2024年11月3日 / グレース・トロント日本語教会
創世記 24章
50 ラバンとベトエルは答えた。「主からこのことが出たのですから、私たちはあなたに良し悪しを言うことはできません。
51 ご覧ください。リベカはあなたの前におります。どうぞお連れください。主が言われたとおりに、あなたのご主人の息子さんの妻となりますように。」
52 アブラハムのしもべは、彼らのことばを聞くやいなや、地にひれ伏して主を礼拝した。
. . .
66 しもべは、自分がしてきたことを残らずイサクに話した。
67 イサクは、その母サラの天幕にリベカを連れて行き、リベカを迎えて妻とし、彼女を愛した。イサクは、母の亡き後、慰めを得た。
Please note that the Japanese translation below is done by Google Translate.
Nov 4, 2024 / Grace Toronto Japanese Church
Genesis 24
50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing has come from the LORD; we cannot speak to you bad or good. 51 Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has spoken.” 52 When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the LORD . . . 66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
CONTEXT
Sarah passed away. We saw it in Gen 23. We also learned that Abraham purchased land and buried his wife. We learned that Abraham’s act of land purchase was an act of his strong faith in God—i.e., it meant that Abraham truly believed that God was giving him that land. It was God’s promised land for him and his children.
Now that his wife is gone and he has secured a piece of land, Abrahm does one more thing in Gen 24. That too was an act of his trust in God. What was it? Abraham arranged a marriage for his son. In what way, was it an act of faith? Let’s have a look.
Since Gen 24 is such a lengthy chapter with 67 verses, instead of reading the whole thing, I will just give you a brief storyline of the chapter:
Now Abraham was quite old, and God blessed him “in all things” (v. 1). And Abraham, before dying, wanted to see his son Isaac marry a woman. So, what did he do?
Abraham to the servant: He called his servant and made him make an oath to find a wife for Isaac (vv. 2–3). And the oath was done “by the LORD, the God of heaven and God of the earth” (v. 3). So, it was a serious matter. Abraham gave the servant two commands.
The first was a negative command (Do not): Do not take a wife for Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites (v. 3). The second was a positive command (Do). Abraham told the servant (1) to go to his home country, to his kindred, and (2) to take a wife for Isaac (v. 4).
The servant to Abraham: The servant seemed to be a faithful man. Abraham trusted him. That’s why he entrusted the servant with such an important task (Find a wife for my son!). But the servant was anxious. So, he asked the “what if” question: What if she didn’t want to come with me to marry Isaac? And the servant added, Should I take Isaac to there? (v. 5)
Abraham to the servant: His answer was a strong No. He warns the servant two times: Do not take Isaac with you to my homeland. And Abraham’s reason was this: Surely, the Almighty God will help you find a wife for my son: “The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’” will help you! (v. 7). But at the same time, Abraham admitted there was such possibility that the woman may be unwilling to come. So, Abraham didn’t want to give the servant too much difficulty. Abraham said to him, if she doesn’t want to come with you, “then you will be free” from this task (v. 8).
The servant’s Journey and Prayer: So, the servant took 10 camels and all kinds of choice gifts and departed for Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor (v. 10).
When he arrived in Nahor, he was outside the city, by the well of water, and it was in the evening. Standing by the well, the servant prayed to God: (1) “please grant me success today”; (2) “show steadfast love to my master Abraham” (v. 12). And when young women were coming to the well to draw water, the servant prayed: “Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master” (v. 14).Rebekah: And even before he finished his prayer, God answered his request: an attractive young woman named Rebekah showed up at the well to draw water, and she was the one (vv. 15–21). Rebekah did exactly as the servant had prayed. When the servant asked Rebekah who she was, she said she was the daughter of Bethuel. Here is the family line diagram:
The servant then went to their house and met Rebekah’s father (Bethuel) and brother (Laban) (vv. 22–33). At the meal table, the servant explained everything to Bethuel and Laban: about Abraham; about his wife Sarah; about his son Isaac; how wonderfully God blessed Abraham; about the oath he made with Abraham; and about his prayer at the well; and how miraculously Rebekah showed up at the well and did exactly what he had prayed (vv. 34–49). And then the servant said to them, “Now then, if you are going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left” (v. 49).
That is what’s happening right before today’s text (vv. 50–52).
TEXT
So, basically, the servant’s request was: This has been God’s guiding so far. So, now, are you going to give Rebekah as Isaac’s wife, or not? 50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing has come from the Lord; we cannot speak to you bad or good.
Laban and Bethuel realized that God was the author of this marriage (Calvin). So, they were saying, OK, yes, we can clearly see that God is doing this (“The thing has come from the Lord”). So, what can we do? If God is doing it, nobody can stop it. “God must be obeyed” (Calvin) (“we cannot speak to you bad or good”). The decision is not ours. The decision has already been made by the LORD.
51 Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken.”
“as the Lord has spoken”: What’s even more striking is that neither Bethuel nor Laban says, Here is Rebekah, take her and let her be the wife of Isaac because Abraham is our relative. He is one of us. Their decision to send Rebekah was upon their recognition of the divine guidance: the only reason was because they saw “the unmistakable hand of God throughout this whole episode” (Hamilton).
