Genesis 24, A Wife for Isaac

Now that Sarah has died and Abraham is very old, it is time for Isaac to find a wife.

Genesis 24:1-4, Find a wife for Isaac
Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, "Put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac."

Abraham forces his (unnamed) servant to make a strong promise ("cross your heart".) Apparently the intimacy of "put your hand under my thigh," added solemnity to the promise.

Genesis 24:5-9, Some questions
The servant asked him, "What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?"

"Make sure that you do not take my son back there," Abraham said. "The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, `To your offspring I will give this land'--he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.

"If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there."

So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

Abraham will not retreat from this new land, but does not want his son to marry a pagan Canaanite.

Genesis 24:10-14, The servant visits Nahor
Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and left, taking with him all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.

Then he prayed, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a girl, `Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,' and she says, `Drink, and I'll water your camels too'--let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."

Aram Naharaim is northwest Mesopotamia.

The servant makes a very specific prayer. Many call this "laying down a fleece", after the story of Gideon's fleece, from the book of Judges. The request not only asks for God's intervention, but also asks for a certain notable energy and generosity in the woman's character. As Walton points out, a woman offering the man a drink from the well is expected. But offering to water all his thirsty camels is another thing altogether!

Genesis 24:15-16a, Beautiful Rebekah
Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor. The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her. 

Here comes an eligible young woman.... She is the daughter of Abraham's nephew, Bethuel. And she is beautiful.

Genesis 24:16b-20, "I will water your camels also"

She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.

he servant hurried to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water from your jar."

"Drink, my lord," she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, "I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking." So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.

Rebekah offers to also water the camels, an act of significant generosity which meets the servant's prayer. This energetic and kind young woman quickly impresses the servant.

Robert Alter argues that the Hebrew of this passage loses much in translation, for it contains a sequence of rapid actions briefly separated by the Hebrew conjunction vav (וַ, "and".) He translates this passage as follows. Note the poetic impression of energy and speed.

And she came down to the spring 

and filled her jug

and came back up 

and the servant ran toward her 

and said, "Pray, let me sip a bit of water from your jug."

And she said, "Drink, my lord"

and she let him drink his fill 

and said, "Fill your camels, too. I shall draw water until they drink their fill."

And she hurried

and emptied her jug into the trough

and she ran again to the well to draw water 

and drew water for all his camels.

The reader knows this will be a good mate for Isaac!

Genesis 24:21-25, The servant is invited to stay the night

Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful. When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. Then he asked, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?"

She answered him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milcah bore to Nahor." And she added, "We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night."

Rebekah is the grandson of Nahor, Abraham's cousin.  Her father, Bethuel, is then a cousin of Isaac. The culture of the ANE expects an offer of a place to spend the night (unlike the actions of the people of Sodom earlier, in chapter 19.)

The gold ring and two gold bracelets are quite valuable. The servant is making it clear that he comes from wealth and the gifts may hint at a future bride price. A beka (beqa, בֶּקַע, literally "half") was half a shekel. Ten shekels of gold, says Walton, would be more than a typical worker could earn in a year.

Genesis 24:26-28, The servant worships

Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD, saying, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives."

The girl ran and told her mother's household about these things.

Abraham's servant praises God for leading him to the right place.  Meanwhile the girl runs to talk to her mother. We are to understand that this is a big moment in the young woman's life. 

Genesis 24:29-33, Welcomed
Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring. As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring. "Come, you who are blessed by the LORD," he said. "Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels."

So the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels, and water for him and his men to wash their feet. Then food was set before him, but he said, "I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say." 

"Then tell us," [Laban] said.

Laban welcomes the servant and asks for the details of the visit and proposal. Laban apparently has a significant say in his sister's future. (Presumably Bethuel, Rebekah's father, is no longer living.)

Genesis 24:34-49, Proposal

So he said, "I am Abraham's servant. The LORD has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, and camels and donkeys.

My master's wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. And my master made me swear an oath, and said, `You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, but go to my father's family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.'

"Then I asked my master, `What if the woman will not come back with me?'

"He replied, `The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father's family. Then, when you go to my clan, you will be released from my oath even if they refuse to give her to you--you will be released from my oath.'

"When I came to the spring today, I said, `O LORD, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come. See, I am standing beside this spring; if a maiden comes out to draw water and I say to her, "Please let me drink a little water from your jar," and if she says to me, "Drink, and I'll draw water for your camels too," let her be the one the LORD has chosen for my master's son.'

"Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, `Please give me a drink.' She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, `Drink, and I'll water your camels too.' So I drank, and she watered the camels also.

"I asked her, `Whose daughter are you?' "She said, `The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.' "Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms, and I bowed down and worshiped the LORD. I praised the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son.

"Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn."

The servant tells his story. Our author repeats all the details! The servant's prayer, made right before meeting Rebekah, is reported as being "in my heart", that is, it was not said out loud.

Genesis 24:50-54 Proposal accepted
Laban and Bethuel answered, "This is from the LORD; we can say nothing to you one way or the other. Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has directed."

When Abraham's servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD. Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother. Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there. When they got up the next morning, he said, "Send me on my way to my master."

The family agree to the marriage proposal and they acknowledge the proposal as a response to divine action.

Genesis 24:55-61, Rebekah will leave her mother now
But her brother and her mother replied, "Let the girl remain with us ten days or so; then you may go."

But he said to them, "Do not detain me, now that the LORD has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master."

Then they said, "Let's call the girl and ask her about it."

So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Will you go with this man?" 

"I will go," she said.

So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies." Then Rebekah and her maids got ready and mounted their camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.

Rebekah is asked if she (and her nurse and maids) are ready to go with the servant. She agrees. (This must all be scary for Rebekah! As was common in the ANE, she is now pledged to marry a man she has not met!) The family gives her a blessing that echoes YHWH's promise to Abraham.

Genesis 24:62-67, Isaac meets Rebekah

Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel and asked the servant, "Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?" 

"He is my master," the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself. Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. 

Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

Isaac goes out to meditate one evening and sees the servant's caravan approaching. Rebekah, seeing a strange man walking towards her, asks who he is and when learning that it is her future husband, she puts on her veil so as to "cover herself."

In verse 63, the Hebrew wrord suach (שׂוּחַ) is translated "to meditate" by the NIV. This is the only occurrence of that word in all of the Old Testament. Strong's concordance identifies the word as a "primitive root; to muse pensively." Is Isaac praying as the caravan approaches?

Rebekah is brought into the tent of Isaac's mother, indicating her role as lead woman of the household and also suggesting her future role as a mother. (The mother's bedroom offered intimacy and fertility; see Song of Songs 3:4, for example.) Rebekah will be the woman Isaac needs. She will be a valuable new mother amongst the children of Abraham, but she is also loved by Isaac and brings him comfort as he grieves for his mother.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is naarah, girl, young woman

נַעֲרָה

The word occurs six times in this chapter, the first five times referring to Rebekah; the final time (verse 61) it refers to Rebekah's maids.

Some Random Thoughts

We see more of the culture of the ancient Near East (ANE.) Abram's servant hunts for a wife and finds Rebekah and then discusses the marriage arrangement with her brother. (Presumably Rebekah's father has died?) Then Rebekah, escorted by her nurse (a chaperon) and maids, travels with the servant back to the Negev. When Rebekah understands that the man walking towards her is her future husband, she quickly and modestly puts on a veil. Then, living the dream of every young woman of the ANE, she is given a tent that reflects her status as the wife of a wealthy man -- and a mother-to-be.

First published Jan 28, 2023; updated Jan 28, 2026