YEA Lesson Library

The Lesson

Sarah was 127 years old when she died in Canaan. Abraham mourned the death of his beloved wife. As he stood beside her dead body, he said to the men of Heth, "Here I am, a visitor in a foreign land, with no place to bury my wife. Please sell me a piece of ground for this purpose." There was no hesitation about doing this because they looked upon Abraham as an honored prince of God. This was a privilege.

Abraham didn't want Sarah to be buried alone. Since they agreed to do this, he asked to purchase the cave of Machpelah to bury his entire family when the time came. These people not only wanted to give him the cave, but the field as well without any charge. Abraham was not a free loader. He insisted on paying them 400 pieces of silver for this land to bury his family.

God had blessed the aging Abraham in every way. Abraham called his oldest, most trusted servant to him and asked that he swear before God that he wouldn't let his son, Isaac, marry one of the local Canaanite girls. They did not worship the true God. The servant was instructed to go to his relatives and find a wife for Isaac. The servant vowed to follow Abraham's instructions.

The servant loaded the camels with samples of the best of everything Abraham had and started his journey to Iraq, to Nahor's village. He came to a spring at evening at the time when women of the village came to draw water. Realizing what enormous responsibility Abraham had placed on him to find a suitable wife for Isaac, he knelt down and prayed for God's help. "O Jehovah, the God of my master, show kindness to my master Abraham and help me to accomplish the purpose of my journey. See, here I am, standing beside this spring, and the girls of the village are coming out to draw water. When I ask one of them for a drink and she says, 'Yes, certainly, and I will water your camels too' - let her be the one you have appointed as Isaac’s wife. That is how I will know.”

The servant hadn't even finished praying when a beautiful young girl named Rebekah showed up with a water jug on her shoulder to fill it with fresh spring water. The servant thought, “Maybe she's the one, I'd better go see." So he ran over to her and asked her for a drink. "Certainly, sir," she said very respectfully. She was willing to do even more than he asked and said, "I'll draw water for your camels, too, until they have enough!" Now that's a fast answer to prayer!

The servant watched the young lady carefully to see if she would finish her job. Then he would know if she was the bride for Isaac. After the camels finished drinking, he gave her a quarter-ounce gold earring and two five-ounce gold bracelets. Then he asked, "Whose daughter are you? And would your father have any room to put me up for the night?"

“My father is Bethel, the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor," she said. "And yes, we have plenty of straw to feed your camels, and a guest room where you can spend the night.”

The servant had seen his prayer answered beyond a shadow of a doubt. So he bowed his head worshiping and thanking God for being so kind and true and for leading him straight to the family of his master's relatives.

Rebekah ran home to tell her family about what had just happened. Her brother saw the bracelets and earrings and rushed to the spring where the servant was and invited him to stay with them. He gave him straw for his camels and water for the men with him to wash their feet. Supper was ready for all to eat. Before the servant could eat, he felt a need to explain the purpose of his visit, giving many details about how God had so richly blessed Abraham and Sarah. He continued by telling them how Abraham commissioned him to find a wife for Isaac from among his own people, his prayer, how Rebekah showed up at the well, and did more than he had asked for. Then he asked Laban and Bethuel, "Will you or won't you be kind to my master and do what is right?”

Laban and Bethuel replied, "The Lord has obviously brought you here, so what can we say? Take her and go! Yes, let her be the wife of your master's son, as Jehovah has directed.” The servant was overwhelmed with this good news and fell on his knees and worshiped God. Then he showered Rebekah with jewels set in solid gold and silver and lovely clothing. He gave many valuable presents to her mother and brother. Then they were able to eat their supper. All the good-byes were said and they left with this blessing: "Our sister, may you become the mother of many millions! May your descendants overcome all your enemies." As they arrived back home Rebekah saw Isaac walking out in the field and immediately got off her camel, covering her face with her veil. They told Isaac the whole story. "And Isaac took Rebekah into his mother's tent, and she became his wife. He loved her very much, and she was a special comfort to him after the loss of his mother."