Hello. Welcome to Bible Wisdom Today, for those willing to think deeply. My name is Stan Watkins.

As a child, one of my strongest memories is of my teachers in school reading aloud to the class after lunch. I particularly recall the autobiographical stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder in her memorable “Little House” series. One element of those stories that piqued my interest even then was her use of the word “providence.” This was used in capitalized form, and I realized that it was a substitute name for God. For example in The Little House on the Prairie, the Ingalls family encounter a strange stray dog, who guards their home from local outlaws. Why would a stray dog do that? The author provides an answer, “Mother said she would always believe that Providence had sent the strange dog to watch over them.”

This use of “providence” as a proper name for deity was not unique to Wilder but firmly established in the 19th century American vernacular. Noah Webster’s historic 1828 American Dictionary says that “by divine providence is often understood God himself.” This was an elevated placeholder for the name of God, which allowed devout pioneers and others to describe God’s active presence in their daily life without taking the name of the Lord in vain.

The word “providence” comes from Latin roots which mean “to see ahead.” Another English word from the same roots is “provide.” These two words work in tandem to convey a profound theological understanding. Because God sees a need ahead of time, He can take action to provide for it in the present. This is the essence of providence. God directs and cares for us with His faithful unseen hand.

In our Bible story today, our storyteller crafts his tale to make this specific point. Even the ordinary events of life are under God’s watchful eye. Up to this point in Abraham’s story, we have seen God interacting with Abraham in supernatural ways, calling to him, revealing himself in visions, visiting his tent in disguise, raining destruction from heaven, and providing an unlikely ram in a thicket. Now, we have an ordinary story of travel logistics, human hospitality, and eloquent rhetoric. Can God work through these ordinary events of human life? Answering this question is important, not just for the ancient characters, but for ourselves as well. We don’t often see supernatural acts of God in our daily routines, but with discerning eyes, we can learn to see His faithful unseen hand.

Providence in Abraham’s tent

As we come today to Genesis 24, Abraham is reaching the end of his life story. Verse 1 says, “Abraham was now very old, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.” Abraham has begun the process of turning over his patriarchal family business to the next generation. He has given Isaac, his sole heir, legal possession of everything he owns, and has apparently also given him personal oversight over the family’s southern operation in the Negev. Meanwhile, Abraham retains direct management of their home base in Hebron. He also relies on his senior servant as active estate manager to carry out his operational and personal directives. Most interpreters assume that the servant mentioned in this chapter is Eliezer, who was named in chapter 15, but the narrator leaves him unnamed in this story to keep the attention on Abraham and the providence of God. 

The story begins with an account of a critical meeting between Abraham and his servant, as he instructs his servant to arrange a marriage for his son, Isaac.

Let me read Genesis 24, verses 2-9:

He [that is, Abraham] said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. 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 offspring 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.” So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.
Genesis 24:2-9

Arranging a marriage for Isaac was highly important to Abraham. Not only did he want the very best for his only son, but he also knew that through his line God had promised to bless the world. He wanted a worthy matriarch for his son. In light of that serious responsibility, he instructs the servant to swear a solemn oath, accompanied by a highly personal ritual gesture. Abraham tells his servant to place his hand under his thigh. By placing his hand on the inside of Abraham’s upper thigh, the servant was physically touching Abraham’s genitals, which was surely the point. Today, legally binding oaths are often taken by placing a hand on a sacred book, but Abraham did not have such a book, since the scrolls which would become the sacred scriptures had not yet been written. His own genitals were his most sacred object. Not only was it significant because the point of the oath was to secure future generations, but Abraham also carried here God’s covenant sign of circumcision. This is where he had been marked by God. 

There is no direct evidence of this exact gesture being used for legal oaths in other ancient near eastern literature, but this was a well-documented practice in Mediterranean cultures more broadly, particularly among Greeks and Romans. In fact, our English words testify, testimony, and testament all come from the same Latin root word as testicles.

