Summary of Genesis 24:1-14
After Sarah as passed on, Abraham too was very old. As he knows God’s covenant promises, that all nations would be blessed through Isaac, he was concerned about finding Isaac a wife. He summoned the senior servant and assigned him the task to find a wife for Isaac. Abraham gave his servant clear instructions, not to get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, but someone from his own relatives. The servant sought clarity about what to do if the woman was unwilling to return, Abraham knew God will surely provide, what matters most is not compromise with false religions and immorality.
The servant made his way to the town of Nahor, arrived, and waited at a well when women would come to draw water. The servant prayed and asked God to look for the right woman for Isaac:
Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
He recognized this is God’s work, so he requested God’s help. He desires great things for his master, and not a self-centered objective for the sake of being recognized for doing a task well. His prayer is also very specific, and he waits for God to act and not rush into his own conclusion in deciding who is the one for Isaac.
Questions
3. What was Abraham concerned about, and why? How can you tell from verses 1-9 or from other passages we have already studied? Abraham knew God’s covenant about making Isaac a great nation, and he was concerned about finding Isaac’s wife. This wife must not be a Canaanite, but someone from his own relatives.
4. a. How did Abraham fulfill his responsibility to God for his family?
Genesis 18:19:
For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
Abraham directed his senior servant, probably someone he trusted, to get a wife for Isaac.
b. Who helps you fulfill your responsibilities? What might change if you embraced others as helpers provided by God in answer to your needs?
5. a. How did Abraham’s servant model dependence on God? He prayed for God to show who is the woman.
Genesis 24:12-14
12 Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14 May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘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.”
b. How might the servant’s example help you? The servant shows faith and recognized that he needs God’s direction.
Abraham: Tested by God, Then Sarah’s Death