As the caravan returned to Canaan, Isaac and Rebekah met for the first time. This devotional reading looks at the true success of the mission Abraham gave Eliezer.
Nuggets
- Isaac must have been visiting Abraham.
- We are told that Isaac was out walking and meditating.
- Then off in the distance, a caravan appeared.
- Rebekah got her first look at her soon-to-be husband.
- We are also told that Isaac loved Rebekah deeply.
Abraham had sent Eliezer to Paddan-Aram on a specific mission – get Isaac a wife from his family. Eliezer got there and had a successful mission. Rebekah came back with him.
But was the mission a success? Getting Rebekah to come back was only the beginning. What would Isaac think? What would she think when she met Isaac?
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the Abraham the Patriarch series
Where Isaac Lived
“Meanwhile, Isaac, whose home was in the Negev, had returned from Beer-lahai-roi” (Gen. 24: 62 NLT)
Isaac must have been visiting Abraham.
Isaac lived in the Negev, where Beer-lahai-roi was located. Since Moses said he returned from there, we can assume that here was Hebron, where Abraham lived.
The Negev was a triangular shaped region in the southern part of Israel. Its boundaries are the Sinai Peninsula on the west and the Jordan River on the east. The northern boundary is harder to define.
Be’er-Lahai Roi was the well by which Hagar’s journey ended.
Isaac Took a Walk
“One evening as he was walking and meditating in the fields, he looked up and saw the camels coming” (Gen. 24: 63 NLT)
Walking and Meditating
We are told that Isaac was out walking and meditating.
Isaac went out to a spot where he could be by himself. Gray said he was walking in the open country. Pearse called it a field.
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Since Isaac was walking, he was doing this during leisure time. He wasn’t working.
Moses said this occurred in the evening. I can see that. That time makes it a good time to review the day and get Sovereign God’s insight as to the condition of our hearts.
Isaac was alone with his thoughts. Being alone to meditate is very important. The leisure times gives us the opportunity for meditation while the solitude helps to keep our focus on our Father God.
Life is rough. Sometimes, we need to get off by ourselves and think things through.
That is what meditating is. It is think through what Jehovah has said in His Word and what he has revealed to us through the Holy Spirit. We determine what is in our hearts.
Leckie had a wonderful insight on meditation. He said that meditations stem from who we are. By definition, it gets our thoughts down to our core — our center. In Elaine-speak, that means it is the way to get it to the heart level. That means we should not fear losing ourselves in meditation. In fact, losing ourselves makes it better.
Look how Leckie described the process. He wrote,
“It is letting the mind seethe and work and play about a subject, guided by conscience or emotion or desire or strong resolution, till it gets impressed with the subject, till the sap and taste of it flow into the soul. Nothing, however great, is yours till you get the substance of it into you by meditation. It remains entirely outside of you.”
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That makes sense to me. We can only find Jehovah when we spend time with just the two of us. We have to work out what He is telling us — work out our salvation (Phil. 2: 12-13).
Meditation promotes faith, godliness, and holiness. Manton called it a duty and exercise of our relationship with Jehovah. It gives us a better understanding of what the Holy Spirit is revealing to us.
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I know. Solitude is hard to find. Leisure time can get spent in other ways.
We have to make sure we focus on spiritual matters. We need to do this to ensure that we have a sincere, true relationship with Jehovah.
Hopefully, Isaac was meditating on spiritual matters. He more than likely knew about the mission to get him a wife. He may have been praying about that.
Isaac may also have been mourning his mother. We are told that he was still struggling three years later, and Rebekah comforted him.
Saw the Camels Coming
Then off in the distance, a caravan appeared.
We aren’t told if Isaac was in Hebron when the caravan left. Still, he probably would have recognized it when it returned.
Rebekah’s Reaction
“When Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, she quickly dismounted from her camel. ‘Who is that man walking through the fields to meet us?’ she asked the servant. And he replied, ‘It is my master.’ So Rebekah covered her face with her veil. Then the servant told Isaac everything he had done” (Gen. 24: 62-66 NLT)
Rebekah got her first look at her soon-to-be husband.
Bradford didn’t know where the veil came from. He said, contrary to popular thinking, Mesopotamian women — and Hebrew woman in particular— did not cover their faces in the presence of men.
However, Bradford went on to say that veils were part of the betrothal and wedding procedures. The veil was put on some amount of time before the wedding and removed after the vows were complete.
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Well, Rebekah was going to be married to Isaac. She might have been considering that period the betrothal.
Isaac and Rebekah Marry
And Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent, and she became his wife. He loved her deeply, and she was a special comfort to him after the death of his mother (Gen. 24: 62-67 NLT)
We are also told that Isaac loved Rebekah deeply.
We aren’t told whether Isaac took another wife. He probably didn’t, but then, we are only told what is critical to God’s story of the Gospel.
