Thru the Bible

Host: Welcome to Thru the Bible, a five-year journey through the whole Word of God. As we travel through the book of Genesis, our teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee reminds us that this first book of the Bible is clearly divided into two major sections.

Chapters 1 through 11 record four great events, and chapters 12 through 50 introduce us to four outstanding people. We’ve already studied the life of Abraham in chapters 12 through 23, and now our focus turns to his son Isaac. So turn with me in your Bible to Genesis 24, as we begin the long journey back to Abraham's homeland, Mesopotamia.

So as you find your place, let's pause for a moment to hear from a few of our fellow travelers on the Bible bus. First a short note from a pastor in Ethiopia. He writes: "With younger generations learning in English and elders fluent only in Turkana, this program has bridged the gap, encouraging unity in worship and in the Word of God. I am grateful for your help in bringing us all together."

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Let's pray and thank the Lord now for the privilege of studying together. Heavenly Father, thank you for opening our hearts to your word. We intercede for those hearing the gospel near and far, that all of us would respond in faith. Would you bless the teaching of your word now in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Host: Well, we're off to Genesis 24 on Thru the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, the 24th chapter of the book of Genesis, friends, is one of the richest sections of the Word of God because it tells a love story that goes way back to the very beginning. You can see how social life was way back in those days.

And this is a very dramatic account that is given here of the way that a bride was secured for Isaac. And again, there is a fantastic picture that is presented here to us, which we'll see a spiritual picture. Now last time, we barely got our foot in the door. I merely read one verse just to introduce us to this chapter. And here we saw that Abraham, he's old, well-stricken in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.

Now he wants to get a bride for his son Isaac, and he doesn't want to get a bride in that section, of those people there that were given to idolatry and paganism. And so, he sends back to his people, back in the land of Haran. Now notice how he does it. And actually, we've come in chapter 24 to a break in the division. You will recall that I said that the first part of Genesis, first 11 chapters, four great events. The last section, beginning with chapter 12 through 50, four outstanding individuals.

Now, from Genesis 12 to 23, we've had Abraham, the man of faith. Now we have Isaac, the beloved son. And there are three great events in the life of Isaac, and frankly, we've already seen two of them. One is his birth, and the second was his offering by Abraham, and third, his bride. They say the three great events in a man's life: one is his birth, one's his death, and then one is his marriage. And they say that he has no choice, except of the middle one, of marriage. And sometimes they don't seem to have much choice in that connection. But nevertheless, these are the three great events.

Now, two of these events, the birth of Isaac, and now we come to the one, his bride, and how he secured that bride. This is a very wonderful chapter, and there are two things that I want you to notice as we go through the chapter. One is, the leading of the Lord in all the details of the lives of those involved here. It's a remarkable statement that's made time and time again, how God led.

And that leads me to say, even in this early day, there were those in that climate, that social climate, that were looking to God and following His leading. And this is supposed to be way back yonder in the stone age, man was a cave man and pretty much uncivilized. Don't believe a word of it. Here's a record that goes back there, and man's not that kind of a man at all. He's a cave man today, but not back there. And we find here the leading of God. Now God could lead back in that day in the lives of these folk, He can lead today in your life and my life. And this puts down a pattern for us.

That's the first thing to notice. The second thing is the straightforward manner in which Rebekah made her decision to go with the servant, become the bride of Isaac. That is a tremendous thing. We'll notice it as we go through. We get to that later on, but you keep your eye out for that. And your ear open.

I'm reading now verse 2, Genesis 24. "And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and I will make thee swear by the Lord." Now that's the way men took an oath in that day. They didn't raise their right hand and put the left hand on a Bible. Didn't have a Bible to begin with. Frankly, I don't think it's necessary for anybody to put your hand on the Bible to swear. If it's necessary to get you to tell the truth to do that, then it may be you won't tell the truth.

But here, this was the method in that day. A man put his hand in the thigh of the man that he's going to make an oath to. And so, this servant, and I think it's Eleazar, he was the head servant in the home of Abraham, and he had a son. Remember Abraham called God's attention to that. Now God says to him in verse 3, "I'll make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell."

My Christian friend today, you've got a boy in your home or a girl in your home that's marriageable, you ought to pray that they'll not marry one of the Canaanites, because they're still in the land. And there is always a danger of our young people marrying one of the Canaanites. And if you do, someone has said, "If you're going to have the devil for your father-in-law, you're going to have trouble with him." You always do.

And now will you notice, Abraham here says to his servant, verse 4, "But thou shalt go unto my country, to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac." And the servant said unto him, "Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land. Must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest?" And Abraham said unto him, "Beware that thou bring not my son thither again." The servant said, "Now suppose I can't find a girl that will come with me. Shall I come back and get Isaac and take him to that land?" And Abraham said, "Never take him back. This is the place where God wants us. And do not turn him to that land under any circumstance." That's very important by the way to see.

