Genesis 24 Study Notes

Halak is a versatile word describing any motion, especially by humans. Go or move can be a good translation. People walk (Gn 13:17) or go about (Ps 42:9) Halak also denotes continuance. It indicates the flowing of water, slithering of snakes, or blowing of trumpets. Combined with other verbs it can signal the growth or increase of an action or state (2Sm 3:1). With a preposition halak can denote follow. Sometimes it means depart, and can metaphorically appear as die or pass on (Ps 39:13; Job 14:20). Conversely, halak describes life in general, since walking is such a part of daily conduct (Is 50:10). The latter sense often narrows to the moral or spiritual sphere, one’s conduct in relation to the law or before God. The intensive form of the verb can mean to tramp, the causative form to lead, and the reflexive-passive form to walk back and forth.

24:34-49 In the longest recorded speech by a slave in the OT (238 words in the Hebrew), Abraham’s servant recounted in detail three relevant matters: how the Lord had greatly blessed Abraham, why a young woman was needed from Bethuel’s family, and how God had revealed that he had appointed Rebekah for his master’s son. Then the servant gave them the opportunity to show kindness and faithfulness to Abraham by permitting Rebekah to accompany him back to his master’s household.

24:50-53 When Laban and Bethuel—the ruling adult males in the clan—were presented with evidence that the Lord had spoken and had selected Rebekah for Isaac, they released her to be a wife for Abraham’s son. As the bride-price the servant then presented gifts to Rebekah . . . her brother and her mother.

24:54-61 The next morning, Abraham’s servant asked Bethuel not to delay the return to Abraham, even though it was customary to spend several days with the wife’s family members (Jdg 19:8-10). Rebekah’s statement, I will go, expressed her willingness to leave immediately, not her acceptance of the marriage arrangement—that was already settled. As a wedding gift the family gave Rebekah the one who had nursed her, a beloved slave named Deborah (35:8) who attended to her for many years. The clan also gave her a prophetic blessing, commending both fruitfulness and victory for her offspring.

24:62-66 After a journey of hundreds of miles on camelback, the caravan returned to Isaac’s home. Rebekah saw Isaac for the first time on the day she married him. As was apparently the custom on the wedding day, Rebekah covered herself with a veil before meeting her husband. Before presenting Rebekah to Isaac, Abraham’s servant told Isaac everything he had done and what God had done for him.

24:67 As part of the marital ritual Isaac brought Rebekah into what had been his mother Sarah’s tent. This would now become her home, which marked her as the clan matriarch, the most powerful woman in the group. There Isaac and Rebekah consummated the marriage. Having waited forty years to marry, Isaac loved his wife deeply, and was finally comforted after his mother’s death, which had occurred three years earlier (17:17; 23:1; 25:20).