Let’s pick up at Mount Moriah.
God interrupted the burnt offering when Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son. The Lord provided an animal to replace Isaac so they could complete the sacrifice. Now that Abraham had passed the test, the Lord “swore by himself” that because Abraham did “not withhold his son, his only son,” God would “surely bless him and make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.” The children of Abraham will “take possession of the cities of their enemies” because Abraham obeyed. Abraham returns to his servants at the foot of Mount Moriah, with whom he sets off for Beersheba.
Although father and son went to Moriah together, Isaac is absent at the foot of the mountain. He doesn’t go with his dad to Beersheba. Where is the one and only son of Abraham? It’s not immediately clear.
In Genesis 22:20, we read: “Sometime later Abraham was told, “Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor: Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel, Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel. Bethuel became the father of Rebekah.” This detail may seem irrelevant if you don’t know the rest of the story. But we have just been introduced to Rebekah, the next matriarch in the book of Genesis. Rebekah is the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother Nahor.
In other words, Abraham has a child but doesn’t have grandchildren. His brother Nahor, on the other hand, is a grandpa. God said Abraham would become a “great nation” but Abraham’s family doesn’t have a third generation. Sarah dies before her son Isaac is married. If God’s promises will come true, Isaac needs a wife.
After Sarah’s death and burial, we read that Abraham was “very old and the Lord had blessed him in every way.” He told Eliezer, his senior servant, to swear by God he would get a wife for Isaac from his tribe, not from the Canaanites. Eliezer wants to know what to do if a woman isn’t willing to come to the promised land. Should he take Isaac away from the promised land and search for a woman in the east?
Abraham is unequivocal: under no circumstances should Isaac leave and go back. God’s mission was to take Abraham out of the pagan east and bring him west to the land of Canaan. The inheritance belongs to Isaac by the sure promise of God. So confident is Abraham that he promises an “angel” will go before Eliezer to help him.
Eliezer travels with an entourage including ten of Abraham’s camels and “all kinds of good things.” He arrives outside the town of Nahor and stops near a well at “the time the women go out to draw water.” Eliezer prayed for God to make him successful, suggesting to the Lord a sign to determine who was the right match for Isaac. If a young virgin offers to give Eliezer water as well as water his camels, he wants her to be the one “God has chosen for His servant Isaac.”1 I don’t know if this prayer counts as “putting the Lord God to the test,” but God does not seem upset with Eliezer’s request.
“Before he had finished praying,” Eliezer sees a “very beautiful virgin” who offers him a drink. She is also willing to water Eliezer’s camels, which is no mean feat. This virgin “quickly” empties her jar, “runs back” to the well, and draws enough for all the camels. There is only one thing Eliezer needs to find out. If she’s a Canaanite, his journey has been a failure.
“Who is your father?” asks Eliezer, his heart pounding.
Rebekah says: “Bethuel, the son of Milkah and Nahor.”
The first woman Eliezer laid eyes upon is a (1) beautiful (2) virgin (3) from Abraham’s tribe (4) who embodies the sign for which he prayed. Even more than Eliezer requested, she is hospitable and offers him “plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room to spend the night.” The Apostle Paul might say to Eliezer that God "can do more than all we ask or imagine.”
It’s no wonder Eliezer “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.” Rebekah runs home and tells her family what happened. Her brother Laban runs to Eliezer and notices the gold nose ring and the two gold bracelets that Eliezer has produced from his treasures. There is a great deal of running in this story - Rebekah’s urgency is motivated by joy and Laban’s urgency by his greed.
Eliezer retells the entire story to Rebekah’s family, which makes chapter 24 one of the longest in Genesis. In his narrative, Eliezer is not shy about Abraham’s wealth, nor does he neglect to mention that Isaac has received “everything Abraham owns.” Eliezer demands an immediate answer from the family about the proposal: “Tell me, and if not, I want to know which way to turn.” In other words: it’s yes or no, right now. Rebekah’s brother and father say yes without hesitation: “This is from the Lord. Take her and go, as the Lord directed.”
Rebekah’s mother and brother try to delay Eliezer and Rebekah’s trip home. (Laban likes to trap people in his house. He will use this strategy against Rebekah’s son Jacob for twenty years. Maybe Laban is why Rebekah was so eager to leave!) Fortunately, Eliezer knows better and ignores their suggestion. He won’t stop until his mission is complete. After Rebekah consents to go and wed Isaac, the family blessed her:
“Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the cities of their enemies.”
As Eliezer and Rebekah set off on their journey, we are finally told where Isaac went after he left Moriah. In verse 62 (!) we discover Isaac had been living in “Beer Lahoi Roi,” the same place that Hagar named the Lord, “the living God who sees me.” This detail can’t be coincidental. An angel from God met Hagar at a well that provided water to save her son Ishmael’s life. Afterward, Hagar found a wife for Ishmael from Egypt. Now Abraham’s other biological son Isaac will meet his wife Rebekah in the same area as Hagar’s well. As it turns out, Isaac and Ishmael’s lives are very intertwined.
Isaac “brought Rebekah into the tent of his mother Sarah and married her.” This marriage “comforted Isaac” after the passing of his mother. Like Adam, Isaac has “left father and mother” and “cleaved unto his wife.” The promised Son has his virginal bride, Rebekah, the next matriarch of the Jews. The mantle has passed from Abraham to Isaac and from Sarah to Rebekah. God’s promise has a new husband and wife team through which to bless the nations.
