(Genesis 24:01 - 25:10)
Abraham was aged and infirm, but in all ways he had been blessed by Jehovah.
Abraham addressed his senior servant, the steward who had charge of his affairs and household "Put your hand against my genitals and swear by the god of heaven and earth that you will not choose for my son a wife from among the womenfolk of the Canaanites, with whom I live, but that you will go back to my own country and to my own kin to find a wife for my son Isaac."
The steward asked "What if no woman is willing to come to this country, should I take your son back to his native land?”
"No, under no circumstances take my son back there! Jehovah, the god of heaven, led me out of my father's house and my homeland. He spoke to me and swore to me that my progeny would be granted possession of this land. Jehovah will send an agent ahead to help you find a wife for my son there. However, if the woman is not willing to come back with you, you are not bound by the oath. Only do not take my son back there."
The servant placed his hand against Abraham's genitals and swore the oath.
The steward took ten camels from Abraham's herd and departed, taking with him some of his master's treasure to be used as gifts. He journeyed to Mesopotamia, to the town of Abraham's brother Nachor. At an well outside the settlement, he had his camels kneel down to rest. It was evening, the time when women regularly came to draw water from the well. He prayed "Jehovah, god of my master, please bring me good fortune and favor my master Abraham. See me, I am standing here by the well where the maidens of the town come to draw water. Let it be that the girl to whom I say 'Please, set down your water jug and let me drink.' will reply 'Drink and I will give water to your camels as well.’ Let her be the one that you've chosen for your servant Isaac. Let that be a sign that you have favored my master."
Even before he had finished speaking, there came to the well, bearing a water jug on her shoulder, none other than Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel and the granddaughter of Milcah and Nahor, Abraham's brother. The young girl was quite beautiful and still a virginal maiden. She filled her jug at the well and was returning when Abraham's steward approached her.
"Could you please let me have some water from your jug?" he asked.
"Have a drink, sir," she answered, slipping the jug down from her shoulder and letting him take a drink from it. After he had finished drinking, she told him "I will draw some water for your camels, so that they can have their fill, too." She empty her jug in the water trough and then hurried back to the well to get more water for the camels.
Wondering about her and whether Jehovah had crowned his journey with success or not, the steward kept quiet. But after the camels had finished drinking, he brought out a gold nose ring weighing half a shekel and two bracelets of gold worth ten shekels and presented them to Rebecca. He asked the girl "Who are your parents? Is there room in your house for me and my men to lodge?"
She answered, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor and Milcah." She added "We have plenty of both straw and hay and enough room for lodging."
The steward prostrated himself and prayed "Blessed be Jehovah, the god of my master Abraham, who has not withheld his mercy and truth from my master and who has guided me unerringly to the house of my master's brother!”
Rebecca ran home and told everyone in the house what had transpired. She had a brother named Laban. When he saw the nose ring and the bracelets his sister was wearing and heard what the man told her, he rushed out to the well to greet the steward. He found the man standing by his camels at the well and said to him "Come on inside, you who are blessed by Jehovah. Why are you standing outside? I have prepared a room for you in the house and stabling for your camels."
Laban led the steward and his party to his home. Laban unsaddled his camels and gave them hay and straw. He also furnished water to wash the feet of the Abraham's steward and the men who had come with him.
A meal was laid out for the steward, but he said "I can't eat until I've revealed the purpose of my errand."
Tell us!” he was bid.
"I am a servant of Abraham. Jehovah has blessed my master wonderfully. He is wealthy in flocks of sheep and herds of oxen, silver and gold, male and female servants, camels and donkeys. Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son to him when she was quite old, and the son is his sole heir. My master made me swear, saying 'You will not choose for my son a wife from among the womenfolk of the Canaanites, with whom I live, but you will go back to my own country and to my own kin to find a wife for my son.' But I asked my master 'What if the woman won't come back with me?' 'Jehovah,' he told me 'whom I follow, will send an agent ahead to guide me. You will choose for a wife only a woman from my own people and my own family. But you are absolved from your oath if, finding my family, they won't furnish you with a willing bride.' And today I arrived at the well and prayed "Jehovah, god of my master, if you wish to favor my mission let it be that the girl to whom I say 'Please, set down your water jug and let me drink.' will reply 'Drink and I will give water to your camels as well'." Let her be the one that you've chosen for your servant Isaac, and that will be a sign that you have favored my master.' And while I was pondering that in my mind, lo and behold Rebecca appeared carrying a water jug on her shoulder. She went down to the well and drew water. I asked her "Could you give me a little to drink?" She quickly let the jug down from her shoulder and invited me 'Have a drink and I will give water to the camels' So I drank and she made the camels drink. And I asked of her 'Who are your parents?' And she said 'I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor and his wife Milcah.' And so I put the nose ring on her to adorn her face and fastened the bracelets to her wrists. And prostrating myself, I prayed, thanking Jehovah, the god of my master Abraham, who had led me straight to the daughter of my master's brother for his son's sake. If you would deal with my master honestly and truly, please let me know one way or the other how I should proceed."
Laban and Bethuel replied "This is ordained by Jehovah; we can say nothing to contradict it. Rebecca stands here before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master's son, as Jehovah wishes."
