Finding the Right Bride || Genesis 24:1-14 || Session 39 || Verse by Verse Bible Study

A question from today's verse by verse Bible study is, what if finding the perfect partner is more about divine guidance than chance? This episode takes us deep into Genesis 24, where Abraham's quest to find a wife for Isaac reveals timeless lessons on choosing a spouse who shares your faith and values. We explore Abraham's unwavering faith and his profound trust in God's guidance, drawing parallels to modern Christian life and highlighting the importance of seeking partners with Christian values for a shared commitment to religious beliefs.  Join us for a rich exploration of faith, guidance, and divine providence.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:19

Today we are in Genesis, chapter 24. At this point in the story, abraham's wife Sarah has died. He has purchased a plot of ground in the land to bury her. Now, in chapter 24, he goes to seek a wife for his son Isaac. That's where we pick up this account. I'll read the first few verses of chapter 24.

Speaker 1 0:43

Now, abraham was old, advanced in age and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way. Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he owned please place your hand under my thigh and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not make a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live, but you will go to my country and to my relatives and take a wife for my son Isaac. The servant said to him suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land? Should I take your son back to the land from where you came? Then Abraham said to him Beware that you do not take my son back there. The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying To your descendants, I will give this land. He will send his angel before you and you will take a wife from my son from there, but if the woman is not his angel before you and you will take a wife from my son from there, but if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this. My oath Only do not take my son back there. So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of Abraham, his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

Speaker 1 2:01

In this account, abraham takes his chief servant, the oldest, most trusted servant, and gets him to make this very close oath to go to where Abraham grew up and find a wife for his son, isaac, from there. Abraham makes the servant touch him in a very close, personal, tender place to make this oath. This is something that people just don't do is reach under another man's thigh and make an oath. It's just a way of remembering it. I think the servant here makes this promise. Abraham is very clear he doesn't want Isaac to marry a woman from where they are now the land of Canaan. Why do you think, steve, that Abraham would not want Isaac to marry a woman from that land.

Speaker 2 2:52

Because all the surrounding tribes and nations around them are all pagans. They're not worshipers of the God Yahweh. He's telling them go back to where our relatives are and that area where they are from and have him marry somebody from there. He's also adamant to not go back to where Abraham originally came from, but to go to the area where his family is.

Speaker 1 3:17

Abraham is quite clear about that. Not only do the people from Canaan not worship God, but they've also adopted, as we learned later in the Old Testament, a long series of very abominable practices. We had just seen the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Because of some of these abominable practices, Isaac was to stay in the land. That's the other thing. He makes sure the servant says don't take my son back to the other land. Why would he also instruct him that Don't let my son leave the land?

Speaker 2 3:48

If we go back to the earlier chapters, it talks about Terah. His father had idols and that they were worshipers of other gods also. He doesn't want them to go back there. I think because of that reason. I think that's the main reason.

Speaker 1 4:02

The Abrahamic covenant had promised to Abraham and his descendants, specifically through Isaac, that the land would be theirs forever. He made that quite clear. God said it repeatedly that this land would be yours and it would be yours forever. Isaac was to stay in the land that God had promised Abraham and not leave to go back to Ur, where the lands where Abraham was originally from. God gave this land of Canaan to Abraham's descendants, but the people in Canaan did not worship the same God. That's why he says go back to where I was from, find someone from there, because he knew those people by this time would be worshiping the true God and not following these abominable practices of the Canaanites. Let's take this to our day, steve. If we have a Christian family, if somebody is a Christian young person who's seeking to marry, what advice can we give to a Christian out there that's looking to get married?

Speaker 2 5:06

Look to marry a fellow Christian and stay within the family of believers. I think that's probably the best advice that we can give to somebody.

Abraham's Faith and Isaac's Bride

Speaker 1 5:16

The best advice I would give is just that is, to always marry someone who is of like faith, who worships the same God as you do. That is serious about the Lord, jesus Christ. I would advise that, steve, if you go and you marry a Canaanite, don't be surprised if you end up being married to a pagan or that your children grow up to act like Canaanites, because that's what's going to happen. If you marry a Canaanite and they remain a Canaanite, then your family's going to act like a Canaanites, because that's what's going to happen. If you marry a Canaanite and they remain a Canaanite, then your family's going to act like a Canaanite. That's what Abraham was trying to prevent. He said my son is the son of promise. We need to make sure he marries someone that worships the true God, that doesn't follow the abominable practices of the Canaanites. The only way to do that is to keep Isaac here in this land, but go get him a wife from outside of this land. Let's look at the end of verse 7. Abraham is confident that God will prepare the way for the servant and find a wife for Isaac. Abraham here says he will send his angel before you and you will take a wife for my son from there. Abraham seems very confident that this is going to happen, because the servant had just asked the question what if she won't come? Abraham tells him God's going to send his angel and he's going to prepare the way and you will find a wife there.

