Passage: Genesis 24

The Big Idea

Genesis 22-24 paints a beautiful picture of the gospel. The father offers his son on Moriah. Sarah dies. Then the father sends his servant to a far country to find a bride for his son. The unnamed servant pictures the Holy Spirit, who never speaks of Himself, never forces anyone, but woos a bride for Jesus and brings her home. Rebekah said, “I will go,” to a groom she’d never seen, and when she saw him, she got off her camel.

Old Testament Pictures

The Old Testament illustrates New Testament truth. In these chapters:

Isaac pictures Jesus, God the Son.
Abraham pictures God the Father.

Remember Moriah (Genesis 22): a sacrifice was needed. The father committed to offering his only son, and the son went willingly. The father prophesied that his son would come back. The father chopped the wood, built the altar, bound his son, laid him on the wood, and took the instruments of death in his own hands.

The son was offered up in chapter 22. Then in chapter 23, Sarah died and was buried. Some see in Sarah a picture of Israel, set aside for a time after Jesus was crucified, when the temple was destroyed and the people scattered.

Now, in chapter 24, a bride is sought for Isaac. And a new character steps into the drama: the servant.

We, the church, are the bride of Christ (Revelation 19:7; 21:2, 9).

Abraham Blessed in All Things (Genesis 24:1)

Abraham was old, well along in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.

Jesus said not to anxiously chase food and drink as the nations do. The Father knows we need them. Seek His kingdom, and all these things will be added to us (Luke 12:29-31). Abraham had sought God’s kingdom, and the Lord had blessed him in all things.

The Servant (Genesis 24:2-9)

Abraham told the oldest servant of his household, who managed everything he owned, to put his hand under his thigh and swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and earth, not to take a wife for Isaac from the Canaanites, but to go to Abraham’s homeland and relatives and find a wife for his son there.

The servant pictures the Holy Spirit.

He may have been Eliezer from Genesis 15, but we’re never told his name here. Why? Perhaps because Jesus said the Spirit wouldn’t testify about Himself. When the Helper comes, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, He will testify about Jesus (John 15:26).

Any true movement of the Holy Spirit will be about Jesus, not about the Spirit Himself.

The servant asked, “What if the woman isn’t willing to come back with me? Should I take your son back to that land?” Abraham said, “Make sure you don’t take my son back there. The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me from my father’s house and promised this land to my descendants, will send His angel ahead of you, and you’ll find a wife for my son there. And if the woman isn’t willing to come, you’ll be released from this oath. Only don’t take my son back there.” So the servant swore.

“If the woman is not willing.” Verse 8 is key. Don’t force her. She has to be willing to follow you!

The Holy Spirit never forces anyone.

He pleads.
He shapes circumstances.
He urges.
He knocks on the door of the heart (Revelation 3:20).
But He will not force.

The Holy Spirit is a gentleman, not an overpowering force.

God does all things decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40).
The spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets (1 Corinthians 14:32). We aren’t out of control.
The Spirit came on Jesus like a dove (Matthew 3:16): pure and peaceful. Not like a vulture, an eagle, or a frantic hummingbird!

At the Well (Genesis 24:10-21)

The servant took ten of his master’s camels, loaded with gifts, and traveled to the city of Nahor in Mesopotamia. He had the camels kneel by the well outside the city in the evening, when the women came out to draw water. And he prayed, “LORD, God of my master Abraham, please give me success today and show kindness to my master. Let the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let me drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too,’ be the one You’ve chosen for Isaac.”

Before he had even finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother Nahor, very beautiful and pure. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up. The servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water.” She said, “Drink, my lord,” and quickly gave him a drink. Then she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they’ve finished.” She emptied her jar into the trough and kept running back to the well until she had watered all the camels. The man watched her in silence, wondering whether the LORD had made his journey successful.

Ten thirsty camels can drink a huge amount of water. This could have taken her a couple of hours!
The servant wasn’t leaving things to chance. He wanted to be sure this was God’s provision, not a fluke.
(Single men: the Bible suggests you find your bride at the well! Jacob and Moses both did (Genesis 29; Exodus 2). Stay away from the places where the world goes to find its partners.)

Rebekah was pure. We aren’t! But in Christ, we’ve been washed white as snow (Isaiah 1:18).

Gifts for the Bride (Genesis 24:22-31)

When the camels finished drinking, the servant gave her a gold nose ring and two gold bracelets. Then he asked, “Whose daughter are you? Is there room in your father’s house for us to stay?” She said she was the daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor, and that they had plenty of straw and feed and room to stay. The man bowed and worshiped the LORD: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who hasn’t abandoned His kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, being on the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s relatives.”

