“God’s Providence”

Genesis 24: 1-33

 

We are coming to the end of the story of Abraham in the book of Genesis. We have come to chapter 24, the longest chapter in the book as well as the longest chapter in the Torah, 67 verses. What makes it so long is it is actually one story that manages to be retold two times, with the same amount of detail but with a few twists. Because of its length we are going to take two weeks to read through this chapter. In the meantime, I encourage you to read through it on your own. I won’t be here next week, but we will pick it back up the first week of November. 

 

The chapter begins with Abraham and his servant. We don’t have the name of this servant, but we were given a servant’s name back in chapter 15.  

 

You might remember the story, Abraham was convinced he wasn’t going to have any offspring so he came up with the idea that his servant, Eliezer, could be a substitute. Jewish traditions have given this servant the name Eliezer for that reason. It actually fits, if you recall, the name Eliezer goes all the way back to the garden of Eden, where Eve was called the “ezer” for Adam, his “delivering help.” How appropriate that this story begins with an ezer as a delivering help in providing a wife so the seed of the woman can continue. That’s what this chapter is all about. 

 

We begin with Abraham placing a task before his servant. He makes the servant take a vow by placing his hand under his thigh, and swearing an oath by Yahweh. The oath is that the servant will not take a woman for his son from the daughters of the people where they were living, the Canaanites. 

Instead, Abraham sends his servant back to the land of his family, the very inverse of what Yahweh had said to Abraham when this whole story began. 

 

Step back and look at what is happening. Abraham realizes he has finally reached a new Eden. He looks around and realizes the seed that exists around him is not what he wants his inheritance to be a part of. He decides he wants his son to have a wife who comes from the same seed he does. Abraham has become wise in his old age and he’s learned how to recognize a snake when he sees one. In Abraham’s mind, his little Eden is surrounded by them. Abraham decides to return to his family and not intermarry. This is where the theme of no intermarriages emerges. For what it is worth, Abraham understands the Canaanite culture and is doing what he can to make sure Isaac’s seed is not a part of it. 

It would be quite easy and seem appropriate for Isaac to find a wife with a neighboring king to keep an alliance. But for Abraham, he has lived with this group of people for many years and sees the temptation. He wants to make sure this doesn’t happen. 

 

This had to have been a difficult request to fulfill. Notice the servant was willing to make the oath, but had his own, “What ifs.” What if the woman won’t come back with me? That is a fair question. Think about what they are asking. They expect some young woman to leave her family and travel to Canaan with a servant she has never met, to marry some guy she has never met, who is the son of some uncle who left the family years ago. So the servant suggests maybe it would be easier to have Isaac go to the woman?  

 

Abraham refuses to have his son return to his homeland should a woman not want to come to Canaan. 

 

Think about it. After all Abraham had been through to get to where he was he wasn’t about to retreat. Yahweh had promised to give seed and land to Abraham and he was prepared to take Yahweh at His Word. No turning back. Abraham is so certain of Yahweh’s guiding presence that He claims that Yahweh will send messengers ahead of the servant so the right things will happen. He even puts in the caveat that if the woman doesn’t listen to Yahweh and doesn’t follow His command, then the servant would be released from his oath. But under no circumstances was the servant supposed to take Isaac out of the land. 

The servant makes the oath. He then puts together a lot of wealthy things to take with him and goes to Aram Haharaim, which in Hebrew means, “two rivers,” the two rivers that go towards Mesopotamia. Today they are known as the Tigris and Euphrates, that lead to Assyria, on the way to Babylon. 

 

The servant leaves “Eden” and takes a very long trip. He comes to a well of water by the rivers and he meets a woman. The first thing he does is kneel down at the well and says, verse 12, 

 

 “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today,” 

 

The Hebrew words used for “make me successful today,” mean create “a happening.” 

Which has the essence of something that we would call a coincidence or something that happens that you can’t orchestrate, but when you look back you realize things all came together. 

 

So the servant comes to this well and puts it out to the Lord how wonderful it would be if a young woman would arrive and be the one that would become Isaac’s wife. The servant even puts out a crazy idea of her asking to water the camels as well. Just putting it out there God. Could you make it happen? Before he even finished talking with Yahweh, ta da! Rebekah appears, and she waters the camels!. Coincidence? Or Providence? 

 

Let’s not miss the significance of God’s messengers. I believe they are still at work, doing similar things today. Although we are not told directly that angels were involved we did have Abraham saying, 

“He (Yahweh) will send His angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there”

 

The angels don’t appear in the narrative, but this is teaching us that even if we do not see the presence of God’s supernatural ordering of events, it doesn’t mean God isn’t doing something. This passage provides for us evidence that we can experience, or be a part of, and not recognize God’s providence in our lives. Often we don’t get it at the moment, but when we look back we can connect the dots and realize God’s angels have been at work. This is an example of just that. 

 

This motif hyperlinks to other familiar stories in the Old Testament. In the book of Ruth, when Naomi and Ruth go back to the land and discover they need food. Ruth goes to glean in a field after the reapers. 

“It just so happened,” the same words used for “make me successful today,” are used, and we discover Ruth was in the field that belonged to Boaz, who’s of the family of her mother-in-law, Naomi. Coincidence? Or Providence?

 

This is hyperlinked even more intensely in the book of Esther. The name of Yahweh is not mentioned throughout the entire book. Yet, the subtext for everything that happens is understood as God’s providence. Today”s story is the seed for the motif of God’s angels doing God’s work. 

 

Check in time. 

 

The idea that God’s messengers are at work is nothing new, but I dare say it is not always in the forefront of our minds. How many of us look at situations the way Abraham’s servant did and ask God, 

 “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today,” 

 

In other words, “God, could you put your angels at work today making sure Your will is accomplished in my life?”

 

Be careful of what you pray for, you just might get it. A lot of times we don’t really want God’s will in our lives, because it means our will might not happen. First we need to be certain we have aligned our will with His will. Which is what we are called to do on a daily basis. 

 

On a side note, don’t forget, Satan’s angels are busy too. 

1 Peter 5:8,

 

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

 

Even so, Divine providence has our backs, 

Roman 8:28, 

 

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” 

 

Satan can do his worst, and we have seen it on the cross, yet even the evil that is tearing our world apart, God is able to work toward a greater, final purpose. Satan has to be frustrated because God continues to take whatever he does and ensure God’s will is accomplished. 

 

“Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

 

Let’s pray.