Speaker 1 6:40

God was faithful to Abraham in the past. Abraham knew that God was going to continue to be faithful to his son, isaac, and that they would raise a family in this land Again. God had promised him over and over and over again that through Isaac, a great nation would be built, all the nations of the earth would be blessed and his descendants would inherit this particular land. Abraham had a high degree of confidence, a high degree of trust in the Lord to bring this about. Abraham's faith is based in fact and his faith is reasonable.

Speaker 1 7:18

Abraham had this faith that you're going to find a wife, but it was based in the fact that in the past God had provided for Abraham. He had appeared to him several times, he had seen the miraculous birth through his wife Sarah. He had seen God deliver his son from Sodom, and things like that. Abraham had seen all of these things come about. Now he knows that God's going to continue. That's an example of faith. Our faith is not a blind trust. Our faith is based in fact. It's based on the fact that God has proven himself faithful to us in the past. God is demonstrating his faithfulness by letting Sarah get pregnant at 90 and then providing the lamb for the sacrifice. All of these things led Abraham to the place where he is now. That says it's going to happen, am I?

Speaker 2 8:15

right, steve. It's also plausible that God had given him this instruction personally. We don't see all the recordings that take place of Abraham talking with God, but we do have ones, several of them, that are here. So I wouldn't put it out of the realm of plausibility that God had given him some personal instruction for that. But even if God did give him that instruction and he's passing it on to a servant, it's still, just like everything else that Abraham is doing with God, he is acting upon the faith that God is going to bring these things about.

Speaker 1 8:51

And this faith was based in evidence. It's a reasonable faith, just like our faith is based in evidence Everywhere in the scriptures. God always proves himself prior to asking someone to take a step of faith, a step of confidence. It's the same thing in our life God always proves himself faithful, demonstrates his faithfulness, before he asks us to step out and do something based on his word. Then, in verse 8, abraham wisely does not hold the servant to an oath that depends on someone else to keep, because the servant had said well, what happens if this woman doesn't come? Well, in verse eight, if the woman's not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath. The oath depended on someone else to fulfill it Namely, we're going to find, is Rebecca. Abraham wisely says if she won't come, then I'm not holding you. So this was just a wise, practical thing, even though Abraham had full and complete confidence that it would happen, it's just fair to this man to not hold him to an oath to keep that depended on somebody else's free will act.

Speaker 2 10:03

Glenn. Isn't that a wise thing to do? You can just see that this takes a lot of pressure off of the servant to bring about this finding the right person. If he would put under the pressure that, no matter what you do, you got to come back with somebody, then we start getting into areas where maybe he forces for something to come along. But this is clear and it frees him to that If the angel and God doesn't show him somebody at first, don't worry about it. Your oath to me is going to be okay. You don't have to worry about it. Just bring Isaac back. I just think that that's a real wise thing which Abraham throws in here.

Speaker 1 10:44

We'll go ahead and introduce this here, this picture Abraham, the father, is sending a servant out to find a bride for the son. This is a great picture of what happens in the church In the church age. God sends his servants out to find church members that'll be the bride for his son, jesus Christ. That's the picture here. As we're going to play this out, as we go along and point out the places where there's this wonderful parallel to evangelism and the church age, steve, is that the father is not holding the servant responsible for the act of people out there that could decide to come or not. Because again, the servant's going to go out and say hey, would you come and marry my son, come to this far country and marry my son.

Speaker 1 11:39

The father is giving a message and he's looking for a bride for a son. Rebecca could come or not. The servant in this case is not responsible for the free will act of Rebecca. Abraham just says go out and ask. I have confidence that she'll come, but I'm not holding you to be responsible. Likewise with us, steve, when the father sends us out with a message, the Great Commission at the end of the book of Matthew go into all the world and make disciples. Well, are we responsible as Christians for the free will act of those that we tell about Jesus?

Speaker 2 12:16

No, that's the attitude that we should have. Many times, people put pressure on themselves. I have to convince this person to be a believer. Some of it's natural, because you have this joy and you have this faith things that have happened in your life you obviously want to see friends and family become believers too. But through this example and what you're talking about, that takes the pressure off of us. It's not our responsibility to make people become believers. It's their prerogative. Whether or not they want to become believers takes the pressure off of us. All we're supposed to do is just go and teach and tell and invite. It's up to them whether or not they want to believe.

