We are in Genesis 24 in our Dust to Life series. Sarah had died and Abraham knew that it was time to prepare Isaac to carry on the blessing that God had promised him. He had learned through the school of hard knocks to trust God and be guided by Him throughout his journey. And now in his old age he is looking for a suitable wife for Isaac and will entrust his servant Eliezer to be guided by God to accomplish this task.
Genesis 24:1-27
1 Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in every way. 2 Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household who was in charge of all that he owned, “Please place your hand under my thigh, 3 and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live; 4 but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” 5The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?” 6 Then Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there! 7 The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give this land’—He will send His angel ahead of you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. 8 But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free of this oath of mine; only do not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham, and swore to him concerning this matter.
10 Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and went out with a variety of good things of his master’s in his hand; so he set out and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. 11 He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water when it was evening, the time when women go out to draw water. 12 And he said, “LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 Behold, I am standing by the spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water; 14 now may it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’—may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”
15 And it came about, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder. 16 The young woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had had relations with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up. 17 Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar.” 18 And she said, “Drink, my lord”; then she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink. 19 Now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will also draw water for your camels until they have finished drinking.” 20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. 21 Meanwhile, the man was taking a close look at her in silence, to find out whether the LORD had made his journey successful or not.
22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half-shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels in gold, 23 and he said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room for us to stay overnight at your father’s house?” 24 She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.” 25 Again she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and room to stay overnight.” 26 Then the man bowed low and worshiped the LORD. 27 And he said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned His kindness and His trustworthiness toward my master; as for me, the LORD has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”
How was Eliezer guided by God? We see his:
? Commitment to Abraham and to God
? Response to the promise
? Specific prayer
Let’s look at how Eliezer responded to the task. He made a:
1. Commitment to Abraham and to God
Verse 1 says, “Now Abraham was old.” Old here speaks of one who is an elder, who has a position of authority and power, one who is spiritually mature and has lived a long and blessed life. Old was actually a positive way to describe someone and it is clear that the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way. Abraham had lived a blessed life, loved his wife and son, had acquired great wealth, and now it was time to find a bride for Isaac and to pass on his material and spiritual inheritance.
Abraham spoke to his servant, the oldest one who ruled over all in Abraham's household (the majority of scholars believe it was Eliezer of Damascus). Let’s just assume this was the guy. He had been with the family for over the past 50 years and had been with Abraham through thick and thin. He was faithful and Abraham must have really trusted him.
He told Eliezer to put his hand under his thigh, as an oath. The thigh represented the posterity still in Abraham’s loins and involved the certainty of the posterity of God promises. In v. 3, Abraham was giving his servant a divine commission and it required a serious and significant commitment in the presence of the Creator of the universe. Abraham was communicating to Eliezer that his God was no mere tribal deity, but the one and only true God who had created the very heavens and all that is in the earth. “So whatever you do, don't take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites” (who worship inferior idols, who’s world view is completely contradictory to ours).
Abraham laid out the criteria for Isaac’s wife in vv. 3 and 4. When you look for this woman she must be someone from my family line, be on the same spiritual plane as Isaac, have the same faith, worship the one true God. You won’t find that type of woman here amongst the Canaanites. Therefore, go to the land of my birth and find the woman from amongst my relatives.
But we see that Eliezer wanted some clarity and assurances before making any commitment to Abraham so asks, “What if I find a woman and she is not willing to come back with me? Maybe I should take your son with me so the family can meet him and they can get to know each other.”
Why did Abraham say no? Why wouldn’t he want Isaac to go to his home country with Eliezer? Maybe Abraham knew there was nothing for him there and that he might be tempted to stay in that land and culture, taking him away from his faith in God.
Then in v. 7, Abraham reminds his servant how God brought him out of his father’s house, from his family and land and blessed him. It’s interesting that Abraham says to him, “this God will send His Angel ahead of you.” He was referring to the same God who promised him and Sarah a child, who tested his faith by asking for him to give the gift back, and the same God who rescued Isaac from being sacrificed by providing a ram. This God will go before you and lead you in the right direction and to the right person.
Abraham reassures Eliezer (v. 8), telling him not to worry if the woman doesn’t want to follow him back to Canaan. If she doesn’t, she’s not the one you’re looking for and it means that God has another person in mind. So Eleazer made a commitment and this was a time that he would experience God’s faithfulness for himself. Now we see his:
2. Response to the Promise
Eliezer was committed to seeking God's guidance to find a bride for Isaac because he believed the promise that the Angel of the Lord’s presence would go ahead of him. There was so much uncertainty in this quest. He had no idea who this woman would be, how to go about finding her, and if he did find her, how he would convince the family to let their daughter leave their home and travel with a stranger to marry a guy she has never met.