52 When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the Lord.
However, when the next day came, Laban and Rebekah’s mother asked the servant if she could stay a bit more (10 days). But the servant wanted to return as soon as possible. So, they decided to ask Rebekah herself: “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go” (v. 58).
Almost everyone in today’s text shows great faith in God. Rebekah too saw the hand of God in what was happening. That’s why she decided to go, even without meeting and getting to know her future husband. Just like Abraham (Gen 12), Rebekah was “willing to leave her family and country to follow Abraham’s servant” (FSB).
So, they left. And finally, they arrived back in the land of Canaan.
Isaac saw the people coming back, “And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel” (v. 64) and asked who he was. And she was told that it was Isaac, her husband. She then veiled herself to show him respect and show him that she was his prospective wife. And let me just read the final section of Gen 24: 66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So, Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Isaac welcome Rebekah. He brought her into the tent, and she became his wife. This means a legitimate marriage was done. They became a legal couple before God.
I said almost everyone in today’s text showed great faith in God. So did Isaac. We all remember what happened in Gen 22. Isaac was not aware that Abraham was taking him to Moriah to kill him and offer him as a burnt offering. But when it was finally known to him, we have no evidence that Isaac rebelled—he accepted God’s decision for him. Isaac was already a teenage boy, and his father Abraham was a weak old man. Isaac could have easily subdued his father and run away. But he didn’t. Isaac simply accepted binding from his own father.
The same is true here, too. Isaac was not told that the servant had been sent to find his wife. And the servant came back with Isaac’s wife and explained everything to Isaac. And Isaac, too, realized that it was God’s work, and he obeyed by accepting Rebekah as his wife. Remember: Isaac was never forced to marry Rebekah. Isaac accepted her because he saw God’s hand upon that situation.
APPLICATIONS
#1. ABRAHAM OBEYED
In Gen 23–24, we can see Abraham’s two clear moves of faith: (1) as we learned last Sunday, Abraham’s act of buying the land was his act of faith in God’s promise; (2) in Gen 24, Abraham sends his servant to find a wife for Isaac. This too was an act of faith. Why?
- Abraham’s conviction: Isaac must stay in the land because God is giving him this land. Canaan was the promised land. Isaac was the son of God’s covenant promises. That’s why Abraham only sent his servant and commanded Isaac to stay in Canaan.
- Of course, it would have been easier for the servant to find Isaac’s wife if he took Isaac with him. But even so, Abraham took the risk. His plan may not work. But even so, Abraham thought it was more important to be faithful to God’s promise than to be effective in his planning.
#2. BETHUEL AND LABAN OBEYED
What’s striking about Rebekah’s father Bethuel and her brother Laban in Gen 24 is that they allowed Rebekah to go without even meeting Isaac, the bridegroom. When they heard the servant’s explanation, they came to realize that it had been the LORD God who brought the servant to Rebekah. It was not a coincidence, they knew. It was the work of God. And once they knew it was God’s will, they obeyed without hesitance.
One of the commentators (i.e., Calvin) thinks that Laban and Bethuel may have been idolaters because it had long been Abraham’s original family’s source of income; they were not God-worshipers but served idols and made their living by making small- or medium-sized idol statues. That really makes us ask this question: If these idolaters obeyed God, how much more quicker should we be in obeying God?
#3. THE SERVANT KEPT WORSHIPING GOD
Remember the prayer of the servant? Having arrived, sitting at the well of water, he prayed to God that God would grant him success. And even before he finished his prayer, Rebekah appeared. And God made it so clear to the servant that Rebekah was the one: she said, I am the daughter of Bethuel; and yes, we have plenty of room to spend the night, so please come (vv. 24–25). And the first response of that servant was worship (v. 26): “The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord.”
In today’s text (vv. 50–52), when Bethuel and Laban said, “Take her [Rebekah] and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken,” the servant didn’t even thank Laban and Bethuel but immediately praised the LORD God: “When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the Lord” (v. 52).
What do you see in the servant’s attitude? In Gen 24, the servant—whose name we don’t even know—is the only one who does all things faithfully, knowing that it is God who is guiding the whole process. From the moment when he made the oath before Abraham and to the moment when he arrived back to Canaan with Rebekah, the servant knew that it was God who gave him grace and success. That knowledge of God made him worship God. It’s that simple.
CLOSING
If you don’t know God, you’re anxious about your lives.
But if you know God and see him work in your lives (as the servant did), (1) your anxiety turns into adoration of God (worship of God), and (2) you gladly and willingly obey God.
My theme today is not that they obeyed and worshiped God, so we must obey and worship God, too. It’s too simplistic. That is not this sermon’s intention.
What I’d like us to see through Gen 24 is this prominent theme that God is guiding his children’s lives—he is guiding mine and yours. Sometimes, of course, he leads us through dark valleys, and sometimes through easy paths. But the truth is that he is leading his children’s lives.
When we walk with God, it is our privilege to pursue his will. And as soon as his will is made clearly known to us, what should be our proper responses? We should obey his will and worship God.