Abraham set strict parameters on how the servant could carry out this charge. He was to return to Abraham’s country of origin and find a bride for Isaac there. “What if she is not willing to return with me to this land?” the servant asked practically. “Shall I then take your son back to where you came from?” No, Isaac must never leave the promised land. Abraham’s descendants could not return to his pagan roots. 

Abraham had experienced a lifetime of God’s faithfulness. He was convinced that God would continue to guide and care for his family with his faithful unseen hand. Was Abraham right? Would God did continue to watch over Abraham’s family through his trusted servant?

Providence by the City Well

We read in Genesis 24: 10 and 11:

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. 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.
 Genesis 24:10-11

This is all that is said about the servant’s 400-500-mile journey. He took ten camels with him loaded with all kinds of good things, which he could use later in negotiating for a bride for Isaac. He traveled north from Hebron in southern Canaan to Damascus, and then east into Mesopotamia near the headwaters of the Euphrates, finally arriving in the region of Aram-Naharaim. I mentioned in our last episode how important the name Aram was in this region. This specific region was called “Aram of the two rivers,” because it was bounded by the Euphrates on the west and the river Habur on the east. This was a major tributary to the Euphrates. This was a broad region, near the border of modern Syria and Turkey. Genesis says that he came to the city of Nahor. This could just be a description of the city of Haran, where Abraham and his father’s family had lived earlier, but there also was a nearby city specifically named Nahor. Haran was the urban trading center for the region. Genesis does not describe this journey, which would have taken 3-4 weeks. All we hear is that he had his camels kneel down near the well, which would give them rest, but he did not water the camels. The servant needed water himself first.

In the mid-20th century, scholars frequently criticized this reference to camels as a historical inaccuracy, since widespread camel domestication for long-distance desert travel did not occur until the Iron Age—well after the time of Abraham. More recently, physical evidence has been found of camel domestication as early as Abraham’s time, but it was limited to the wealthy elite. Showing up with a caravan of 10 camels at the well was like arriving with a fleet of luxury sports cars. Everyone, especially a potential bride’s family, knew that this traveler represented money. 

The servant directed his camels toward the well for two reasons. Firstly, he needed water, as did his camels, after their long journey. But secondly, they arrived in the evening, just at the time the women would go out to draw water. What an opportune time to survey the marriageable women of the town. Could God work, even in this mundane detail?

The servant seemed to understand the gravity of the moment, when 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 24:12-14

The servant begins and ends his prayer by asking God to show kindness to his master. In between he devised a strong character test for the potential young woman.

Before he had finished praying, [we read in verse 15], 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. 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 24:15-16

The narrator tells the readers much more about this young woman than the servant knew. We learn that she is Rebekah, whom we met briefly in our last episode. We are reminded about her family pedigree, and we learn that she is a virgin. The servant did not know any of these things, although he could see with his own eyes that she was beautiful, and it is possible that her virginity was announced by her style of dress.

The servant now put his plan into action. He 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. Oh! Could this be the one already? Even in his eagerness, the servant did not forget to be polite. He only asked for a sip of water. Rebecca responded immediately. Then, as if following the script from his prayer… 
 

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.
 Genesis 24:19-20

Unprompted, she did just what the servant had prayed for. She did not simply give them a small bit of water; she intended to see them tanked up. Rebecca’s performance surpasses even what the servant had asked for.

Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful.
 Genesis 24:21

A thirsty camel can drink up to 30 gallons of water. Drawing 300 gallons of water from an ancient well with a hand-bucket would have required hours of back-breaking labor. This scene of Rebekah running down and up the stairs to the spring, watering the parched camels and the bemused servant watching her carefully slows down the narrative, prolonging the tension. Has his journey already been successful? Will all Rebekah’s hard work really bring the end we expect?

Ancient audiences hearing this story would have known what to expect. It was a type of story they had encountered before. Its basic elements included a major character taking a journey to a foreign land, meeting a woman at a well, drawing water, an invitation to a meal, and a negotiated marriage. The Bible repeats this story type regarding Jacob meeting Rachel and Moses meeting Zipporah. This particular story, the first time it appears in the Bible, is an elaborate version with a unique plot twist. The potential groom does not make the journey himself, but a surrogate goes on his behalf. Isaac was in a unique status. He could not leave the promised land, but his absence also serves to amplify the stature of Rebekah.

