In Friday's passage Abraham asked his trusted servant Eliezer to travel to the region of Ur to find a wife for Isaac from among their relatives. He doesn't want Isaac to end up with a pagan wife from Canaan. Today the servant sets about accomplishing this task.
"Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master's camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor." (Genesis 24:10) You'll recall that Nahor is the name of Abraham's brother. Aram Naharaim was an area also known in the Bible as Haran and Paddan Aram, and it lay on the outskirts of Ur in the upper Mediterranean region. It was previously mentioned under its name of Haran as the hometown of Abraham's father. I suppose we could think of Aram Naharaim as a suburb of Ur.
When Eliezer reaches the town, his camels need to rest and to be refreshed with water. "He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time women go out to draw water." (Genesis 24:11) The young women of the town would need to come out for water before helping their mothers prepare the evening meal. This is the best place for Eliezer to find an eligible young lady who is related to Abraham's brother. I want to stop and point out that when a man is seeking a good woman, he has to go where good women go. Eliezer isn't going to bars looking for a wife for Isaac. He goes where family-oriented women congregate.
This servant of Abraham sets another beautiful example for us by praying for success ahead of time. He knows he needs the Lord's guidance in this very serious matter. When we have an important decision to make, the best thing we can do is first go to the Lord in prayer for guidance. "Then he prayed, 'Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, 'Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,' and she says, 'Drink, and I'll water your camels too'---let her be the one You have chosen for Your servant Isaac. By this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.'" (Genesis 12-14)
There's nothing sinful about asking for a sign from the Lord. There are occasions in the Bible where He invites people to ask Him for a sign. There are instances in the Bible, like the one in our passage today, where people pray to the Lord and ask for a sign and He grants it. But the sign needs to be specific because when you're looking for a sign, everything looks like a sign. It's too easy for us to interpret the smallest thing around us as a sign that God is saying yes to something, especially when "yes" is the answer we want. Our request needs to be specific, like Eliezer's. Eliezer knows that it's unlikely any well-brought-up young lady of the town will refuse to give him a drink, so the sign is that the right woman will generously offer to bring water to his ten camels too. He isn't going to ask anyone to bring the water to the camels; he's looking for the woman who will make this offer from the goodness of her heart. Ten camels need a lot of water, and according to some commentaries I consulted, it could have taken up to an hour to carry enough water back and forth to the trough so that all ten camels got their fill of water and were satisfied. A woman who will do such a thing for a stranger and his animals is a woman with a big heart. She's putting the needs of others ahead of her own needs. She's volunteering time and energy to do a good deed.
"Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor." (Genesis 24:15) She's Nahor's granddaughter and a cousin to Isaac, but not a first cousin.
"The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up again." (Genesis 24:16) In the sinful region of Ur, it cannot be automatically assumed that an unmarried woman is a virgin. The Bible is careful to point out that Rebekah is a virtuous young lady.
Eliezer doesn't know whether Rebekah is the one or not, but she's the first young lady who appears on the scene, so he begins the dialogue he discussed with the Lord. "The servant hurried to meet her and said, 'Please give me a little water from your jar.' 'Drink, my lord,' she said, and quickly lowered the jar in her hands and gave him a drink." (Genesis 24:17-18) If the young lady chosen by the Lord for Isaac had not been one of the first on the scene, Eliezer might have had to drink from many jars before finding the right woman, but the Lord doesn't put him through that. The Lord has arranged it so that Rebekah shows up before any of the others.
Now she says the words that are the sign she's the right girl for his master's son. "After she had given him a drink, she said, 'I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.' So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful." (Genesis 24:19-21) He's seen the sign but wants to feel certain in his spirit that the Lord is indeed leading him to obtain this lady's hand in marriage for Isaac. He observes her energetic hard work. He observes that she seems to be a nice girl who has been brought up right. There's just one more test she has to pass for him to feel satisfied that he's on the right track, for his master specifically wants only a woman who is of his brother's family.
"When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. Then he asked, 'Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?'" (Genesis 24:22-23) Eliezer, because he is the servant of Abraham, can richly reward Rebekah for her hard work, so he produces a nose ring weighing about 5.7 grams and two bracelets that weigh 115 grams together. A man traveling with fine gold jewelry and a caravan of ten camels carrying valuable goods is a man who is to be respected. He can pay for his accommodations for the night, as these things demonstrate, plus it shows Rebekah that he's not some swindler off the street but is either a man of means or he works for a man of means. She's not afraid to take him home and offer him lodging for the night. "She answered him, 'I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor.' And she added, 'We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.'" (Genesis 24:24-25) She wants him to be her family's guest for the night and she also offers to house the camels in the barn. I think Rebekah is an animal lover, don't you? Since I'm an animal lover myself, I really admire her compassion for the camels.
Upon hearing that she is the granddaughter of Abraham's brother Nahor, Eliezer knows she is the woman the Lord has chosen for Isaac. Before he does anything else, he thanks the Lord for answering his prayer. "Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, saying, 'Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned His kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives.'" (Genesis 24:26-27) This is another instance in which Eliezer sets a good example for us. We pray for a lot of different things throughout the day, but sometimes in our busy lives we forget to stop and thank the Lord for answering those prayers. We prefer our prayers to be answered right away, don't we? But it's easy to overlook thanking the Lord right away. Eliezer doesn't put it off; he immediately bows down and gives praise in the public square near the well. May we all be more mindful in this new year of the many times the Lord grants our requests and may we follow Eliezer's example by giving Him praise right away!
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