One Of The Redeemed Watering Camels – Part 20 – The Christadelphian Bible Archive

The Stories Of The Family Of Abraham are very important to us for several reasons:

they tell the history of the fathers and mothers of Israel, to whom Almighty God made great and precious promises. These promises belong to us as well for, by faith, we too become the sons and daughters of Abraham, the father of the faithful;
they bring us, in stories of warm human interest, examples of great personal faith, courage, devotion, and love;
they also present pictures of the redeemed.

Isaac and Rebekah

The story of Isaac and Rebekah is of a couple who lived thousands of years ago. Yet they were personally concerned with the same wonderful promises that occupy our attention 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 as she made the choice, in faith, to leave familiar surroundings and immediate family to fulfill an unexpected opportunity.

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, 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. Then, as we read in Genesis 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. All this is an enacted parable 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 lands of the Gentiles.

The importance of a good wife

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 journey:

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 NIV as all quotes).

Abraham knew how important it was that 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.

Abraham’s impact on his household

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 by osmosis, it would seem — from parent to child, from friend to friend: a faith in the certainty of God’s goodness which transcends all the 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 become HIS faith as well. So it was that Abraham was happy to send this servant, his close friend, on such an errand.

A journey for a wife

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, 0 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 171 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 as it was an offer that would spring only from a warm and generous heart.

God answers the prayer

Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Mikah, 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 a tired traveler showed a complete lack of pride, a practical disposition and a strong constitution. 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 water and its gradual release into the camel’s system as needed. As a camel’s water capacity ranges from 8 to 15 gallons, Rebekah was prepared to draw up to 100 gallons of water for Eliezer’s ten thirsty camels. This would mean quite a number of trips up and down steps to a well, or the same number of heavy buckets pulled up by rope.

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 and are a precious discovery indeed.

Rebekah responds

Rebekah’s kindness and hospitality was not yet exhausted. Next there came an offer of food and shelter for Eliezer, his companions, and camels, in her family home.

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).

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. She had been chosen by God but would she choose God?

Quite remarkably, once Eliezer explains his mission, Rebekah sees the part she has been called to play in this divine drama, she is ready to go!

So they called Rebekah and asked het; ‘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’s wife

[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).