Genesis 24:50-67
50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you either bad or good.
51 Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as the Lord has spoken.”
52 And it came to pass, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, that he worshiped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth.
53 Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother.
54 And he and the men who were with him ate and drank and stayed all night. Then they arose in the morning, and he said, “Send me away to my master.”
55 But her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman stay with us a few days, at least ten; after that she may go.”
56 And he said to them, “Do not hinder me, since the Lord has prospered my way; send me away so that I may go to my master.”
57 So they said, “We will call the young woman and ask her personally.”
58 Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.”
59 So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men.
60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her: “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands; and may your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them.”
61 Then Rebekah and her maids arose, and they rode on the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed.
62 Now Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he dwelt in the South.
63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there, the camels were coming.
64 Then Rebekah lifted her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from her camel;
65 for she had said to the servant, “Who is this man walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took a veil and covered herself.
66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.
67 Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Verse 67 is the second mention of love in the Bible.
After such a testimony, there could be no doubt that God had led the servant to select Rebekah as Isaac’s bride. Both her father and her brother, Bethuel and Laban, immediately acknowledged that regardless of their personal feelings in the matter, God had spoken and they must accept His decision. … Immediately the servant went to his store of valuables, and began to lavish gifts of jewelry and beautiful raiment on Rebekah. The bride of a prince must be provided with new clothing and adornments furnished by the father of the prince. … When they arose in the morning, the servant surprised everyone by requesting an immediate departure. … They felt that a minimum of ten days would be necessary for her to make adequate preparations and for them to adjust to the idea of her departure. … After the servant’s reference to the Lord’s leading, Laban and Bethuel’s wife decided to leave the decision up to Rebekah. … She was ready to go immediately! … Rebekah took her nurse with her, as well as her maids. … The family then bestowed a blessing on Rebekah, with prayers for a billionfold progeny, and said their good-byes. — Morris, pages 403-404.
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In the Genesis account, Isaac had last been seen at the place of sacrifice (Genesis 22:13-16). Though his name was frequently on the lips of Abraham, the servant, Rebekah, and others in the narrative, Isaac himself does not appear again until he goes out to meet Rebekah.
Isaac had apparently made preparations to set up his own tent near Hagar’s well, the well Lahai-roi (Genesis 16:14; 25:11) far in the Negev, the south country, where Hagar had first discovered “the well of the living-and-seeing One.”
Rebekah saw Isaac … and instinctively knew it was him. When she asked the servant, and he had confirmed it, she literally “fell off” the camel to meet him. She quickly put on a “veil,” actually a garment which covered both face and body, as this was the proper way, in accord with the custom, to first meet her husband-to-be.
Isaac first took Rebekah into Sarah’s tent, vacant for the three years since his mother’s death, until the formalities of the marriage ceremony could be arranged. Then he married her, and took her into his own tent at Lahai-roi (Genesis 25:11). — Morris, page 405-406.
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The response of Laban and Bethuel to the servant’s account of his mission—i.e., “The matter comes from the Lord, so we cannot speak to you bad or good”—is noncommittal. One must be careful not to infer from their affirmation of Yahweh’s existence and even involvement in the matter that they are committed to Him as their God. The recognition of other people’s god(s) is “par for the course” throughout the Bible (true “atheists”—the definition of a biblical “fool” (Psalm 14:1)—were rare). Were He truly their God, they would certainly have spoken “good”—i.e., responded in the affirmative that Rebekah was God’s choice. As it is, Laban and Bethuel are not opposed to the marriage (Isaac is, after all, a rather wealthy heir) and they initially acquiesce to the marriage, telling the servant to take her and go. They apparently have second thoughts, however, and—probably hoping to reverse their acquiescence in “face-saving” fashion—they undertake the rather unusual move of summoning Rebekah to consult her wishes in the matter. She again demonstrates her exemplary character (and the propriety of God’s choice) by stating, simply, “I will go”—a response which indicates not just a willingness to recommit socially and geographically, but also theologically (to belief in Yahweh), as born out both by her later actions (cf. Genesis 25:22) as well as the fact that this exact expression is employed to express precisely the same type of recommittment by Ruth (Ruth 1:16). —Wechsler, page 219.
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