CHAPTER XIV. ISAAC'S MARRIAGE Choice of wife for Isaac-The steward's mission-His promise and oath ; arrival at Haran; simple faith-The sign-Rebekah-Laban-Consent obtained-Rebekah accompanies the steward-Bethuel-Meeting of Isaac and Rebekah-Marriage-Esau and Jacob born-Contrast of the twins. THE gap in the home circle made by Sarah's death was not quickly filled. Her son's loving, gentle spirit felt deeply the loss of his tender mother, and the third year found him still nursing his quiet sorrow, and dwelling with tender melancholy on her virtues. Then Abraham thought it time to rouse him to new interests. Isaac was now forty years old, and yet had never contemplated marriage, or considered how the great promise made to his father's seed was to be fulfilled. Abraham, however, was not forgetful of this, and he cast in his mind how he could find a fitting wife for his cherished heir. The choice was, in his view, limited. He could not ally his family to any of the idolatrous tribes around him; religious motives forbade such contamination; while the strong prejudices of his country and his race disposed him to find a bride for his son in some member of his own family. The ties of clanship are to this day maintained among the nomads of the desert by the intermarriage of blood relations. Abraham had had tidings of the settlers in Haran some time ago; his brother Nahor had twelve sons, and one of these sons, Bethuel, was the father of a daughter named Rebekah. Thinking then of this family growing up in his old home, Abraham determines to seek for his son's wife in that quarter. The sacred history gives a full account of this trans action. Perhaps there is no more beautiful idyl, no sweeter picture of patriarchal manners to be found, than in this episode. No words can add to the beauty or enhance the picturesqueness of this simple narrative. Having determined upon his course of action, Abraham put the matter into the hands of the chief servant of his houseperhaps that trusty steward, Eliezer of Damascus, who had once been regarded as heir-presumptive, but who had long ago been relegated to his true position as ruler of all his master's possessions and the ready agent of his will. Him he summoned to his presence, and made him promise two things when he entrusted this mission to him : first, that he would take a wife for Isaac from his own kindred, and not from the Canaanites; and secondly, that he would not bring his son back into the land whence God had called him. The first stipulation was grounded on the necessity of keeping the holy seed free from pollution by alien blood and connection with idolatrous tribes, as also by the father's desire that Isaac should have in his wife one who feared God; the second provision was made in due accordance with his faith in God's promise to give Canaan for his inheritance, and with the obedience which had led him to quit his own country for ever and to seek his home in his future possession. As the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says (xi. 15), speaking of the patriarchs: "If, indeed, they had been mindful of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly." How far Abraham realized this view of his position we cannot decide; but we may rightly believe that his faith carried him past material possessions into unseen realities, constrained him to see that the mighty promise could not find its perfect accomplishment in earthly estate or temporal blessings, but looked forward to a heavenly kingdom and everlasting benefit. The cautious steward, before he took the prescribed oath to carry out his master's wishes, inquired what he was to do if the woman whom he selected as Isaac's wife refused to accompany him on this long journey. Abraham told him that he only required him to do his best, and that if the damsel did not accede to the proposition he might return, and consider the mission duly executed; only whatever happened, he was never to take Isaac back to the land of his forefathers. On these terms Eliezer made his solemn promise. In this I important matter Abraham thought it right not to rest satisfied with his servant's simple word, but to enforce its observation with an oath. The formula used is peculiar, and found only once again (chap. xlvii. 29), when Jacob made Joseph engage to bury him in the ancestral tomb in Canaan. The steward was to put his hand under Abraham's thigh, and swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth-Jehovah being designated by this appellation as being one more within the comprehension of the stranger than His covenant title. What was the exact meaning of the accompanying action is much disputed. Some suppose that it was a form of oath taken only by inferiors, and expressive of a kind of homage and subjection; but the more correct view of the ceremony is that, regarding the thigh (elsewhere translated "loins ") as the symbol of offspring, the person taking the oath swears by posterity, invokes them as parties to the transaction, and as avengers of his perfidy if he fails to perform his part in the matter. So here Eliezer swears by his master's offspring, and by the generations that sprung from him, to be faithful to his trust, and to execute his commission with all diligence. Great preparations were made for the mission. The mighty prince had ample means at his command, and felt secure that his project would prosper. He had told Eliezer that the Lord would send His angel with him, and gave him full permission to take all that was suitable for such an expedition, which he was assured would be successful. Accordingly