Now let’s talk about Jesus and Mary.
Did you know that Solomon built the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah? (2 Chronicles 3:1) That means Christ sacrificed His life to the Heavenly Father in the same region where Isaac was bound by his father. Isaac is still alive on the third day; Jesus is raised on the third day, Easter Sunday. Jesus promises His twelve apostles to send them a “Comforter” or “Helper” in the Holy Spirit, just like Abraham sends Eliezer, whose name means “God is help.”
The New Isaac’s bride is the Church, and like Rebekah, she was “chosen” before she knew it. If it doesn’t scare you too much, you could use Paul’s word: “predestined.” Mary, like Rebekah, was chosen before she knew it. An angel helped Eliezer find Isaac a wife in Rebekah. An angel named Gabriel found Mary to be a mother for the New Isaac. Like Rebekah, Mary is the beautiful young virgin from the family of Abraham. Unlike Rebekah, she is already betrothed to Joseph and the Lord is planning a pregnancy for her, not a wedding. Abraham’s servant brought many gifts to Rebekah; the angel Gabriel brought the Gift of all gifts to Mary: the son of Abraham, Jesus of Nazareth.
Rebekah shows hospitality to Eliezer, strength in her providing water to his camels, and urgency during their providential encounter. Mary is the New and Greater Rebekah, who welcomes the news of Gabriel, shows hospitality by opening up her womb to the Son of God, and urgency in her obedience. Mary’s ancestor Rebekah said, “I will go,” just like her father-in-law obeyed the Lord: “So Abram went.” That’s the same spirit behind Mary’s “Let It Be.” Three words of obedience changed the world with Abraham, Rebekah, and Mary.
Why is the marriage delayed? In the Old Testament, it is greedy Laban who tries to squeeze more out of Eliezer. The spirit of Laban is in the disciples who say to Jesus, “First let me do something else and then I’ll follow you.” The spirit of Laban is also in the greed of the rich young ruler. Many of us walk away from Jesus rich, but sad. We’re invited, like Rebekah, to be wed to the Greater Isaac, but we hesitate. We could have Abraham as our father and the New Isaac as our Groom. Instead, we pause. The Church should be like Rebekah: hurry up and leave Laban’s house for Him.
On her way to Canaan, Rebekah “lifted her eyes.” She asked, “Who is this man walking in the field to meet us?” Like the bride in the Song of Solomon, the Church asks, “Who is this coming up from the wilderness?” As Eliezer said to Rebekah, “It is the master.” Jesus is the Rabbi, the Lord, the Christ, the King. He is our Master.
God promised Abraham that his descendants would “take possession of the cities of their enemies” and that same phrase is used by Rebekah’s family to bless her. When did this promise come true? Initially, when the Israelites conquered the land. But ultimately, when Rebekah’s Son, Jesus Christ sent His apostles into all the nations to conquer the Gentiles with the gospel. The Gentile enemies were won over by the love of God and entered the church, becoming sons and daughters of the matriarch Rebekah. Now her offspring have increased not just to thousands, but billions.
Rebekah’s son Jesus also meets a woman at a well like his father Isaac. They meet “near the plot of ground given to Joseph by Jacob,” Rebekah’s secondborn son. Like Eliezer, Jesus was tired from his journey. Unlike Eliezer who met Rebekah in the evening, Jesus met this woman at noon, in the heat of the day, when no one wanted to draw water. Like Eliezer, Jesus asks for water.
The Samaritan woman was shocked because Jews did not usually share dishes with Samaritans. Will Jesus view her vessel as unclean? Jesus turns the tables on her. Like Eliezer, Jesus has gifts that she can’t imagine. Intrigued, the Samaritan woman asks for His water. She doesn’t know that Jesus has a proposal in mind.
People think Jesus is “changing the topic” when He mentions her husband. He’s not. Who should get her true and living water? Her true husband. But she doesn’t have one. When Jesus reveals His detailed knowledge of her past, she puts two and two together. He is a prophet and the Messiah, who “explains everything.” Jesus is the True Bridegroom who wants her to join the Church, His Bride.
Like Rebekah, the Samaritan woman ran back to the town. She tells her family, “Come see the man.” Like Laban, the Samaritans come running to meet Jesus, the new and greater Isaac, the true Husband who gives living water. Just like Laban, the “Samaritans urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.” This time, they are not greedy, but hungry and thirsty for more time with Christ. “Because of his words, many more became believers.” The marriage proposal is accepted.
Rebekah’s family once said to her: “Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the cities of their enemies.” If Jesus is the New Isaac who meets His unsuspecting bride at a well, then Mary is the New Rebekah, the Virgin who becomes Mother of multitudes. How does Mary increase to “thousands upon thousands”? Because her offspring, “those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus" live in cities all over the world, previously possessed by the Enemy (Rev 12:17).
This verse should not be misused to peddle the idea of “The One.” The idea of a “soulmate” assumes there is one person on earth you should marry among all the earth’s inhabitants. If God believed in the ideology of “the one,” then remarriage would never be allowed because you would (in a single lifetime) marry more than one person. Also, Isaac loves Rebekah after they are married, while the soulmate view requires falling in love before marriage as a sign that your future spouse is “the one.” We should ditch “soulmate” nonsense and see marriage as a vocation. But that’s another post for another time.