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Genesis Chapter
Twenty-four
Genesis 24
Chapter Contents
Abraham's care for Isaac's marriage. (1-9) The journey of
Abraham's servant to Mesopotamia, His meeting with Rebekah. (10-28) Rebekah and
her relatives consent to her marriage. (29-53) The happy meeting and marriage
of Isaac and rebekah. (54-67)
Commentary on Genesis 24:1-9
The effect of good example, good teaching, and the
worship of God in a family, will generally appear in the piety, faithfulness,
prudence, and affection of the servants. To live in such families, or to have
such servants, both are blessings from God which should be highly valued, and
thankfully acknowledged. But no concern in life is of greater importance to
ourselves, to others, or to the church of God, than marriage. It therefore
ought always to be undertaken with much care and prudence, especially with
reference to the will of God, and with prayer for his direction and blessing.
Where good parents are not consulted and regarded, the blessing of God cannot
be expected. Parents, in disposing of their children, should carefully consult
the welfare of their souls, and their furtherance in the way to heaven. Observe
the charge Abraham gave to a good servant, one whose conduct, faithfulness, and
affection, to him and his family, he had long known. Observe also, that Abraham
remembers that God had wonderfully brought him out of the land of his birth, by
the call of his grace; and therefore doubts not but He will prosper his care,
not to bring his son thither again. God will cause that to end in our comfort,
in which we sincerely aim at his glory.
Commentary on Genesis 24:10-28
Abraham's servant devoutly acknowledged God. We have
leave to be particular in recommending our affairs to the care of Divine
providence. He proposes a sign, not that he intended to proceed no further, if
not gratified in it; but it is a prayer that God would provide a good wife for
his young master; and that was a good prayer. She should be simple,
industrious, humble, cheerful, serviceable, and hospitable. Whatever may be the
fashion, common sense, as well as piety, tells us, these are the proper
qualifications for a wife and mother; for one who is to be a companion to her
husband, the manager of domestic concerns, and trusted to form the minds of
children. When the steward came to seek a wife for his master, he did not go to
places of amusement and sinful pleasure, and pray that he might meet one there,
but to the well of water, expecting to find one there employed aright. He
prayed that God would please to make his way in this matter plain and clear
before him. Our times are in God's hand; not only events themselves, but the
times of them. We must take heed of being over-bold in urging what God should
do, lest the event should weaken our faith, rather than strengthen it. But God
owned him by making his way clear. Rebekah, in all respects, answered the
characters he sought for in the woman that was to be his master's wife. When
she came to the well, she went down and filled her pitcher, and came up to go
home with it. She did not stand to gaze upon the strange man his camels, but
minded her business, and would not have been diverted from it but by an
opportunity of doing good. She did not curiously or confidently enter into
discourse with him, but answered him modestly. Being satisfied that the Lord
had heard his prayer, he gave the damsel some ornaments worn in eastern
countries; asking at the same time respecting her kindred. On learning that she
was of his master's relations, he bowed down his head and worshipped, blessing
God. His words were addressed to the Lord, but being spoken in the hearing of
Rebekah, she could perceive who he was, and whence he came.
Commentary on Genesis 24:29-53
The making up of the marriage between Isaac and Rebekah
is told very particularly. We are to notice God's providence in the common
events of human life, and in them to exercise prudence and other graces. Laban
went to ask Abraham's servant in, but not till he saw the ear-ring, and
bracelet upon his sister's hands. We know Laban's character, by his conduct
afterwards, and may think that he would not have been so free to entertain him,
if he had not hoped to be well rewarded for it. The servant was intent upon his
business. Though he was come off a journey, and come to a good house, he would
not eat till he had told his errand. The doing our work, and the fulfilling our
trusts, either for God or man, should be preferred by us before our food: it
was our Saviour's meat and drink, John 4:34. He tells them the charge his master
had given him, with the reason of it. He relates what had happened at the well,
to further the proposal, plainly showing the finger of God in it. Those events
which to us seem the effect of choice, contrivance, or chance, are
"appointed out" of God. This hinders not, but rather encourages the
use of all proper means. They freely and cheerfully close with the proposal;
and any matter is likely to be comfortable, when it proceeds from the Lord.
Abraham's servant thankfully acknowledges the good success he had met with. He
was a humble man, and humble men are not ashamed to own their situation in
life, whatever it may be. All our temporal concerns are sweet if intermixed
with godliness.
Commentary on Genesis 24:54-67
Abraham's servant, as one that chose his work before his
pleasure, was for hastening home. Lingering and loitering no way become a wise
and good man who is faithful to his duty. As children ought not to marry
without their parents' consent, so parents ought not to marry them without
their own. Rebekah consented, not only to go, but to go at once. The goodness
of Rebekah's character shows there was nothing wrong in her answer, though it
be not agreeable to modern customs among us. We may hope that she had such an
idea of the religion and godliness in the family she was to go to, as made her
willing to forget her own people and her father's house. Her friends dismiss
her with suitable attendants, and with hearty good wishes. They blessed
Rebekah. When our relations are entering into a new condition, we ought by
prayer to commend them to the blessing and grace of God. Isaac was well
employed when he met Rebekah. He went out to take the advantage of a silent
evening, and a solitary place, for meditation and prayer; those divine
exercises by which we converse with God and our own hearts. Holy souls love
retirement; it will do us good to be often alone, if rightly employed; and we
are never less alone than when alone. Observe what an affectionate son Isaac
was: it was about three years since his mother died, and yet he was not, till
now, comforted. See also what an affectionate husband he was to his wife.
Dutiful sons promise fair to be affectionate husbands; he that fills up his
first station in life with honour, is likely to do the same in those that
follow.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Genesis》
Genesis 24
Verse 1
[1] And
Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in
all things.
Abraham's pious care concerning his son was,
that he should not marry with a daughter of Canaan, but with one of his kindred
because he saw, the Canaanites were degenerating into great wickedness, and
knew, that they were designed for ruin: would not marry his son among them,
lest they should be either a snare to his soul, or, at least, a blot to his
name. Yet he would not go himself among his kindred, lest he should be tempted
to settle there: this caution is given, Genesis 24:6, and repeated, Genesis 24:8. Parents, in disposing of their
children, should carefully consult their furtherance in the way to heaven.
Verse 2
[2] And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all
that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
His eldest servant —
Probably Eliezer of Damascus, one whose conduct and affection he had had long
experience of: he trusted him with this great affair, and not Isaac himself,
because he would not have Isaac go at all into that country, but marry thither
by proxy; and no proxy so fit as the steward of his house. This matter is
settled between the master and the servant with a great deal of care and
solemnity. The servant is bound by an oath to do his utmost to get a wife for
Isaac among his relations, Genesis 24:3,4. Abraham swears him to it, both
for his own satisfaction, and for the engagement of his servant to all possible
care and diligence. Thus God swears his servants to their work, that, having
sworn, they may perform it. Swearing being an ordinance, not peculiar to the
church, but common to mankind, is to be performed by such signs as are the
common usages of our country.
Verse 7
[7] The
LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father'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 land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt
take a wife unto my son from thence.
God's angels are ministering spirits, sent
forth, not only for the protection, but guidance of the heirs of promise, Hebrews 1:14.
He shall send his angel before thee — And then thou shalt speed well.
Verse 11
[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.
He made his camels kneel down — Perhaps to unload them.
Verse 12
[12] And he said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good
speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.
Send me good speed this day — We have leave to be particular in recommending our affairs to the care
of Divine providence. Those that would have good speed must pray for it this
day, in this affair. Thus we must, in all our ways acknowledge God.
Verse 14
[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 appointed for thy servant
Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.
Let it come to pass — He
prays God, that be would please to make his way plain and clear before him, by
the concurrence of minute circumstances in his favour. It is the comfort, as
well as the belief, of a good man, that God's providence extends itself to the
smallest occurrences, and admirably serves its own purposes by them. And it is
our wisdom, in all our affairs, to follow providence. Yea, it is very
desirable, and that which we may lawfully pray for, while, in the general, we
set God's will before us as our rule, that he will, by hints of providence,
direct us in the way of our duty, and give us indications what his mind is.
Thus he guides his people with his eye, and leads them in a plain path.
Verse 15
[15] And
it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who
was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with
her pitcher upon her shoulder.
And before he had done speaking, behold
Rebekah came out — Who in all respects, answered the
characters he wished for in the woman that was to be his master's wife,
handsome and healthful, humble and industrious, courteous and obliging to a
stranger. And providence so ordered it, that she did that which exactly
answered his sign. She not only gave him drink, but, which was more than could
have been expected, she offered her service to give his camels drink, which was
the very sign he proposed. God, in his providence, doth sometimes wonderfully
own the prayer of faith, and gratify the innocent desires of his praying people
even in little things, that he may shew the extent of his care, and may
encourage them at all times, to seek him, and trust in him; yet we must take
heed of being over bold in prescribing to God, lest the event should weaken our
faith rather than strengthen it. And the concurrence of providences, and their
minute circumstances, for the furtherance of our success in any business, ought
to be particularly observed with wonder and thankfulness to the glory of God.
