Rebekah And Isaac: Married At First Sight? Series

(Based on a message preached at First Baptist Church, Chamois, MO, on 2-05-2023. This is not an exact transcription.)

Introduction: This is February and I have to confess I didn’t think we’d ever get out of January! But here we are and the Lord is with us. Now, February is usually known as the month of love, and some other things, so for the next few weeks, the Lord willing, I’ll be bringing messages based on some of the Bible’s love stories. I mean, it’s hard to beat when the Lord brings a man and a woman together and they serve Him together as a family, right?

This morning, we’ll be looking at one of the first true love stories in the Bible, Rebekah and Isaac. We know Isaac as the son of Abraham but we don’t know a whole lot about Rebekah, except she agreed to become Isaac’s wife. It’s kind of like the TV show my wife and I like to see, “Married at First Sight”—have you seen it? In a word, a team of 2 or 3 “experts” announce to a given city that they’re coming to town. Thousands and thousands of singles apply, each wanting (they say) to get married, as none of them have found “the one” by any other means.

The “experts” screen the applicants about as closely as they can and narrow down the many to a few, five couples for each season, currently. They then select whom they—emphasis—they believe who will be a good match. The “chosen few” are notified, in person, “You’re getting married in two weeks!” The catch, though, is that none of the ones selected have any idea who has been selected as their marriage partner! They won’t know until they meet “at the altar” and are, ta da, married at first sight! These, by the way, are legally binding marriages, and the only way to end it, if that what it comes down to, is by a legal divorce. Over the years, a few have actually lasted; most, sadly, do not but that to me speaks more about the chosen than the choosers or the ones who look and match. As someone said, “It takes two to make a marriage work, but only one to ruin even the best one.”

With that in mind, we can see how Isaac and Rebekah were truly married at first sight; they lived 200-300 miles apart, and it’s anybody’s guess how much communication went on between Abraham’s family, living in southern Canaan and his brother’s family way back in Haran, Nahor, or wherever they actually lived. Chances are, not much, but these relatives still knew each other. And that was going to come in handy a little later on.

Oh yeah, before we get started, this wasn’t the first “Married at First Sight.” That honor goes to Adam and Eve! Talk about a perfect match—she sure was!—but from that day to this, every man gets a “ribbing” from his wife every now and then, don’t we? (Some in the audience groaned!)

The text comes from Genesis 24, and it’s a long chapter so I won’t read all of it, but we’ll stop at some highlights along the way. In fact, this chapter is the longest in Genesis and it deals with how a girl agreed to become a stranger’s wife. It’s a beautiful story, as we’ll see!

<Prayer>

1 The instructions

Text, Genesis 24:1-9, NASB: 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 had 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." 5 The 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 before 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 from this my oath; only do not take my son back there." 9 So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.