EVERYBODY NEEDS SOMEBODY (GENESIS 24:1-27)
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Once a domestic servant came to his master in great anger and told him, “Look, I am not going to serve you any longer as you do not have any faith in me though I am serving you so loyally for the past several years.”
Master: “What is the matter? I have faith in you, that is why I have given all the keys of the house, including those of the safe, to you.”
Servant: “No, you do not have faith in me, I am sure.”
Master: “How do you say that?”
Servant: “I tried all the keys and not one fits the safe.”
Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the previous chapter (Gen 23:19) and now he was old, and well stricken in age, 14o years old – 1oo when Isaac was born (Genesis 21:5) and 140 when Isaac was married (Genesis 25:20), with Isaac 40 years old. His son Isaac was not married and had emotional problems with the death of his mother (Gen 24:67). Abraham’s help, however, was not only in the Lord God, but in his chief servant.
What kind of person are you at your job? What kind of relationship do you have with your employer, superior or colleagues? How can you glorify God at work? Why is work not merely work but a test of our worth, walk and witness?
Be Dutiful and Dependable in Service
1 Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. 2 He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, "Put your hand under my thigh. 3 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, 4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac." 5 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?" 6 "Make sure that you do not take my son back there," Abraham said. 7 "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. 8 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."
Research from a Institute of Leadership & Management study of over 1,000 employees found that few employees are motivated to work harder by bonuses.
The most important motivators were:
59% felt enjoyment of the job was the most important motivator
49% how much they are paid.
42% getting on with colleagues was the best motivator.
22% being treated fairly by their managers.
22% autonomy: how much control they have over their work.
Only 13% of employees said that bonuses motivated them to work harder.
https://www.i-l-m.com/~/media/ILM%20Website/Documents/Information%20for%20media/15.%20Beyond%20the%20bonus%20press%20release%20pdf.ashx
What brings employees down, according to another survey? For employees who feel somewhat or not at all appreciated, not being recognized for the work they do was the top reason cited by nearly half (48 percent) as something that makes them not feel appreciated at work. In fact, not being recognized for work done is cited nearly twice as much as receiving criticism (26 percent) and heavy workload (25 percent), and more than twice as much as poor work-life balance (23 percent) and someone taking credit for the work they did (22 percent).
http://www.kronos.com/pr/kronos-survey-reveals-the-secrets-to-day-to-day-happiness-in-the-workplace-its-easier-and-less-expensive-than-you-think.aspx
The trusted servant of Abraham in charge of all that he had (v 2) is presumably Eliezer his steward (Gen 15:2, KJV). Eliezer was an extraordinary and exemplary servant or employee, a dream employee and a model worker, if you may. The noun “master”(v 9) occurs 24 times in the chapter, more than any chapter in the Bible, and incredibly 19 times Eliezer addressed Abraham or Isaac as “my master” (vv 12 twice, 14, 27 thrice, 35, 36 twice, 37, 39, 42, 44, 48 twice, 49, 54, 56, 65). There was none around Abraham as dependable, as dutiful and as diligent as Eliezer. Eliezer’s loyalty was unquestioned, unparalleled and unflagging. The aged Abraham poured out his heart, soul and concern to the capable, committed and caring Eliezer, choosing, commanding and commissioning him to the first ever “oath” in the Bible (v 8), more for Abraham’s state of mind than the servant’s.
Abraham seriously, staunchly and sincerely uttered two imperatives to his servant – “put” (v 2) and “make sure/beware” (v 6), and strongly and successively asserted two “no” (vv 3, 8) and one “lest” (v 6) to Eliezer: “you will NOT get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites” (v 3), “Make sure that you do NOT (lest) take my son back there” (v 6), and “do NOT take my son back there” (v 8). The servant probably came with his master from the old country of Haran (Gen 12:5). Abraham did not want him to have or harbor thoughts of returning to the old country with his son.