Continuing to read in verse 22:

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? ”
 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 24:22-25

The servant’s gift was extravagant for a task which Rebekah had undertaken freely. This was how the author signaled her moral purity to the readers. She did not volunteer her labor out of greed. Rebekah labored out of hospitality and kindness. 

By giving her such lavish gifts, the servant has put himself in her debt. Now he asks for an even greater favor, to know the name of her father and whether he would be able to stay the night.

Rebekah answers the servant’s question about her parentage precisely, naming her father, and her grandmother and grandfather. Interestingly, she names her grandmother, Milkah, but not her own mother. Women enter the genealogies of Genesis rarely. Why did Rebekah choose to name her grandmother? Milkah was the daughter of Abraham’s brother, Haran, who had died young. She then married Abraham’s other brother, Nahor. Some have suggested that the marriage of Nahor and Milkah was well-known in the area, since Nahor the uncle had married his orphaned niece, fulfilling a duty of love to his dead brother. Perhaps so, but the most significant thing was that the woman standing before Abraham’s servant, glowing with the warmth of labor and zeal, was the descendant of both his master’s brothers. Oh! Things were going very well for the servant. He was supposed to find a wife from his master’s clan. How could he find a closer relative than this?!

Rebekah volunteers that her family can also care for his camels. The servant has not asked about this, but it might have been a way for her to indicate her own family’s wealth. The servant now understood that his task was nearing completion. 

We read in verse 26,

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

Both the servant’s first and last act beside the well was prayer. He bowed and prostrated himself before God. He was overwhelmed at the complete, immediate answer to his first prayer. The expression “as for me” is emphatic. How could he have expected such an amazing answer from the LORD?

At this point, Genesis tells us, “The young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things.” As she runs off, the servant, the author, and his readers are all sure that Rebekah is the one! She will be Isaac’s bride. But will the family agree? They might be less enthused about her new prospect. Rebekah must have realized that this meeting was not just an ordinary encounter with a stranger. As she showed her family the visitor’s gifts, they came to the same conclusion. The weight of the jewelry on her arms indicated an important life change for their daughter and sister.

Providence in the family home

Genesis now introduces us to another character in the story, Rebekah’s brother, Laban. His name means “white,” and he probably was named after the city’s patron deity, the moon god named Sin or Nanna. Haran was one of the main centers of worship for the moon god, which was deeply associated with the color white in ancient art. When we first met Abraham’s family back in Genesis 11, we saw that many of his family’s names reflected this same religious background. The irony was that Laban’s name, White, stood in sharp contrast to his dark soul. The author deliberately contrasts Rebekah’s pure spirit with her brother’s greed.

Let me read from verse 29:

Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring. As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring. “Come, you who are blessed by the LORD,” he said. “Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”
 Genesis 24:29-31

When Laban hurried to the well, was he enthusiastic about showing hospitality? No, he was running after the gold. He saw his sister’s new jewelry he understood the gifts as the opening move of an arranged marriage negotiation. He expected a staggering bride price. Notice the contrast between brother and sister. Rebekah did immense physical labor out of genuine kindness before receiving any gift. Her brother, Laban, showed hospitality only after seeing the wealth. And it was easy. He simply ordered his servants to prepare for his honored guest. This was an investment strategy.

Laban’s motivations are obvious from his greeting. Calling the servant “blessed by the LORD” was a polite greeting, but it revealed Laban’s understanding of blessing. This servant was obviously blessed because he represented a rich household. Still, Laban spoke truer words than he realized, since the servant was truly God-blessed. How else could his journey have gone so incredibly well? Laban also was presumptuous in his preparation before even meeting the man. He aggressively forces his hospitality onto the traveler to make sure that he doesn’t stay with some other prominent family with eligible daughters.

