And they said, Let us call the maiden and inquire at her mouth.
Abraham's servant had just turned down the family's plea for a ten-day delay. Their answer was to hand the matter to Rebekah herself, so the whole errand now waits on one person's reply.
Up to now, others have moved the story along. Here the weight shifts to Rebekah. Older translations render "ask her" as "inquire at her mouth" — the family must hear the answer from her. One writer sums up all that has led to this moment:
The decision must come from Rebekah's own lips. In a way, we reach the climax of the whole story here. We have seen the Father's plan, and the Spirit's mission, carried out with care and without tiring. The call has gone out, and it is clear beyond doubt (she would have to come, and Isaac would not go). What will the response be?
The question is not whether she approves of the plan. It is whether she will trust the messenger and go at once:
The servant, however, would allow no delay. So they put the question to Rebekah, for the final decision rested with her — "Will you go with this man?" Was she ready to trust herself to the servant, who was acting for Isaac, and to do so at once? Her answer was simple and decisive — "I will go."
The family's suggestion sounded modest — wait a while, at least ten days. One writer hears in it a voice we still hear today:
"Her brother and her mother said, Let the young woman remain with us a while, at least ten days; after that she may go" (v. 55). That was the delaying speech of that day, and many a soul solemnly echoes it today. Do you say, "I will decide for Christ in a few days at the least: at most, ten"? Ten days from now! Oh, no! It must be now if you want to be with Christ in glory.
Delay can also come from nearer at hand than a household. The same pressure appears in a family circle and in the heart itself:
Rebekah's relatives pleaded for delay, and so often do the relatives of believers today, and if we have no relatives to do this our own foolish hearts will do it even more effectively.
Her family expected the question to be open. It was not. The servant had already formed his own mind in her, and commentators read him as a picture of the Holy Spirit:
He longs to be away and reach Isaac, and he creates the same desires in the heart of Rebekah. He wills to go, and she is made willing to go. Her relatives can understand that the servant wants to be away to his master. But they would rather keep Rebekah a while — at least ten days. So they call the young woman and ask her. They only discover how well the servant had done his work. He had formed his own mind in her mind, so that if he was longing to go, she was ready to go.
Notice what the family gives away. By agreeing to ask her, they admit that their wish to keep her cannot settle the matter:
Whether we allow the world to hinder us or not depends not upon the world but upon ourselves. The brother and mother may seek to keep Rebekah back. They admit it themselves, for they say, "Let us call the young woman and ask her." If, like Rebekah, our answer is "I will go," the Spirit will so stir our hearts that nothing in the world can hold us back, however strong or attractive it is.
The same writer turns her question into one for every reader:
The great question for Rebekah — "Will you go with this man?" — is still the question for each one of us. Do we recognise the presence of the Holy Spirit, and are we ready at any cost to follow His leading?
Because the verse puts the question in her mouth, nobody around her could answer in her place:
Rebekah's answer to her relations was, "I will go." No one else can decide for you. You have a soul, and its eternal welfare depends on your answer. You have a soul to be saved or lost. Oh, will you let anyone, anything, come in between the Lord and your soul? Decide, decide now.
- Called — the family hands the question to Rebekah. Commentators call this the high point of the chapter: the Father's plan and the servant's errand now wait on one word.
- Asked — her question is not about the plan's merits. It is about trust and timing: will she go with this man, and go now?
- Prepared — the question only revealed what the servant's work had already done. He longed to reach Isaac, and she was ready to go.
- Hindered — her relatives asked for ten days, and writers hear that same delaying voice today. Yet by agreeing to ask her, the family admitted they could not hold her back.
- Answered — no one could reply for her, and no one can reply for us; the decision must come from a person's own lips.
And they called Rebecca and said to her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.
Abraham's servant has finished his errand and refuses to stay another day. The family, who had pleaded for delay, put the matter to Rebekah herself. Her answer takes three words. Commentators read the scene as a picture of how anyone is won to a person they have never seen.
The "man" in the question is the servant, not the bridegroom. The pressure to delay comes first from relatives, then from our own hearts.
Rebekah's relatives pleaded for delay. The relatives of believers today so often do the same. And if we have no relatives to do this, our own foolish hearts will do it even more effectively. The servant, however, would allow no delay. So they put the question to Rebekah, for the final decision rested with her — "Will you go with this man?" Was she ready to entrust herself at once to the servant, who was acting on behalf of Isaac? Her answer was simple and decisive — "I will go."
