The Death of Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah
Genesis 23:1-24:671
Sunday June 18, 2006


Today’s message is from Genesis chapters 23 and 24—all of both chapters. Chapter 23 is about the death and burial of Sarah and chapter 24 is about Abraham finding a wife for Isaac. The passage is long, so we won’t read it all. But I’ll read parts of it (most of it); and I, myself have read all of it; and you should read all of it too. (Always read the passage before you get here.) It’s the word of God, not the word of men. Through it you will know God.

Ps. 17:4 –“By the word of Your lips, I have avoided the ways of the violent.” Ps. 18:30 – “God—His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is pure.  He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.” Ps. 33:4 – “For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is trustworthy.” Ps. 119:9 – “How can a young man keep his way pure?  By keeping Your word.”  Ps. 119:11 – “I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You.” Read the Bible every day. Don’t neglect the word of God!

[Prayer]

Now let’s look at today’s passage. (I’m going to say quite a bit about chapter 24, but I’m just going to talk briefly about chapter 23.)

Genesis chapter 23 verses 1 and 2 say, “Now Sarah lived 127 years; these were all the years of her life.  Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.” Sarah died at the age of 127. It says that Abraham went in to mourn and weep for her. Mourning, in the Bible, is generally a formal procedure that people go through when someone dies, according to whatever the custom of the time might be.

But Abraham also wept. Abraham mourned over his wife Sarah and he wept. I’m sure Abraham believed there was a resurrection of the dead. Otherwise, what difference would it make to him if his descendents were as numerous as the sand on the seashore or the stars in the sky? And how could the land of Canaan be given to him and his offspring forever? Abraham was looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Heb. 11:10) But it was right for him to grieve over his wife Sarah whose body was now dead. Listen to what the apostle Paul has to say about this:

13We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. (1 Thess. 4:13, 14)

We grieve when someone close to us dies, but not the way those who have no hope of eternal life do. (And, by the way, as I’ve said before, hope in the Bible means confidence that something will happen—not like “I hope it won’t rain tomorrow, but it probably will.” Hope means full confidence. It means that we have full confidence that not only will we rise from the dead, but that all those in our family and those who are close to us who believe in Jesus will rise too!

The rest of chapter 23 tells us that Abraham rose from his mourning beside his dead wife and made arrangements with the Hittites, among whom he was living, for a place to bury Sarah. Although the Lord had promised the entire land to Abraham, he owned no property. He wanted to bury Sarah in a certain cave, the cave of Machpelah which belonged to Ephron the Hittite. The Hittites respected Abraham very much. When he told them he wanted a burial site for Sarah, they answered by saying, “Listen to us, lord. You are God’s chosen one among us. Bury your dead in our finest burial place. None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead.” (v 5)

Ephron offered the cave Abraham wanted, as well as the field that it was in, to Abraham free of charge. But Abraham insisted on paying a fair price for it. It was like a token of what Abraham and his offspring would receive in the future. Sarah would be buried in the land God had promised to Abraham. Later, Abraham’s sons Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham himself in that same cave. Isaac and his wife Rebekah were also buried there as well as Jacob and his wife Leah. Probably Jacob’s son Joseph was also buried there. The Israelites preserved Joseph’s bones for over 400 years in Egypt where he died, according to the oath that he made them swear, and then brought them back to Canaan to be buried. According to what I have read, the cave of Machpelah now has a Muslim mosque built over it. The Arabs are descended from Abraham, as well as the Jews.

Now let’s go on to chapter 24. This is about Abraham’s getting a wife for Isaac. Let me read verses 1 through 9:

1Abraham was now old, getting on in years and the Lord had blessed him in everything. 2Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his household who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh 3and I will have you swear by the Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live, 4but will go to my land and my family to take a wife for my son Isaac.”
5The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Should I have your son go back to the land you came from?”
6Abraham answered him, “Make sure that you don’t take my son back there. 7The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’—He will send His angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there. 8If the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are free from this oath to me, but don’t let my son go back there.” 9So the servant placed his hand under his master Abraham’s thigh and swore an oath to him concerning this matter. (Genesis 24:1-9)

Abraham was sending his servant, the manager of his entire household, to get a wife for Isaac. Abraham did not want Isaac to marry one of the Canaanite women because the Lord had promised to give the land to Abraham’s offspring and not to the offspring of the Canaanites. He was sending his servant to Haran where his family had settled after they had left Ur of the Chaldeans, but before Abraham was called by God to continue on to Canaan. If you remember, last week I read the last five verses of Genesis chapter 22. It says that Abraham was told about his family that was still in Haran, most of whom he had never met. That’s where Abraham wanted to send his servant to get a wife for Isaac.

