Genesis 24:1-66

24:1-3 | To place a hand under someone’s thigh symbolized a binding oath. To swear by the LORD, or to vow by His authority, verbally affirmed this commitment. Although the oldest servant is not named here, some Bible teachers identify him as Eliezer (15:2).

24:3-9 | In faithfulness, the one true God, Abraham made his servant vow that he would not take a wife for Isaac from among the idolatrous Canaanites. Like Abraham with this servant, the Lord is not offended when His people request clarity so that they can know His will and do it well.

24:10-14 | To discern God’s will, a person must first be determined to do it. More frequently, Christians try to determing it before doing it. Prayers like this - for wisdom, grace, and clarity regarding the Lord’s will - are ones the Lord honors. God has a wonderful way of affirming His plans after His servants step out in faith (Ps. 37:5).

24:14-20 | This was answered prayer! The servant asked God to do something so significant that he would not miss the woman God had appointed for Isaac. And before he finished speaking, Rebekah arrived. It was common courtesy to offer water to another person at a well, but offering to draw water for animals was not. And to do so for all 10 camels was extraodinary.

24:29-31 | Rebekah’s brother Laban was impressed by the objects of wealth this servant had brought with him - from the jewelry to the camels. (In antiquity, only the very affluent owned camels.) Seeing an opportunity to improve his own situation, he invited the servant to stay at his house. Laban’s materialism and opportunism resurfaced later.

24:34-49 | The servant recounted the events that had brought him before Laban and Bethuel, Rebekah’s father. Readers today may chafe at the repetition in these stories, but the text was originally written to be read aloud. The repetition made the story telling more memorable and also wrote these scriptural lessons and histories on people’s hearts.

24:60 | This brief blessing echoes the words of the covenant given to Abraham in 22:17. The gates of walled cities were their weakest points and therefore the principal focus of attack. To control the gates was to control the city.