Reading on from verse 32,

So the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels, and water for him and his men to wash their feet. Then food was set before him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say.”
 “Then tell us,” Laban said.
 Genesis 24:32-33

Typically, the meal would be eaten before the guest stated his business, like the visitors to Abraham’s tent Genesis 18. This servant had a strong devotion to duty and desperately wanted to fulfill his assignment before satisfying his hunger.

At this point, the servant recaps all the events in the story so far, which I will not read in their entirety. Usually, Hebrew storytellers are sparing with their words, so this review must have an important function. He needs to convince Rebekah’s family that Isaac is a worthy match. It is obvious that God has guided the servant’s way by his faithful, unseen hand, but her family still needs to agree to her marriage. We can see the servant’s rhetorical skill by noticing what he emphasizes and also the subtle differences between his retelling and what actually had transpired. The servant is repackaging the history to meet the current requirements.

First, he introduces himself as Abraham’s servant and leads with Abraham’s financial portfolio. His master has been abundantly blessed by the LORD and become wealthy. He seems to have read Laban’s greedy character like a book. The word “abundantly” is a common word, but according to Gordon Wenham, this is the only place where it is used to modify “bless.”[1] 

Laban may have wondered, “If this servant can be so generous how much wealth must Abraham have? The servant answers before he is asked. He does so with a beautiful figure of speech called merism, when two opposites are combined to describe a whole. For example, you might say, “I searched high and low for my car keys.” You don’t mean you only searched high and low, but that you searched everywhere. Look at the examples the servant gives here. God has given Abraham sheep and cattle. In other words, he has all kinds of livestock, both small and large. He has silver and gold; that means all types of legal exchange. He has male and female servants, implying that he has all types of labor, both field workers and domestic help. Abraham also has camels and donkeys, representing all types of transport, both local and long distance, ordinary and elite. He is prepared for any type of trade. In short, Abraham operates a self-sustaining estate.

When these statements are put together, it gives a nice rhythmic cadence as an aid to oral storytellers and elevates simple prose to the standard of official pronouncement. Listen to the balanced structure of this sentence: “The LORD has blessed my master abundantly…. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.” Such a balance sheet gave the bride’s family reassurance in sending their daughter 500 miles away.

The servant was also careful to present Isaac in the best light. The fact that Isaac was an only son might have been seen as a lack of blessing by God, but the servant presents it as a positive. “What a catch! This young man has inherited all this vast wealth! There are no competing step-siblings. No rival heirs.” The mention of Isaac’s birth in his mother’s old age also implies that Isaac is still of a marriageable age to Rebekah, even though she is a generation younger.

When retelling the story of his solemn oath to Abraham about seeking a marriage partner for Isaac, the servant slightly abbreviates, and stresses the more positive motive of desiring  a wife from among his own people rather than his dislike of marrying his son to a local woman. The way it first occurred, Abraham made the servant swear to go to “my country and my relatives,” but the servant upgrades that criteria to “go to my father’s family and to my own clan.” Now that he has made the acquaintance of Abraham’s close relative, surely that is what he would have wished, if he had dared to be so specific. By playing up the kinship between the families of both bride and groom, the servant minimizes the pain of separation.

Initially, the servant had asked Abraham, “What if the woman is not willing to come back with me?” Here he plays that down slightly, simply saying “suppose the woman will not come with me?” And later he puts this responsibility on her family. He will be released from his oath if the family refuses to give her to him. He also does not even suggest the possibility that Isaac might move to Haran to take a wife. He does not want to put that idea into their heads!

In the opening scene in the tent, Abraham had stressed the promises of God as the primary hope for a successful journey and then added that His angel would go with his servant. The servant now figured that the way God had already answered his prayer was proof that the angel of God had gone before him and that this would be more convincing to Laban and his family than the promises of a god they did not worship.

When the servant gave his gifts to Rebekah at the well, he did so before he asked her who her father was. In his retelling, he says that he gave the gifts afterwards. The servant was a diplomat. He did not want to seem reckless or impulsive, but rather prudent, careful, and wise. He only gave away wealth after verifying Rebekah’s family credentials. This also was a subtle compliment to the prominence of Rebekah’s family.