When Eliezer heard the promise he acted upon it and loaded up 10 camels with the goods (dowry) from Abraham’s household. This journey to Nahor, 450 miles away, would have taken over a month but when he finally arrived he settled outside the city, by the well. Why? Because he knew the women of the town would show up in the evening, the cool part of the day, to draw water from the well. While he was waiting for them to show up (vv. 11-14), we hear this servant’s:
3. Specific Prayer
As Eliezer is seeking God’s guidance, he prays to the God of Abraham in a personal and specific way. His prayer was specific so that the answer would be obvious. Are we sometimes afraid to pray in specifics because we don’t believe God will answer our prayer or we are afraid we’ll end up looking foolish for even asking? He asked God to grant him success that day for his master Abraham’s sake. “Success” < qarah, conveys the idea of encountering or meeting, in ancient Hebrew culture, the concept of events "happening" was often seen through the lens of divine providence. The Israelites believed that God was actively involved in the affairs of humanity, orchestrating events according to His will. Thus, "qarah" could imply, not just a random occurrence, but a divinely appointed meeting or event.
He asked God to show him a sign - that the divinely chosen woman for Isaac would not only offer him water but also his 10 camels water to drink. Do you know how much water one camel can drink at one time? They can drink an average of 25 gallons, or 95 liters of water at one time. And there were 10 camels so this meant that this person would have to make between 80 to 100 descents into the well which would have taken hours.
We see God’s incredible faithfulness here - just as he was finishing his prayer, Rebekah showed up. The Lord had already set the answer to his personal prayer in motion. Have you ever had that happen to you? Just as you are praying, the answer shows up right in front of your face? Exactly at that moment, Rebekah went down to the well and filled her jug and that’s when Eliezer had the encounter. She gave him water and then took the next step and offered to water his camels.
Rebekah was not only kind but very beautiful. Most scholars agree that she had inner and outer beauty and we know she lived a life of purity. Eliezer stood gazing at her in stunned silence - gazing, meaning that he was actually restraining his excitement. God had just confirmed Eliezer’s specific prayer. She was humble, generous, industrious, and finished what she started. So he begins to inquire about her family and finds out in v. 24 that she was the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother Nahor and that he was indeed welcome in her father’s home. This encounter, God’s providential answer to his prayer was beyond doubt - God brought Rebekah to him.
So what does Eliezer do next in vv. 26-27? He bowed his head and worshiped the Lord. He blessed the Lord, the God of his master Abraham, because He hadn’t abandoned His kindness and His trustworthiness toward Abraham. And then he says, “As for me, He has also shown me His kindness and trustworthiness by guiding me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.” He recognized his own humble place in the divine plan of God. He acknowledged the fact that as he sought the Lord's guidance, God successfully, providentially, led him to the right place at the right time. It was God’s kindness and loyalty to His promises, to His covenant that guided Eliezer to Rebekah.
What does this say to us about God? We all make decisions everyday of our lives, a series of small decisions that eventually will be the making or breaking of our future life. Do we seek God’s guidance each day for these decisions whether big or small? Do I ask God to grant me success, to divinely and providentially guide and appoint my encounters each day? Or do I ask God to lead me in a certain way so my own desires can be fulfilled? God knows our hearts, we can’t fool Him.
The question is are we willing to be committed to seeking God’s guidance for our lives? Do I respond to what He says to me through His Word and act on it by faith? Do I pray in specifics? Many people pray but they are parked in one place, they aren’t already in motion. If you believe you are called to be a doctor, or called into ministry, to be a teacher or a musician, are you making decisions today to work towards this goal or are you just hoping that through random mutations in the evolutionary process you will become a doctor, lawyer, missionary, or musician?
This may be the reason why people are not being led by God, why God is not opening doors for them is because they never ask God to guide them. Do we think He’s not going to do it? Are we afraid of how He will answer? Maybe we have a wrong concept of who the God of the Universe really is.
As I go throughout the day I can pray on the way, “Here is my need God, here is my schedule, my situation, my concern, my frailty, my inadequacy. God, please guide me.” Taking time to pray doesn’t mean that we will have a less busy life but it does mean we will have a less busy heart. Maybe you remember the line in a hymn that says Oh what needless pain we bare, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. The Word tells us:
The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand (Psalm 37:23-24).
This is why, as a church, we are going on a prayer retreat this month. We are seeking God’s guidance for our personal lives, for our families, for our church. I believe that God will bring healing in your life as you walk with Him in obedience. We want to know what He has for us in 2025. The Psalmist prayed:
Let me know Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me…Who is the man who fears the LORD [with awe-inspired reverence and worships Him with submissive wonder]? He will teach him [through His word] in the way he should choose (Ps 25:4-5, 12).
I know many of you here have taken the first step of responding to the call of God. You may have already accepted the call to salvation, receiving Jesus as your Savior but have you taken the next step? Are you committed to letting God guide you, are you taking hold of His Word and letting Him speak to you? Are you acting on what He is saying to you? Or after becoming a Christian are you continuing to follow your own ambitions, your own plans apart from God’s? It’s our choice whether we will live a natural life or a supernatural life with the God of the universe. If you ask God for His guidance, move forward in faith, ask Him in specific prayers, the God of the heavens will guide you.
