“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.”
– Genesis 24:15
Hi James and Ellen,
How would you like it if your dad told you that he expects you to marry someone who is from his side of the family? Your dad’s family roots are in Volga, South Dakota. Your dad’s heritage is Dutch. To honor your dad’s expectation that you marry someone from his side of the family, you will need to make a 1384 or so mile trip from where you live in Newark, Delaware to Volga. How would you have gotten from Newark to Volga? How long do you think it would take for a guy or gal to walk 1384 or so miles? Suppose it was 1991 B.C. when your dad tells you that he expects you to marry someone from his side of the family? Abraham expected his kid Isaac to marry a gal from his side of the family. Abraham’s side of his family lived in the Mesopotamian region. Mesopotamia’ land area includes the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. Abraham had years before moved to the land area of Canaan from where the side of his family lived. Where Abraham lived in the land area of Canaan was 544 or so miles on a direct line from where Abraham’s bro Nahor lived in the city of Nahor – or Haran, in Mesopotamian’s land area. How would you like it if your dad made the decision – without you speaking into it, who he expected you to marry? Abraham made his chief servant – who was Eliezer, take an oath that he would find Isaac a wife from his side of his family who were living in Mesopotamia’s land area. Because Isaac had moved away from his dad’s home to a place in the Negev called Beer Lahai Roi, Isaac probably had no inkling of what his dad was making Eliezer do. Eliezer loaded on ten of Abraham’s camels gold and silver jewelry along with articles of clothing for whoever the gal would be who he would find to be Isaac’s wife plus costly gifts for Abraham’s extended family. When Eliezer neared where Abraham’s bro Nahor lived in Aram Nahariaim in the city of Nahor, Eliezer asked God to help him to know who the gal was who He had in place to be Isaac’s wife. Eliezer told God that he would know who the gal was who He had in His plan to be Isaac’s wife if after he asks a gal at the well that was outside the city Nahor to give him some of the water to drink from her jar that she had just drawn from out of the well, that this gal would give him some of her water to drink and that she would then volunteer to draw water for his ten camels. Genesis 24 is Moses’ account of how Abraham’s wish was fulfilled when a beautiful young gal – whose name was Rebekah, showed up at the well outside the city of Nahor.
Moses wrote what is now verse 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.” Your grandpaa is curious why Moses does not recount here in his Genesis Book that Bethuel was Nahor’s kid instead of saying that Bethuel was Milcah’s kid. Nahor was Rebekah’s grandpa. If Rebekah’s grandpa and Abraham were bros, Isaac and Rebekah were distant cousins. After Rebekah gave Eliezer water from her jar for him to drink and after she watered his ten camels, Eliezer gave Rebekah two gold bracelets and a gold nose ring. Eliezer put the gold nose ring in Rebekah’s nose. After meeting Rebekah’s family – including Rebekah’s bro Laban, Eliezer was anxious to head back to Canaan’s land area. When Rebekah said that she was fine with leaving her home to go with Eliezer to become Isaac’s wife, Eliezer – with the servants who had gone with him to the city of Nahor, and Rebekah – with her nurse and maids, left for Beer Lahai Roi. As Isaac was out in a field meditating, Eliezer and Rebekah arrived near Beer Lahai Roi. When Isaac spotted Eliezer’s camel caravan, he headed for it. Isaac was finally able to get past the death of ma – who was Sarah, when he met Rebekah. Isaac loved and married Rebekah.
When your grandmaa and grandpaa were living in Bolivia – ministering on the South America Mission field missionary team, indigenous Indian tribes still roamed Bolivia’s tropical jungles. South America Mission’s outreach to ‘wild’ indigenous Indians began in 1914 when Dr. Joseph Davis and his family traveled to Paraguay to join the Paraguayan Evangelistic Mission. The Paraguayan Evangelistic Mission in 1921 joined two other mission agencies and became incorporated in New York as the Inland South America Mission Union. A couple of years after your grandmaa and grandpaa arrived in Bolivia, a New York church – out of the blue, began to give monthly support gifts to your grandmaa and grandpaa. Manhasset Baptist Church may have been Dr Joseph Davis’ home church. After a missionary couple who Manhasset Baptist Church was supporting monthly resigned from South America Mission, Manhasset Baptist Church contacted South America Mission’s headquarters in Lake Worth, Florida for a name of another South America Mission missionary who was in real need of monthly support so that they could continue to give monthly support to a South America Mission missionary. South America Mission’s headquarters gave the name of your grandmaa and grandpaa to Manhasset Baptist Church as badly needing additional support. That was nearly thirty years ago. Your grandmaa and grandpaa this coming May plan to be at Manhasset Baptist Church – which is now called Shelter Rock, to participate in their annual missions conference. It intrigues your grandmaa and grandpaa how God has embedded a divine plan in each guy, gal and kid for a specific purpose on planet Earth for His sake!
Genesis 24 (1056)