{"id":4811,"date":"2020-08-10T14:23:53","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T20:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=4811"},"modified":"2023-08-12T06:16:47","modified_gmt":"2023-08-12T12:16:47","slug":"genesis-2450-67","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=4811","title":{"rendered":"Genesis 24:50-67"},"content":{"rendered":"

50\u00a0<\/sup>Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said,\u00a0\u201cThe thing comes from the\u00a0Lord<\/span>; we cannot speak to you either bad or good.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

51\u00a0<\/sup>Here\u00a0is\u00a0Rebekah before you; take\u00a0her\u00a0and go, and let her be your master\u2019s son\u2019s wife, as the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0has spoken.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

52\u00a0<\/sup>And it came to pass, when Abraham\u2019s servant heard their words, that\u00a0he worshiped the\u00a0Lord<\/span>,\u00a0bowing himself to the earth.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

53\u00a0<\/sup>Then the servant brought out\u00a0jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold, and clothing, and gave\u00a0them\u00a0to Rebekah. He also gave\u00a0precious things to her brother and to her mother.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

54\u00a0<\/sup>And he and the men who\u00a0were\u00a0with him ate and drank and stayed all night. Then they arose in the morning, and he said,\u00a0\u201cSend me away to my master.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

55\u00a0<\/sup>But her brother and her mother said, \u201cLet the young woman stay with us\u00a0a few\u00a0days, at least ten; after that she may go.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

56\u00a0<\/sup>And he said to them, \u201cDo not hinder me, since the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0has prospered my way; send me away so that I may go to my master.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

57\u00a0<\/sup>So they said, \u201cWe will call the young woman and ask her personally.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

58\u00a0<\/sup>Then they called Rebekah and said to her, \u201cWill you go with this man?\u201d <\/span>And she said, \u201cI will go.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

59\u00a0<\/sup>So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham\u2019s servant and his men.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

60\u00a0<\/sup>And they blessed Rebekah and said to her: <\/span>\u201cOur sister,\u00a0may\u00a0you\u00a0<\/span>become the mother of thousands of ten thousands; a<\/span>nd may your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

61\u00a0<\/sup>Then Rebekah and her maids arose, and they rode on the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

62\u00a0<\/sup>Now Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he dwelt in the South.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

63\u00a0<\/sup>And Isaac went out\u00a0to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there, the camels\u00a0were coming.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

64\u00a0<\/sup>Then Rebekah lifted her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from her camel;<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

65\u00a0<\/sup>for she had said to the servant, \u201cWho\u00a0is this man walking in the field to meet us?\u201d\u00a0<\/span>The servant said, \u201cIt\u00a0is\u00a0my master.\u201d So she took a veil and covered herself.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

66\u00a0<\/sup>And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

67\u00a0<\/sup>Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah\u2019s tent; and he\u00a0took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac\u00a0was comforted after his mother\u2019s\u00a0death.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

Verse 67 is the second mention of love in the Bible.<\/h3>\n

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. \u2014 Morris, pages 403-404.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the Genesis account, Isaac had last been seen at the place of sacrifice (Genesis 22:13-16<\/span><\/a>). 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Isaac had apparently made preparations to set up his own tent near Hagar’s well, the well Lahai-roi (Genesis 16:14<\/span>; 25:11<\/span><\/a>) far in the Negev, the south country, where Hagar had first discovered “the well of the living-and-seeing One.”\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

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.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

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<\/span><\/a>). \u2014 Morris, page 405-406.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The response of Laban and Bethuel to the servant’s account of his mission\u2014i.e., “The matter comes from the Lord, so we cannot speak to you bad or good”\u2014is 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<\/em> God.\u00a0 The recognition of other people’s god(s) is “par for the course” throughout the Bible (true “atheists”\u2014the definition of a biblical “fool” (Psalm 14:1<\/span><\/a>)\u2014were rare). Were He truly their<\/em> God, they would certainly have spoken “good”\u2014i.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\u2014probably hoping to reverse their acquiescence in “face-saving” fashion\u2014they 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”\u2014a 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<\/span><\/a>) as well as the fact that this exact expression is employed to express precisely the same type of recommittment by Ruth (Ruth 1:16). \u2014Wechsler, page 219.<\/span><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

50\u00a0Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said,\u00a0\u201cThe thing comes from the\u00a0Lord; we cannot speak to you either bad or good. 51\u00a0Here\u00a0is\u00a0Rebekah before you; take\u00a0her\u00a0and go, and let her be your master\u2019s son\u2019s wife, as the\u00a0Lord\u00a0has spoken.\u201d 52\u00a0And it came to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genesis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4811"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8283,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4811\/revisions\/8283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}