Rebekah - Chosen for Isaac

5. February 2012 by admin.

I do apologize for taking so long to go to my next lady.  I will once again try to be more consistent in the future.  I do have a housekeeping request to make to many of the new registered readers.  If you could be sure and put a name for your user name this will help me differentiate between true new registered users, and those that aren’t.  Thanks for taking the time to do that.  I will be deleting those that have unusual names that don’t appear to be real.  Sorry about that, but I do want to reach readers who are not just trying to sell something.

Now on to our next woman, Rebekah.  Her story is found beginning in Genesis 24.  I will write twice about her, because I believe there are two separate lessons we can learn from her and I do want to keep each posting to one main message.  Yes, I know I could have done much more with Sarah and even Hagar, but my goal in this endeavor is not to retell lessons we get often from these ladies, but to look for other lessons that might not be so obvious.

Just a quick overview of Rebekah’s story; she was the sister of Laban and the daughter of Bethuel who was Abraham’s nephew, the son of Abraham’s brother, Nahor. Abraham was concerned that Isaac not marry a daughter of the Canaanites, so he sent a trusted servant to Ur to find a wife for Isaac among his relatives there.  The servant was under an oath that could only be broken if the girl or her family refused to come with him.  He arrives in the city and is by the well outside the city when the women of the city would be drawing water for their evening meal.  He prays that God will guide him to the one for Isaac by setting a condition that she will draw water for him and for his camels as well.  Which Rebekah does, and he asks to come stay at her house, which she agrees to, but before he dines, he tells Laban, her brother, and Bethuel, her father, why he has come.  He tells his story and they agree to let Rebekah go and wed Isaac.  Bear in mind the only thing she knows about Isaac is that God has prospered his father and he will inherit it all.  They did not have photos to show, or phones to call and talk to each other on.  Her knowledge and impression of him was entirely third hand from this servant.  It is possible Bethuel may have remembered his uncle and the kind of man he was which might explain why he was so willing to believe this servant and trust his daughter to him.  Or more likely the wealth that the servant had already shown in the gold and gifts he had convinced them this was a real opportunity for her.

When the deal has been struck, Laban and his mother want to keep Rebekah for ten days before letting her go, and the servant prevails upon them not to delay his return.  When asked what she wishes, Rebekah agrees to go with the servant.  Now comes the lesson I want to look at, especially for young ladies who might read this.  Do you have a faith and trust in God to go without question when He calls?  Do you make decisions for yourself or do you trust the men in your life to help you in those decisions?

We don’t really know much about the religion of Bethuel and his family.  He does agree to grant the servant’s request because he says, “The matter comes from the Lord.”  (Gen. 24:50) And when they bless Rebekah and send her on her way they say, “…may your descendants possess the gate of those who hate them,”  the same promise God had given Abraham in Gen. 22:17.  Though neither of these are to imply that they were trusting Jehovah, Abraham’s God. We do know that God had led the servant to this young lady, and when she and her family heard his request, they did not hesitate to agree to send her to Isaac.  So it would seem that they recognized God’s hand in this matter, though it is not clear that they worshiped Him as Abraham did.  But it was enough that this young lady was willing to leave her family behind to travel a great distance to marry a man she had never met.  Sometime we are called upon to make a choice that may seem like this, trusting that God will be with you in the decision you make.  We have the benefit in the case of Rebekah to know that God’s hand was in this and she did made the right choice.  But it was with the blessing of her father and brother, as well as the confirmation from Abraham’s servant of how God had led him to her. Do you trust spiritual advisers, whether a father or other godly male leader, to guide you in making the correct decisions.  Or do you prefer to make your own decisions without such advice.  If God has given you men who seek to be obedient to Him and follow His word, thank God for them, and learn to depend on their advice and recommendations.  Do not be so quick to “follow the world’s advice” and make your own choices.

Today so much is made about women being able to stand alone and be independent of men, but are we being godly when we have that view?  Do we seek godly male leadership to help us make decisions that are important and could affect our lives?  I did not have a godly father to go to for help in my younger days, and many decisions I made on my own I see that God was guiding me despite that lack in my own life.  But when I  came to the realization that God has placed man as a head over woman, and she should seek men for counsel and advice, I have to look back on those earlier days and thank God for protecting me and guiding me even though I had no spiritual head at the time.  I do thank God that He has given me a godly man as a husband, whom I can now place all my trust in that he will guide us in God’s will for our family’s life.  Not unlike Rebekah, I had to seek the solution on my own until God led me to the man I would marry.  Though she had her family’s blessing, she still made the choice to leave in the servant’s timing and not that of her brother and mother.  As a result, she gained a husband who loved her and a life that placed her in the protective embrace of God as well.

Next, I will look at how Rebekah was not perfect, and does try to take things into her own hands, but that is for next week.  I do want to encourage any who have opinions to be sure and leave a comment.  If you don’t agree with my ideas, let’s talk with each other over them.  I had a dear friend who did not agree with me on many matters of interpretation for a long time, but our discussions forced us both to look to the Word of God to be sure that we were standing on His word for our opinions and beliefs and not our own, or just what we were always taught.  I encourage each of you who have taken the time to read this small endeavor on my part, to read and study Genesis 24 yourself and see then if you agree.

God be with you all, and may you grow in the knowledge of His word.

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