Today’s passage: Genesis 24:29-51
Helpful thoughts:
- Rebekah is the daughter of Bethuel. Laban is her brother. It appears (Perhaps due to Bethuel’s old age) that Laban is increasingly becoming the leader of the family.
- Laban goes out and meets Abraham’s servant and officially invites him to receive the hospitality of their household. Bethuel becomes involved once everyone enters the house.
- There is a possibility of foreshadowing here where Laban sees the ring and the gold bracelets and embraces the idea quickly of welcoming this visitor into their home. Rebekah’s son (Jacob) would later experience Laban’s greed.
- Once Bethuel and Laban hear the account of the servant’s mission, they will not deny it is best for Rebekah to go and be married to Isaac. They believe it is the Lord’s decreed will.
Questions to consider:
- In what way did Abraham’s servant continue to show faithfulness to Abraham and the Lord through this mission? How did he show this was his primary concern?
- How did the servant convey what he believed to be true of Rebekah in verse 49? What was his proposal there and what was he going to do if they rejected it?
- Why couldn’t Bethuel and Laban speak “either bad or good” when it came to being aware of what God was doing? In what ways do we sometimes get caught up in rating God’s actions (As if we were responsible to approve or disapprove of them)? What is the right thing to do when we see what God is doing?