In Chapter 24, when Abraham was 137, Sarah died. Three years later when Isaac was 40 years old it became time for him to be married. Abraham did not want him to marry a Canaanite so he called in his oldest and trusted servant and made him promise not to take a wife for Isaac from the Canaanite women but to go back to Chaladea to Abraham's relatives to get a wife for Isaac.
Now, the servant reasons:
Abraham resolved it this way:
Well, the servant went to Chaladea. He took 10 camels and other choice gifts and headed for Mesopotamia and the city of Nahor (Abraham's brother's place). Mesopotamia was generally called the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Lower Mesopotamia was called Chaladea and upper Mesopotamia was called Assyria. Abraham was from Ur in Chaladea so this is where the servant went.
Approaching the city, the servant stopped at a well. There he prayed that God would provide a woman for Isaac. "Lord, let the woman to whom I say, 'Let down your jar that I might drink, let her answer me, drink and I will water your camels also, let her be the appointed one for Isaac.'"
Well, Rebekah, Abraham's niece, shows up at the well. She responds to the servant's request as he had prayed she would. He gave her a gold ring and two gold bracelets. She ran and told her parent's household the events at the well. Her brother, Laban, went back to the well and invited the servant to stay the night and eat. When supper was ready, the servant refused to eat until he had revealed the purpose of his visit.
The servant was concerned about his assignment and was eager to know if this was the woman that God had chosen for Isaac. He asked of then, "Is this the woman that I seek, or shall I look for another?" Nahor and Laban agreed that this certainly must be of the Lord and agreed to let Rebekah go back with the servant if she wanted to.
The next morning, the mother of Rebekah hesitates and asks if the servant would tarry for 10 days, till she got used to the idea of her daughter leaving. But the servant insisted that he had to be on his way but he did agree to let Rebekah decide. She decided that they would go immediately and she and her maids returned to Canaan with the servant.
As they near home, Rebekah sees a man out in the field. She inquires of the servant and is told that it was Isaac. He had gone out into the field to meditate. Rebekah took a veil and covered her face. She became Isaac's wife and comforted him after his mother's death.
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