a great caravan sets forth, consisting of ten camels laden with goodly presents for the bride and provisions for the journey. Either by that route which Abraham had traversed sixty-five years ago, or by the shorter and more direct passage across the uplands of Gilead, through the Hauran, past Tadmor, the steward makes his way to the city of Nahor, in Aram of the two rivers, or Aram-Naharaim, called Mesopotamia in the Greek and Latin versions, but not including all the country so named in later times, but only that between the Euphrates and the Chaboras. In this district lay the city Haran, or Charran, where Nahor and his family had established themselves. Arrived at the outskirts of the town, Eliezer halts in the evening by one of the wells, and makes his camels kneel to have the loads removed from their wearied backs. Then, having learned piety in the patriarch's * See "Speaker's Commentary," Gen. xxiv. 2. 2 Corn. a Lap. in loc. household, he turns to the Lord, the God of his master, for guidance and success. He asks that the woman whom he was. to select might come to the well to draw water, and be pointed out to him by a sign of his own choosing. It is characteristic of a pious but half-educated mind that it should seek for direction in this manner. It is done in faith, not in presumption, or with the idea of leaving the affair to chance. The sign which he desired would show the disposition of the maiden. "Let it come to pass," is his prayer, "that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac." If this trial was suggested by the mere light of nature and common sense, it served to indicate the considerateness and amiability of the young woman on whom it was made; but it was probably dictated by inspiration, by that angel whose presence on the journey Abraham had certified. Such signs God at different times has vouchsafed to acknowledge, as confirmatory of His presence and providence. Thus He hearkened to Gideon's prayer concerning the fleece (Judg. vi. 37 ff.); He prospered Jonathan's token of success against the Philistine garrison (1 Sam. xiv. 9 ff.); He even overruled the trial made by idolaters when they sent the ark back to Israel (1 Sam. vi. 7 ff.). But these are abnormal cases, and such divinations are generally not approved by God. In the present instance the trial prospered. Among the women who came to the well to draw water at eventide was Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor. She appears with her pitcher on her shoulder, as Hagar carried hers when she was sent forth into the wilderness. Eliezer tested her by the sign which he had proposed; she responded exactly to it; gave him drink from her pitcher, filled the troughs to be seen at this day round the wells, and watered his camels, to his great wonder and gratification. Thus on his visit to the city of the Phæacians Odysseus is met by Pallas: "As to the lovely city he drew near, The blue-eyed Pallas met him there herself; Seeing that his mission was so far accomplished, the steward opens his treasures and presents the damsel with a costly ear Homer, "Odyssey,” vii. 18, quoted by Le Clerc. ring, or nose-ring (Isa. iii. 21), and bracelets, asks her who she is, and bids her inquire if her parents can lodge him and his camels. The presents doubtless, which were of the nature of espousal gifts, opened her eyes to the coming proposal. She runs to her mother, whose tent was, as usual, separate from those of the male part of the community, and tells her what has happened. Her brother Laban, a selfish, greedy man, beholding the jewels bestowed on Rebekah by the stranger, and influenced by the hope of securing some benefit to his family, at once hastens to Eliezer at the well, and eagerly offers hospitality. But the latter, too excited to eat till his business was completed, announces his errand, tells who he is-how that he is the servant of Abraham, Nahor's long-estranged brother, and how his master has sent him to find a wife for his son and heir among his own family and kindred. He relates the sign which he had craved of God, and how it had been answered in a wonderful way by the appearance and actions of Rebekah. To obviate the possible idea that Abraham's son must be too old to be the bridegroom of his brother's granddaughter, he explains how that he was born in the advanced age of his mother; and then, forgetful of his own weariness, and with some suspicion of Laban's character, he enlarges on the fact that Isaac is an only child, and the heir to his father's great possessions, and urges an immediate answer to his request that Rebekah shall be allowed to return with him as the betrothed of Isaac. Her father and brother at once consent. "The thing," they answer, "proceedeth from the Lord." They cannot gainsay it. He may take Rebekah and go on his way. How true a picture of Oriental customs is displayed by this transaction! It is the father's duty and prerogative to select a wife for his son, and to make the necessary proposal to the parents of the maiden; and when the negotiations are accepted, the acquiescence of the bride is taken for granted, without her opinion being necessarily consulted. It does not appear that Isaac had taken any part in the present arrangements. The strict injunctions to the steward as to his conduct in case of his master's death, imply that Isaac's yielding, gentle disposition needed a guiding hand. He must, of course, have known of Eliezer's mission, but he was content to leave the whole management of the affair in his father's hands. The preliminary consent of father and brother having been |