Now verse 7. "The Lord God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land. He shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence." Now Abraham is really a man of faith. He demonstrates it again and again, and here he's magnificent. He says to this servant, "You can count on God leading you."

God has promised me this. Now you see, he's not taking a leap in the dark. Faith is not a leap in the dark. It must rest upon the Word of God. I find a great many people today, they say, "Well, I believe God and it'll come to pass." Well, fine. It's wonderful for you to believe God, but do you have something in writing from God? Abraham always asked for it in writing.

And he had it in writing from God. God had made a contract with him. And he says, "God has promised me that through my seed, and that's Isaac, that he's going to bring a blessing to the world." Now, you can be sure of one thing. God has a bride back there for Isaac. And you see he rests upon what God has said.

We need not be foolish today. Faith is not foolishness. It's resting upon something. It's always reasonable. It's never a leap in the dark. It's not betting your life that this will come to pass or that will come to pass. It's not a gamble, it's a sure thing. Faith is the real sure thing. And Abraham here is sure. He said, "You can be sure of that."

Now, he says, though, "If the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear of this my oath. Only bring not my son thither again." Don't ever return my son back there. But if the woman won't come, then you are discharged. Well, what does that mean? It means simply this: Abraham would have, I think, have told you very frankly, "Well, God has another way of working this out. I don't know what it'll be. But he says, "I'm sure of one thing, that this is the way God wants it done."

Now friends, that's what faith is. Faith is acting upon the Word of God. It rests upon something. And God wants us to believe His Word. And not just believe this pious nonsense that I hear today, that you can force God to do something, and that God has to do it because I believe it. May I say to you, no one wants to be healed more than I have. And I believe in divine healing, and I've made it through now with cancer in my body. And don't tell me now that I don't believe in faith healing. I do. But I want to say this, when somebody comes along and says that you can force God and that God has to do it, God will heal you and demand it.

I'm not in that position yet. I don't know what His will is. But whatever His will is, I want that done. But I want to make very sure, that we pray and ask God to do something. But God will have to be the one to determine whether it's His will or not. Abraham's got something to rest upon. He's not demanding anything of God. He says, "Well, if this doesn't work out, then God has another way to work it out." And we can always be sure of that.

Verse 9. "And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, sware to him concerning that matter." Now watch the servant as he goes out to get a bride for Isaac. "And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed. For all the goods of his master were in his hand, and he arose and went to Mesopotamia unto the city of Nahor."

Now, may I stop just to make this comment? I make the statement that there weren't just three wise men that came in on three camels to Jerusalem. That wouldn't have created a stir in the city. I believe there were nearer 300 camels that came in and 300 wise men. And the scripture would seem to bear that out. There's no number given of course. The number of gifts, that is, the kind of gifts, three kinds of gifts, but that doesn't confine it to three wise men.

But you'll notice here, even the servant that's going to Mesopotamia to get a bride for Isaac, he takes ten camels along, and that means somebody had to ride them. He took along quite a retinue of servants. Now, notice what he does. He says, here, "And he departed for all the goods of his master were in his hand." In other words, he had charge of all of the chattels and all the possessions of Abraham. "And he arose and he went to Mesopotamia unto the city of Nahor."

"And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water." Now that may seem strange to you that the women came out to draw water. But they were the ones that did the watering of the camels in that day. Very frankly, women did a lot more work in those days, friends, than they do today. I mean by that hard work.

The women were the ones that watered the stock and took care of them. Now the men were supposed to be out trading of course, and they were supposed to be out doing other work. Now they were not always loafing by any means. But it's interesting to note this was the custom of that day, "Even the time that women go out to draw water." Now this servant was waiting. It was not the proper thing for him to water his camels, a stranger, before others came there that lived in that community.

And he said, now notice, this servant, that's depending on God. And you find Abraham also put all of this in the hands of the Lord. And now the servant, listen to him, he prays. He said, "O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well of water. And the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water. And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink, and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also, let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac, and thereby shall I know that thou has showed kindness unto my master." Now his prayer is something like this.

The daughters of the men of the city will be coming out. I do not know, that is, I'm speaking for this servant now. That servant would say, "I do not know which one to choose." And so it's just left up to me, pick one of them. Now I pray that the one that I pick might be the one that God picks. In other words, he calls upon the Lord to lead him in making the right choice. Now who do you think he's going to pick? Well, he's a man. He's going to pick the best-looking one that comes out. And you can be sure of one thing, Rebekah was a good-looking woman.

We need to emphasize that today. The Puritans had an idea that beauty was of the devil. Well, the devil is beautiful. He's an angel of light by the way. But he doesn't have it all. God, after all, is the creator, and you've never seen a sunset, or look at a beautiful flower that He didn't make it. And He makes women beautiful. And there's nothing wrong with that. And this man's going to pick the beautiful one. He'd be a pretty poor servant if he didn't, I'll say that, and I'm sure he picked the best-looking one that came out.

