NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible | Page 57

Genesis 24:60  | 61 24:32 p  Ge  43:24; Jdg 19:21 24:35 q  ver  1 r  Ge  13:2 24:36 s  Ge  21:2, ​10 t  Ge  25:5 24:37 u  ver  3 24:38 v  ver  4 24:39 w  ver  5 24:40 x  ver  7 24:41 y  ver  8 24:42 z  ver  12 24:43 a  ver  13 b  ver  14 24:45 c  1Sa  1:13 d  ver  15 e  ver  17 24:46 f  ver  18‑19 24:47 g  ver  23 h  ver  24 i  Eze  16:11‑12 24:48 j  ver  26 k  ver  27 24:49 l  Ge  47:29; Jos 2:14 24:50 m  Ps  118:23 n  Ge  31:7, ​24, ​29, ​42 24:52 o  ver  26 24:53 p   ver  10, ​22 24:54 q   ver  56, ​59 24:59 r  Ge  35:8 24:60 s  Ge  17:16 t  Ge  22:17 32 So the man went to the ­house, and the cam­els were un­loaded. ­Straw and fod­der were ­ rought for the cam­els, and wa­ter for him and his men to wash t ­ heir feet.  p 33 Then food b was set be­fore him, but he said, “I will not eat un­til I have told you what I have to ­say.” “Then tell us,” La­ban ­said. 34 So he said, “I am Abra­ham’s ser­vant. 35 The Lord has ­blessed my mas­ter abun­dantly,  q and he has be­come ­wealthy. He has given him ­sheep and cat­tle, sil­ver and gold, male and ­ orne him a son fe­male ser­vants, and cam­els and don­keys.  r 36 My mas­ter’s wife Sarah has b in her old age,  s and he has given him ev­ery­thing he owns.  t 37 And my mas­ter made me swear an oath, and said, ‘You must not get a wife for my son from the daugh­ters of the Ca­naan­ites, in ­whose land I live,  u 38 but go to my fa­ther’s fam­ily and to my own clan, and get a wife for my ­son.’  v 39 “Then I a ­ sked my mas­ter, ‘What if the woman will not come back with me?’  w 40 “He re­plied, ‘The Lord, be­fore whom I have ­walked faith­fully, will send his an­gel with you  x and make your jour­ney a suc­cess, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my fa­ther’s fam­ily. 41 You will be re­leased from my oath if, when you go to my clan, they refuse to give her to you — ​then you will be re­leased from my ­oath.’  y 42 “When I came to the s ­ pring to­day, I said, ‘Lord, God of my mas­ter Abra­ham, if you will, ­please ­grant suc­cess  z to the jour­ney on ­which I have come. 43 See, I am stand­ing be­side this ­spring.  a If a ­young woman ­comes out to draw wa­ter and I say to her, “Please let me drink a lit­tle wa­ter from your jar,”  b 44 and if she says to me, “Drink, and I’ll draw wa­ter for your cam­els too,” let her be the one the Lord has cho­sen for my mas­ter’s ­son.’ 45 “Be­fore I fin­ished pray­ing in my ­heart,  c Re­bekah came out, with her jar on her shoul­ der.  d She went down to the ­spring and drew wa­ter, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a ­drink.’  e 46 “She quickly low­ered her jar from her shoul­der and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll wa­ter your cam­els too.’  f So I ­drank, and she wa­tered the cam­els ­also. 47 “I ­asked her, ‘Whose daugh­ter are ­you?’  g “She said, ‘The daugh­ter of Be­thuel son of Na­hor, whom Mil­kah bore to ­him.’  h “Then I put the ring in her nose and the brace­lets on her arms,  i 48 and I b ­ owed down and wor­shiped the Lord.  j I ­praised the Lord, the God of my mas­ter Abra­ham, who had led me on the ­right road to get the grand­daugh­ter of my mas­ter’s brother for his son.  k 49 Now if you will show kind­ness and faith­ful­ness  l to my mas­ter, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know ­which way to ­turn.” 50 La­ban and Be­thuel an­swered, “This is from the Lord;  m we can say noth­ing to you one way or the other.  n 51 Here is Re­bekah; take her and go, and let her be­come the wife of your mas­ter’s son, as the Lord has ­di­rected.” 52 When Abra­ham’s ser­vant ­heard what they said, he ­bowed down to the ­ground be­fore the Lord.  o 53 Then the ser­vant ­brought out gold and sil­ver jew­elry and ar­ti­cles of cloth­ing and gave them to Re­bekah; he also gave costly g ­ ifts  p to her brother and to her mother. 54 Then he and the men who were with him ate and ­drank and s ­ pent the ­night t ­ here. When they got up the next morn­ing, he said, “Send me on my way  q to my ­mas­ter.” 55 But her brother and her mother re­plied, “Let the young wom­an re­main with us ten days or so; then you  a may go.” 56 But he said to them, “Do not de­tain me, now that the Lord has granted suc­cess to my jour­ney. Send me on my way so I may go to my ­mas­ter.” 57 Then they said, “Let’s call the young wom­an and ask her a ­ bout it.” 58 So they c ­ alled Re­bekah and ­asked her, “Will you go with this ­man?” “I will go,” she s ­ aid. 59 So they sent ­their sis­ter Re­bekah on her way, ­along with her ­nurse  r and Abra­ham’s ser­vant and his men. 60 And they ­blessed Re­bekah and said to ­her, “Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands;  s may your offspring possess the cities of their enemies.”  t a  55 Or she    24:34 – 49  The servant’s speech rehearses closely the events that occur in vv. 1 – 27. The repetition underlines God’s guidance in bring- ing the servant into contact with Rebekah. If Rebekah is to leave her family in order to marry Isaac, whom she has never met, she must be persuaded that this is God’s will for her. 24:50  This is from the Lord. Rebekah’s brother and father readily acknowledge that God intends Rebekah to marry Isaac. 24:53  As a token of the commitment they have made, the servant gives gifts to Rebekah and members of her family. Marriage arrange- ments usually involved gifts of money to the bride’s family. 24:55 – 58  Rebekah’s willingness to go im- mediately with Abraham’s servant reveals a deep faith in God. She is prepared to leave her family and country to marry a man she has never met. Her actions parallel closely those of Abraham (12:1), suggesting that she is indeed a suitable wife for Isaac. 24:60 The blessing resembles God’s oath to Abraham in 22:17. your offspring. Could re- fer to an individual or group of people. Ev- erything points to Rebekah being a perfect match for Isaac.