Genesis 24.21-25-Rebekah Identifies Herself

Tuesday April 18, 2006

Genesis: Genesis 24:21-25-Rebekah Identifies Herself

Lesson # 129

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 24:1.

This evening we will resume our studies in the book of Genesis by noting Genesis 24:21-25, which records Rebekah identifying herself through her words and actions.

Genesis 24 is divided into five sections.

Thus far, we have studied the first two sections and a portion of the third section.

(1) Genesis 24:1 presents an introductory statement regarding Abraham’s age to begin the chapter and demonstrates the urgent need to secure a bride for his son.

Genesis 24:1, “Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in every way.”

(2) Genesis 24:2-9 records Abraham commissioning his servant in his household to go back to Paddan Aram and secure a bride for Isaac among Abraham’s relatives.

Genesis 24:2-4, “Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he owned, ‘Please place your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.’”

Genesis 24:5, “The servant said to him, ‘Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?’”

Genesis 24:6, “Then Abraham said to him, ‘Beware that you do not take my son back there!’”

Genesis 24:7, “The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.”

Genesis 24:8, “But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this my oath; only do not take my son back there.”

Genesis 24:9, “So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.”

(3) Genesis 24:10-27 presents Abraham’s servant providentially meeting Rebekah at a well in Nahor in Aram Naharaim.

Thus far, we have only completed up to Genesis 24:20.

Genesis 24:10, “Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and set out with a variety of good things of his master's in his hand; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.”

Genesis 24:11, “He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water.”

Genesis 24:12, “He said, ‘O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham.’”

Genesis 24:13, “Behold, I am standing by the spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.”

Genesis 24:14, “now may it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’ -- may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.”

The plan that the servant proposes to God in prayer to determine the identity of the woman that God wants Isaac to marry appears on the surface to be “putting out the fleece” and testing God as Gideon did in Judges 6:36-40.

But this is not the case but rather, the servant’s proposal to God in prayer would test the woman rather than God.

The fact that the servant’s proposal to God in prayer was to test the woman expresses his care and concern for Isaac and his high opinion of Isaac as well as his father Abraham.

He does not want Isaac to marry a woman with poor character.

Proverbs 12:4, “A wife of noble character is her husband's crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.”

So according to the servant’s plan, the woman must “volunteer” to draw water for ten thirsty camels and as we noted, camels can drink twenty-five gallons of water!

The servant knew the kind of hospitality that characterized Abraham, so the test would also demonstrate that she was the kind of woman who would fit into Abraham’s family.

To give the servant a drink was one thing but to give a drink to the men and then to satisfy the thirst of the camels was an entirely different matter.

The servant did not plan to ask the woman for water for his camels, only for himself.

She could thus meet his request quite easily, while sensing no obligation to meet the total needs of the caravan.

Any woman who was willing to “go the extra mile” in this matter was one of unusual character.

Therefore, we see that the “character” of the woman Isaac was to marry was essential to God and not her beauty or virginity.

Proverbs 31:10, “A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.”

Genesis 24:15, “Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder.”

Genesis 24:16, “The girl was very beautiful, a virgin, and no man had had relations with her; and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.”

Genesis 24:17, “Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, ‘Please let me drink a little water from your jar.’”

Genesis 24:18, “She said, ‘Drink, my lord’; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink.”

Genesis 24:19, “Now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, ‘I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking.’”

In Genesis 24:14, Abraham’s servant prayed that the woman would not only give him a drink but also draw water for his camels but we see that she does more than what the servant prayed for in that she offers to give the camels water to drink “until they have finished drinking.”

Now, remember a camel can drink twenty-five gallons of water and so she would be there a while and would take up a lot of her time and would be a sacrifice for her.

Rebekah demonstrates her spiritual character in that she goes the extra mile for Abraham’s servant, which was taught by our Lord to His disciples.

Matthew 5:41, “Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.”

Genesis 24:20, “So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels.”

Genesis 24:21, “Meanwhile, the man was gazing at her in silence, to know whether the LORD had made his journey successful or not.”

Abraham’s servant Eliezer is wise in that he waits to see if the young woman would finish the difficult and arduous task of watering his ten camels before he decides that she is the wife that God has provided Isaac.

Genesis 24:22 records that she did finish the task and therefore we see Eliezer showering her with gifts because God has not only answered his prayer but did much more than he asked for in his prayer.

Ephesians 3:20-21, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”

Genesis 24:22, “When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half-shekel and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels in gold.”

When Rebekah had finished watering the servant’s camels and thus exceeded that which the servant had asked God for concerning her, he knew that this was the woman God had given Isaac.

The servant’s next act was to offer Rebekah gold as a reward for the difficult task for watering ten camels, which she freely undertook.

He gives her a gold nose ring and two gold bracelets for her wrists.

These gifts were designed to win her goodwill and impress her family and confirm that the servant has a wealthy and generous master, which turns out to be an important consideration in the subsequent negotiations with Rebekah’s family.

He gave Rebekah “a gold ring weighing a half-shekel,” which would be equivalent to one-fifth of an ounce or 5.5 grams.

Eliezer also gave her “two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels in gold,” which would be equivalent to four ounces or 110 grams and would be a very handsome sum.

Genesis 24:23, “and said, ‘Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room for us to lodge in your father's house?’”

This question “whose daughter are you?” is absolutely essential since the answer will determine if she is indeed the bride for Isaac.

The answer to the question is critical since Abraham stipulated to the servant that the woman that Isaac was to marry must be a relative of his as recorded in Genesis 24:4, “go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

She has passed the character test with flying colors and comes from Abraham’s country but will she be a relative of his as he stipulated and which God required since Isaac’s wife must be a Shemite as Abraham and Isaac were and not a Canaanite.

“Please tell me” indicates the urgency of the servant’s request.

Genesis 24:24, “She said to him, ‘I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.’”

Rebekah does not give her name to the servant because the servant didn’t ask her for her name but rather “whose daughter” she was.

The servant does not ask for her name but rather her father’s because Abraham stipulated that the woman Isaac was to marry must be from his relatives as recorded in Genesis 24:4.

Rebekah identifies her father as “Bethuel” (la@WjB+) (Hebrew: bethu’el pronounced: beth-oo-ale) whose name means, “dweller in God” and was the eighth and final son of Nahor and Milcah according to Genesis 22:20-24.

Rebekah’s father Bethuel is Isaac’s cousin, thus God’s providence has exceeded Abraham’s request for a relative to be Isaac’s wife.

The name of Nahor’s wife is “Milcah” (hK*l=m!) (Hebrew: milkah pronounced mil-kaw), which means, “queen” and she was Lot’s sister according to Genesis 11:27-29 and therefore, we see that “Milcah” was both wife and niece to “Nahor.”

“Nahor” was the brother of Abraham and was named after his grandfather (see Genesis 11:25).

So we see that Rebekah mentions her father (Bethuel), her father’s mother (Milcah) and her grandfather (Nahor).

The identification of these individuals was exactly the information that he was looking for from the girl since it answered perfectly to the qualifications that Abraham specified for the woman to be Isaac’s wife.

Genesis 24:25, “Again she said to him, ‘We have plenty of both straw and feed, and room to lodge in.’”

As a final demonstration that this beautiful young woman is the one that God wants Isaac to marry, she demonstrates her hospitality, which characterized Abraham’s family.