Today’s passage: Genesis 24:1-28
Helpful thoughts:
- The servant’s journey would have taken about three weeks (And three additional weeks to return). This was quite a task!
- When the servant put his hand under Abraham’s thigh, he was committing his submission to Abraham’s wishes. He was making an oath to follow through with the plan as long as the Lord would provide the right woman.
- The way Abraham’s servant discerned whether the Lord would help him find a wife for Isaac is descriptive rather than prescriptive. We should not read this passage and then set up similar tests to go find spouses for our children! The completed scriptures give us everything we need to know to follow the Lord obediently (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:3).
- God wanted Abraham’s descendants to marry others who would also worship the Lord. To marry someone who worships other gods (Or worships no god at all) would draw them away from Him (Deuteronomy 7:3-4, 2 Corinthians 6:14, The end of 1 Corinthians 7:39).
Questions to consider:
- Why would this servant have been so compelled to ask God for these conditions in his prayer? Did he know the area or the people among whom he was looking? Did he know what/who he was looking for? Even though we wouldn’t encourage this kind of searching for God’s will today, why can we empathize with the servant’s prayer? What did God graciously do with it?
- It’s really hard to imagine this kind of thing happening in our culture in the 21st century! But, how would you have felt if you were Rebekah in this moment? What did she know so far? Why do you think she ran to tell her family?
- How can Abraham’s willingness to go to such lengths to find the right kind of wife for Isaac encourage a person hoping to find a spouse today? How important is it to have a spouse who loves the Lord and follows Christ the same way you do?