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Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
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Commentary & Explanation
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Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
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CHAPTER 24
Abraham commands that Isaac shall not marry a Canaanite—The Lord
guides Abraham's servant in choosing Rebekah as a wife for Isaac—Rebekah
blessed to be the mother of thousands of millions—She marries Isaac.
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1 AND Abraham was old,
and well astricken in age: and the LORD had
bblessed Abraham in all cthings.
2 And Abraham said unto his eldest
aservant of his house, that ruled over all that he had,
Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my bthigh:
3 And I will make thee aswear
by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the
eartha, that thou shalt
bnot take a cwife unto my son of the
daughters of the dCanaanites, among whom I dwell:
4 But thou shalt go unto my acountry,
and to my bkindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.
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3a I will make thee swear by the LORD,
the God of heaven, and the God of the earth Now it is commonly
considered, and likely correctly so, that this was in reference to Jehovah,
the God of Abraham who had in one of the major phases of creation, created
the heavens and the earth of this second estate and all that in them are. It
likely isn't Abraham making a reference to the God the Father of Spirits and
of the Spirit Creation phase which preceded this physical creation, and
Jehovah, the same is Jesus Christ, being separately identified by Abraham as
he who was the God of the physical creation phase, although Abraham, if any,
would have understood that distinction.
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1a
IE advanced in age.;
1 Nep. 18:17;
Alma 1:9
b
Isa. 51:2
c
Prov. 28:10
2a
Gen. 15:2
b
JST Gen. 24:2 ... hand ...;
Gen. 47:29
3a
Gen. 24:37;
Alma 48:13;
Alma 51:6;
Hel. 1:11;
3 Nep. 3:8;
Ether 8:14 (13-14);
TG
Oaths
b
Moses 7:8 (7-8);
Abr. 1:22 (21-24)
c
TG
Marriage, Interfaith
d
Gen. 28:1
4a
Gen. 11:31;
Alma 2:4 (2-5)
b
Gen. 22:23 (20-24);
Gen. 24:38;
Gen. 27:43
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5 And the servant said unto him,
aPeradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me
unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence
thou camest?
6 And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again.
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7 ¶ The aLORD God of heaven,
which took me from my bfather's house, and from the land of
my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy
seed will I give this cland; he shall send his
dangel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son
from thence.
8 And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.
9 And the servant put his hand under the
athigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning
that matter.
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10 ¶ And the servant took ten camels of the camels
of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in
his hand: and he arose, and went to aMesopotamia, unto the
city of bNahor.
11 And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.
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12 And he said, O aLORD God of my
master Abraham, I pray thee, bsend me good speed this day,
and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.
13 Behold, I stand here by the well of water;
and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw
awater:
14 And let it come to pass, 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 aappointed for thy servant Isaac; and
thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.
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15 ¶ And it came to pass, before he had done
speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to
aBethuel, son of bMilcah, the wife of
Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.
16 And the damsel was very
afair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man
bknown her: and she went down to the well, and filled her
pitcher, and came up.
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17 And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.
18 And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.
19 And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.
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20 And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.
21 And the man wondering at her held his peace, to
wit whether the LORD had made his journey aprosperous or
not.
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22 And it came to pass, as the camels had done
drinking, that the man took a golden aearring of half a
shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight
of gold;
23 And said, Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in?
24 And she said unto him, I am the daughter of
Bethuel the son of Milcah, which she bare unto aNahor.
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25 She said moreover unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in.
26 And the man abowed down his head,
and worshipped the LORD.
27 And he said, Blessed be the
aLORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute
my master of his bmercy and his truth: I being in
the way, the LORD cled me to the house of my master's
brethren.
28 And the damsel ran, and told them of her mother's house these things.
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29 ¶ And Rebekah had a brother, and his name
was aLaban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the
well.
30 And it came to pass, when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man; and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well.
31 And he said, Come in, thou
ablessed of the LORD; wherefore standest thou without? for
I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.
