Genesis 24:16 Kommentar

Marriages and funerals are the changes of families, and the common news among the inhabitants of the villages. In the foregoing chapter we had Abraham burying his wife, here we have him marrying his son. These stories concerning his family, with their minute circumstances, are largely related, while the histories of the kingdoms of the world then in being, with their revolutions, are buried in silence; for the Lord knows those that are his. The subjoining of Isaac's marriage to Sarah's funeral (with a particular reference to it, Gen 24:67) shows us that as "one generation passes away another generation comes;" and thus the entail both of the human nature, and of the covenant, is preserved. Here is, I. Abraham's care about the marrying of his son, and the charge he gave to his servant about it (Gen 24:1-9). II. His servant's journey into Abraham's country, to seek a wife for his young master among his own relations (Gen 24:10-14). III. The kind providence which brought him acquainted with Rebekah, whose father was Isaac's cousin-german (Gen 24:15-28). IV. The treaty of marriage with her relations (v. 29-49). V. Their consent obtained (Gen 24:50-60). VI. The happy meeting and marriage between Isaac and Rebekah (Gen 24:61, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 24 This chapter shows Abraham's concern to get a suitable wife for his son Isaac, for which purpose he commits the affair into the hands of his eldest servant, and makes him swear that he will not take one from among the Canaanites, but out of his own country, and from among his own kindred, Gen 24:1; which his servant agreed to, after having the nature of his charge, and of the oath, explained to him, Gen 24:5; upon which he departed to Mesopotamia, and coming to the city of Nahor, and to a well near it, he prayed for success, and desired direction by a token, which was granted him, Gen 24:10; and inquiring of the damsel, who answered to the token, whose daughter she was, and whether they had room for him and his in their house; and an agreeable answer being returned, he gave thanks to God that had directed him, and had so far made his journey prosperous, Gen 24:23; the damsel acquainting her parents whom and what she met with at the well, a brother of her steps out, and invites the servant in, and makes him welcome, Gen 24:28; but before he would eat anything, he tells his errand he was come upon, at the instance of his master; how, he had prayed for direction, and was heard, and for which he had given thanks, Gen 24:34; and then treats with the relations of the damsel about her marriage to his master's son, to which they agreed, Gen 24:49; and after having blessed God, and given his presents he brought with him to the damsel, and her family, and ate and drank with them, was for departing the next morning, Gen 24:52; but the friends of the damsel being desirous of her stay with them some few days, and he urgent to be gone, the affair was referred to her, and she agreed to go with him directly, Gen 24:55; upon which they dismissed her with their blessing, Gen 24:59; who being met by Isaac in the way, was received and introduced into his mother's tent, and married by him, Gen 24:61.

And the damsel was very fair to look upon,.... Of a good countenance and beautiful aspect: a virgin: neither had any man known her; not only was reckoned a virgin, but was really one, pure and incorrupt: and she went down to the well and filled her pitcher, and came up; by which it appears the well lay low, there was a descent unto it, and an ascent from it. Rebekah was very diligent and speedy in doing her work, she did not stay to look at strangers, or hold an idle conversation with other damsels that came thither on the same account; but, having filled her pitcher, was making the best of her way home.

This is not written of her in vain. Nevertheless the meaning of the statement disturbs me: “She was a virgin, whom no man had known.” It is indeed as if a virgin were something other than one whom a man has not touched. And what does the addition seem to mean in reference to a virgin that it should be said, “A man had not known her”? Is there indeed another virgin whom a man has touched?I have often said already that in these stories history is not being narrated but mysteries are interwoven. I think therefore that something such as this is indicated in this story. Just as Christ is said to be the husband of the soul, to whom the soul is married when it comes to faith, so also, contrary to this, he who also is called “an enemy” when “he sows tares among the wheat” is called the husband to whom the soul is married when it turns away to faithlessness. It is not sufficient, therefore, for the soul to be pure in body; it is necessary also that this most wicked man “has not known it.” For it can happen that someone may possess virginity in body, and knowing that most wicked man, the devil, and receiving darts of concupiscence from him in the heart destroy the purity of the soul. Because, therefore, Rebekah was a virgin “holy in body and spirit,” for this reason the Scripture doubles her praise and says, “She was a virgin; a man had not known her.”

