Isaac marries Rebekah

Genesis 24

This chapter starts out with an interesting ancient Israelite custom:

Genesis 24:2, NIV He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.”

It was a fairly common practice in the ancient Near East to hold on to a man’s testicles as a way of sealing the deal on a sacred oath between two men. If Abraham died, Eliezer was still bound by his oath.

The story of the match made between Rebekah and Isaac was always one of my favorites in the Bible, and it still is. This is definitely the best story I have read so far on this journey to read the Bible, front to back.

As interesting as Rebekah is to this feminist, I found Abraham’s instructions to Eliezer enlightening as well. First of all, Isaac’s wife must absolutely NOT be a Canaanite. The second restriction was that Isaac could not settle in Nahor, Rebekah’s homeland. It was crucial that Isaac remained in Canaan, the land promised by God to Abraham. I guess Abraham figures that if Isaac moves away, he would forget God’s promise and lose the drive to claim Canaan for his descendants. 

Genesis 24:66-67, NIV Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

This is one of the first times I have been struck by the humanity in the story. This chapter is well written; and the reader can really relate to how Isaac is feeling, in what sounds like the time period shortly after his mother’s death. True or not, great storytelling happens in this chapter.dfgiadhf