I have never seen myself as particularly brave. I am not risky.
You will never find me jumping out of a plane or on any kind of ride that will flip me upside down at break neck speeds.
I like details, plans and lists. In fact, I usually have a mental list constantly streaming in my head. It generally begins when I wake and I often can pause it as I go to sleep at night. Its never been something that stresses me out if I don’t achieve what is on the list, its more like a ‘soft’ plan to help me manage my day.
As I read the story of Rebekah with fresh eyes, I am struck by her bravery, courage and seemingly calm approach to what she stumbled into on a trip to the local well.
Come along with me as we look again into the story of this young woman that so many little girl babies have been named after for generations.
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The story begins with Abraham entrusting his closest servant with heading back to the land of his ancestors and bringing back a bride for Isaac. I am sure there are loads of theological reasons behind a fair bit of the story here. However, I will go with the understanding that I have about the situation.
Abraham was eyewitness, first to hear the promises that God had for the nation we now know as Israel. He knew descendants were going to come and he wanted the heirs to be born into a like-minded, God following household. I am thinking the Canaanites were not that. The chief servant was therefore sent away. Why him?
Well, he was the head over the household affairs. He obviously had the trust of Abraham – although he did have to make a promise on a leg!
After hitching up the 10 camels and making sure the essentials such as gifts for the future bride were packed, we see the servant head off.
Let’s have a little change of scenery now…..
Picture if you will, a group of young strong women heading to the local well jars on their shoulders ready to dip down and fetch the families water for the day.
I am sure there would have been a bit of laughter, anticipation in case there were travellers there, a few groans at the daily chore. This was no small task and our Rebekah was well used to it! Abraham’s servant comes across the well at the end of his journey, most likely a little dusty and tired. He sits at the well and takes his task to God.
How much more in my dusty tired state should I do the same as a first thing!?
The servant’s prayer is actually beautiful and perhaps is a good template for us as we learn daily how to pray. Nothing in the bible is there by accident – so let’s spend some time going over his words.
Firstly in Genesis 23:12, he starts by acknowledging who he is speaking to….”Lord….”
Then at the second half of this verse, he is quite direct and to the point. No fluffing around with flowery language…..”allow me to find a wife….for my master’s son today.” He used specific timing. Phil and I have been known to do this in our prayers as well. There have been a few moments when we have asked God directly to bring an outcome at a particular time.
So – we know the servants intensions it time to have a closer look at Rebekah.
Rebekah enters the scene before the servant has even finished his prayer. What luck!!!
She has come to work. She has a jar to draw well on her shoulder. I do strongly believe God puts within us a will to work. It is a good thing, to focus our days in a capacity of work. It is a quality that is reflected in the Proverbs 31 woman.
Proverbs 31 v 17 “She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks”. There are other words within this passage that we usually uphold about our mothers on Mother’s Day each year in church, but it is, I believe a characteristic that God has designed for good in all of us. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a good lounge lie down and Netflix binge but if this outweighed the work I do both inside and outside the home, there would be an imbalance in my life and I would not be living faithfully within the gifts and talents that were specifically bestowed upon me.
Rebekah was in a round-a-bout way a relative of Abraham’s. I admit it takes me a little minute to get my head around this stuff – I need to draw it up in a family tree – I am a visual learner…but that’s for another day.
What is made abundantly clear is that Rebekah is “very beautiful” (verse 16) and bless….it is written down for all humanity to know, she was a virgin!
After filling up her jar like she would do every day, she is suddenly confronted by this strange man. I am sure he would have stood out. A stranger, yes, but it may have been clear that he came from ‘means’. He had a team of camels, maybe servants under him, the camels were loaded with ‘good things’ v10 and I am sure he had a way about him that defined him to those around him. However, I am not sure if any of this was a motivating factor for our heroine.
He asks for a drink and immediately Rebekah sees to his request and calls him ‘lord’. A recognition of status and a sign of respect.
Rebekah was quick to serve.
She not only saw to the needs of the man, she moved on to the camels as well. She offered to continue to water them ‘until they had enough to drink’. This is no small thing!
Rebekah would have understood just what this task was going to mean. This was going to be an interruption to her day. I googled how much a camel can drink – there are a few different stats – but let’s just say it’s a whole lot more than the family dog!!!! And she had 10 to cater for. Cast your mind to the scene, Rebekah could not turn on the hose and have a little ‘natter’ while the water bowls filled up. No, she had one water jar, her strong shoulders and a willing heart.
The servant had plenty of time to observe this young woman and he was obviously impressed, because as soon as she was done, she was gifted with more gold than she most likely had ever seen in her life. Rebekah, I am sure quickly realised that she hadn’t just drawn water for a common visitor.
Now we teach our kids all about stranger danger, this can all be a little overwhelming to us in the modern era. Cultures have certainly changed, but don’t be put off by the wonder of this story.
The servant does not ask Rebekah then and there to go anywhere with him, he does the culturally acceptable thing and asks who her father is. The one to do business with and where he may spend the night.
Rebekah answers with the understanding that her father would be hospitable, not only to the man but to the camels as well. She saw the bigger picture of need and ensured that he was assured that things would be taken care of.
It would have been so easy for Rebekah to be distracted by all the new shiny things in her hands, but it doesn’t seem like this was the case. She seems settled in her own self, not impressed by the finery but she had honour and respect for her new guest.
Rebekah runs to her family, Laban sets himself to the task of bringing home the guest, the camels were bedded down and fed, feet were washed and dinner was prepared.