Therefore, Isaac is a true blessing, full of grace, and a source of joy. To this source, Rebecca came to fill her water jug. For the Scripture says that as she went down to the spring, she filled her jug and went up again (Gen. XXIV, 16). So she went down to the fountain of wisdom, whether the Church or the soul, to fill her entire vessel and to draw from the pure disciplines of wisdom that the Jews refused to draw from the flowing fountain. Who is this fountain, listen to the one saying: They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water (Jeremiah II, 13). To this fountain ran the thirsting soul of the prophets, as David also says: My soul thirsts for the living God (Psalm XLI, 3); so that it could quench its thirst with the richness of divine knowledge and wash away the blood of foolishness with the flow of spiritual waters.

Abraham, being solicitous to get his son Isaac property married, calls his confidential servant, probably Eliezer, and makes him swear that he will not take a wife for Isaac from among the Canaanites, Gen 24:1-3, but from among his own kindred, Gen 24:4. The servant proposes certain difficulties, Gen 24:5, which Abraham removes by giving him the strongest assurances of God's direction in the business, Gen 24:6, Gen 24:7, and then specifies the conditions of the oath, Gen 24:8. The form of the oath itself, Gen 24:9. The servant makes preparations for his journey, and sets out for Mesopotamia, the residence of Abraham's kindred, Gen 24:10. Arrives at a well near to the place, Gen 24:11. His prayer to God, Gen 24:12-14. Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor, Abraham's brother, comes to the well to draw water, Gen 24:15. She is described, Gen 24:16. Conversation between her and Abraham's servant, in which every thing took place according to his prayer to God, Gen 24:17-21. He makes her presents, and learns whose daughter she is, Gen 24:22-24. She invites him to her father's house, Gen 24:25. He returns thanks to God for having thus far given him a prosperous journey, Gen 24:26, Gen 24:27. Rebekah runs home and informs her family, Gen 24:28; on which her brother Laban comes out, and invites the servant home, Gen 24:29-31. His reception, Gen 24:32, Gen 24:33. Tells his errand, Gen 24:34, and how he had proceeded in executing the trust reposed in him, Gen 24:35-48. Requests an answer, Gen 24:49. The family of Rebekah consent that she should become the wife of Isaac, Gen 24:50, Gen 24:51. The servant worships God, Gen 24:52, and gives presents to Milcah, Laban, and Rebekah, Gen 24:53. He requests to be dismissed, Gen 24:54-56. Rebekah, being consulted, consents to go, Gen 24:57, Gen 24:58. She is accompanied by her nurse, Gen 24:59; and having received the blessing of her parents and relatives, Gen 24:60, she departs with the servant of Abraham, Gen 24:61. They are met by Isaac, who was on an evening walk for the purpose of meditation, Gen 24:62-65. The servant relates to Isaac all that he had done, Gen 24:66. Isaac and Rebekah are married, Gen 24:67.

A MARRIAGE COMMISSION. (Gen 24:1-9) And Abraham was old . . . take a wife--His anxiety to see his son married was natural to his position as a pastoral chief interested in preserving the honor of his tribe, and still more as a patriarch who had regard to the divine promise of a numerous posterity.

After the death of Sarah, Abraham had still to arrange for the marriage of Isaac. He was induced to provide for this in a mode in harmony with the promise of God, quite as much by his increasing age as by the blessing of God in everything, which necessarily instilled the wish to transmit that blessing to a distant posterity. He entrusted this commission to his servant, "the eldest of his house," - i.e., his upper servant, who had the management of all his house (according to general opinion, to Eliezer, whom he had previously thought of as the heir of his property, but who would now, like Abraham, be extremely old, as more than sixty years had passed since the occurrence related in Gen 15:2), - and made him swear that he would not take a wife for his son from the daughters of the Canaanites, but would fetch one from his (Abraham's) native country, and his kindred. Abraham made the servant take an oath in order that his wishes might be inviolably fulfilled, even if he himself should die in the interim. In swearing, the servant put his hand under Abraham's hip. This custom, which is only mentioned here and in Gen 47:29, the so-called bodily oath, was no doubt connected with the significance of the hip as the part from which the posterity issued (Gen 46:26), and the seat of vital power; but the early Jewish commentators supposed it to be especially connected with the rite of circumcision. The oath was by "Jehovah, God of heaven and earth," as the God who rules in heaven and on earth, not by Elohim; for it had respect not to an ordinary oath, but to a question of great importance in relation to the kingdom of God. "Isaac was not regarded as a merely pious candidate for matrimony, but as the heir of the promise, who must therefore be kept from any alliance with the race whose possessions were to come to his descendants, and which was ripening for the judgment to be executed by those descendants" (Hengstenberg, Dissertations i. 350). For this reason the rest of the negotiation was all conducted in the name of Jehovah.