge deal. So is your daughters and your son’s choice of a spouse. So God is making the transition from Abraham to Isaac.
The Lord has blessed him. So there is a pattern that God is going to bless even this move by Abraham. Correct. Because if he didn’t fail me then why should I worry he will fail me now. If you don’t get this right here. We don’t see that God has commanded this right here. But what we do know that Abraham can act on his own accord and because of their relationship, God will bless it. We also know that because of their relationship, Abraham now doesn’t act all willy-nilly. He acts only what would be in the nature of God. Hasn’t always been that way but when you lay down your son for sacrifice things change. You cannot take this away from Abraham’s life and you better write this down in the margin big and bold.
Though Abraham did not pass every test, God sure did. God never wavered on his end of the covenant. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT??? Do you have that kind of faith? Ok let’s keep going.
2 And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh,
3 that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell,
4 but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”
Can you imagine the peace that Abraham had knowing that he had this guy to handle the problem.
So this is an odd way to make a covenant. I mean place your hand under my thigh. Why we doing that? Can we just shake a hand. Do the spit handshake? Something! We can’t just read the bible. We have to read the bible. So we are not going to just ignore that placement of the hand. The entire time that God has been dealing with Abraham what has been part of the promise. That his seed would be like the sands the shore and like the stars of the sky. Correct. So the placement of his hand is deliberate, because you are making a covenant with me about my offspring. About my seed. So you are not going to go rogue and switch up what God has said about my children and children’s children. You are not going to grab some canaanite woman and mess it up. You will swear to it by placing your hand under my thigh. And I trust you enough to make sure that it happens.
Write these down where we see God moving in all the descendants lives. We aren’t going to go there. But look at it later. Genesis 46:26 and Exodus 1:5. You will see that God continues to hold his end of the covenant.
So this servant swears by YHWH. It is the same title that Melchizedek used when he showed up talking about God. In chapter 14 vs 19 and 20. Abraham also uses this name when he is talking to the king of Sodom. So this is not a name to be taken lightly without honor. This is important. So Abraham is invoking that name to show the seriousness. this is not god will provide. This is not god the creator this is king of kings lord of lord. this is you will have to deal with the covenant creator if you mess this up.
Then he makes the demand known of what is to be expected. Do not give my son a bride form the people of this land. Go back to my family and take a wife.
THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ETHNICITY!!!! IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SKIN COLOR OR TONE!!! I was taught by some in my family that it meant this. That we were not to marry outside of our race. That it was unbiblical to do so. This has everything to do with relationships not being equally yoked and so many in the church just marry somebody haphazardly not taking into consideration the consequences of that action until it is too late then they claim i fell out of love and love is not somehting you fall into or out of. Love is a choice and you have to make that choice once married every single day and some days it si harder than others but you still have to make the choice because you swore you would and that is what love does.
But when we as the church don’t take into consideration is this person equally yoked with me spiritually then we mess a lot up. Truth is you can mess up and they not be equally yoked financially. Not saying it can’t work. I am just saying that we need to consider a lot.
Just to confirm this…Moses marries someone not of the Israelite people and God steps in and says it is ok because she serves me. What he is saying is don’t marry someone that doesn’t serve me. LISTEN Don’t marry heathen. Don't marry someone who doesn’t follow Jesus. If you are a follower of Jesus, and considering marrying someone who doesn’t STOP!!! This even goes into the denominational stuff. Prophet Abraham knows that if he brings this pagan stuff into his descendants it will be bad. He knows that they are already going to be causing trouble and people to turn from God so he says where I Got the call to follow God is where I want you to go.
Let’s keep going
5 The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?”
Ok Abraham but before I do this I have some questions. Because I don’t want to agree to this and not have all the answers because if I get to to something I want to know exactly what to do. Don’t you love this guy. I mean Abraham is giving instructions and this guy is thinking. What bout this what about that. I want this guy on my team. I don’t want fake it till we make it. I don’t want know it all Joe. I don’t want well cross that bridge. I want you to know what to do. So Abraham gives an answer
6 Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there.
7 The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.
8 But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.”
9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.
Taking the son back is out. Because Jesus said my offspring will inherit this land. Not that land back there. That is not where my son is going to end up. If you take him back, I may die before he gets back. Then he may stay there. So him leaving this place is out. Come on Abraham. Making the tough decisions and finally having a back bone. The easy thing is just give in and let the son go. he can see his future bride and get all the butterflies when he sees her and we will know. I don’t wnat him to fall into sin.
If this is what God truly wants, then the angel will go before you. God will take care of it. If it is the woman God wants, then she will come back with you. Have you ever tried to plan B God. Or think you know better so you alter the plan. God must not know about this but I do, I am here. So I will change this up a little bit. I mean I know he wants me to go there but he attends or she attends and if I do that there will be some drama so I better no go. No you better grow up and go through the hard thing where God tells you to go. Doesn’t God know it would be easier if Isaac went with me?
Abraham, don’t you think God knows that. But that isn’t what God said. He is not always looking for the easiest or the quickest way. He is looking for the way that will cause you to trust him more. So we are just going to do what God said do period!!!!