The Spirit gives gifts to the bride. Gold often pictures what is divine. The Holy Spirit gives gifts to the church (1 Corinthians 12:4-11).
“Being on the way, the LORD led me.” Keep yourself on the way, and you’ll end up where you’re supposed to be. And the Way is Jesus (John 14:6).

Rebekah ran home and told her family. Her brother Laban ran out to the man at the well. When he saw the nose ring and the bracelets on his sister and heard her story, he said, “Come in, you who are blessed by the LORD! Why are you standing out here? I’ve prepared the house and a place for the camels.”

Laban pictures the worldly man. He saw the gifts. The gifts of the Spirit often draw the world’s interest.

The Servant Speaks of the Son (Genesis 24:32-49)

The servant came to the house, the camels were unloaded and fed, and water was brought to wash his feet. Food was set before him, but he said, “I won’t eat until I’ve told you my errand.” “Then speak,” they said. “I am Abraham’s servant,” he said.

The Spirit serves.

He told them the LORD had greatly blessed his master, giving him flocks, herds, silver, gold, servants, camels and donkeys. And Sarah, in her old age, had borne his master a son, to whom he has given everything he has.

Just as the Father has given all things to the Son (John 3:35).

Then he retold the whole story of his journey and his prayer, and asked them to tell him plainly whether they would show kindness to his master.

“I Will Go” (Genesis 24:50-61)

Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the LORD; we can’t say anything to you, good or bad. Here’s Rebekah. Take her and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as the LORD has spoken.” When the servant heard this, he bowed to the ground before the LORD. Then he brought out silver and gold jewelry and clothing for Rebekah, and gave costly gifts to her brother and mother.

The unbelievers around a believer are blessed just by being connected to them. Paul says something similar about an unbelieving spouse being “sanctified” by a believing one (1 Corinthians 7:14).

The servant and his men ate, drank and spent the night. In the morning he said, “Send me back to my master.” But her brother and mother said, “Let the girl stay with us a while, ten days or so, and then she can go.”

That’s always what the world says: “Don’t get so radical. Don’t rush off with Jesus.”

But the servant said, “Don’t delay me, since the LORD has made my journey successful. Send me off to my master.” So they said, “Let’s call the girl and ask her.” They called Rebekah and asked, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.“

It was a long journey.
She had never met him.
But she liked what she’d heard so far.

Peter says that though we haven’t seen Jesus, we love Him, and though we don’t see Him now, we believe in Him and rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory (1 Peter 1:8).

So they sent Rebekah off with her nurse, and blessed her: “Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gates of those who hate them!” Then Rebekah and her maids mounted the camels and followed the man.

She followed the servant. We follow the Spirit.

The Groom Comes Out to Meet Her (Genesis 24:62-67)

Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi (“the well of the Living One who sees me”) and was living in the Negev.

Another well.
He was waiting, trusting his father to provide a bride.
In a sense, he was preparing a place for his bride, just as Jesus is preparing a place for us (John 14:2-3).

The Lord longs for us more than we long for Him. He’s more excited about our time in heaven than we are!

Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening. He looked up, and saw camels coming.

Isaac, out in the field praying and meditating, reminds me that Jesus is interceding for us right now (Hebrews 7:25).
And he went out to meet his bride. Many see a picture here of the day Jesus comes to gather His bride, when we’ll meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she got down from her camel. “Who is that man walking in the field to meet us?” “That’s my master,” said the servant. So she took her veil and covered herself.

She got off her camel!

I like to think of those ten thirsty, demanding camels as a picture of the Ten Commandments. The Law can carry us a long way toward Jesus, showing us our need. But the moment the bride sees her groom, she gets off the camel! We don’t ride the Law into the marriage. We come to Jesus Himself.

The servant told Isaac everything he had done. Then Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent, and she became his wife, and he loved her. And Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

The bride of Christ is brought into the tent where Sarah once lived.
The church isn’t Israel, any more than Rebekah is Sarah. But she’s moved into the tent.
And this isn’t the end of the story for Israel (Romans 11:25-29). There’s more to come.

Grace Takeaway

The Father has sent His Spirit to a far country to woo a bride for His Son. The Spirit doesn’t force you; He invites you, gives you gifts, and tells you all about the Son, to whom the Father has given everything. You haven’t seen Him yet, but you can say, “I will go.” And when you see Jesus, get off your camel. You don’t ride the Law into the wedding; you run to the Groom.

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Get Off Your Camels