Abraham’s command and concern were not an insult or an interrogation to Eliezer. There was no disrespect and disregard shown by the faithful servant to his frail master. It was an issue of pride and not pity for Eliezer to be trusted with selecting the bride for his young master. Eliezer was the first and only known “steward” (KJV) in the Bible (Gen 15:2), which is also translated as heir (NASB, RSV, ESV) and possessor (ASV). The Hebrew phrase “ben meseq” literally means “"son of possession” (from Bible Knowledge Commentary). Some call him “head servant” (John Gill), the principal servant and overseer of the entire household (Whedon) and major-domo, of the house (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown).
He was nevertheless the only servant of Abraham with a name, considered as family, son and relative, not outsider, foreigner (from Damascus, v 2) and slave.
Be Diligent and Decisive in Service
9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter. 10 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. 11 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. 12 Then he prayed, "O Lord, God of my master Abraham, give me success 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 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."
I often bought eggs for my wife whose weakened condition from her years of sickness cautioned her to eat selectively. It was not easy to pick eggs for her because of her poor appetite. The size of the eggs could be too small or too big for her. I have to decide between buying eggs from Malaysia, Thailand, China or Denmark. Also, there are normal eggs, ranch eggs and organic eggs. Once I decided to buy half a dozen ranch eggs from Denmark. It was a bad decision because the egg yolk was bigger than most eggs, while the egg white was less, sharply reducing the protein from the egg white she needed.
Eliezer was selfless, sincere, smart and supportive. He was Abraham’s right-hand man, but he was no yes-man. Unlike others, Eliezer was not a choosy, cranky or clumsy servant, but had to think for himself and tackle questions head-on to know the possibilities as well as the parameters and prohibitions (vv 5-6). After all, his master was too old now, too far away and too different from him to help him. The 750-mile long trip would have killed the patriarch. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/middleeast/738234/Abrahams-journey-Mesopotamia-to-Hebron.html
Eliezer was his own man and he is the only person in 45 instances of “what if” in the Bible to ask “what if…NOT” (vv 5, 49), followed with a two-fold “take, take” (v 5, “take your son back”) in Hebrew to check with his master. He took down Abraham’s orders, obligations and options to prevent mistakes, misunderstandings and misjudgments.
The servant also had to get organized quickly for this trip in a big way and prepare his next step. After all, he was leaving for a 1,000-mile trip to Ur of the Chaldeans – more than ten times the distance from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. There were lots of planning, preparation and personnel for the journey. Handling ten camels (v 10), his men (v 32) and goods on the journey was no easy task. “Goods” (v 10) is introduced into the Bible for the first time. Along with men, animals and distance were the weather, strangers and robbers to consider. He was so overwhelmed that he prayed about it: “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham” (v 12). The verbs “give success” and “show” (v 12) are imperatives, indicating his decisiveness, determination, dependence and desperation. He was a foreigner who “worshipped the Lord” (vv 26, 48, 52, the most times the phrase appears in a chapter the Bible), calling God “Yahweh” - the Jewish name for the Lord (Yahweh) - seven times in the chapter (Gen 24:12, 27 twice, 35, 40, 42, 48, 56). Later Laban would confirm Yahweh’s name twice (Gen 24:31, 50, 51).
Eliezer is such a beautiful, beloved and blessed servant. He never called Abraham “master” before him, but before others Abraham was unmistakably “my master” (Gen 24:12 twice, 14, 27 twice, 35, 36, 39, 42, 48, 49, 54, 56, 65), 15 times altogether, over half the 28 occurrences of “my master” in the Bible. His loyalty knew no bounds. Not only was Abraham his master, Isaac the son was also called “my master” (v 50).
Be Discerning and Diplomatic in Service
15 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. 16 The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. 17 The servant hurried to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water from your jar." 18 "Drink, my lord," she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. 19 After she had given him a drink, she said, "I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking." 20 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. 21 Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful. 22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. 23 Then he asked, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?" 24 She answered him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milcah bore to Nahor." 25 And she added, "We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night." 26 Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, 27 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." (Gen 24:12-27)
Answering an ad in the newspaper, a young man who applied for a job as a Morse code operator went to the address that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, noisy office. In the background a telegraph clacked away. A sign on the receptionist’s counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office.