The servant concludes with a strong statement of God’s providence. 

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. 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.”
 Genesis 24:48-49

The servant puts God on his side. Who could possibly say no to God? God had shown kindness and faithfulness throughout his journey. Would Rebekah’s family respond the same way? We get a clear answer in very next verse:

Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the LORD; we can say nothing to you one way or the other. Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has directed. ”
 When Abraham’s servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD. 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. Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there.
 Genesis 24:50-54

The servant’s rhetoric has been so overwhelming that Laban and his father, Bethuel, are left paralyzed, with no negotiating room. Up to this point, Laban has been the dominant family representative. Perhaps Bethuel, who has been remarkably passive throughout these negotiations, has already turned over the legal authority of the family to his son. The expression “take her and go” is a mirror of Abraham’s original words to the servant, “go and take. The family have conceded the basic point, Rebekah will become Isaac’s wife, but they still need to negotiate the bride-money, which is hinted at here, and also the timing of the wedding, which we will see shortly.

In the Ancient Near East, a betrothal was sealed by the transfer of money from the bridegroom’s family to the bride’s family. The costly gifts in this portion I just read appear to be that bride-money. Usually the bride-money was then passed on to the bride by her family as part of her dowry.[2] In this case, the servant gave gifts to Rebekah as well as her brother and mother. Was this simply a matter of goodwill or did he fear that Rebekah’s grasping brother would not pass them on to her?

It was only after these negotiations were completed that the servant and his men ate the meal.

Continuing to read from verse 54.

When they got up the next morning, [the servant] said, “Send me on my way to my master.”
 But her brother and her mother replied, “Let the young woman remain with us ten days or so; then you may go.”
 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.”
 Then they said, “Let’s call the young woman and ask her about it.” So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?”
 Genesis 24:54-58

The polite servant from the previous evening is now gone in the morning. “Send me on my way,” he says bluntly. Rebekah’s mother and brother now try to negotiate for a delay. The suggestion of 10 days is a Hebrew idiom which means literally, “days of ten.” It is difficult to determine its exact meaning. In some contexts, it seems to mean a longer time than 10 literal days, even a year. Any delay was too long for the servant. His stated reason, “Do not detain me, now that the LORD has granted success to my journey,” is not very persuasive. Did he fear that if she did not leave immediately her family might never allow her to go? Was he worried that Abraham might not live to see his new daughter-in-law? Saying either of these reasons out loud would not have been diplomatic.

Laban and his mother must have assumed that their pressure would convince Rebekah not to leave so soon, so they felt comfortable asking her opinion. Things have gone so well for the servant up to this point. His journey has been guided throughout by the hand of God. Now is the climax of the story, as the reader waits with the servant to hear her answer. 

“I will go,” she said.

She was decisive. 

So, we read in verse 59, “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 cities of their enemies.”
 Then Rebekah and her attendants got ready and mounted the camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.
Genesis 24:59-61

Even though the reference is to Rebekah as “sister,” all the family send her off, not just her brothers and sisters. It was common to send a bride away with her nurse. This was a high-status servant. She had been her wet-nurse as a child and remained a maternal surrogate figure all her life. She is later identified in Genesis 35 with the name, Deborah.

Her family sends Rebekah away with their blessing, wishing her many descendants. It is through her that the promise of a multitude of descendants will begin to be realized. 

They not only send Rebekah off with their verbal blessing, but with a large dowry, including attendants. These would be domestic slave girls who provided physical labor for the household. Her large dowry was a status symbol and also helped establish her economic security in her new home. The servant was going to need all those 10 camels. What an irony that this wealthy woman, with a staff of maids to serve her, had won her husband by laboring like a slave girl at the city well.

