A bride for Isaac…

The Oath

The getting of a bride for Isaac starts with a weird (to us) oath. Abraham puts his head servant, his most trusted guy, under oath to select a bride for Isaac from among his kinfolk. He is NOT, under any circumstances to:

1) Take Isaac back to Haran or Mesopotamia

2) Get a Canaanite woman

And how does old Father Abraham have the servant make this oath? Well, he umm, he has him swear on the “family jewels.”

“And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his house, who had charge of all he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh that I may make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose midst I am dwelling,

Then the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and he swore to him concerning this matter.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭24‬:‭2‬-‭3‬, ‭9‬ ‭LEB‬‬

Thigh – Strong’s number 3409, yarek: an unused root meaning to be soft; the thigh (from its fleshy softness); by euphemism the generative parts; figuratively, a shank, flank, side, body, loins, shaft, thigh.

Yes. This is saying what you think it’s saying.

Probably would’ve been less awkward for us readers if he could’ve sworn on a Bible but they didn’t have one yet.

Abraham’s seed had been particularly blessed by God. So I suppose it makes sense to swear on it. Don’t get freaked out by this. There’s nothing perverted happening here. It just shows you how different our culture today is from Abraham’s. Always keep that firmly in mind.

In Genesis 15:2 Abraham says that the steward of his house is a servant “born in his house”- Eliezer of Damascus. For that reason we might suppose that the servant sent here is Eliezer. And it may be. But it’s fascinating that he is unnamed in the text.

Remember how Isaac had a prophetic role to play in the last chapter? If Isaac is a picture of Jesus, perhaps the unnamed servant is a picture of the Holy Spirit who is sent by the Father to call and prepare a bride for the Son.

The servant loads 10 camels with dowry and goes to the land of Abraham’s brother, Nahor.

(Fun fact: Nahor [naw-khor] means – I kid you not- “snorer.” 😴 😆)

The Servant’s Prayer

“And let it be that the girl to whom I shall say, ‘Please, offer your jar that I may drink’ and who says, ‘Drink—and I will also water your camels,’ she is the one you have chosen for your servant, for Isaac. By her I will know that you have shown loyal love to my master.” Genesis‬ ‭24‬:‭14‬ ‭LEB‬‬

The servant assumes in this prayer that God has already got a girl picked out. He’s not praying “Help me pick the right one.” He’s praying “Help me recognize the one You’ve already picked.” That might not be a bad model prayer for single saints. Just sayin’.

And there is a test built in to his prayer.

Camels can drink up to 30 gallons of water in about 15 minutes when they are thirsty. Times 10 camels.

So…

🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣

X

🐪🐫🐪🐫🐪🐫🐪🐫🐪

=

300 gallons 🪣

What chick on earth would make such a crazy offer as this? Water 10 camels?

Verses 16 and 20 say that Rebecca went “down into the well.” This would’ve been a cistern. Imagine a smallish swimming pool. The ancient desert dwellers were ingenious at collecting rain water. They would sometimes even channel it from long distances to fill a cistern.

The text says literally that Rebecca was “good to look upon.” I’m thinking that she probably had the figure of a personal trainer. She offers (seemingly without much hesitation) to schlep enough water to fill nearly 2, 4-person hot tubs. No wonder the servant stood there stunned and silent (v21). Rebecca is no spoiled Instagram model. She is kind. Thoughtful. Hard-working. Hospitable. And…perfect for Isaac.

Meet the Family

When Rebecca tells the servant that they have room for him to stay…

“The man knelt down and worshiped Yahweh. And he said, “Blessed be Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld his loyal love and his faithfulness from my master. I was on the way and Yahweh led me to the house of my master’s brother.” Then the girl ran and reported these things to the household of her mother.” Genesis‬ ‭24‬:‭26‬-‭28‬ ‭LEB‬‬

Can we just appreciate for a second that Jillian Michaels here follows up her weight training workout with a run? Rebecca was a catch! But what strikes me as precious is that it seems to be the servant’s mention of Yahweh that makes her tear off at a sprint to go tell her household about the visitor.

The camel train makes its way to the home of Rebecca’s brother, Laban. (Remember him. He’ll be important later) Over dinner the servant recounts his errand and how Rebecca is the answer to his prayers. Then he starts passing out gifts like Oprah- You get gold jewelry, and you get gold jewelry! You get a new outfit. And you get a new outfit! And you get two new outfits!

The idea behind a dowry is to compensate the family for the economic loss caused by taking the daughter out of the household. They’re gonna have to hire like 3 servants to make up for Rebecca. She’s a cross between Mary Poppins and a Power Ranger.

The next morning the servant is ready to return home. But- will Rebecca come with?