Nothing in her answer came from sight. She had only a report about a man who was not there, and it set her present work against a far greater place.
Rebecca's affection for the absent bridegroom decided the matter. She took a decision of faith. If the report about Isaac, about her future and her high destiny was true, then nothing would keep her where she was. What was her former work of looking after Laban's sheep compared with the place of the wife of the son who was the heir of all things?
The servant refused to wait even a day. One writer asks whom he pictures, and why Rebekah answered so fast.
Let us remember that he is a picture of the Spirit of God. The Spirit acts with positive decision, and produces firm decision in the hearts of those whom He influences. We see this again in Rebekah's reply without hesitation when they ask her, "Will you go with this man?" She answers at once, "I will go" (v. 58). Such is the response that the grace of God brings forth from the hearts of those who are drawn to the blessed person of the Lord Jesus. Natural relationships fade into the background when Christ becomes the Object of the heart. He must have first place.
Her answer was not the escape of someone with nothing to lose.
Rebekah was not a penniless orphan. She had a father and mother, a home in Mesopotamia, and prospects of wealth and possessions in the land of her birth. To enjoy all these blessings she had no need to leave her native land and face a wilderness journey. Yet she leaves it all. She forgets her own people and her father's house, and she faces a wilderness journey to reach a person whom she has never seen. Such is the mighty attractive power of a person when faith and affection for that person have been awakened.
A half-hearted yes would have left her stranded between two homes.
Suppose Rebekah had hesitated and had kept thinking about the country she had left. She would have been unhappy. She would have had neither Isaac's house nor her father Bethuel's. If she had left all and yet had neither one home nor the other, her heart would have been alone in the wilderness, in an impossible position. But she has left all. As she talks with Eliezer, the servant, she fills her mind with what interests her heart. That lifts her heart above the things she has now left for ever. And she journeys in peace towards the home of her bridegroom.
One writer turns the question on the reader.
What was Rebekah's answer when her relations said to her, "Will you go with this man?" She said, "I will go." No one else can decide for you. You have a soul, its eternal welfare depends on your answer. You have a soul to be saved or lost. Oh, will you let anyone, anything, come in between the Lord and your soul? Decide, decide now.
- Asked — the family could arrange the match, but the servant would not move until Rebekah answered. The final decision was hers.
- Won — she had never seen Isaac. A report about him had already captured her heart, so her yes was a decision of faith, not of sight.
- Decided — the servant refused delay, and the same decisiveness appeared in her. When Christ becomes the heart's object, natural ties fall into second place.
- Left — she had a home, family and prospects worth keeping. She left them all for a wilderness journey toward a person she had not met.
- Whole-hearted — a half yes would have left her with neither her old home nor her new one. Because she left all, she travelled in peace toward her bridegroom.
And they sent away Rebecca their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men.
Rebekah's family had asked her to stay a while longer. Instead they send her off with a stranger, and commentators read this short travel list as a picture of the whole Christian life: a heart won, a home left, and a guide for the road.
The servant refused every delay, and his errand explains why.
The servant says, "Send me away to my master." He had come to Mesopotamia to secure the bride, and having done that he would gladly be away. He had not come to stay there. His mind was not to secure the bride and settle her in the old home, but to secure the bride and lead her to a new home. And very blessedly he forms the same mind in Rebekah.
The family's feelings had to give way, and the choice fell to Rebekah.
Rebekah now becomes the main figure, along with the trusted servant of the father and the son. Here the servant puts aside the family's natural feelings. His one thought is to carry out his mission. They would have her stay a while. But the better his errand goes, the less delay he will allow. The bride has to decide the matter.
The verse names her nurse, and nothing else she owned. One writer draws out how little she carried and why she needed nothing more.
Rebekah takes her nurse with her, but they had little time to pack their suitcases. She would not need the possessions she owned in Haran, for Isaac would certainly supply her with all she needed and much more. The things we leave behind in coming to Christ are nothing compared to the riches of the spiritual blessings that He has laid up for us.
What made the leaving costly is that she had a real life to lose by it.
Rebekah was not a penniless orphan; she had a father and mother, a home in Mesopotamia with prospects of wealth and possessions in the land of her birth. To enjoy all these blessings she had no need to leave her native land and face a wilderness journey. Still, all is left. She forgets her own people and her father's house, and travels through the wilderness to reach a person she has never seen. Such is the mighty power of a person to draw, once faith and affection for that person are awake.
The nurse gets one line here, and one more much later.