Throughout the story, the narrator has presented Rebekah as a female Abraham. Her name contains the letters “B” and “R,” just like Abraham. These are the first letters of the Hebrew word for “bless,” a key word repeated throughout this chapter. Hebrew wordplay was highly prized. Abraham contains the letters R-B and Rebekah contains the same letters in inverted order, B-R. When the family blessed Rebekah, the sounds of the words bless and Rebekah made this connection explicit.

In another similarity with Abraham, Rebekah underwent a test of hospitality before she received a marriage proposal, just like Abraham, who received the final promise of Isaac’s birth only after his hospitality to three heavenly visitors. Additionally, her driving energy to run back and forth to the well to care for the traveler matched the vigor of her future father-in-law, running back and forth to prepare a feast for his guests.

Additionally, the blessing of Rebekah’s family closely matches God’s blessing over Abraham after his obedience in offering Isaac, when God said that Abraham’s descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies. This may have been a common blessing for brides, but none-the-less it repeats God’s blessing on Abraham.

Finally, When Rebekah responded to her family’s question with “I will go,” she also mirrored the command God had given Abraham, “Go from your country.” She made this decision by her own choice, based on her own recognition of the obvious hand of God.

Providence by a desert well

The author of Genesis now shifts the scene to Isaac, who has been watching after Abraham’s southern operation in the Negev region.

We read, beginning in Genesis 24:62:

Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. He went out to the field one evening to meditate, 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; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
 Genesis 24:61-67

The author of Genesis begins this section with two geographic references. First we read that Isaac was living in the Negev, that dry, desolate land just south of Canaan. The northern border of the Negev was near Beersheba, where Abraham had established his southern outpost. Isaac had just returned from Beer Lahai Roi, which is even further south. We are told in the next chapter that Isaac was now living there.

If you have been with me through our series on Genesis, your ears may prick up when you hear that name. This was the spring where God met Hagar, the surrogate mother to Ishmael, when she ran away from her abusive mistress. God promised her there that she would give birth to a son who would become a large nation. This location marked a turning point in Hagar’s own faith and she named the place, “The well of the living one who sees me.” Now, after years of use, that spring has been dug out and reinforced to become a permanent water source for Abraham’s extended southern operation.

One evening, our New International Version says, Isaac went into the field to meditate. It is not clear what this word “meditate” actually means. It is a rare word which occurs only here. For this reason, Bible scholars and translators suggest four possible meanings. Perhaps Isaac was praying, the meaning hinted at with the translation “meditate.” Perhaps he was checking on his fields, crying in grief at the loss of his mother, or simply answering the call of nature. Whatever he was doing, he was stopped mid-action by the arrival of his future wife, his comfort in sorrow, partner in labor, and gift of God.

Isaac looked up and saw. We have seen this expression before, marking something significant to follow. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. Then Rebekah got down from her camel. Literally, the text says that she “fell” down, indicating her haste. She immediately recognized her husband to be as head of the estate and showed him deference, dismounting to his level and covering herself with a veil. Rebekah’s veil was not a sign of female oppression or forced isolation, as we might think of it. Rather, it was a status symbol that was legally reserved for free, high-class women.[3] Putting on her veil was Rebekah’s solo ritual. “I am no longer an available, independent woman. I am now entering the protected status of family matriarch.” This was the opposite of her position in the scene by the city well. There she acted like a working girl, unveiled and energetic. Now she is veiled and protected.

Rebekah becomes the leading woman in the clan and Isaac brings her into his mother’s tent. When Isaac led her into Sarah’s tent, he was performing a public ceremony, installing Rebekah as the new family matriarch. She took up her position, residing in Sarah’s tent, even before Isaac married her. There has been a generational change. Rebekah replaces Sarah, Isaac replaces Abraham, but the covenant relationship continues. 

We also read that Isaac loved her. This seems like a simple statement, but this is the first time in the Bible that the word “love” is used for a husband toward his wife. The last time the word “love” was connected with Isaac he was the beloved son, bound to a sacrificial altar by his father. Now, Rebekah, the female Abraham, moves into the tent of Sarah, bringing love, comfort, and future promise to this grieving son.