And Abraham insisted that his servant go alone, not with Isaac, and bring Isaac’s bride back to Canaan. He absolutely did not want Isaac to go to Haran. He had to make sure that he would remain in Canaan, the land which the Lord had promised.

He was sure that the Lord had a bride picked out for Isaac. He said, “If the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are free from this oath to me.” He knew that there was one specific woman—the woman—that the Lord had chosen for Isaac. However, she was free to choose for herself whether or not she would go and marry Isaac whom she had never met. If she chose not to, Abraham’s servant was free from his oath. But the Lord would lead him to the woman he had chosen for Isaac.

Now let’s look at verses 10 through 14. Here’s what they say:

10The servant took 10 of his master’s camels and departed with all kinds of his master’s goods in hand. Then he set out for the town of Nahor, Aram-naharaim. 11He made the camels kneel beside a well of water outside the town at evening. This was the time when the women went out to draw water.
12 “Lord, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13I am standing here at the spring where the daughters of the men of the town are coming out to draw water. 14Let the girl to whom I say, ‘Please lower your water jug so that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. By this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.” (Genesis 24:10-14)

Abraham’s servant took 10 camels and all kinds of Abraham’s goods and set out for the town where Abraham’s relatives lived, Nahor. If you look down to verse 32, you will see that the servant also had other men with him. He did not go alone, but took a small caravan with him. One thing this would accomplish would be to show Abraham’s relatives that Abraham was well-to-do.

When the servant arrived, he stopped at the town well and made the camels kneel. Then he prayed. (I can remember a long time ago when someone was reading this passage during a Bible study he said, “Hey! The camels were praying too!)

Now I want you to look at the way Abraham’s servant prayed. Abraham had told him that the Lord would send his angel ahead of him. The servant believed that the Lord had a specific woman in mind for Isaac. First he servant prayed for success. And notice that he was not praying on his own behalf, but on the behalf of his master, Abraham: “Grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.”

Then Abraham’s servant gave some very specific signs that he was going to look for to identify the woman that the Lord had chosen to be Isaac’s wife. He prayed, “Let the girl to whom I say, ‘Please lower your water jug so that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. By this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.” How many of you have ever prayed that specifically for God to give you a sign of that kind when you are trying to make a very important decision? It takes quite a bit of faith.

You know, the Lord had said that he had chosen Abraham so that he would command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Abraham’s servant was part of Abraham’s ‘house’. In fact, he was the one who was in charge of Abraham’s household and who managed everything he owned. Abraham imparted faith to all of his household. Do we do the same? Do we impart faith to our households and to those around us?

Now I want you to notice something else about the way Abraham’s servant prayed. He didn’t pray the way Gideon prayed, for a sign that the Lord was going to do something—to give him victory—when the Lord had already said that he would.

(Does anyone know who Gideon was? The story is in Judges 6. The Israelites were disobeying the Lord, and as a result, the Lord was handing them over to the Midianites to be oppressed. When the Israelites cried out to the Lord about their situation, he raised up Gideon to lead them against their enemies. The final result was that Gideon, with an army of 300 men, routed an enemy army of well over 100,000.

But before Gideon would go against the Midianites and their allies, he wanted further signs from the Lord that he would have victory. Gideon considered himself to be weak and was from the smallest clan of his tribe. He told the Lord that he would put a fleece of wool (that’s a sheep skin) out in the evening. If the fleece was wet with dew, but the ground around it dry the next morning, that would be the sign that the Lord would give him victory. The Lord made it happen that way—the fleece was wet and the ground was dry. Gideon wasn’t satisfied, though. He asked for another sign—for the fleece to be dry and the ground around it to be wet when he put it out the next night. The Lord made that happen too. Then Gideon defeated the Midianites and their allies with only 300 men. You can read about it in Judges chapter 6. Incidentally, asking the Lord for signs the way Gideon did is referred to as putting out fleeces.)

Now what I want to point out about Abraham’s servant’s prayer is that, while Gideon asked for signs that consisted simply of some unusual events happening, but had nothing much to do with having victory against the enemies of Israel and were just to confirm what the Lord had already said he would do, Abraham’s servant was asking for a sign that would tell him something he didn’t already know. He wanted the Lord to show him the woman he had picked for Isaac’s wife.  And asked for a sign that was very practically connected with what he wanted to find out. He said, “Let the girl to whom I say, ‘Please lower your water jug so that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac.” The servant prayed for a woman that would be humble, who would be willing to serve and who would offer to do much more than she was asked. That would be the sort of woman that the Lord would pick for Isaac.