We have been wanting to ourselves both in duty and comfort, by neglecting to
observe providence.
Verse 27
[27] And
he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left
destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD
led me to the house of my master's brethren.
Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham — Observe here, 1. He had prayed for good speed, and now he had sped well,
he gives thanks. 2. As yet, he was not certain what the issue might prove, yet
he gives thanks. When God's favours are coming towards us; we must meet them
with our praises.
The Lord led me to the house of my master's
brethren — Those of them that were come out of Ur of
the Chaldees, though they were not come to Canaan, but staid in Haran. They
were not idolaters, but worshippers of the true God, and inclinable to the
religion of Abraham's family.
Verse 29
[29] And
Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man,
unto the well.
We have here the making up of the marriage
between Isaac and Rebekah, related largely and particularly. Thus we are
directed to take notice of God's providence in the little common occurrences of
human life, and in them also to exercise our own prudence, and other graces:
for the scripture was not intended only for the use of philosophers and
statesmen, but to make us all wise and virtuous in the conduct of ourselves and
families.
Verse 31
[31] And
he said, Come in, thou blessed of the LORD; wherefore standest thou without?
for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.
Come in thou blessed of the Lord — Perhaps, because they heard from Rebekah, of the gracious words which
proceeded out of his mouth, they concluded him a good man, and therefore
blessed of the Lord.
Verse 34
[34] And
he said, I am Abraham's servant.
I am Abraham' servant — Abraham's name, no doubt, was well known among them, and respected; and
we may suppose them not altogether ignorant of his state, for Abraham knew
theirs, Genesis 22:20.
Verse 45
[45] And
before I had done speaking in mine heart, 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.
Before I had done speaking in my heart — Which perhaps he mentions, lest it should be suspected that Rebekah had
overheard his prayer, and designedly humoured it; no, saith he, I spake it in
my heart, so that none heard it but God, to whom thoughts are words, and from
him the answer came.
Verse 50
[50] Then
Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the LORD: we
cannot speak unto thee bad or good.
The thing proceedeth from the Lord — Providence smiles upon it, and we have nothing to say against it. A
marriage is then likely to be comfortable when it appears to proceed from the
Lord.
Verse 52
[52] And
it came to pass, that, when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshipped
the LORD, bowing himself to the earth.
He worshipped the Lord — As his good success went on, he went on to bless God: those that pray
without ceasing should in every thing give thanks, and own God in every step of
mercy.
Verse 55
[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.
Let her abide a few days, at least ten — They had consented to the marriage, and yet were loth to part with her.
It is an instance of the vanity of this world, that there is nothing in it so
agreeable but has its allay. They were pleased that they had matched a daughter
of their family so well, and yet it was with reluctancy that they sent her
away.
Verse 57
[57] And
they said, We will call the damsel, and enquire at her mouth.
Call the damsel, and enquire at her mouth — As children ought not to marry without their parents consent, so parents
ought not to marry them without their own. Before the matter is resolved on,
ask at the damsel's mouth, she is a party principally concerned; and therefore
ought to be principally consulted.
Verse 61
[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.
And her damsels — It
seems then, when she went to the well for water, it was not because she had no
servants at command, but because she took pleasure in the instances of humanity
and industry.
Verse 63
[63] And
Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his
eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming.
He went out to meditate (or pray) in the
field at the even tide — Some think he expected his servants about
this time, and went out on purpose to meet them. But it should seem he went out
to take the advantage of a silent evening, and a solitary field, for mediation
and prayer. Our walks in the field are then truly pleasant, when in them we
apply ourselves to meditation and prayer we there have a free and open prospect
of the heavens above us, and the earth around us, and the hosts and riches of
both, by the view of which we should he led to the contemplation of the Maker and
Owner of all. Merciful providences are then doubly comfortable, when they find
us in the way of our duty: some think Isaac was now praying for good success in
this affair, and meditating upon that which was proper to encourage his hope in
God concerning it; and now when he sets himself, as it were, upon his
watch-tower, to see what God would answer him, he sees the camels coming.
Verse 64
[64] And
Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel.
She lighted off her camel, and took a vail
and covered herself — In token of humility, modesty and
subjection.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on
Genesis》
24 Chapter 24
Verses 1-9
Thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites,
among whom I dwell: but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and
take a wife unto my son Isaac
Abraham’s provision for the marriage of his son
I.
