Genesis 24:1-28
A Bride for Isaac
1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. 2 So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please, put your hand under my thigh, 3 and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; 4 but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”
5 And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?”
6 But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there. 7 The LORD God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, To your descendants I give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 8 And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.
10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, for all his master’s goods were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. 11 And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water. 12 Then he said, “O LORD God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 Behold, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. 14 Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”
15 And it happened, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. 16 Now the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin; no man had known her. And she went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up. 17 And the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.”
18 So she said, “Drink, my lord.” Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand, and gave him a drink. 19 And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” 20 Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. 21 And the man, wondering at her, remained silent so as to know whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not.
22 So it was, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden nose ring weighing half a shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold, 23 and said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please, is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge?”
24 So she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.” 25 Moreover she said to him, “We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge.”
26 Then the man bowed down his head and worshiped the LORD. 27 And he said, “Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren.” 28 So the young woman ran and told her mother’s household these things.
In the account of Abraham’s search for a bride to satisfy the LORD and his son Isaac, we see how he sent an older wise servant to seek out a suitable wife or come back alone. There was to be no compromise on the choice of one from the people of God and not an unbeliever, a vital lesson still for those now in Christ as we read in 2 Corinthians 6:14 to be bound in a covenant yoke only with a fellow believer. If we choose to choose unwisely from the world for a spouse, there will only be an unfruitful life in that marriage. Abraham knew this and instructed his servant to choose wisely for his son as the custom then was for arranged marriages chosen by the father then, but the principle holds for our culture as well in choosing well. Abraham trusted the God who promised him the country to come that He would also guide the man, in this case by an angel but we are led by His indwelling Spirit now, to find a suitable bride willing to come back and marry his son of the people of God. He also answered the question of if the woman was unwilling to return and marry Isaac by releasing him from the quest if that were to happen. We can equate that in our culture of one on one choosing by saying that the man asking the woman to marry him must be in the Lord and also be willing to commit to each other in a promised covenant for life and not a mere temporary arrangement as is often the worldly way now. When the servant sought a place to water himself and the camels, he boldly asked God to have a certain woman offer a certain thing to prove she was appointed for him to bring back to Isaac. Just as he finished asking, a beautiful woman came to draw water from the well and so he ran to her and asked for a drink, which she happily obliged and offered for his camels as well, just as he had asked the LORD for! That was no mere coincidence. He offered her the engagement jewelry he brought as a gift and found out this woman Rebekah was not only of the people of God, but also a close relative. He asked to stay with her family after the journey and bowed in thankful worship to the LORD for leading him to her. We who in our culture do this without a middleman can apply the same principles to finding a wife or husband, namely that we ask for God’s leading (Isaiah 30:21, Proverbs 3:5-6) and praise Him when He brings us together. God’s mercy and truth are found when we seek a godly spouse in God’s way and not outside of His people in Christ or on our own terms apart from these and the leading of the Lord by His Spirit. In His providence of grace, God leads us to the one we are to covenant with, even if we don’t see it at the time. This is the blessing of the Lord for a bride of a man or a husband of a woman by His leading. We are to walk by faith like Abraham in all areas of life and not choose our own way, especially in such important commitments.
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