Speaker 1 12:58

And it's the same example here. The father Abraham has full confidence that somebody will come and he sends the servant out and says I'm not holding you responsible for their free will. Act, you just go, somebody will come. We have confidence. But, as you said, it takes a lot of pressure and responsibility off of the servant. All I have to do is go out and do my father's will and everything will work out. Same thing with us when we tell others about the Lord Jesus, all the Father does is send the Christian out, say go tell the message, go invite them to come, remember the parables in the Gospels. He sends his servant out to say come to the wedding feast, and they can come or not. That's the picture here. This parallel is going to play out as we continue in this. So, steve, could you start at verse 10 and read down through verse?

Speaker 2 13:49

14?. Then the servant took 10 camels from the camels of his master and set out with a variety of good things of his masters in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water. He said, o Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show loving kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Now, may it be that the girl to whom I say please let down your jar so that I may drink, and who answers drink and I will water your camels also. May she be the one whom you have appointed for your servant, isaac, and by this I will know that you have shown loving kindness to my master.

Speaker 1 14:44

The servant obeys, he goes out, he gets 10 camels and we're going to find out later. There's some servants there, so we have 10 camels. It's multiple people going along with them, but the servant's in charge. He's headed up to go find a wife for Isaac, the place where he's going. It's a good number of days to get there. The servant prays to God for guidance. That's the first thing I notice here, steve, is he prays in verse 12, o Lord, and then he prays grant me success. So the servant has picked up enough of trusting the Lord from his master Abraham, to where even the servant can pray to the Lord, god, the real God for guidance. Here, steve, how does the servant know about the one true God he knows?

Speaker 2 15:31

through Abraham and through Abraham's actions, he's also been circumcised. He was circumcised whenever Abraham was ordered to do so by God.

Speaker 1 15:41

Abraham made sure that his entire household knew about the one true God. I find this reassuring is that Abraham was a faithful man. He didn't keep his faith hidden under a bushel basket. He put it on a lampstand so that the whole household could see it. That's exactly what we are to do today. That's what the Lord tells us to do over in the Gospels. Then the servant invents this test to find a woman with a servant's heart that is willing to help. What was his test?

Speaker 2 16:12

Steve, His test is when he goes and asks for water from a particular woman that is coming out that her response is here, here's some water and not only will I give you water, but I'll water your camels also. Now he's got 10 camels. Camels drink a lot of water, so volunteering to also water 10 camels is a pretty good commitment. You can see here that with this test that he's going to have, it's going to show a character of this woman, of wanting to care, hospitality, take care of, and somebody that he can trust that this is the one that God is pointing out for him to take back to Isaac he was tasked with going and finding a wife, and so it's a natural question which one?

Speaker 1 17:03

How do I know which one to pick? Well, he invents this test for God to give him some guidance. Now I think, steve, there's other times in the scriptures when people invent a test. The one I think of first is Gideon over in the book of Judges, remember he was looking for guidance from the Lord on what he should do. He takes a wool fleece and leaves it out overnight and, whether or not it had dew on it or not, he did that two different nights overnight, and whether or not it had dew on it or not, he did that two different nights.

Speaker 1 17:32

That's another place where people are looking for guidance and they put God to the test. If I ask myself, is it wise for people today to look for signs and symbols omens if you will to determine God's will? Boy, it sure makes me nervous to do that myself, let alone counsel other people today in the church age, to do this. Steve, what's your thoughts on this idea, on whether or not people today should do something like this? God, if you want me to do something, show me a sign and I pick one and say well, it happened or it didn't? Is there a problem with looking for signs like that of putting God to the test?

Speaker 2 18:13

That's such a common question in it. Glenn, what's God's will for my life? Let's start with the scriptures. Read the scriptures, and the scriptures will let you know what God's will is for your life. There are simple things. First of all, to become a believer in him. Second of all, to go out believer in Him. Second of all, to go out and tell others about Him. You get to know God's character through the scriptures. You get to know who he is. You build up a relationship. That's God's will for you.

Speaker 2 18:40

There's plenty of things that we have through the scriptures that this servant didn't have at that time. This servant didn't have at that time. We're in an age where we have written down instructions from God of who he is, what his characters are, what he has provided for us and what he wants to do for us. We have plenty of information regarding what is God's will for our lives. Now I will say this, though we should yield ourselves, and that's really what I think we should ask ourselves. Let's don't put a test out. If this is what you want me to do, let's just say let's yield ourselves to you, lord, and you show me the way. Give me something that gives me confidence that this is the way you want to go. I think that we that's the way that we should react, wanting to follow God's will.