Rebekah's nurse: she went with her mistress when she left Padan-aram and remained with her till her death; she was buried under the "oak of weeping." Gen. 24:59; Gen. 35:8.
She left with the same man who had told her about Isaac, and his care did not end at the door.
She goes out to meet the bridegroom. The faithful servant who had won her heart to Isaac continues his care, and guides her across the desert. They send her away with abundant blessings, though those blessings fall short of her real position. But the picture is unmistakable. It is the bride, delivered out of the present evil age according to the will of God our Father, to belong to Him who is in heaven, soon to join Him there.
The journey was long and empty, but the cost of it was not hers.
Full provision for the way is made, not at her cost, and she can forget what is behind because of the prospect ahead of her. Empty wastes lie between the place she has left and her future home. It is a long journey. But a power not her own carries her. And no doubt her guide lightens the road as she learns more and more about the one she is going to. How simple it all is! The Spirit of God leads the willing heart on to meet the Lord.
From the moment she rode out, she belonged to neither place. Her comfort was the company of Eliezer, Abraham's servant, on the road.
Suppose Rebekah had hesitated and thought about the country she had left. She would have been unhappy. She would have had neither Isaac's house nor her father Bethuel's. She would have left all and had neither one thing nor the other. Her heart, alone in the wilderness, would have found that position impossible. But she has left all. As she talks with Eliezer, she fills her mind with what interests her heart, and that lifts her above the things she has now left for ever.
The servant's "Hinder me not" is turned into a searching question — not whether the Spirit is able, but whether we are in His way.
How is it, then, that we are so little attached in affection to Christ, and so little detached from things here? Is it not that we hinder? So the servant's word, "Hinder me not," should have a powerful voice for us... We can cling to the world — its politics, its religion, its pleasures. We may even be so taken up with right things — country, family, and father's house — that we hinder the Holy Spirit.
- Decision — the family would have kept her a while longer; the servant would not wait, and the choice fell to the bride herself.
- Departure — the errand was never to leave her in the old home, but to lead her to a new one.
- Company — she took her nurse, no possessions, and the man who had told her about Isaac. The road was provided for, and not at her cost.
- Desert — from that hour she had neither her father's house nor her husband's. Talk of the one she was going to kept the road bearable.
- Delay — the servant would not be hindered, and neither should the Spirit be. Even right and good ties can get in His way.
And they blessed Rebecca, and said to her, Thou art our sister; mayest thou become thousands of tens of thousands; and may thy seed possess the gate of their enemies!
Rebekah's family sends her off with a blessing. Their words echo what God had already sworn to Abraham, and they say more than the speakers knew.
Older translations read "thousands of millions," which sounds like poetic exaggeration. One writer gives a more exact number, and links the blessing coming true to Rebekah's journey to Isaac.
"Thousands of millions" sounds somewhat exaggerated, but we understand that "ten thousand" would be a more exact translation than "million." With that correction we have to admit that their blessing has come to pass, but only as the fruit of her going out to Isaac under the leadership of the servant.
These were ordinary relatives saying goodbye, not prophets. Yet history has matched their words, and the second half still waits.
Rebekah leaves home with the blessings of her family, desiring that she might be the mother of thousands of millions (v. 60). No doubt God put this language into their mouths, for it has been truly prophetic, just as is the second expression, "may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him." Israel has been hated by many nations, but will take over authority in the gates of their enemies, the very place of governmental judgment.
The phrase about the gate repeats God's oath to Abraham in Genesis 22:17. One writer ties that promise to the seed as countless as the sand, and to Israel's power on earth.
When God speaks of the seed as many as the sand or the stars, He gives them a Jewish character of blessing. "Your offspring (that is, the many descendants) shall possess the gate of his enemies." God promises the final power and glory of Israel in the earth, putting down their foes, and so forth.
Commentators differ on where the weight falls. Others read that oath as pointing past the nation to Christ Himself, the promised Seed:
It is in Christ that all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; it is Christ who shall possess the gate of His enemies (Gen. 22:17-18).
Their blessing was generous, but it fell short of where she was going. One writer sets the send-off beside the picture the whole chapter paints.
"And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men," with rich blessings, though those blessings fell short of her real position. But the picture is unmistakable. It is the bride, delivered out of this present evil age according to the will of God our Father, to belong to Him who is in heaven and soon to join Him there. The chosen young woman pictures her, setting out on her long journey to meet the one she is promised to.
The family that blesses her is the family that lets her go. Once Rebekah decided, the parting followed at once.