Here is a disciple definition that all of us can grasp. I don’t care what degrees you have or don’t have. Here it is write it down.
Disciple, doing what Jesus says to do and say what Jesus says to say.
This servant has a logical plan or response but it is not what God wanted so it is wrong. Period. If you want to be a disciple of Jesus do what he says to do and say what he says to say. Sermon over. If the church could just actually grab a hold of that and do it. This world would be radically changed.
Abraham says the angel is going with you. Do you have faith like that? If I am doing God’s will, he will work everything out. So why do I worry. Why do I worry God knows what I need. Why do I worry. Why do I worry. Your only concern is am I doing what God said do how he said to do it. If so don’t worry about a thang cuz everything is gonna be alright.
Then Abraham puts a caveat. He says if she doesn’t come back then that isn’t the plan and you are free. Abraham is putting all of his faith that god will work it out. Where is your faith. He said if it doesn’t go like he told me it would then it isn’t him and you are free. Then vs 9 so the servant made the oath. He says I am in. If God is in, and you give me an out that if God is out I am out. Then I am in. Would you be able to do that? This servant knows who God is and is willing to follow wherever he leads. Are you? Yeah I know I keep bringing this back to you because this is about getting you to him and getting you closer to Him. Do you have that kind of faith. This servant has seen God too much to not trust him.
10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor.
11 And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time when women go out to draw water.
Now he may not be grabbing Isaac to come with him but he isn’t going empty handed. He said I have to bring something get these folks fired up to come back with me. There has to be something that will entice them and turn them to Abraham. Now the camels are going to play a big part in this as does the rest of the gifts. He is ready to deal.
What does the number 10 mean Divine order, completed cycle, perfect measure of. Remember 10 commandments. Don’t need any more. 10 plagues on Egypt. The tithe representing all of your monetary worship. The 10th letter of the Hebrew Alphabet Yohd hand, work, worship, deeds, fist, power, congregation. So we see God’s hand in this.
Why do I take the time to give details like that. Some might say maybe he just picked 10. Maybe God just wasted his breath in giving us the number because it isn’t important. Or maybe in the words of one of my heroes Napoleon Dynamite, I wish you’d get out of my life and shut up. Because I don’t think God waste anything and since I believe that then every word number and punctuation is important so I am going to go search it out.
So the servant gets his plan. I will set up at the place where usually young unwed women are given the job and that is to go get the water. So he has a plan. God though we trust him still wants us to be smart. He ain’t going to the shepherd field to find a woman. There ain’t many out there. You go fishing where the fish are. I could have the best lure and rod and stand out here in this parking lot and i won’t catch nothing but carpal tunnel. Then look at this.
12 And he said, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham.
He is praying to God who he knows is in this because Abraham said so. He says will you give me success and in doing so will show love to Abraham. he isn’t concerned with himself. He is more concerned that Abraham is getting the glory. That the promise is being fulfilled for Abraham. he cares more about Abraham than he does himself. Do you act like that. Are you willing to throw your success at the feet of someone else? To say if I succeed you succeed. If I make it you make it. I will honor you with all that i have because of what you have done for me and our relationship. Or are we out doing what we are doing so that we can be glorified. Don’t allow me to step behind this podium and embarrass you. He is saying that don’t allow me to let Abraham down. Can you do the most best-est job for the kingdom and deep down not ever care if people knew you were a part of it. I mean go lead a crusade in your neighborhood and the whole community gets saved. They start asking who did this. Jesus. I don’t need a good job from yall. I am thankful for the encouragement and your enjoyment of this word but I stand here because he has asked me to. I stand here because he commands me to. I stand here because I have been through hell and back and i don’t want you following me there because my own could have been avoided. I stand here to bring him honor and if all of yall go away I still have to stand here. If all the accolades fall I still have to stand here and I will gladly do so. my motivation is HIM!!!! You think God is sitting in heaven wondering how in the world is he going to pull this off if Chris doesn’t do it? Ha. there are so many better and more qualified people to preach here. We had a man this past sunday and will have another one this coming sunday who have way more accolades and teaching cred than me. But I am willing. I am just so thankful to be a part.
God’s will is nothing that we have to do, it is something we get to do.
Now look at this prayer continued
13 Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.
14 Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”
15 Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder.
This guy is pretty bold. Look at what he says. Let me tell you God what my plan is. All the ladies are coming down when one comes by I will ask her to let me get a drink and if she says you drink and while you're drinking I’ll give some water to your camels. This is how I will know she is the one. This is what I am looking for. I wanna stop right here because some people would tell you don’t pray like this. This is laying fleece out. This is tempting God. You can’t ask for things like this. That’s stupid. You know there are things that God knows we don’t correct. You know that sometime even while I am trying my best to follow God, I can mess it up with my own desires right. So this prayer is not testing God. It is this man admitting his own limitations. He is simply saying I don’t want to pick the right one so here is how I will know that this is one you pick God because i am not you and i doubt there will be a big neon sign pointing to her saying this is the one. Let me give you a real life example of this.