Speaker 1 19:30

I think of the old story about the guy who was trying to decide whether it was God's will for him to go get a donut. He prays to God and says God, if it's your will that I stop and get donuts, then let there be a parking space right in front of the donut store. Later on he says it turns out it really was God's will. There was a parking space right there, right in front of the donut store. Later on he says it turns out it really was God's will. There was a parking space right there, right in front of the donut store. I only had to drive around the block nine times before the parking space was there, but it was right in front. That's. The problem is that we invent this test and we put God to the test when, as you very well said, god has given us clear guidance in his Bible on what we should do. That's the first place we should look. Now. I firmly believe there is a guidance of the Holy Spirit. This age didn't have that and I think there really is, in people that are closely attuned to God that he will lead us into making decisions. But the first place we should look is the scriptures. But I think as a general advice and general counsel, I think it's just a bad idea today to invent these kind of omens kind of a thing. God, if it's your will, let there be this type of a sign, simply for two reasons Satan and our own minds can fool us. Satan and our own sinful minds can fool us. People are self-deceived sometimes. Too many times I've seen over the years oh, god really wants such and so to happen, when really God's hand's never in it in the first place, it's just our own feelings. We have the capability of deceiving ourselves. When we add Satan to the mix that's trying to deceive us, then that's a problem. So I think the best place to do is when we need to discern God's will. Some things are just clearly written in Scripture and then look to others, like a pastor or a church leader or some older, mature Christian for wise counsel. That's how we should go to determine God's will when making decisions. The Bible has given us plenty of guidance In the next section.

Speaker 1 21:38

It's quite long. Starting in verse 15 and really going down through verse 67 is the story of the servant. And remember he had set this test where if it's the woman that you want, lord, then let her be the one to water my camels. As you pointed out, steve, a camel can drink quite a bit of water. What I understand, they can drink a third of their body weight in water. So 10 camels, that's a lot of water. He sees Rebecca. She's very beautiful. In verse 16, the servant's a man. He notices which woman's the most beautiful. He asked Rebecca for a drink of water. Such a simple thing. She volunteers to water his camels. This is quite a bit of work. Drawing water out of a well, carrying it over to a trough I'm sure there would have been around the well. There would be troughs for the livestock and animals. She's showing a servant's heart. What can we know about Rebecca from this act where she voluntarily goes to serve this unnamed stranger that just shows up?

Speaker 2 22:43

one day. Just that, the hospitality that she has and what she's demonstrating, her commitment to water camels shows that she knows going into it. I mean, she's not unaware that camels drink a lot of water and there's 10 of them there. So she has this heart to serve and be hospitable to this stranger. That shows her dedication, her servitude, her wanting to please and also her ability to do that and her fortitude to water all of these camels. Just a good look into her character. It's not something that's just a surface, because it says that she was beautiful, but that's not the way that she was chosen or, singly, what she was chosen on. She's chosen on this hospitality and servitude spirit that she shows here.

Speaker 1 23:32

She has this servant's heart. She serves this man just to be nice, just out of hospitality. So that's a great sign, but she had just happens to do the sign that the servant had picked out. This shows God's hand of providence. The servant ends up in the verses here, giving her some jewelry, gave her some bracelets, some gold and some silver, and she ends up asking oh, you should come and stay at our place. In verse 27, the servant realizes that God has led him to the people that Abraham desired for Isaac. Then we meet in this account Rebecca's brother, laban. Now what do we learn about Laban later, steve, what does Laban do later in the book of?

Speaker 2 24:21

Genesis, when Jacob goes back to the same area to select his wife that he runs into Laban again. Only this time he chooses for himself one of Laban's daughters, and Rachel is who he falls in love with. But Laban goes through and actually tricks him and marries Jacob to Leah, the oldest daughter, first, and Jacob has to serve another seven years to marry Rebecca. But we'll see Laban come back up in later chapters related to Jacob.

Speaker 1 24:56

Laban's a bit of a scoundrel and the servant had given Rebecca some gold jewelry. Well, laban notices that he has an eye for valuables. That's one of the first things he notices. The man tells Rebecca's father and brother the story and Rebecca agrees to go. So that's basically what happens in the last part of the chapter. The servant heads back with Rebecca and her maids and then Isaac loves Rebecca and marries her. That's the overall story in this chapter. Looking at the details, it gets very interesting, though Notice that nowhere in this passage does it give a name of the servant. It just calls him the servant.

Church Bride Comparison in Genesis

Speaker 1 25:43

This is I believe it's the longest chapter in Genesis. It's quite a number of verses, quite a long story. There's actually more verses here in this story of Isaac finding a wife than there is in chapter one where God creates the world. God spends quite a bit of space on the story of the servant going out and finding the wife. So there's some very interesting things here about the comparison between the servant going out to find this bride and the church age today, where we go out and try to find the bride of Christ. Things like that are what we're going to pick up next time, because there's quite a number of them.

Speaker 2 26:26

You think we can find out something like that from an Old Testament story back here in Genesis, Glenn the Word of God is quite wonderful, and we can find some great New Testament truths way back here in. Genesis. Thank you so much for watching and listening, as always. May God bless you.