Before we end our episode today, we want to take a brief look at the first eleven verses of Genesis 25. Here, our author ties up a few loose ends regarding the last days of Abraham before officially closing the book on this patriarch of faith. We first read a brief description of another wife of Abraham named Keturah, who bore Abraham five children. This comes as a surprise to most readers, but the author is content to give us the simple facts without embellishment or explanation. We are told, again, that Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac, but gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away to the land of the east. Many of Keturah’s children became foundational leaders of prominent Arabian tribes who later played recurring roles in relation to Isaac’s descendants

Abraham’s death is beautifully stylized with these words:

Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people.
 Genesis 25:7-8

This was precisely what Abraham had been promised by God years earlier, "You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age." The author is checking the boxes to show that God keeps every promise He makes.

We also read, briefly, “His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre.   There, Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah (vv. 9-10).

This is a powerful image to close the story of Abraham. It recalls the most fractured, painful moment in this family’s history, and completes it with silent partnership and apparent reconciliation.

Our narrator now officially closes the book of Abraham. [Quote] “After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.” God had led Abraham through one hundred years of faithfulness and failure. Sometimes he led dramatically, with visions, a direct voice from heaven, and angel visitation, but at others in quiet, unobtrusive ways that were only discerned by someone spiritually attuned to God’s ways. Now his blessing continued with Isaac, as he lived near the well of the Living One who Sees Me. Because He sees, God provides with his faithful, unseen hand.

Personal encouragement

I first experienced the providence of God as a child growing up on my father’s farm. Because farming is so dependent on weather which cannot be controlled, I think every farmer must have an innate sense that their harvest depends primarily on the unseen hand of God. Our family experienced this unforgettably one August. This would normally be the time of grain harvest, but that August was unusually wet in western Oregon, so much so that Dad could not get out into the fields for almost four weeks. When it was finally dry enough to harvest, he found that the entire harvest had been ruined. The grain had sprouted while standing in the field. This meant that combining was difficult, since the moist kernels would not easily separate from the unwanted chaff, but more importantly, there was no market for it. Nobody wanted sprouted grain—at least at that time. Many farmers that year simply plowed their fields under rather than wasting time and money harvesting an unsellable harvest.

My father took a different approach, however. He harvested anyway. Because the local grain depot would not buy it, his only option was to store it in his own barn to feed his own cattle. Our barn was old and was not designed to receive grain by the truck load. The grain had to be sacked and then stacked in the barn. This was a lot of manual labor, and I learned how to sew up grain sacks by hand. Over the course of the winter, my father poured those bags one by one into a small mill to grind for cattle feed—and we ate it too.

In the middle of the winter, Dad received a call from the grain depot. People wanted to buy feed for their cows, but they didn’t have any. They remembered that Dad had stored his unwanted harvest, and did he have any feed for sale? Why, yes he did! This began a totally new side of the business for my father. All through that winter he sold the ground grain. One customer looked around the barn and said, “Hey! I see that you have hay as well. Would you also sell that, as well?” Many of his customers were buying grain for horses, and Dad learned that horse hay had particular requirements and he began specializing in that. Within a few years, he was able to build a new barn and expand his retail business.

My mother told me later that she had asked Dad, why was he harvesting his grain when everyone else was plowing theirs under? His answer was simple. This was the harvest that God had given. He expected him to harvest it. This was a statement of faith—a simple belief that, even though it didn’t look like it, God had his ultimate best interests at heart. God was directing his life and caring for his needs with His faithful unseen hand.

Today we have come to the end of the story of Abraham. I have mixed feelings. I have known the stories of Abraham since I was a child, but I have come to a much deeper understanding over the last several months as I have studied them with you. At the same time, I am looking forward to beginning the story of Isaac in our next episode. This is the son of promise! How is God going to continue his covenant relationship with the next generation?

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[1] Wenham, Gordon J. (2000). Word biblical commentary. volume 2, Genesis 16-50. Zondervan.
[2] Wenham, Gordon J. (2000).
[3] Wikimedia Foundation. (2026b, October 2). Veil. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil