Sermon preached on Genesis 24 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 11/26/2023 in Petaluma, CA.
Audio recording not available for this session.
Sermon Manuscript
Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
As we near the end of Genesis’ account of Abraham, we turn to see how God will be fulfilling his promises through the promised seed of Isaac. That will require Isaac to get married and have at least one child. Today’s passage shows us how, by faith, Abraham secures a bride for Isaac. First, we will see how Abraham seeks to honor God in his pursuit of a wife for Isaac. Second, we’ll see how Abraham through his servant seeks a wife of good character for Isaac. Third, we’ll see how the parties in today’s passage recognize God’s plan and providence at work here. As we study a passage like this, it may seem like a strange way to find a wife. While there are some applications we can take from this passage in matters of marriage, there are several things here that are not normative. Let us dig, then, and learn these and other applications.
We begin first by seeing how Abraham sought to honor God in how he went about trying to find a wife for Isaac. We can see this first by how serious he takes this task. Due to his advanced age, he entrusts this task to a servant, and not just any servant, but to his most senior and most trusted staff. He then has him take an oath to seek a wife for Isaac within very specific restrictions, which clearly Abraham meant those constraints to honor the Lord.
The first restriction is found in verse 3-4. The wife for Isaac must not be from among the Canaanites. Instead, the servant is to find a wife for Isaac back in Abraham’s former home country of Haran, where his relatives still live. There are several reasons Abraham may have required this. The Canaanite peoples were wicked people who were growing in their wickedness. For example, in two chapters we’ll see that Esau, son of Isaac and Rebekah, will marry two Canaanite girls who end up causing trouble for the family. Abraham surely didn’t want Isaac to mix with godless pagan peoples. Likewise, God had already told Abraham back in Genesis 15 that the Canaanite peoples were going to be soon destroyed in judgment once their wickedness grew to the full. Abraham wouldn’t want his son through marriage yoked to a condemned people, lest their judgment come upon him too. That judgment is also when God will hand over the land of Canaan to Abraham’s offspring. Abraham surely didn’t want to come to possess any of that land via marriage with a Canaanite, but through the Lord’s gracious giving of it. So, Abraham looked to honor God by imposing this restriction against a Canaanite wife for Isaac.
By application, let us also seek to honor God by whom we are marry. If you are looking for a spouse, remember the Bible teaches that we should not be unequally yoked in our marriage. If you are looking for a spouse, you should seek to be married to a Christian. Now, yes, sometimes a Christian for various reasons finds themselves married to a non-Christian, and they shouldn’t divorce them but be the best spouse they can be, as a witness to them. But for the single person who is looking for a spouse, we should honor the Lord by looking for a spouse who shares our same Christian faith.
A second restriction that Abraham puts on his servant is that he must not take Isaac back to Abraham’s former home at Haran. If the servant finds the right kind of girl for Isaac, but she won’t relocate, Isaac is not to move to Haran. Remember in chapter 12, God brought Abraham out of Haran to the land of Canaan. God promised this land to Abraham’s offspring. Abraham’s faith here wrestles with the hypothetical possibility of a conflict between God’s promises. God promised Abraham a people, and that can’t happen if Isaac doesn’t marry. But God also promised a place, and that can’t happen if Isaac permanently relocates out of the Promised Land. But Abraham’s faith surely doesn’t believe such a conflict could truly happen, and so he will not allow Isaac under any circumstances to move out of the Promised Land, even for a wife. Abraham thinks this so important that he tells his servant that he will be released from his oath if the right wife won’t come back with him. Abraham honors God by not placing the pursuit of Isaac’s wife over other important obligations God has called them to.
By application, we remember that while marriage is a good thing, and a very important decision in your life, there are some obligations that are a higher priority. I think some single people can struggle with this. They can make marriage an idol of the heart, setting the pursuit of marriage their most important goal in life, with everything else secondary to it. But while marriage is a commendable goal, we must put God first in all things.
So then, those are some ways that Abraham sought to honor God in how he went about seeking a wife for Isaac. Let us now turn in our second point to see how a wife of noble character is sought for Isaac. I pull that language from Proverbs 31:10 that commends finding such a wife, that she would be more precious than rubies. When Abraham’s servant arrives in Haran in verse 13, he basically prays that God would direct him to such a woman of noble character. He prays that when he is at the city well, that a woman would give both him and his camels water to drink, and that such a woman, would be the wife for Isaac. He desires a virtuous woman for Isaac, one that would show such kindness to an old traveling man.
