Finding a Bride

 It was a sad day for Abraham and Isaac as they buried their beloved wife and mother, Sarah, in the Cave of Machpelah near Kiriath Arba (Hebron).  The people of the land, the Hittites, who respected Abraham and called him “lord, prince of Elohim” (ref. Genesis 23:6 literal translation), were willing to sell him the field with its cave.  After Sarah’s burial, however, it did not take long for the elderly father to help his son fill the empty tent.  He sent his most senior and trusted servant to find a wife for Isaac among his closest kin, the family of his brother Nahor in the land of Aram (Mesopotamia). 

Abraham knew that if Isaac was to father YHVH’s promised firstborn nation, his wife would have to be from their own family.  He assured his messenger that YHVH would send an angel out before him, to find the woman of His choice.  Abraham’s servant placed his hand under his master’s thigh (the most powerful muscle in the human body) as a sign that he would faithfully carry out the charge entrusted to him (by ‘power-of-attorney’).  Arriving at his destination, near a local well, the man placed a ‘fleece’ out before the Almighty.  He asked that the intended bride have a servant’s heart, so she would not only offer him a drink from the well, but also draw water for all his camels.  This ‘envoy on a mission’ did not realize that YHVH had already prepared the bride, Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel, son of Abraham’s brother Nahor - a beautiful virgin, who was chosen for Isaac. 

Yet, even with her dazzling beauty and holy character, the future would reveal that the intended bride was not without a problem, the same one that had plagued Isaac’s mother.  Rebecca, whose name includes the adjective rav (“great, many”), was barren.    Interestingly and almost ironically, upon her being sent away to meet the future husband, the bride’s family did so with the following blessing:  “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of [revava] ten thousands; and may your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them” (Genesis 24:60).  What a wonderful and powerful blessing with which to leave her family and home!  These words must have echoed in her mind as she went off to a strange land to meet an unknown bridegroom.

Before moving on, we should take note of the messenger’s words to Rebecca’s family:  “YHVH has blessed my master greatly, and he has become great; and He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.  And Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son to my master when she was old; and to him he has given all that he has” (Genesis 24:35-36 emphasis added).  Here again it is apparent that the inheritance was to be given solely to Isaac.  The firstborn birthright could not be divided; therefore, Isaac received the fullness of the patriarchal position as a servant-prince in YHVH’s kingdom order.  The calling upon this firstborn’s life meant that he was to father the firstborn nation promised in the covenant with Abraham.

Nervous excitement must have charged the souls of Rebecca, coming in on a camel, and of Isaac, who was taking a stroll in the field, when they lifted their eyes and saw each other for the first time!  Evening was quickly setting in, and there did not even seem to be time to meet the father-in-law.  And thus, after hearing the servant’s providential story of finding his bride, “Isaac brought her into his mother’s tent; and he took Rebecca and she became his wife, and he loved her, so Isaac was comforted by her after his mother’s death” (Genesis 24:67).  When Isaac was weaned, his father threw a big party, but upon his wedding, no mention is made of a celebration.  The family may still have been mourning Sarah’s death. 

Abraham, for his part, did not waste any time and remarried.  The new wife, Keturah, bore him six more sons.  But again, just as with Ishmael, Scripture makes it very clear who was to be the rightful inheritor in the family:  “Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.  But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had; and while he was still living he sent them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the country of the east” (Genesis 25:5-6).