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32 ¶ And the man came into the house: and he
ungirded his camels, and gave straw and aprovender for the
camels, and water to bwash his feet, and the men's feet
that were with him.
33 And there was set meat before him to eat: but he said, I will not eat, until I have told mine errand. And he said, Speak on.
34 And he said, I am Abraham's servant.
35 And the LORD hath ablessed my
master greatly; and he is become bgreat: and he hath given
him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and
maidservants, and camels, and asses.
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36 And Sarah my master's wife bare a
ason to my master when she was bold: and
unto him hath he cgiven all that he hath.
37 And my master made me aswear,
saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the
Canaanites, in whose land I dwell:
38 But thou shalt go unto my
afather's house, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my
son.
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39 And I said unto my master,
aPeradventure the woman will not follow me.
40 And he said unto me, The aLORD,
before whom I bwalk, will send his angel with thee, and
prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of
my father's house:
41 Then shalt thou be clear from this my oath, when thou comest to my kindred; and if they give not thee one, thou shalt be clear from my oath.
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42 And I came this day unto the well, and said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way which I go:
43 Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass, that when the virgin cometh forth to draw water, and I say to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink;
44 And she say to me, Both drink thou, and I will
also draw for thy camels: let the same be the woman whom the
LORD hath aappointed out for my master's son.
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45 And before I had done speaking in mine
aheart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her
shoulder; and she went down unto the well, and drew water: and I said
unto her, Let me drink, I pray thee.
46 And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she made the camels drink also.
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47 And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter
art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom
Milcah bare unto him: and I put the aearring upon her face,
and the bracelets upon her hands.
48 And I abowed down my head, and
worshipped the LORD, and blessed the LORD God of my master Abraham, which had
led me in the right way to take my master's brother's
bdaughter unto his son.
49 And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me: and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.
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50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The
thing proceedeth from the LORD: we cannot aspeak unto thee
bad or good.
51 Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take
her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's
awife, as the LORD hath spoken.
52 And it came to pass, that, when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshipped the LORD, bowing himself to the earth.
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53 And the servant brought forth
ajewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and
gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother
precious things.
54 And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master.
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55 And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go.
56 And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the
LORD hath aprospered my way; send me away that I may go to
my master.
57 And they said, We will call the damsel, and enquire at her mouth.
58 And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.
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Rebekah Blessed According to the Blessings of the Covenant
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59 And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her
anurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men.
60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou
art our sister, be thou the
amother of thousands of
millionsa, and let thy seed
possess the bgate of those which chate
themb.
And They Blessed Rebekah
Before Rebekah leaves Haran to accompany Abraham's servant back to marry
Isaac, she is given a blessing which must be considered either a father's
or patriarchal blessing for a daughter who departing from home. In that
blessing it is interesting to note that now that Rebekah is to marry Isaac
and become the 'wife of the covenant' that Rebekah's blessing becomes
all-together parallel with that of the blessings of the covenant as has been
given to Abraham and Isaac. She is to be the mother of the nations of the
earth or 'thousands of millions' and those who stand against her blessed
descendants will be thwarted.
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60a be thou the mother of thousands of
millions Whether a common blessing or that of an inspired nature,
the blessing of Rebekah is prophetic and parallel to that which was given
Abraham concerning his posterity through Isaac the son of the promise.
60b let thy seed possess the gate of those
which hate them In addition, the blessing that those who would
be against Abraham's seed would be cursed for so being disposed is also
echoed and paralleled here in the blessing upon Rebekah.
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1a
Gen. 30:22 (22-23);
1 Sam. 2:21
b
Gen. 17:19;
Gen. 18:10 (10, 14)
2a
Gen. 24:36
b
TG
Old Age
c
Gen. 17:21
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61 ¶ And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.
62 And Isaac came from the way of the
awell Lahai-roi; for he dwelt in the south country.
63 And Isaac went out to ameditate
in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and,
behold, the camels were coming.
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64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw
Isaac, ashe lighted off the camel.
65 For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself.
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66 And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done.
67 And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent,
and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was
acomforted after his mother's bdeath.
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