Genesis 5/20/17

GENESIS

May 20, 2017

by Pastor Kim Hickcox

 

(All Scripture taken from One New Man Bible unless otherwise noted)

 

Genesis 24 is entitled A Wife for Isaac. We do not know how long it was between the death of Sarah and the marriage of Isaac. But considering Abraham lived only another 38 years, in which he remarried and had 6 more sons who grew to adulthood before he died (see Genesis 25), I’m thinking not much time was wasted.

 

And as Isaac was 37 at the time of his mothers’ death, already well past the traditional age of marriage, this was perhaps one of the first things Abraham did when his time of mourning was past and life carried on as usual.

 

Genesis 24:1-4 give us the plan: “And Abraham was old, well stricken in age, and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. ²And Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, ‘Put, I pray you, your hand under my thigh ³and I shall make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell, ⁴but you will go to my country and to my kindred and take a wife for my son Isaac.’”

 

The term ‘Put your hand under my thigh’ could or could not have been literal. To put one’s hand under one’s thigh was to take a covenantal oath, which is why Abraham had Eliezer (Abraham’s oldest and chief servant as noted in Genesis 15:2-4) swear by the Lord AND I believe why, in his mercy, Abraham also gave him an out when Eliezer questioned his ability to fulfill his oath. “And the servant said to him, ‘Maybe the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Perhaps I need to bring your son again to the land from where you came?’ ⁶And Abraham said to him, ‘Beware that you do not bring my son there again. ⁷The LORD God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred and Who spoke to me and Who swore to me saying, “I shall give this land to your seed.” He will send His angel before you and you will take a wife for my son from there. ⁸And if the woman will not be willing to follow you, then you will be clear from this my oath, only do not bring my son there again.’ And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.” (24:5-9)

 

Abraham was honoring his personal obedience to the Lord by not allowing his son to enter his kindred’s homeland either, thereby transferring his obedience of the Lord’s call on his life to his son (or seed) also.

 

So Eliezer loaded up and took off. Now Ur was several hundred miles away, so the round trip would have taken months and probably well over a year to complete, which could have been another reason why Abraham not only wanted to do it soon, but did not want Isaac to go either. Should something tragic happen in the interim, someone had to lead the household, make the executive decisions, etc. This was a case when Spiritual obedience matched practicality which, as we all know, doesn’t happen 100% of the time.

 

When Eliezer arrived at his appointed destination, remembering what Abraham said to him, he prayed. “And he said, ‘LORD God of my master Abraham, make something happen right in front of me today, and act gracefully to my master. ¹³Behold, I am standing by the well of water and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water. ¹⁴And let it be that the girl to whom I shall say, “Let down your pitcher, please, so I can drink” and she will say, “Drink, and I shall also give your camels drink.” Let the same be she that You have appointed for Your servant Isaac and thereby will I know that You have shown kindness to my master.’

 

“¹⁵And it happened before he had finished speaking that there was Rebeccah (Rivkah) coming out, who was born to Bethuel son of Milkah, the wife of Nahor Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher on her shoulder. ¹⁶And the girl 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. ¹⁷And the servant ran to meet her and said, ‘Let me, I beg you, drink a little water from your pitcher.’ ¹⁸And she said, ‘Drink, my lord.’ And she hastened and let down her pitcher upon her hand and gave him a drink. ¹⁹And when she finished giving him a drink she said, ‘I shall draw water for your camels also, until they have done drinking.’ ²⁰And she hastened and emptied her pitcher into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. ²¹And the man, marveling at her held his peace, to know whether the LORD had made his journey successful or not.” (24:12-21)

 

So he gave her gifts, asked her who she belonged to (family-wise) and found out that she was indeed from Abraham’s family. Fait accompli!

 

After introductions were made, Eliezer told them about his prayer and how it was immediately answered, even before he actually finished it! “Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, ‘This thing is from the LORD: we cannot speak to you good or bad. ⁵¹Behold, Rebeccah is before you, take her and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as the LORD has spoken.’” (24:50-51)

 

Due to Rebeccah’s mother wanting her to stay for a while longer, she was allowed to make her own decision as to whether or not she wanted to leave with him right away and marry Isaac. She did. So the family prayed blessings over her and her future family and sent her away with her servants and personal possessions.

 

“And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening, and he lifted up his eyes and saw and, behold, the camels were coming. ⁶⁴And Rebeccah lifted up her eyes and when she saw Isaac, she fell off the camel.” (24:63-64) Which simply means that she was very surprised.

 

“And she said to the servant, ‘Who is this man who is walking in the field to meet us?’ And the servant said, ‘He is my master.’ And she took the veil and covered herself. ⁶⁶And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done.⁶⁷And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent and took Rebeccah, and she became his wife, and he loved her, and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.” (24:65-67)

 

And THIS is why it is so important to be sexually pure before marriage. In ancient times, the consummation of a man and woman was the entirety of the marriage ceremony.  No vows, no parties, no third person presiding – just the man and the woman and the Lord. “And Adam said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She will be called Wife (Ishah), because she was taken out of Husband (Ish). ²⁴Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and will cling to his wife, and they will be one flesh.” (Genesis 2:23-24) They’re becoming one flesh is not only due to what happens during the actual act of intercourse, but because the result – children; who have the characteristics and DNA of both parents. Thus the husband and wife can look at their child and actually see the result of them becoming one.

 

I believe the lesson for the day is found in verse 12: “And he said, ‘LORD God of my master Abraham, make something happen right in front of me today, and act gracefully to my master.’”  

 

Note that Eliezer was forever thinking and speaking and even praying for his master Abraham, never himself. Such devotion is seldom seen and gave me a personal conviction concerning my walk with the Lord. How many times do I make decisions with only my welfare in mind and not His, Who gave me everything?

 

Eliezer is to me, the epitome of integrity and loyalty!  Right up there with Daniel! We never hear of him doubting or disobeying even when the odds seemed likely to stack against him.

 

LORD let us be to You as Eliezer was to Abraham – a loyal and faithful member of Your household. Help us to keep Your will in mind and to always ask Your advice when a decision comes our way, be it big or small. Help us to always remember that You love us and will not only never lead us astray, but are always there to help and redirect us when we stray on our own.

 

Father thank You for loving us and adopting us into Your eternal family. Thank You for choosing us to be reunited with You before even time began.

 

Y’shua thank You for saving us. Thank You for loving us while knowing us the way You do, which is totally – even better than we know ourselves. Thank You for Your blood that saves, for Your stripes that heal, for Your mercy that forgives, for Your love that delivers and Your righteousness that totally cleanses us making us worthy to belong to You. You did it all! You did it all for us, and for that we can only begin to thank You, because words can never explain how grateful we are for all You have done and continue to do!

 

Holy Spirit thank You for convicting us and then giving our spirit rebirth the instant we accepted Y’shua as our Savior. Thank You for sticking with us no matter how many times we fall! Thank You for Your love and Your steadfast patience and Your constant help in times of need and thank You for Your discernment and teaching. May our hearts be ever open to Your voice and guidance.

 

“Now to the One Who is able to keep you without stumbling and to stand before His glory blameless in extreme joy, to the only God, our Savior through our Lord Y’shua Messiah, be glory, majesty, strength, and power before every age, both now and forever.” (Jude 24-25)  Amen.

 

Let us always remember that when Y’shua said “It is finished!” our account was closed – forever. And we did nothing to help or earn or deserve it. It’s all about You Jesus – ALL ABOUT YOU!!

 

SHALOM!