Now yes, there are some physical traits mentioned here about Rebekah. Verse 16 tells us she was a young woman with a beautiful appearance. But, the text goes on to show various aspects of her character that were beautiful. She is described as chaste, verse 16. She then indeed passes the two-part drinking water test in verses 17-19, giving water to both him and his camels. In verse 20, we see her quality of hard work as she gets the water quickly, serving with diligence. In verse 25 we see Rebekah demonstrate the virtue of hospitality as well as generosity, as she offers lodging for the man and feed for the camels. We might also note that at the end of the passage, she puts on her veil when she is approaching Isaac, which would have been the customary modesty required for a prospective bride before her husband, which also would serve to heighten inward beauty over outward. Indeed, as Peter reminds us in 1 Peter 3:4, the best kind of beauty is beauty of the heart. This is the kind of wife the servant of Abraham sought out for Isaac.
By application, we should remember that inner character is more important than outer beauty. For someone looking for a spouse, we need to make sure our wish list in what we are looking for has the right priorities. This doesn’t mean there isn’t room for physical appearance and attraction on the list, but wisdom will tell you it is not nearly as important as many other things that should be on the list. Some people might have so little character requirements in a potential spouse that they quickly marry anyone only to find much heartache afterwards. On the other hand, others might have such a long list of character requirements in a potential mate, that they never end up finding someone to marry. Nonetheless, the point is that inner beauty is something to value in others and cultivate in ourselves.
In our third point for today, let us observe how the parties in today’s passage recognize God’s plan and providence at work here. We find Abraham’s servant with this prayer where he is seeking God’s special guidance to identify the right woman for Isaac. He knows it needs to be one who meets Abraham’s requirements, and he prays that God would prosper his trip by identifying the girl through this two-part test with the drinking water. Notice that he not only looks to see Rebekah pass that test, but he is also concerned to learn her identity. Remember, Abraham said to find a wife for Isaac from among his kindred. In verse 23 learns that indeed she is of Abraham’s kindred, Abraham’s brother’s granddaughter. So, when Abraham’s servant first believes his prayer is answered, he responds in worship in verse 26, praying, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the LORD has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.”
We continue to see the servant of Abraham repeatedly acknowledging the LORD’s role as he meets Rebekah’s family. For example, we see his conversation with Laban, Rebekah’s brother, who calls Abraham’s servant the blessed of the LORD. Then in verse 34, we see Abraham’s servant recount to Rebekah’s family all of the events that had transpired starting. His account clearly testifies to the LORD’s hand in guiding everything, including the providential circumstances where he met Rebekah in immediate answer to his prayer for such guidance. In verse 50 we then see the response of the family to the servant’s testimony. Rebekah’s brother Laban, and her father Bethuel respond, saying, “The thing has come from the LORD.” They go on to say, “Let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has spoken.” So, they too acknowledge the hand of God in this. At that response, Abraham’s servant then again worships God, verse 52. And in verse 56, he again mentions how it is the LORD who prospered his way in all of this.
So then, this entire chapter shows how the LORD so wonderfully ordained this marriage, leading Abraham’s servant to find Rebekah in such a way, and the result is their happy union at the end of the chapter. Not only are they wed, but the chapter ends speaking of how Isaac loved Rebekah and how she was a comfort to him.
Let me pause and speak against a common simplistic application of this passage. Some think this passage advocates for what is sometimes called laying out a fleece before God in your prayers. That description comes from the book of Judges where Gideon prays for a sign to know God’s will through some creative tests with a fleece of wool. Yet, the context there shows that Gideon’s example is not commended to us as something to follow. Similarly, elsewhere Scripture teaches us not to test God and also about the dangers associated with the demanding of signs. God may have graciously given Gideon his requested signs with his fleeces, but that doesn’t mean we are commended to normally pray like that. So then, people say, well what about this passage? Doesn’t this prayer of Abraham’s servant show the same sort of thing, and thus another example to commend the idea of laying out a fleece before God in order to determine God’s will? Should we pray asking God for special signs in order to guide us? I’ve seen Christians do this, they pray for God to show some sign to tell them if they should do something. Then that sign happens, and they presume it to be God’s special personal revelation to them, and they presumptuously make big life choices around that perceived supernatural revelation. But does this passage commend such praying to us as a normal way to discern God’s will for our life?