What we are told is Isaac took Rebekah into Sarah’s tent. Part of me wondered if that was because Rebekah would be the matriarch of the family.
Was it just a logistical point? Abraham had his tent. Sarah had her tent. Isaac had his tent.
Where was Rebekah going to go? Sarah’s tent was vacant.
No, Bibleverseexplained.com indicated that it was more than that. It says, “The act of bringing Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent symbolizes the continuation of the family legacy and the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham regarding the future of his descendants.”
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From start to finish, this story has been about obedience, promise, love, and provision. Abraham, Isaac, and Eliezer provided the obedience. God provided promise, love, and provision.
Making the Connections #1
Leckie said something I like. He wrote, “The meditation of a devout spirit on almost anything will soon run into prayer. … The Hebrew word here rendered ‘meditate’ means also to pray.”
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Let’s look at some verses.
- “But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night” (Ps. 1: 2 NLT).
- “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do” (Josh. 1:8 NLT).
- “Oh, how I love your instructions! I think about them all day long” (Ps. 119: 97 NLT).
- “I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways” (Ps. 119: 15 NLT).
- “I remember the days of old. I ponder all your great works and think about what you have done” (Ps. 143: 5 NLT).
- “They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works” (Ps. 77: 12 NLT).
Let’s look at some verses on prayer.
- “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (I Thess. 5: 16-18 NLT).
- “Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying” (Rom. 12: 12 NLT).
- “You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it” (Mt. 21: 22 NLT).
- “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4: 6-7 NLT).
Think about it. What does that tell us?
- We are to never stop thinking about Jehovah’s commandments/instructions (Ps. 1: 2) — and never stop praying (I Thess. 5: 17).
- We are to think in order to assure obedience (Josh. 1: 8), and pray to assure obedience in times of trouble (Rom. 12: 12 NLT).
- We must think about what we study (Ps. 119: 15), and pray that the study increases our faith (Mt. 21: 22).
- We are to think about what Jehovah has done for us and others (Ps. 143: 5); so that when circumstances bring anxiety, we will continue to pray to our Father God (Phil. 4: 6-7, I Thess. 5: 17, Rom. 12: 12).
When we meditate, we end up knowing we need to pray to Jehovah for His control of our lives.
Making the Connections #2
I liked what Manton’s said. The purpose of meditation should be to revere Jehovah, not to gain knowledge.
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The only thing we should be trying to do when we meditate is to grow our faith, not solve all the mysteries of God’s Word.
Meditation should grow our sincerity.
Our motivation should play an important role in how we meditate. The why should always be to strengthen our relationship with Sovereign God.
Making the Connections #3
We get a lot of information about Abraham and how he basically did thing right. Then we get even more about Jacob — and how he did things wrong.
In between these Hall of Famers is Isaac. We don’t get much about him. What we do focuses a lot on wells.
But this is a great picture of Isaac. He is walking with His Sovereign God.
How comforting is that!
Making the Connections #4
I love, love, love what Dods had to say. He wrote, “God may keep us longer waiting than the world does, but He gives us never the wrong thing.”
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We generally say that Jehovah is never early or late but right on time. We need to amend that.
Jehovah is never early or late but right on time with just the right thing. To put it into action format is to say wait for Jehovah to supply the right thing at the right time.
Making the Connections #5
Part of us may look at Isaac and Rebekah as ask, “How in the world did they fit together?”
Dods explained. He wrote,
“One cannot read of her lively, bustling, almost forward, but obliging and generous conduct at the well, nor of her prompt, impulsive departure to an unknown land, without seeing, as no doubt Eliezer very quickly saw, that this was exactly the woman for Isaac. In this eager, ardent, active, enterprising spirit, his own retiring and contemplative, if not sombre disposition, found its appropriate relief and stimulus. Hers was a spirit which might indeed, with so mild a lord, take more of the management of affairs than was befitting; and when the wear and tear of life had tamed down the girlish vivacity with which she spoke to Eliezer at the well, and leapt from the camel to meet her lord, her active-mindedness does appear in the disagreeable shape of the clever scheming of the mother of a family. In her sons you see her qualities exaggerated: from her, Esau derived his activity and open-handedness; and in Jacob, you find that her self-reliant and unscrupulous management has become a self-asserting craft which leads him into much trouble, if it also sometimes gets him out of difficulties. But such as Rebekah was, she was quite the woman to attract Isaac and supplement his character.”
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We may look at their family of four and say it is a dysfunctional family — and it is for all the reasons Dods listed. But Rebekah was the right wife for Isaac.
How Do We Apply This?
- Pray in everything.
- Listen to Jehovah’s direction — even if we have to wait.
- Praise Sovereign God.
- Apply that on which we meditate.
- Meditate so that we can retain what we hear.
- Wait for Jehovah to supply the right thing at the right time.
Resources
Father God. Thank You for showing us the reward for obedience. Thank You for showing us how You love us and provide what You promise. Amen.
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