Isaac and Rebekah Story - Bible

Abraham was now very old. The Lord had blessed him in every way. Abraham said to the senior 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. Do not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites. I am living among them. Instead, go to my country and my own relatives. Get a wife for my son Isaac.'

The servant asked him, 'What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?'

Abraham said to him, 'Make sure you do not take my son back there. The Lord, the God of heaven, brought me out of my father's household and my native land. He spoke to me and promised me on oath. He said, 'To your offspring I will give this land.' He will send his angel before you. You will get a wife for my son from there. If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, you will be released from this oath. Only do not take my son back there.'

So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham. He swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

The servant took ten of his master's camels and left. He took with him all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town. It was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.

Then he prayed, 'Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today. Show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring. The daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, 'Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,' and she says, 'Drink, and I'll water your camels too,' let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.'

Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah. Bethuel was the son of Abraham's brother Nahor. The young woman was very beautiful. She was a virgin. No man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up again.

The servant hurried to meet her. He said, 'Please give me a little water from your jar.'

She said, 'Drink, my lord.' She quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink.

After she had given him a drink, she said, 'I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking.' So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough. Then she ran back to the well to draw more water. She drew enough for all his camels.

The man watched her closely. He wanted to know if the Lord had made his journey successful or not.

When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. He asked, 'Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?'

She answered, 'I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor.' She also said, 'We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.'

Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord. He said, 'Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham. He has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives.'

The young woman ran and told her mother's household about these things. Rebekah had a brother named Laban. Laban hurried out to the man at the spring. As soon as he had seen the nose ring and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man. He found him standing by the camels near the spring.

Laban said, 'Come, you who are blessed by the Lord. Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.'

So the man went to the house. The camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels. Water was brought for him and his men to wash their feet. Then food was set before him.

But he said, 'I will not eat until I have told you what I came to say.'

Laban said, 'Then tell us.'

So the servant told the whole story. He told how Abraham had made him promise to get a wife for Isaac from his relatives. He told how he had prayed at the well and how Rebekah had answered exactly as he had asked.

Then Laban and Bethuel answered, 'This is from the Lord. We can say nothing to you one way or the other. Here is Rebekah. Take her and go. Let her become the wife of your master's son, as the Lord has directed.'

When Abraham's servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord. Then he brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing. He gave them to Rebekah. He also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother.

The next morning he said, 'Send me on my way to my master.'

But Rebekah's brother and her mother replied, 'Let the young woman remain with us ten days or so. Then you may go.'

But he said to them, 'Do not detain me, now that the Lord has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master.'

So they called Rebekah and asked her, 'Will you go with this man?'

'I will go,' she said.

So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way. They sent her with her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men. They blessed Rebekah and said to her, 'Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands. May your offspring possess the cities of their enemies.'

Then Rebekah and her attendants got ready and mounted the camels. They followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.

Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi. He was living in the Negev. He went out to the field one evening to meditate. He looked up and saw camels coming. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel and asked the servant, 'Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?'

'The man is my master,' the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.

Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac brought Rebekah into the tent of his mother Sarah. He married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her. Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

God answered Abraham's prayer. He gave Isaac a kind and beautiful wife. He led the servant right to her. Rebekah was willing to leave her family and go to a new land to marry Isaac. She trusted God's plan for her life. When we pray and trust God, he guides our steps. He knows what is best for us.

The Isaac and Rebekah story teaches trust and faith. It shows God’s guidance in choosing a partner. This story highlights obedience and divine providence.