Now let’s look at verses 15 through 21. This is what happened as the result of Abraham’s servant’s prayer. Here’s what they say:

15Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah—daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor—coming with a jug on her shoulder. 16Now the girl was very beautiful, a young woman who had not known a man intimately. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up. 17Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me have a little water from your jug.”
18She replied, “Drink, my lord.” She quickly lowered her jug to her hand and gave him a drink. 19When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I’ll also draw water for your camels until they have had enough to drink.” 20She quickly emptied her jug into the trough and hurried to the well again to draw water. She drew water for all his camels 21while the man silently watched her to see whether or not the Lord had made his journey a success. (Genesis 24:15-21)

Just exactly what the servant had prayed for as a sign happened. The servant knew that the Lord had led him to the right woman just as Abraham had said he would.

Now let’s look at verses 22 through 27. Here’s what they say:

22After the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing half a shekel, and for her wrists two bracelets weighing 10 shekels of gold. 23 “Whose daughter are you?” he asked. “Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”
24She answered him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” 25She also said to him, “We have plenty of straw and feed, and a place to spend the night.”
26Then the man bowed down, worshiped the Lord, 27and said, “Praise the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld His kindness and faithfulness from my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.” (Genesis 24:22-27)

Have you ever prayed for God to show you something—to give you a sign to confirm something—and he not only gave you the sign, but also gave you further confirmation you didn’t even ask for? That what the Lord did for Abraham’s servant. Isaac and Rebekah were cousins. I looked it up in the dictionary. It says they were first cousins once removed. (It also says that first cousins once remove are sometime called second cousins. Second cousins is normally used to refer to the relationship that the children of first cousins have to each other. I will never remember these things beyond the day after tomorrow, if that long, however.) Also (back to the passage), did you notice that, again, the servant praised the Lord for blessing his master Abraham who had not withheld his kindness from Abraham? He was really a servant. He had the interest of his master before his own interest. He made the interests of his master his interests. And I don’t think he had to force himself to think or speak that way. He loved Abraham. He was a true servant. Do you have that attitude toward Jesus? Do I have that attitude toward Jesus? Are we true servants of Jesus? (By the way, what is your attitude toward your boss at work?)

Now let’s look at verse 28 through 33. Here’s what they say.

28The girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things. 29Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and Laban ran out to the man at the spring. 30As soon as he had seen the ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he had heard his sister Rebekah’s words—“The man said this to me!”—he went to the man. He was standing there by the camels at the spring.
31Laban said, “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord. Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” 32So the man came to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and feed were given to the camels, and water was brought to wash his feet and the feet of the men with him.
33A meal was set before him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.”
So Laban said, “Speak on.” (Genesis 24:28-33)

Rebekah’s brother Laban further encouraged and confirmed that Rebekah was the one the Lord had chosen: “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord.” Abraham’s servant considered Abraham to be blessed, but it was Abraham’s servant that Rebekah’s brother Laban called “blessed by the Lord”. Rebekah’s household served Abraham’s servant and the men with him—also the camels. They brought water for the men to wash their feet and straw and feed for the camels. Then they set a meal before them (not the camels).

But Abraham’s servant would not eat until he had explained what he had come for. Even though he had just made a long trip, he would not eat—he could not eat—until he found out whether or not the trip would successful. Rebekah still had to agree to come and marry Isaac. They still had to agree to send her. How would you feel about sending your sister or your daughter to marry someone you had never met? And you might never see her again. (It’s not like they visited their relatives regularly. Abraham didn’t know anything about Rebekah. He had to be told. Isaac was forty years old and had never met this part of his family. How would you feel if you were Rebekah? Probably marriages were more likely to be arranged at that time and culture than they are in the 21st century United States. But they still were going to ask Rebekah for her consent. What would you do if you were in her situation? Would you be able to be convinced it was God’s will for you to go and marry someone sight unseen? Even if you were convinced it was God’s will, would you be willing to obey him?

Abraham’s servant said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.” Laban said, “Speak on.” (Incidentally, Laban is going to cause a lot of trouble for one of his nephews, one of Isaac and Rebekah’s kids. Who is it? It’s Jacob, whose name the Lord later changed to Israel?)