When Abraham's steward heard this, he fell to the ground and thanked Jehovah. He then produced vessels and jeweled ornaments of silver and gold and luxurious raiment and presented them to Rebecca, also proffering precious gifts to her brother and mother. To celebrate, a banquet was held, and the steward and the men with him stayed the night. When they rose in the morning he asked his hosts "I wish your permission to leave so I can return to my master!"
But the girl's brother and mother pleaded with him "Let the girl stay with us a few more days, ten at least. After that she will leave."
The steward replied "Please don't delay me, considering that I am on Jehovah's business. Let me leave so I can return at once to my master."
And they said "We will call the girl so that she may answer you personally." They called Rebecca and asked "Are you ready to go with this man now?" And she responded "Yes, I am!"
Thus they bid farewell to Rebecca and her nurse and to the steward and his party. They wished Rebecca well, saying "You are our sister, but you will be the mother of a multitude. May your posterity control the cities of their enemies!"
Rebecca and her maidservants mounted the camels and followed the steward as he returned posthaste to his master.
Meanwhile, Isaac was walking on the way to the well of Lahairoi [the living and the seeing] (for he lived in the south country), but he lingered at dusk to meditate in the field, for he had spent a busy day. He looked up and noticed a train of camels approaching from afar.
When Rebecca glimpsed Isaac, she dismounted her camel and asked of the steward "Who is that man walking in the field coming to greet us?"
"It's my master," the servant replied. Rebecca quickly grabbed her cloak and covered her face.
After the steward recounted to Isaac all that had occurred, Isaac brought Rebecca into the tent of his mother. He married her and loved her, and she comforted him for the loss of his mother.
Abraham himself married again, to a woman named Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan, and the sons of Dedan were the progenitors of the Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, and Eldaah. All of these were the descendants of Keturah. Abraham, however, willed his entire estate to Isaac. To the sons Abraham had fathered by his lesser wives he did give gifts, but, during his lifetime, they were sent away to live in the east country, separated from his son Isaac.
Abraham lived to be a 175 years old. He had spent many long, full years, but finally, in failing health, his spirit gave out and he died, joining his ancestors. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the double cave facing Mamre in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hethite, this being the cave that Abraham purchased from the Hethites. He was interred there next to his wife Sarah.
Notes:
1. A curious and uncomfortably intimate custom is recounted here, that of making a promise, swearing an oath to someone by placing your hand against his genitals. Most, if not all Biblical translations refer only to "thigh" but that is merely a euphemism. (It is ever the intention of this translation to be totally accurate, clear, and honest -- even when it is embarrassing.)
2. As perhaps the first recorded instance of racial prejudice, Abraham insists that his son only marry someone of his own ethnicity -- no Canaanite girl is going to marry my son! Abraham, though, is obligated by Jehovah to do so, since his god is only the god of the Hebrews and is not going to do any favors for other peoples. The line must be kept racially pure so that Jehovah can be held to the promises he has made to his Abraham's descendants. Also, Abraham probably does not wish to venture from what seems to be the early Hebrew tradition of incest and inbreeding. This would not be uncommon at the time. (Consider the long-held preference for brother-sister marriages by the Egyptian pharaohs.)
3. Abraham's steward makes the trip back to Mesopotamia by camel. This, as has been mentioned before, is egregiously anachronistic. Camels would not become a form of transportation in the Middle East for more than a thousand years after Abraham's age. Perhaps Rebecca giving water to donkeys would have made the tale less romantic.
4. There is a reference to Jehovah sending an agent to help the steward find Abraham's family, but the steward seems to be lucky and doesn't need any help. Or did the "divine" agent find some way to guide the steward's party to the correct destination? This is left unexplained.
5. It is curious that the narrator does not know the name of Abraham's steward, who is a prominent actor in the story (and has a great deal to say), yet is apprised of the exact monetary value of the nose ring and bracelets he gives to Rebecca!
6. Another point of interest is that Abraham seems obligated to present gifts and make at least an informal marriage settlement to the bride and the family of the bride. It seems fitting since in this case it is the man who is searching for a marriage partner. Later tradition will often dictate that it is the family of the bride who must fork over a dowry.
7. When Rebecca and Isaac meet, rather romantically (although the story seems cut off or abridged), the steward refers to Isaac as his master and not his master's son. The reader can only wonder whether this is a mistake or has some significance. Another interesting point in their meeting is that Rebecca is quick to cover her face with her cloak. She does not wish her future husband to view her unveiled, but with the steward and the other servants she has been bare-faced the whole time and had even allowed a stranger to bedeck her with jewels.
8. We are reminded at several points in the story how old a man Abraham is and how he is in his dotage, but then we are told he has married again, with the frisky old gent siring a slew of children. He lives to be 175, not quite antediluvian longevity, but an abnormally long life span nonetheless. There is, of course, no evidence that men of the 2nd millennium B.C. were endowed with such longevity, in fact, life expectancy of adults was probably less than 50 years, with an occasion strong, or fortunate man living to old age. In the legends of all peoples, it seems that patriarchs are almost always credited with a number of years matching their stature.
9. In Abraham's treatment of his sons, we see an early example of the tradition of primogeniture, in which the eldest son is the sole heir: he inherits everything and the younger sons, practically nothing. There is certainly no pretense of equal treatment among Abraham's children; the sons of the other wife are not even permitted to associate with Isaac. They are merely bought off and banished out of sight.
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