Watering the camels
The stories of Genesis, of the family of Abraham, are both
instructive and lovely. They are very important to us for several
reasons:
- ...because they tell the history of the fathers (and mothers) of Israel, to
whom Almighty God made great and precious promises -- promises that belong to us
as well, for by faith we too become the sons and daughters of Abraham, the
father of the faithful;
- ...because they bring us, in stories of warm human
interest, examples of great personal faith and courage, and devotion, and love;
and
- ...because they also present, in figurative language, "parables" of
salvation.
The story of Isaac, and Rebekah, is a story of a couple who
lived thousands of years ago. Yet they were directly and personally concerned
with the same wonderful promises that occupy our attentions today. They believed
that in their father and his offspring (which included them) all nations of the
earth would be blessed, by becoming themselves the children of God through
faith, and that such blessing would involve the inheritance of the earth for an
everlasting possession.
The story of Rebekah illustrates great personal courage -- the
choice, in faith, to leave familiar surroundings and immediate family, and go to
a strange land, to fulfill a destiny laid out for her by an Unseen
God.
And in Isaac's life, we see the sacrifice by a father of a
"miracle son", a beloved son who was himself willing to be offered, near
Jerusalem (Gen 22). After this near-sacrifice was accepted by God, then Isaac
was, symbolically speaking, received back from the dead (Heb 11:19). And the
Father in Heaven renewed His great promise -- that all nations might experience
forgiveness of sins. Finally, as we read in Gen 24, Isaac was brought a bride
out of the Land of the Gentiles -- a bride who came willingly to the man whom
she had never seen, but whom she loved nevertheless. And all this is a
"parable", of course, of the only-begotten Son of God, who DID lay down his
life, to provide the means for our sins to be forgiven... and who will one day
"marry" his "bride" -- taken willingly out of the nations of the
Gentiles.
*****
The old man Abraham had a problem: in order to perpetuate the
hope of God's promises to him and his seed, he needed a wife for his son Isaac.
So he called his trusted servant (probably, but not certainly, Eliezer: Gen
15:2), and sent him on an important errand:
"I want you to swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the
God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the
Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own
relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac."
"The servant asked him, 'What if the woman is unwilling to
come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country
you came from?'
" 'Make sure that you do not take my son back there,' Abraham
said. 'The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father's household
and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, "To your
seed I will give this land" -- he will send his angel before you so that you can
get a wife for my son from there. If the woman is unwilling to come back with
you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son
back there' " (Gen 24:3-8).
Abraham knew how important it was that, in this early stage of
the development of the promised "seed", his son have a good wife, a righteous
wife, one of God's choosing, and one who was herself devoted to the same things
as Abraham and Isaac.
Now faith as strong as Abraham's does not remain the sole
property of the one who exhibits it, but stretches out to those who come under
its influence. Even today we see the same thing: faith passed on -- almost
magically, it would seem -- from parent to child, from friend to friend. Faith
in the certainty of God's goodness -- which transcends all the problems and
difficulties of life.
Abraham's servant had felt the power of his master's faith.
His life had been so influenced by that faith -- it had, in fact, become HIS
faith as well -- that Abraham was happy to send this servant, his close friend,
on such an errand.
*****
"Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and left,
taking with him all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram
Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. He had the camels kneel down
near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out
to draw water. Then he prayed, 'O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me
success 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 girl, "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" ' " (Gen 24:10-14).
Notice his prayer: "Show kindness to my master Abraham." He
does not request success to gratify himself, or improve his standing in his
master's eyes. Instead, his desire is solely that the work might be done to his
master's satisfaction.
An offer to "water the camels also" was not likely to be made
by many women. So it became a mark of special significance.
It was an offer that would spring only from a warm and
generous heart.
And thus Abraham's servant felt his request would be one that
God would be willing to grant.
"Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar
on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife
of Abraham's brother Nahor. The girl was very beautiful... She went down to the
spring, filled her jar and came up again. 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 to
her hands and gave him a drink.
"After she had given him a drink, she said, 'I'll draw water
for your camels too, until they have finished drinking.' 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' " (vv 15-20).
Rebekah's kind consideration for tired travelers showed a
complete lack of pride, and a willing and practical disposition.
One of the peculiarities of the camel is its ability to travel
great distances without requiring water, a result of the construction of its
stomach which allows for the storage of excess of water and its gradual release
into the camel's system as needed. How much does this amount to? Various
authorities suggest from 8 to 12 gallons, and some as high as 15 gallons each.
So it seems that Rebekah was quite prepared to draw about 100 gallons of water
for Eliezer's ten thirsty camels. This would mean quite a number of trips --
perhaps 40 or 50 -- up and down steps to a well some distance underground,
and/or the same number of heavy skins, or buckets, pulled up by rope.
Now a woman willing to water one camel, or even two, might not
be all that difficult to find. But Rebekah was a "ten-camel" woman! Such are
very rare (about as rare as a Ruth who gleaned in the fields steadily, all
through the day: Rth 2:7!) -- and one who would do what she did was a precious
discovery indeed.
*****
Rebekah's kindness and hospitality was not yet exhausted. Next
there came an offer of food and shelter, for Eliezer and his companions, and
their camels, in her father's house.
"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' " (Gen 24:26,27).
Now, by the providence of God, the future wife of Isaac seemed
to have been marked out. But it still remained for Rebekah herself to make the
final choice. In short, she had been chosen by God... but would she now CHOOSE
God?
Eliezer now brings out the wealth of his master Abraham,
giving gifts to Rebekah. This has the effect of bringing out Laban's natural
greed -- hence his welcome: "Come, you who are blessed by the LORD" (v
31).
But Rebekah is not motivated by greed -- she evidently sees,
in Abraham's gifts and wealth, evidence of the God of heaven having greatly
blessed him. And once she sees the part she has been called to play in this
divine drama, she is ready -- even eager -- to go!
" So they called Rebekah and asked her, 'Will you go with this
man?' 'I will go,' she said. So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along
with her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and
said to her, 'Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your
offspring possess the gates of their enemies.' Then Rebekah and her maids got
ready and mounted their camels and went back with the man. So the servant took
Rebekah and left" (vv 58-61).
Thus the choice which at first must have seemed beyond
successful human solution was now complete.
"[Isaac] went out to the field one evening to meditate [the
word means 'to talk, or pray with God'], and as he looked up, he saw camels
approaching. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel
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. Then
the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac brought her into the tent of his
mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her"
(vv 63-67).
*****
Rebekah was known for her great faith in the unseen God, the
One who called her to make a difficult decision, and undertake a long and
arduous journey. When she knew what this God wanted of her, she did not rest
even one day, but she was eager -- intensely and single-mindedly so: "I WILL
GO!" she said. And she went!
In faith, she began a journey that day... a journey that took
her to her God, her new family, her husband, and her destiny. That destiny is to
be one of the precious jewels in God's "bundle of life", one of the stars in His
eternal crown, one of those who wash their robes and make them white in the
blood of the Lamb.
