Genesis 24:11

11 The servant had the camels kneel down outside the city by the well. It was evening, when the women would go out to draw water.

Genesis 24:11 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 24:11

And he made his camels to kneel down
Which these creatures are used to do when they are loaded and unloaded, and also when they take rest, and it was for the sake of the latter they were now made to kneel. It seems that this is what is not natural to them, but what they are learned to do: it is said ^F18,

``as soon as a camel is born they tie his four feet under his belly, put a carpet over his back, and stones upon the borders of it, that he may not be able to rise for twenty days together; thus they teach him the habit of bending his knees to rest himself, or when he is to be loaded or unloaded.''

This was done without the city;
the city of Nahor, Haran, near to which the servant was now come: and it was by a well of water:
which place was chosen for the refreshment of his camels, as well as of himself and his men. Rauwolff ^F19 says, that near Haran, now called Orpha,

``there is a plentiful well still to this day (1575), called Abraham's well, the water of which hath a more whitish troubledness than others. I have (says he) drank of it several times, out of the conduit that runs from thence into the middle the great camp, and it hath a peculiar pleasantness, and a pleasant sweetness in its taste.''

The time of Abraham's servant coming hither was at the time of the evening, [even] the time that women go out to draw
[water];
which was the custom for women to do, for the necessary uses of their families; as it was especially in the eastern countries: and the Arabian women to this time, after they have been hard at work all day, weaving, or grinding, or making bread, at evening they set out with a pitcher or a goat's skin, and, tying their sucking children behind them, trudge it in this manner two or three miles to fetch water {t}.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Calmet's Dictionary in the word "Camel".
F19 Travels, par. 2. ch. 10. p. 177. Ed. Ray.
F20 Shaw's Travels, p. 241. Ed. 2.

Genesis 24:11 In-Context

9 So the servant did as his master Abraham commanded and swore the oath to him concerning this.

10 Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and left, taking with him all of his master's best things. He traveled to Aram Naharaim, Nahor's city.

11 The servant had the camels kneel down outside the city by the well. It was evening, when the women would go out to draw water.

12 Then he prayed, "LORD, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today. Show your kindness to Abraham.

13 Here I am standing by the spring, and the girls of the city are coming out to draw water.