No, it does not. To take such an application from this passage would be a superficial, and thus inaccurate, reading of the text. While Abraham’s servant does pray this sort of prayer, two important factors speak against people who try to simplistically apply this to themselves. The first factor is that these were extraordinary circumstances and thus wouldn’t apply to normal circumstances. The second factor is that even when the servant received the sign he prayed for, he still didn’t presume that was infallible revelation from God. Let me explain both.
First, the special, extraordinary circumstances for this passage and the servant’s prayer are found in verse 7. There, Abraham tells his servant that God will send his angel before him so that the servant will be able to find a wife for Isaac in Haran among his kinsman. Realize, that was prophecy. God has already said that Abraham is a prophet. Abraham sent his servant on this mission with a prophecy that God would be guiding him in a supernatural way. This truth about the angel going before him is so central to the story here, that the servant even tells Rebekah’s family this in verse 40. That’s what makes the servant’s mission here different than you and me. God told him there would be supernatural guidance for this particular mission, and so the servant felt so bold to pray and ask for such specific help. Ordinarily, God does not give such special supernatural guidance for picking a wife. But he did here for Isaac, and apparently that is what gave this servant such boldness to pray like this for such out-of-the-ordinary guidance.
Then the second factor I mentioned is that even after the sign his servant prayed for happened, he didn’t presume it to be infallible revelation from God. He hoped it was God answering his prayer, but he didn’t presume it to be. God has not promised that he would submit himself to whatever sort of a fleecing test we might ask of him. Given these special circumstances, the servant hoped God answered his prayer this way, but he didn’t presume it to be the case. How do we know? Look at verse 49. After he hoped his prayer was answered, he still sought confirmation by asking permission from the family for Rebekah to be married. He asks the family to let him know if they’ll let Rebekah be married to Isaac, so he can know what to do next. There’s still a sense of uncertainty there by the servant, because he’s not going to presume too much. You see, while Abraham was a prophet and recipient of such special revelation, this servant was not presumably a prophet. So, the servant tried to discern God’s will in light of these special circumstances where he had been promised angelic guidance. But even when he sees the sign he prayed for, he won’t infallibly know God answered it until he’s back home with the girl and Isaac marries her.
So, I hope that helps keep you from misapplying a passage like this. The extraordinary aspect of this passage needs to guard against overly simplistic applications. Yet, it is this extraordinary aspect that reminds us of the greater significance of this passage. Why are there such extraordinary things going on here, that God would give special angelic guidance in terms of getting Isaac a wife? I mean, did you notice that this is the longest chapter so far in Genesis, all about him getting a wife? By contrast, look ahead to next chapter, verse 1. There, Abraham gets remarried and that’s covered in just one verse. Why the difference? Because his remarriage will not advance the line of promise. But Isaac’s marriage will. God promised to fulfill the Abrahamic covenant through Isaac, and so that means Isaac will have to get married and have offspring, so that one day from his line the promised savior, Jesus Christ, would be born.
Indeed, this is why it is fitting for Rebekah to have so much attention given to her here, like the blessing her family sends her off with in verse 60. You might notice that the elements of that blessing sound similar to what God has promised to Abraham and now Isaac. That’s because Rebekah is being married to Isaac and so she is being grafted into the line of promise with him. Jesus will come from both Isaac and Rebekah. And as Isaac would be a patriarch of all Christians, Rebekah will be a matriarch. We’ve repeatedly rejoiced that we’ve become spiritual sons and daughters of Abraham and Sarah. Well, we are also sons and daughters of Isaac and Rebekah, all by being ingrafted into God’s people through Christ Jesus.
So then, each of us Christians have a story like Rebekah’s where God worked his plan in history to bring each one of us also into the line of promise. They discerned God’s work here to bring Rebekah to Isaac. Let us today recognize and discern how God has worked in history to bring each of us into this family. I’ve cautioned us today to be careful not to misapply this passage in how you go about trying to discern the Lord’s work in your life. But don’t misunderstand me. We do want to discern the Lord’s work in our life. Certainly, the Holy Spirit working through the Word, prayer, and godly counsel, will aid us in seeking such discernment. And as we look to recognize the ways God is at work in our lives, may it also result in the sort of praise that we see from Abraham’s servant today.
I leave us with one final big picture application. Isaac had to get a bride so Jesus would one day be born. Well, Jesus will one day come back to get his bride too. That’s us, the church. Indeed, that story has more than just one chapter in the Bible, because it is that important! Let us be ready for that glorious consummation.
Amen.
Copyright © 2022 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