My daughter who is now 14 was diagnosed with seizures. She was told she would probably be on medication for them all her life. Her brain would like a computer shut down and reboot. Midsentence this could happen. It happened at night while she was sleeping. It was a scary deal. So we prayed and prayed and then went to the doctor. There are a lot of details I am leaving out for time sake. So we hear from the doc. It is what we thought. So we get her on the med. That summer we were at kids camp and Bella was there but we always took Alyssa to the night services before she was old enough to go because well we are rebels and she enjoyed them. We got permission. That year was a little different though. So much weighing on Sonya and I. I began to weep at the back of the sanctuary and cry out to God about her. As I did I begin to literally get a vision of Alyssa wearing a red hat. God said to me my blood is covering her mind. She will not be on this her whole life. I have her. She will thrive. Then he told me to do the strangest thing. Ask the evangelist for a red hat. So I did. Then we went home after that week of camp and Sonya and I just kept praying. Every night we would put that red hat on and declare over her what the lord had said. So that we did not make a mistake or do something out of line. Sonya and I decided to pray a specific request. I am going to let her tell you this so you know it isn’t staged. I didn’t tell her i was doing this. What was the prayer that we prayed over our daughter.
Now look at this picture. There is the red hat. Every night. A Party hat. We didn’t plan that. It was the only had the guy had that was red. We still have that hat. We still celebrate every year she is seizure free because God did it.
Was it God ordained that this be the only had he had…I think so. Look at verse 15
Before he finished speaking.. You think this guy came up with this on his own and God said whew I am glad he asked me that now I can figure out how to get him to the right one. NO GOD ALREADY HAD THE PLAN IN MOTION!!!! It was most definitely an answer to his prayer but it was God who gave him the prayer. Because God knows what he is doing. You can’t just read the bible you have to read the bible.
16 The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.
17 Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.”
18 She said, “Drink, my lord.” And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink.
19 When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.”
20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels.
She does exactly what he prayed for because God is already moving. God is sitting in heaven wanting this guy to hurry up with his prayer because Rebekah in her way. Abraham’s brother is her grandpaw. She is Isaac’s second cousin.
So he sees her, she is beautiful and isn’t married. Check. So he approaches. Can I have a drink. She says yes. Check. Then she says I will give water to your camels until they have finished drinking. Finished drinking. Not just a little cup. You know how much water that is. How many camels. 10 Some say that this would have been in conservative view 200 gallons but believe to be closer to 300 gallons. Why is this important? She has to be willing to finish the task and have the strength to do so. Water for a stranger not a big deal but you watering all of my camels is a huge deal. She is only caring 1-5 gallons at a time.
21 The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the Lord had prospered his journey or not.
He sits down to watch and confirm. She goes all the way through this. Check. She is worthy. Now here is a gift from me to you for all the work you just put in but let me ask you this.
22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels,
23 and said, “Please tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”
24 She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.”
She is of the house of Abraham final check let’s go!! She is kin and she has plenty of hay. Not even part of the request just a bonus.
25 She added, “We have plenty of both straw and fodder, and room to spend the night.”
26 The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord
27 and said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.”
28 Then the young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things.
What does the man do? Who does he learn this from. How does he know to do this? Because his master taught him. Yeah it is abraham but what is your master teaching you. Who is your master. What did Jesus teach you? To always give honor to God. Never cease is praying. Enter his courts with praise.
This man knew when he placed his hand under the thigh he knew what he was entering. It is a covenant. Job made a covenant that he would not look lustfully do you know what he was saying if he did, make me blind. how many of you in here would want to make that covenant and take a stroll down the beaches of panama city. This is what this servant was saying that I will hold my end.
Now she goes and tells her mother’s household first. There is a reason for this because in the Jewish faith you were considered Jewish based on your mother’s lineage. They were considered to be a really big deal. They were not disregarded.
Now here is our first intro to Laban. Take notice. First so many things I could say his name means white. So here is the first white man of the bible. lol Totally joking. I just thought it was funny. But let’s take note at what he does.
29 Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban ran out toward the man, to the spring.
30 As soon as he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and heard the words of Rebekah his sister, “Thus the man spoke to me,” he went to the man. And behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.
31 He said, “Come in, O blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”
Laban catches on to something really quickly. He sees these gifts his sister has and he immediately begins to think some things. He immediately takes notice. What do you think he notices? These people have money. Whoever she has been talking to. Whoever she has been dealing with, they got some cheddar jack. And I want in. So he goes directly to the guy and look how sweet. First of all if you are going to put a ring in my sisters nose you better talk to my daddy first. Now he aint here so I am next. But look how sweet he is. He wants to find the servant because he knows I can get a come up for me and my family right here.
32 So the man came to the house and unharnessed the camels, and gave straw and fodder to the camels, and there was water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
33 Then food was set before him to eat. But he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.” He said, “Speak on.”
He has servants with him and money. Laban is thinking that if I can close this deal, we all moving on up to the east side. But he does start by acknowledging that you are blessed by YHWH!!! I know that you serve the God that Abraham does.