“And they said, “We will call the young woman and ask her.” Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭24‬:‭57‬-‭58‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

Y’all, she is agreeing to marry a man she has never met. While that was not unusual in the culture, I think there is more here.

If Isaac is a picture of Christ, Rebecca must be a picture of the bride of Christ, the Church, who also marries a bridegroom that she has only heard about but has never seen.

“…though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭8‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

Rebecca entrusts her whole life and future to Isaac based solely on the testimony and gifts of the Servant. In the same way, the Church entrusts herself to Christ based solely on the testimony of the Holy Spirit and the gifts He has given to the Church.

The Servant called Rebecca but she had to be willing. “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.” May the Saints ever be willing to go where the Lord leads.

Rebecca was decisive. No conditions. No caveats. No dilly-dallying. She saw that the Lord had directed this whole affair and that was enough. So we learn that Rebecca was also a woman of strong faith. She gets her attendants together, they hop on the camels and set off with the family showering her with verbal blessings.

Meanwhile…

“Now Isaac was coming from the direction of Beer-Lahai-Roi. And he was living in the land of the Negev. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field early in the evening, and he lifted up his eyes and saw—behold, camels were coming.” Genesis‬ ‭24‬:‭62‬-‭63‬ ‭LEB‬‬

This is the first time since the offering that we actually see Isaac in the text. He’s coming from the direction of Beer-Lahai-Roi. Remember that one? That’s the spring-fed well that Hagar named in Genesis 16. It means Well of the Living One Who Sees.

And what’s he doing? The translators choose “meditate” in most versions. Only, it’s not the Hebrew word usually translated “meditate.” That word is hagah and it means what we think meditate means: to ponder, imagine, talk (in your head = think). What Isaac is doing appears only here in all the Bible so there are no other references to compare it with. It’s the word suwach (soo-akh). Strong’s has it “to muse pensively.” Colorful. It’s 3 Hebrew letters. Let’s look em up in Paleo and see what we get.

SHIN (pronounced sheen) – was the pictograph of two front teeth. Shin means teeth and the things you do with teeth: cut, chew, eat, consume, destroy and also “front” or face toward because that’s where your teeth are.

VAV (pronounced vahv) – it was a picture of a hook or peg and is a conjunction, it joins things together as all conjunctions do. Think of it as a + or the word and.

CHET (pronounced khet) – it was the pictograph of a wall and meant wall, obstacle, end (like I’ve hit a wall, it’s the end), and because a wall marks the boundary between inside and outside, the letter chet also could mean outside.

Now, put em together. Teeth + obstacle. We would say that Isaac was chewing on a problem. To “muse pensively” is a fancy way of saying it. But we could also legitimately consider: destroy + end, or even consume + outside.

“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him…

…And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”
‭‭II Thessalonians‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

When the Lord returns for His bride he will consume the ones who are outside of His Kingdom. He will destroy at the end.

Whoa. That escalated quickly. Suddenly we’re neck-deep in Apocalyptic vibes. Could this unusual Hebrew word, (used only here!) be a teeny little hint at the timing of the marriage of the Lamb? Because that’s exactly what happens next.

Isaac looks up from his pondering and sees his bride who is being brought to him decked out in the beautiful gifts his father had provided.

“And Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent, and she became his wife. He loved her deeply, and she was a special comfort to him after the death of his mother.” Genesis‬ ‭24‬:‭67‬ ‭NLT‬‬

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Closing Peptalk

As with any OT prophetic picture, be careful to not get too far down into the weeds. It’s tempting to start speculating about what the tent represents or if the camel is a symbol of something. (They’re probably just a tent and a camel) All metaphors break down if you press them too hard and I’ve seen people concoct utter nonsense by doing this.

I try to pick up the “handfuls on purpose” that the Holy Spirit scatters in the text. But I don’t forge them into a club to beat people over the head with. As if I’m the only one who has it figured out. Beware of that. Anyone or any group who thinks they’re the only ones who have all the things right, and everyone else is probably headed to Hell in a handbasket- that’s sketchy. I’m not saying to be so open-minded that your brain falls right out either.

Always, ALWAYS do your own reading, studying, thinking and praying. And I don’t care if someone is a New York Times best-selling author and has more degrees than a Texas thermometer, you still think for yourself. Ok? Promise me you’ll never ever blindly follow ANYONE. You follow Jesus and the Word of God, ok? You have just as much access to the counsel of God as I or anyone else does. Do your homework though. I don’t sit around in the Lotus position waiting for magical insights to float into my head. I had no earthly idea that the word “meditate” in this text was going to lead me down the rabbit hole it did. I looked it up and got curious. And it took me several hours to dig it all out, cross-reference, and verify.

Good Bible study looks suspiciously like homework.

😏📚📓📖📚📒✍️📝

Ok. Peptalk over. I’m going to get started on my homework for tomorrow.

🤓