The immediate result of her decision was that "they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men." If we make it clear that we are forgetting the things behind and are set on heavenly things, it will not simply be a question of our giving up the world. Instead, the world will give us up; we shall be "sent away."
- Decision first. Rebekah chose to go. Her family's blessing came true as the fruit of that going, not apart from it.
- Then the number. "Thousands of millions" is better read as thousands of ten thousands. It is a huge number, and history has proved it a real promise.
- Then the seed. The words about the gate repeat God's oath to Abraham. Commentators differ: some tie them to Israel's countless descendants, others to Christ, the promised Seed.
- Then the gate. The gate is the place of judgment, so holding it means ruling over former enemies — still ahead, not behind.
- Then the bride. Their generous words still fell short of her real position: a bride sent out of her old world to meet the one she is promised to.
And Rebecca arose, and her maids, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man. And the servant took Rebecca, and went away.
The servant's task is done, and Rebekah's journey begins: she leaves everything she has known and rides out behind a guide, toward a husband she has never seen. Commentators see in this one verse a picture of where believers stand now: between a home left behind and a home not yet reached.
One writer reads this verse, and the words "followed the man," as a picture of the church today.
Verse 61 gives a beautiful picture of the present situation of the church. Rebekah got up and "followed the man." So the church is on a journey, in a desert where she will find nothing of interest to her. Guidance on this journey is given by the Spirit of God (not, of course, against or even without the written Word of God). Like Rebekah, the church has never seen the One she is travelling to meet, but she follows the Spirit by faith. As long as she is occupied with the Lord Jesus the journey will not be hard; otherwise it would be unbearable. Returning to Mesopotamia was not an option for Rebekah. Going back was giving up Isaac.
Nothing in the verse describes her feelings. One writer reads her act as evidence of what filled her heart.
What simple faith, and confidence in love, and hope abounding in her heart! There is no such combination of fitting affections in any bride you could name in the entire Old Testament. Dependence on her guide along the dreary way was what sustained her heart. She looked on to the one who was about to bring her into the enjoyment of the most tender of all relationships. What full and trustworthy reports the wise and faithful servant must have told her! They turned her mind away from looking back at her old home. They filled her with worthy expectation of such a father and such a son as awaited her!
The moment she rode away, she belonged to neither place. One writer sees believers in the same position, and points to what the servant, Eliezer, talked about along the road.
Now let us look at Rebekah's position; she had neither the house of Laban nor that of Isaac. It is the same with us. We have neither the earth we are on, nor the heaven we are going to. Rebekah had left everything, and said, "I will go." Eliezer, a picture of the Holy Spirit, talks to Rebekah during the journey about what is in the house of her bridegroom's father. This is precious conversation for the soul that needs the encouragement of seeing these things. It helps the soul endure the tiredness and difficulties of the journey, and not think about the house and the country it came out of! For Rebekah was going across the desert, just as we are. Eliezer, the faithful servant leading her, took care to comfort her. He spoke to her of the precious things in the father's house.
Rebekah did not walk the desert. She rode, and one writer draws meaning even from the animal that carried her.
The camel is not a clean animal. It chews the cud, but it does not divide the hoof. The servant is a picture of the work of the Holy Spirit, leading the church through the wilderness to meet the Lord. We are like the camels — we have bodies that connect us with the earth, but we have a power with us that leads us onward.
In the second half of the verse, the servant takes the lead.
"The servant took Rebekah and went his way." He took charge of her. We do not know how long the journey lasted. Most likely she did not know the route, nor how soon she would meet Isaac. But the bridegroom Isaac must have been always in her heart and before her eyes. And so it is with God's called-out ones, who make up the church. On the journey they are in the charge and keeping of the Holy Spirit. We do not know how long the journey to the meeting place may last.
That silence about the length of the trip is itself treated as instruction.
Nothing is said about the length of the journey or how many days it took: faith could bear this without complaint. So too, when our expectation of seeing our heavenly Bridegroom is fresh and real in our hearts, we shall not complain about our present circumstances.
- Arose. She left everything and said, "I will go." Going back would have meant giving up Isaac.
- Followed. She follows a guide she can see, toward a bridegroom she has never seen. That is the church's place today: following the Spirit by faith.
- Carried. Our bodies tie us to the earth, but a power travels with us and leads us onward.
- Sustained. The servant comforted her with the precious things in the father's house. Being occupied with the Lord Jesus keeps the journey from becoming unbearable.
- Taken. The servant took charge of her. She did not know the route or how long the road would be, yet Isaac stayed before her eyes.