This is what Abraham’s servant said:

34 “I am Abraham’s servant,” he said. 35 “The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys. 36Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. 37My master put me under this oath: ‘You will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live 38but will go to my father’s household and to my family to take a wife for my son.’ 39But I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman will not come back with me?’ 40He said to me, ‘The Lord before whom I have walked will send His angel with you and make your journey a success, and you will take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s household. 41Then you will be free from my oath if you go to my family and they do not give her to you—you will be free from my oath.’
42 “Today when I came to the spring, I prayed: Lord, God of my master Abraham, if only You will make my journey successful! 43I am standing here at a spring. Let the virgin who comes out to draw water, and I say to her: Please let me drink a little water from your jug, 44and who responds to me, ‘Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels also’—let her be the woman the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.
45 “Before I had finished praying in my heart, there was Rebekah coming with her jug on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her: Please let me have a drink. 46She quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels. 47Then I asked her: Whose daughter are you? She responded, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. 48Then I bowed down, worshiped the Lord, and praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who guided me on the right way to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son. 49Now, if you are going to show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; if not, tell me, and I will go elsewhere.” (Genesis 24:34-49)

Abraham’s servant repeated all that had happened. I could have just said that Abraham’s servant repeated everything that had happened and left it at that. The Holy Spirit, when he inspired Moses to write Genesis 24, could have done that too. He could have inspired Moses to simply say that Abraham’s servant repeated all the things that had happened. But he didn’t. He gave all the details, so that’s what I did, too. I read all the passage. It’s the word of God.

Abraham’s servant, after having related everything, said, “Now, if you are going to show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; if not, tell me, and I will go elsewhere.”

Here’s what happened:

50Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the Lord; we have no choice in the matter. 51Rebekah is here in front of you. Take her and go, and let her be a wife for your master’s son, just as the Lord has spoken.”
52When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed to the ground before the Lord.
53 Then he brought out objects of silver and gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother. 54Then he and the men with him ate and drank and spent the night.
When they got up in the morning, he said, “Send me to my master.”
55But her brother and mother said, “Let the girl stay with us for about 10 days. Then she can go.”
56But he responded to them, “Do not delay me, since the Lord has made my journey a success. Send me away so that I may go to my master.”
57So they said, “Let’s call the girl and ask her opinion.”
58 They called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?”
She replied, “I will go.” 59So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men.
60They blessed Rebekah, saying to her:

Our sister, may you become
thousands upon ten thousands.
May your offspring possess
the gates of their enemies.

61Then Rebekah and her young women got up, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left. (Genesis 24:50-61)

They were convinced it was the Lord’s will for Rebekah to go, but her mother and brother wanted her to stay for 10 days before they left. (Remember, it was more than simply agreeing for her to marry someone none of them had ever met—which was enough. The fact was they might not ever see her again.) They left the final decision about whether she would wait the 10 days to Rebekah.  At this point you start thinking, “Are they going to change their minds?”  But she said, “I will go.  She went with them. Her family blessed her with the same blessing the Lord had blessed Abraham with: “Our sister, may you become thousands upon ten thousands. May your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.” Then Abraham’s servant took Rebekah and left.

Now let’s look at the last six verses. Here’s what they say. This tells what happened after Abraham’s sevant arrived back with Rebekah:

62Now Isaac was returning from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev region. 63In the early evening, Isaac went out to walk in the field, and looking up, he saw camels coming. 64Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she got down from her camel 65and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”
The servant answered, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. 66Then the servant told Isaac everything he had done.
67And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah to be his wife. Isaac loved her, and he was comforted after his mother’s death. (Genesis 24:62-67)

The Bible is highly condensed in a lot of ways. But this is a love story. You have to read between the lines. Isaac was dreaming of his future wife. He went for a walk to think about her. Some translations say he went out in the field to meditate. When Rebekah found out who Isaac was, she covered herself with her veil. Maybe she was being a little bit coy or demure. (I looked the word coy up in the dictionary, by the way. It said it means shy or retiring and is said chiefly about women. It also said it can mean feigning shyness to attract attention; coquettishly shy. I didn’t look up coquettishly.) Anyway, Isaac brought Rebekah into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah to be his wife. Isaac loved her, and he was comforted after his mother’s death. And they lived happily ever after (except for some incidents that are described later in Genesis).

Well this is a teaching about trusting God—and also, I think, about serving. You couldn’t help but notice how Abraham’s servant considered his master’s interest to be his own. And not just 9 to 5, the way we do (or are supposed to do), but all the time. But I really want you to think about Rebekah’s decision and her family’s decision and keep it in mind when God calls you to do something you would never normally dream of (which, if he hasn’t already, he probably will in the future). (I want to think about that too.) Rebekah and her family, and also Abraham and Isaac and Abraham’s servant all acted by faith—by trusting God. And it’s faith that saves us—faith that Jesus died for our sins, and faith that God raised him from the dead. Do you have that faith?

[Prayer]



END NOTES
1 Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible ®, Holman CSB ® and HCSB ® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.