Now, verse 15. "It came to pass, before he done speaking, that behold Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder." Look, here comes out the very one. "And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her, and she went down to the well and filled her pitcher and came up." I told you she'd be good-looking. And I knew it was coming of course, but she was good-looking. The Word of God says it, friends. Nothing wrong with that.

I resent that Hollywood and the devil today and the theater gets beauty. But I think the Lord ought to have some of it. He made it to begin with, and there's nothing wrong with Him using a lovely person and a beautiful person. Fine-looking men and women. I pray always God will call that kind into His service today. Now will you notice, the damsel is very fair to look upon, just not an ordinary girl. She would have won a beauty contest. She's a virgin. "Neither had any man known her, and she went down to the well, filled her pitcher and came up."

Now verse 17. "And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord. And she hasted and let down her pitcher upon her hand and gave him drink. And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I'll draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking." Now, the important thing for you and me to note here is that she's a very polite girl also, very courteous.

She's beautiful, not dumb, and very polite. You can be sure that she probably is not a modern girl by any means. She could certainly qualify. And she hasted and emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran again into the well to draw water and drew for all his camels. Remember there were ten of those camels there, and I don't know when the last time they filled their hump. It's just like filling a radiator in a car to fill those camels up.

Now will you notice, verse 21. "And the man wondering at her, held his peace, to wit whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not." The servant, he just stands there in amazement. He's wondering whether this is it. Whether God is leading or not. He believes he is. Verse 22. "It came to pass as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekel weight of gold, and said, Whose daughter art thou? Tell me, I pray thee, is there in thy father's house room for us to lodge in?" She said unto him, "I'm the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor,"

And Nahor's brother Abraham. "She said moreover unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in." "And the man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord." He sees the hand of God in it. Wonderful to have God leading and guiding, isn't it? And notice here, verse 27. "He said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth. I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren." And that is a great statement there.

"I being in the way the Lord led me." And the Lord leads those that are in the way. That is that are in His way, that are wanting to be led, that will be led of Him, that will do what He wants done. God can lead a willing heart anytime. Now, verse 28. "And the damsel ran and told them of her mother's house these things. And Rebekah had a brother and his name was Laban, and Laban ran out unto the man unto the well."

And friends, right here, let me warn you, keep your eye on Uncle Laban. He'll bear watching at this point and from here on. He was greatly impressed by material things. And notice what happens, verse 30. "It came to pass, when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah, his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me, that he came unto the man and behold, he stood by the camels at the well."

And the servant just waited out there at the well to see if anyone would come out to lead him into the home of Rebekah, whether he really had a welcome or not. Well, believe me, when old Laban saw those rings, he knew that it was a very wealthy guest. And Uncle Laban is not missing a deal. And if you doubt that, you ask Jacob later on. Jacob found out Uncle Laban was a real trader. In fact, he was a better trader than he was.

And so he went out and he wanted to welcome him. And notice how he welcomes him. "And he said, Come in, thou blessed of the Lord, wherefore standest thou without? For I have prepared the house and room for the camels." And even old Laban recognized the fact that there was the living God, the creator, one God. Very important. And he welcomed the man. "And the man came into the house. And ungirded his camels, gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet." And here we have this foot-washing ceremony again. "To wash his feet and the men's feet that were with him." You see he had quite a few that had come with him.

Now the man is entertained royally in this home. Uncle Laban sees to that. I see I don't have time to even develop this. But we're going to see now how he wins this girl Rebekah, and she's going to go back to the home of Abraham, become the bride of Isaac. May I say this is a dramatic story, but we'll have to wait until next time, my beloved.

Host: Be sure to come back and hear the rest of the story, or take time to read all of Genesis chapter 24 on your own. You know, reading ahead is really one of the best ways to prepare both your heart and your mind for what's coming next. To download our reading schedule bookmark, go to ttb.org or call us at 1-800-65 Bible to join our mailing list and receive the bookmark by mail, which is what I do, and then I just put it in my Bible for every month.

Now, while you're using our app or visiting ttb.org, take a few moments to explore the many resources by Dr. McGee that are designed to help you go deeper in God's word yourself, from the notes and outlines that guide your daily studies to our more in-depth Bible companions and more than 100 free downloadable booklets and so much more. It's our prayer that God would use His word in a personal way to shape how we think, what we believe, and how we live. So take some time to explore the resources available there.

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Now, will Rebekah go with Abraham's servant? Is there a wedding in Isaac's future? Well, hop aboard the Bible bus for our next study and find out. I'm Steve, grateful for your company on the Bible bus and for walking with the Lord together.

Host: Today's study with Dr. J. Vernon McGee is brought to you by Thru the Bible, and it's made possible by the generous prayer and financial investments from listeners like you on the Bible bus all around the world.