The young man completed his form and sat down with seven other waiting applicants. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. Why had this man been so bold? They muttered among themselves that they hadn’t heard any summons yet. They took more than a little satisfaction in assuming the young man who went into the office would be reprimanded for his presumption and summarily disqualified for the job.
Within a few minutes the young man emerged from the inner office escorted by the interviewer, who announced to the other applicants, “Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has been filled by this young man.” The other applicants began grumbling to each other, and then one spoke up, “Wait a minute--I don’t understand. He was the last one to come in, and we never even got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That’s not fair.” The employer responded, “While you have sat there the telegraph has been ticking out the following message: “If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.”
No doubt, Rebekah was a “very beautiful” woman (v 16), but that was not what defined her. The deceased Sarah was beautiful (Gen 12:11), but Rebekah was very beautiful (v 16). However, the word that most repeatedly described and defined Rebekah in the passage is the word “quickly,” which occurs three times (vv 18, 20, 46). On top of that, she also “ran” (v 20) to the well. The chief servant prayed for a candidate who would not only give him a drink upon his request but also draw water for his camels on her own initiative, but he never thought her attitude endowed and eclipsed her actions. His prayer was for her to water his camels, but she insisted upon drawing water for the camels, “until they have finished drinking” (v 19). Notice the servant changed his script upon meeting Rebekah, asking for “a little water” (v 17) instead of “a drink” (v 14), which Rebekah more than obliged, quickly lowering her jar to give him a drink (v 18). Three times the Hebrew text says “finished drinking” - she had given him a drink/finished drinking (v 19), they/the camels have finished drinking (vv 19, 22). For the bonus, the aging servant got to hear a young lady call him “my lord” (v 18). She was patient, polite and positive. She did not avoid the man who was a lowly servant, a complete stranger and probably an old man.
Rebekah’s patience did not wear thin that day. Watering ten camels was no joke (v 10), even though the camels were well-rested by the well (v 11). According to Wikipedia, camels can drink 100-150 liters of water (26-40 gallons) in one drink. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel) That was a long time to wait.
The man ran/hurried (v 17) to meet Rebekah but he never imagined a lady would run, too - running back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels (v 20). She was the only woman runner (v 20) in the in the Old Testament! Besides, her actions - “quickly/hasted” (v 20) and “emptied” – are both in the intensive “piel” form.
The verb “draw” (water) is mentioned eight times in the chapter (vv 11, 13, 19, 20, 20, 43, 44, 45). I guess you can say it was a tiring, taxing and tedious exercise. Besides descending a flight of steps then to draw water, she had to fill her jar (v 16), lower the jar to her hands (v 18), and empty her jar (v 20) – three actions related to the “jar,”.
To the second part of the servant’s next question – “Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?" (v 23) - Rebekah answered, “We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night” (v 25). Straw and fodder were for the welfare of the camels (v 32), which was not among the servant’s request.
The servant took the opportunity to test the faith of Rachel, who spoke and confessed the name of the Lord eight times (vv 27, 27, 35, 40, 44, 48, 48, 56). Laban, too, mentioned the name of the Lord, as many as three times (vv 31, 50, 51). Not surprisingly the name of the Lord occurs 19 times in the chapter, more than any chapter in Genesis.
At the end of the day Eliezer exercised his latitudes, limits (v 33) and liabilities. He did not mess with the sly and shrewd Laban, Jacob’s future father-in-law, persuading, prompting and pestering him with the imperative twice “tell me, tell me” (v 49 twice) to obtain answers and twice “send me away” (vv 54, 56) to avoid Laban’s delaying tactics (Gen 24:55).
Conclusion: It’s been said, “Loyalty is a scarce commodity.” A good and loyal servant is one who is productive, prudent and patient, not one who is provoked, problematic or presentable. Do you understand your boss’ heart and mind? Do you have a good relationship with and a high regard for your employer? What are his or her fears and faults? What is his dream and delight? Do you have the initiative, inspiration and inclination to work? No matter the status, sector or situation, let us learn to turn to God, trust each other and touch others’ lives, serving the Lord and others gratefully, genuinely and graciously.