The servant however has a task to undertake and won’t take a bite until he explains himself. He believes that Rebekah is the woman he has been sent to find, however what will the family think!?
God was moving in this moment I think, as Laban and Bethuel are quick to recognise the Lords hand and agree that Rebekah is to go with the servant and be married into Abrahams’s line.
Oh – another round of gifts are brought out! Gold, silver and clothing for Rebekah, gifts as well for Laban and Rebekah’s mum. Dinner was finally had, I am sure a loud joyous affair. However, I can’t help but wonder in the midst of all the sparkling gifts, fine clothes and good food, what was going on in Rebekah’s mind!?
The reality of what they had agreed to must have dawned on old Laban and his mum overnight and they tried to pause the transaction for 10 days. Was this a way to draw out more gifts? Or were they going to miss their daughter and sister. She was after all about to leave the household she was born into, worked faithfully for and the only family she ever knew to go with a stranger to a new land far away, into a family she did not know and marry a man she had never laid eyes on.
Now, this is where my mother heart takes over! This in my world, is a massive no from me!!!! I know the week leading up to our youngest daughters’ wedding was the hardest week of my life. I cried every single day. I had never spent more than a few days ever apart from my baby girl and my heart was breaking. I was going to miss her terribly. She caught me out one day crying on my bed, and she hugged me, reminding me that she was only moving in to the house across the road!!!!!
But to me, it may as well had been a state away. I was no longer putting 4 of everything on the table, I wouldn’t have her perched on the end of my bed each morning before we all headed off to work, she didn’t need me anymore and at the time, I didn’t have the experience to know that we would fall into a new ‘normal’ as a family.
Rebekah’s mum would not have found this easy I am sure. The joy and wonder of youth as they step into their new adventures, tends to leave the mums watching and waving from the gate, trying to look happy for them as they head off to the great unknown, but secretly wanting the years to be turned way back to the time when they curled up in bed next you and called you ‘mummy.’
I 100% understand the request to keep her a few more days.
However, God’s timing I have learned is perfect and it doesn’t do us any good to try and step in the way of it at all. The servant knew this, was eager to go and so was Rebekah.
The culture of the day meant that even though it seems to us that Rebekah was all alone on this journey, we see that in verse 61, she was well attended. Most likely by people who had been in her life the whole time, in effect allowing Rebekah to have ‘family’ with her.
Fast forward a lengthy, bumpy camel journey and we see Rebekah pull up in a field one evening, her eyes cast to a man in the field quietly meditating.
Can’t you just picture the scene, the breeze calm and warm creating movement in the grass, the only sounds the hoofs and snorts of the camels, the colours of the sun setting over the horizon, Rebekah and Isaacs eyes meet….Ok, maybe I have seen too many rom-coms! But Rebekah was moved and appropriate. She got out her veil and covered her face. Again we get a glimpse into Rebekah’s character. She was not married and now in the presence of her future husband, she knew the custom, did not fight it, and rather showed amazing respect and honour.
Rebekah, sent with the blessing of her family is taken by Isaac to the tent of his mother, a woman he loved, and is made his wife.
This all reads so simply, but I am sure hearts were tumbling through all of this. However, a common theme I think is seen between Abraham, the servant, Rebekah and her family and lastly Isaac; a faithfulness to God and His plans. They example an incredible willingness to do what they believe God is asking of them – without question, maybe with a little fear, but with a quiet strength that truly blows me away.
We are told in Genesis 24 v 66 that Isaac loved Rebekah! Is this the first biblical text that expresses love between husband and wife? A true romance story – filled with faith.
Rebekah’s story goes on over the next couple of chapters. As we all see the initial heart beats of romantic excitement mature into beautiful marriages, most of us would admit that life has a way of rocking us about now and then.
We are witnesses to the fact that Rebekah could not have children, this must have been a source of heartbreak and worry. Isaac of course examples how important it is to take all our worries to God. The answer to their prayers takes about 20 years to be fulfilled in the birth of Jacob and Esau.
Fast forward to the well-known account of birthright battles and we see a glimpse into Rebekah’s heart for her son, prepared to actively assist in deceit. Whether she realised it or not, God knew the way things would play out. We are no match really to Gods purposes. We all fight moments of trying to make sure Gods plans work out! If only we learned quickly that God is God and we are not!
Rebekah of course, despite her initial faith and courage in saying yes to the servant, positioning herself into a brand new life, following the Lords leading, is fascinatingly a very normal woman. One with heartache, affection for her children, moments of weakness and issues with her daughter-in-laws and a tendency to play favourites with her kids.
She amazes me. Her willingness to say yes, her affection for her husband and children, her imperfections, even as we see such grace and honour within her. I love how when I take a step back and really look at her, she is a woman, not that far from the way we are now. What can I learn from her?
Well I hope that I learn to be quick to serve within my gifting’s, prepared to do more than I am asked, with a happy spirit.
To love my husband and my children, but not above Gods plans for their lives.
To trust God with the small stuff as well as the big issues.
To not put my kids against each other. That is never going to end well.
Lastly, I love that Rebekah is not admonished in scripture as some deceitful, wicked woman. Yes she did some pretty ordinary things, but the way the Word has been written, we are given the opportunity to see her at her best, at her very normal and at her worst. She is a person. Someone who had her moments and yet God loved her.
She was a part of the bigger plan of God, eventually being in the lineage of Christ.
God has a plan and a purpose for my life too, and yours. Seek Him out. Lean into it. How do you find it? Well, my best advice is to start with just that first jar of water……you never know who you are getting it for, or where it will lead you.
xxx
Toni
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