What do a girl, a well, and a camel have in common? They all play a part in the courtship of Rebekah and Isaac. In this part of the story, Abraham sends his faithful servant on a bride quest. Abraham desires that his son marry someone from among his own people. Abraham and his family are living in the Promised Land, but the land is still occupied by the Canaanites. Abraham doesn’t want his son marrying a Canaanite nor is he willing to send his son to where his potential bride is. It’s important for the family to stay in the land that God gave them.
Context
In this part of the story of Rebekah and Isaac, Abraham sends his faithful servant on a bride quest. Abraham desires that his son marry someone from amongst his own people. Abraham and his family are living in the Promised Land but the land is still occupied by the Canaanites. Abraham doesn’t want his son marrying a Canaanite nor is he willing to send his son to where his potential bride is. It’s important for the family to stay in the land that God gave to them.
The servant travels to the land Abraham is from, taking an absurd amount of camels loaded with gifts. The Bible says that he left with all the best of his master’s things in his hand. He stopped at a well right outside of the city and asked Adonai to work on behalf of Abraham’s loyalty. He prays that the young woman who comes to the well to draw water also be willing to serve him and his camels. Along comes Rebekah, and not only is she stunning, she is willing. The servant asks to sip from her jar and she lowers her jar onto her hand for him to drink. Then she offers to water his camels until they’re no longer thirsty. That was no small task right there. The servant had brought ten camels. A typical camel can drink about 53 GALLONS of water in 3 minutes. Have you ever struggled to carry a gallon of water into the house after grocery shopping? So imagine lugging 53 GALLONS from a well to where the camels were TEN TIMES! Whew!
The Point
In this story, Abraham represents God, Isaac represents the Son, and the servant typifies the Holy Spirit as well as the ones sent, like pastors or anyone in the five fold ministry.
God sends His Holy Spirit to look for a bride for His Son. The appropriate bride is the one that is willing to serve. Rebekah is the result of an answered prayer. She was willing to lower her water jar to serve a complete stranger. We might be comfortable carrying our jar, even if its heavy, but putting it in a position to pour requires a certain amount of core strength we might not all have. The water is the Word and we must be willing to give the thirsty a drink.
Let This Be Your Prayer
Show me where to lower the jug.
Show me who and where to serve.
Show me who You want me to water.
The Biggest Takeaway: "I will go..."
One more thing to notice in this story. When asked by the servant to go to Isaac, Rebekah consents with three words, I will go. The bride has to consent to go because no one draws near to God without the Holy Spirit. The representation of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is important based on the way the bride and the Son react to each other. She falls off her camel and He immediately falls in love with her. That’s right, I said she fell off her camel! When the bride is prepared and willing, the Son is happy to accept her.
