Even the beginning of this chapter is reassuring - "Abraham had now reached a ripe old age and the Lord had blessed him in every way." When Abraham trusted in God and did things His way, blessings of every sort were poured out. Isaac, as the heir to these blessings, needs to have a wife, and she must be found and wed in a way that is different than the neighbors, in a way suitable to the Lord and his promises about Isaac. He needs to find a woman of the righteous lineage of Shem, not a local woman, and he needs to bring her to the Promised Land. Neither location nor family can be sacrificed here because each represents a promise God made.
The servant goes babe-shopping at the local well around water-retrieving time. If he were a 21st century guy, he might have been looking for her in the supermarket in a "trendy" neighborhood where there are a lot of young professional women, or on a dating website. He prays about his mission, much as we all should pray for future spouses if we don't have one yet, asking God to indicate a good woman for him. He agrees upon a sign he'll use to indicate that this woman is worth looking into...generosity to a stranger (camels need a lot of water!). We need to pray while we discern a vocation, while we discern who our future spouse might be, and ask God what qualities the person ought to have that indicates their suitability.
When Rebekah is found to be just the kind of generous, kind spirit the servant is looking for, he offers her presents of gold jewelry and makes plans to spend time at her home to make the offer of marriage. He gets right to work and is seemingly so overjoyed at having found just the right woman that he insists on proposing as soon as he gets to her house. There is no get-to-know-you meal, no settling in. Now! She agrees to this crazy proposition of running off to Canaan to the home of a relative who left the area twenty five years before on some whim to become the wife of a son she has never seen. Her whole family agrees because they see that God is at work here, even if they don't worship Him, and they are happy to be part of what He wants. Rebekah's family asks for a little time to get her ready to go, but the servant is so insistent on getting Abraham's and God's will done that he rushes her out the door. "Do you wish to go with this man?" her family asked her, and in faith and generosity she said "I do." Rebekah herself came from a wealthy family and brought servants with her, even though she had to go away so quickly. This is a woman who makes decisions and never looks back from them, and she is prepared for God to change her life at a moment's notice.
The servant doesn't have a name...the one who makes all this happen is unnoticed and unknown. God Himself, it seems, was really the one who took charge here. You can see it too in that beautiful moment where their eyes meet, where they notice each other and begin to fall in love.
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