Genesis 24.26-27-Abraham's Servant Worships the Lord

Wednesday April 19, 2006

Genesis: Genesis 24:26-27-Abraham’s Servant Worships the Lord

Lesson # 130

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 24:1.

This evening we will study Genesis 24:26-27, which records Abraham’s servant Eliezer worshipping the Lord in prayer as a result of the Lord’s directing him in finding Rebekah.

As we have noted in our last three Bible classes, Genesis 24 is divided into five sections.

This evening we will complete the third section of this chapter.

(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.

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.”

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.’”

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.”

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.”

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

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

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

Genesis 24:26, “Then the man bowed low and worshiped the LORD.”

This beautiful young woman who watered the servant’s ten camels and informed the servant that her family was related to Abraham and her hospitality exceeded everything that the servant asked God for in prayer.

The young woman’s actions, background and character demonstrated to Abraham’s servant that she was indeed the woman that God wanted Isaac to marry.

The servant recognized the providence of God in all these circumstances and bowed to the ground and worshipped the Lord with thanksgiving and praise and in awe of His guidance and direction.

Abraham’s servant responded to God’s providential care in directing him to Rebekah and identifying her to him by worshipping the Lord in prayer.

There are five essential elements to prayer: (1) Confession (2) Thanksgiving (3) Worship (4) Intercession (5) Petition.

Here we see Abraham’s servant manifesting in his prayer two of these elements, namely, thanksgiving and worship of God.

Thanksgiving: Colossians 4:2, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.”

Worship: Psalm 18:3, “I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.”

Worship is adoring contemplation of God as He has been revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Person of Christ and in the Scriptures.

It is the loving ascription of praise to God for what He is, both in Himself and in His ways and is the bowing of the soul and spirit in deep humility and reverence before Him.

Warren Wiersbe defines worship, “Worship is the believer’s response of all that they are –mind, emotions, will and body-to what God is and says and does. This response has its mystical side in subjective experience and its practical side in objective obedience to God’s revealed will. Worship is a loving response that’s balanced by the fear of the Lord, and it is a deepening response as the believer comes to know God better” (Real Worship, 26).

If we paraphrase Wiersbe’s definition, we could say the following:

Abraham’s servant Eliezer is worshipping the Lord in that he is responding in his mind (his thoughts), emotions (joy), and body (falling on his face) to what God is (omnipotent and sovereign and faithful) and did in leading him to Rebekah and identifying her for him and he is responding to God’s providence.

Psalm 95:6-7, “Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.”

“Lord” is the proper noun Yahweh (hw *hy+), which is the personal covenant name of God emphasizing the “immanency” of God meaning that the Lord had involved Himself in and concerned Himself with and intervened in the life of Abraham’s servant so as to direct him to Rebekah and identify her as Isaac’s wife.

Genesis 24:27, “He said, ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, the LORD has guided me in the way to the house of my master's brothers.’”

Genesis 24:27 presents the servant’s prayer of thanksgiving and praise to God for guiding and directing him to Rebekah and identifying her as the woman that God wanted Isaac to marry.

“Blessed” is the passive voice of the verb barakh (Ir^B*) (bah-rach), which means, “to bless” in the sense of “praising” the Lord for His providence and sovereignty over circumstances and denotes the covenant relationship between Abraham and the Lord.

Psalm 72:18, “Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.”

“God” is the noun Elohim, which emphasizes that God has sovereignly intervened in the life of Abraham’s servant and directed him to Rebekah and identified her as being the woman that God wanted Isaac to marry.

The fact that Abraham’s servant uses the term Elohim, “God” demonstrates his awareness that God is sovereign over his circumstances.

“Lovingkindness” is the noun chesedh (ds#j#) (kheh-sed), which means, “loyal or faithful love” to Abraham and Isaac and which loyal or faithful love God expressed in faithfulness to His covenant promises to Abraham in providing a wife for his son Isaac.

Micah 7:20, “You will be true to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago.”

Therefore, we see that Abraham’s servant has an awareness and knowledge of God’s character and the covenants He has established with Abraham and Isaac.

This word chesedh involves the inferior partner depending on the kindness of the superior to meet a desperate need.

Therefore, we see that Abraham’s servant acknowledged that God met the desperate need of Isaac to have a wife.

“Truth” is the noun `emeth (tm#a$) (eh-meth), which is used by Abraham’s servant to praise the Lord’s faithfulness, and reliability and trustworthiness in guiding him directly to Rebekah.

Psalm 100:5, “For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Psalm 33:4, “For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.”

When taken together, these two noun chesedh, “lovingkindness” and `emeth, “truth” express the continued stability and reliability of God’s unconditional love towards Abraham and Isaac.

Psalm 25:10, “All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.”

Abraham’s servant also acknowledges the providential care of the Lord who had guided and directed him to Rebekah.

Proverbs 3:6, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Proverbs 4:11, “I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths.”

This encounter between Abraham’s servant and Rebekah was the result of God’s sovereign will and omniscience by which this encounter was brought into being and glorified Him.

The omniscience of God comprehended at once in eternity past this encounter between Abraham’s servant and Rebekah and the course it would take and its conditions and relations and determined that this encounter with Rebekah would take place.

This encounter between Rebekah and Abraham’s servant was known by God in eternity past before anything was created and was sovereignly determined by God to take place at the time it did.

It was God’s eternal and immutable will that this encounter between Abraham’s servant and Rebekah would take place in time and the precise order of events leading up to it and the manner in which the events would transpire.

God from His sovereignty decided in eternity past that this encounter with Rebekah and Abraham’s servant would take place in the exact time that it did.

All of this, Abraham’s servant Eliezer recognized and acknowledged.

He saw with the eye of faith God’s providence in leading and guiding and directing him to Rebekah.