Gen 24:34 So he said, "I am Abraham's servant. 35 The LORD has blessed my master
abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle,
silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. 36 My master's wife Sarah has borne
him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. 37 And my master made me swear an
oath, and said, 'You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the
Canaanites, in whose land I live, 38
but go to my father's family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.' 39 "Then I asked my master, 'What
if the woman will not come back with me?' 40 "He replied, 'The LORD, before whom I have walked
faithfully, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so
that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father's
family. 41 Then, when you go to
my clan, you will be released from my oath even if they refuse to give her to
you--you will be released from my oath.' 42 "When I came to the spring today, I said, 'LORD, God of my
master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I
have come. 43 See, I am standing
beside this spring. If a young woman comes out to draw water and I say to her,
"Please let me drink a little water from your jar," 44 and if she says to me, "Drink,
and I'll draw water for your camels too," let her be the one the LORD has
chosen for my master's son.' 45
"Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on
her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her,
'Please give me a drink.' 46
"She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, 'Drink, and I'll
water your camels too.' So I drank, and she watered the camels also. 47 "I asked her, 'Whose daughter
are you?' "She said, 'The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milkah
bore to him.' "Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her
arms, 48 and I bowed down and
worshiped the LORD. I praised the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had
led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master's brother for
his son. 49 Now if you will show
kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may
know which way to turn." 50
Laban and Bethuel answered, "This is from the LORD; we can say nothing to
you one way or the other. 51
Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master's
son, as the LORD has directed." 52
When Abraham's servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before
the LORD. 53 Then the servant
brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to
Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother. 54 Then he and the men who were with
him ate and drank and spent the night there. When they got up the next morning,
he said, "Send me on my way to my master." 55 But her brother and her mother replied, "Let the girl
remain with us ten days or so; then you may go." 56 But he said to them, "Do not detain me, now that the LORD
has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my
master." 57 Then they said,
"Let's call the girl and ask her about it." 58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Will you go with
this man?" "I will go," she said. 59 So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her
nurse and Abraham's servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our sister, may
you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the cities
of their enemies." 61 Then
Rebekah and her attendants got ready and mounted their camels and went back
with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left. 62 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in
the Negev. 63 He went out to the
field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. 64 Rebekah also looked up and saw
Isaac. She got down from her camel 65
and asked the servant, "Who is that man in the field coming to meet
us?" "He is my master," the servant answered. So she took her
veil and covered herself. 66 Then
the servant told Isaac all he had done. 67
Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So
she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his
mother's death.
This week we continue with the alternative Old Testament
readings that have been appointed for this year--readings that trace the story
of God's covenantal relationship through the "First Families." On the
surface, this week's [long] reading simply sounds like a love story. The last
verse could very well have been written, "and they lived happily ever
after." And I suppose there's nothing wrong with stopping there. We could
view this as a wedding text and talk about the blessings of a believing spouse
within a covenantal relationship with the Lord.
Going
deeper, many Christian commentators also see in this passage elements of great
faith and answered prayer. We are not told the name of this loyal servant of
Abraham, but tradition has always said that it is none other than Eliezer of
Damascus... the same man whom Abraham lamented would be his heir at one point
(Gen 15:2). Many have pointed out that when the servant prays that if the
'right woman' should come along, she would not only offer him a drink but also
water his camels, that this is QUITE the request! The commentators tell us that
camels can drink up to 20 gallons of water at a time. The account tells us
Abraham’s servant had 10 camels with him, so when Rebekah watered the camels
she packed potentially 200 gallons of water up out of the well! The point is
that God answered the servant's prayer in such a way that he could be ASSURED
that he was pursuing the right course.
That's wonderful, but I think most Christians
would have a hard time relating. How often have we prayed for much less of a sign only to be left
guessing?
When
it comes right down to it, I think of all of the 'takes' on this story, I like that
of the modern Jewish Rabbi Jonathan Sacks the most. God makes wonderful,
awesome, earth-shattering covenant promises. He promised Abraham a land of his
own and more descendants than the sands of the seashore. Yet at this time in
the story Abraham owns no land of his
own--indeed, as Rabbi Sacks points out--he has just completed a very difficult
bargaining process in order to buy a small chunk of land to bury his wife
in--and his son Isaac, while healthy, has yet to marry and produce heirs. And
when we get to the details of this Sunday's text, what we find are very
difficult and complex matters. Abraham's servant has traveled FAR. It's been a
long and difficult journey. He's looking for a needle in a haystack. Abraham
himself had taken a risk, as entrusting a servant with such provisions and on
such a long journey, what if the servant had decided this was his big chance to
break out on his own? And then there's the bargaining process with Rebekah's
family who ostensibly like the idea of her marriage to Isaac, but aren't
willing to let her go right away. Most Christian Bibles soft-pedal this saying Let the girl remain with us ten days or so (v55),
but there's enough leeway in the Hebrew that the Jewish rendering is Let the girl remain with us for a year, or
ten months at least. In other words, these are intense negotiations that Abraham's servant is involved in.
Here's
the point.... YES... God issues wonderful, awesome, earth-shattering,
life-changing covenantal promises. He did so for Abraham and the Patriarchs; he
did so for Moses and the Prophets; and he does so for all humanity through the
death and resurrection of his own dear Son Jesus. However, these promises
entail at their very core an invitation to ACT; to move; to leave the land of your fathers and go to a
place I will show you (Gen 12:1); to travel far to find a wife for the
child of promise; to be willing to wait until the right woman comes along; to
engage in hard bargaining with her family; and then take the long, hard journey
back.
Things
like this are harder for the Christian to preach because we always want to
emphasize the GRACE of God which comes to us as a free gift without any merit
or worthiness on our part. Yet over and over again, both testaments show that
God's grace is *not a divine invitation to simply turn to the right tv channel
and comfortably watch. God's grace is
an invitation to GO, WORK, WRESTLE, and LIVE the life he envisions for us!
Cheers,
T.M.
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