HUMAN
PRUDENCE.
1. He accepts the fact that his time for making such a provision is
short (Genesis 24:1).
2. He is careful about the family from whence his son’s wife is to
spring (Genesis 24:3).
3. He relies upon human faithfulness.
II. RELIGIOUS
FAITH.
1. He gratefully recognizes the hand of God in all his past life (Genesis 24:1).
2. He recognizes the supreme control of God over all things.
3. He acts upon the known will of God.
4. While he trusts in human faithfulness, he recognizes the
importance of binding men by a sense of religious fear and duty (Genesis 24:3; Genesis 24:9). (T. H. Leale.)
Isaac’s marriage
I. THE SELECTION
OF THE BRIDE. Abraham gave this command--
1. Because the Canaanites differed from Isaac in their taste. They
were steeped in vile sins and disgusting depravity.
2. Because a bad influence might be exerted on Isaac’s mind.
3. Because the Canaanites were to be destroyed.
II. THE MEANS
EMPLOYED TO ENSURE SUCCESS.
1. Human instrumentality.
2. Trust in God.
3. Self-renunciation.
III. THE SPIRIT IN
WHICH THIS MARRIAGE WAS CONSUMMATED.
1. In a modest spirit (Genesis 24:65).
2. In a confident spirit (Genesis 24:58).
3. In a loving spirit (Genesis 24:67). (Homilist.)
How Isaac got his wife
I. THE CAREFUL
FATHER.
1. Abraham’s godliness (Genesis 24:3).
2. Abraham’s steadfast faith in God’s promises and God’s providence
(Genesis 24:7-8).
3. Abraham’s prudent precautions.
II. THE PRAYERFUL
SERVANT.
1. His prayer.
2. His patience.
3. His praise,
4. His prudence.
III. THE WISHED-FOR
WIFE.
1. Her beauty.
2. Her graciousness.
3. Her energy.
4. Her resoluteness.
IV. THE ISSUE.
1. What Abraham desired.
2. What Eliezer prayed for.
3. What Isaac wanted. (W. S. Smith, B. D.)
Abraham’s conduct in this matter
In this domestic concern of Abraham we see several of the most
prominent features of his character.
1. His decided aversion to idolatry (Genesis 24:3). Had Abraham then
contracted a prejudice against his neighbours? This does not appear by what
occurred between them in the last chapter. He does not complain of their
treatment of him, but of his God. He has no objection to an exchange of
civilities with them; but to take their daughters in marriage was a sure way to
corrupt his own family. The great design of God in giving the land to Abraham’s
posterity was the eventual overthrow of idolatry, and the establishment of His
true worship on earth. To what purpose, then, was he called from amongst
Chaldean idolaters, if his son join affinity with those of Canaan?
2. His godliness. There does not appear in all this concern the
least taint of worldly policy, or any of those motives which usually govern men
in the settlement of their children. No mention is made of riches, or honours,
or natural accomplishments; but merely of what related to God. Let not the
woman be a daughter of Canaan, but of the family of Nahor, who had forsaken
Chaldean idolatry, and with Milcah his wife had settled in Haran, and who was a
worshipper of the true God.
3. His faith and obedience. The servant being about to bind himself
by oath, is tenderly concerned he should engage in more than he should be able
to accomplish. “Peradventure,” saith he, “the woman will not follow me into
this land: must I needs bring thy son again into the land whence thou camest?”
No; as Isaac must not marry a daughter of Canaan, neither must he leave Canaan
to humour a daughter of Haran; for though Canaan!’ daughters are to be shunned,
yet Canaan itself is to be chosen as the Lord’s inheritance bestowed on the
promised seed. Nor do these supposed difficulties at all deter Abraham; “The
Lord God of heaven,” saith he, “who took me from my father’s house, and from
the land of my kindred, and who spake unto me, and sware unto me, saying, Unto
thy seed will I give this land, He shall send His angel before thee, and thou
shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.” (A. Fuller.)
A worthy servant
Melancthon’s friends were astonished at his liberality, and
wondered how, with his small means, he could afford to give so much in charity.
It is said to have been principally owing to the care and good management of an
excellent and faithful servant named John, a native of Sweden. The whole duty
of provisioning the family was entrusted to this domestic, whose care,
assiduity, and prudence amply justified the unbounded confidence reposed in
him. He made the concerns of the family his own, avoiding all needless
expenditure, and watching with a jealous eye his master’s property. He was also
the first instructor of the children during their infancy. John grew old in his
master’s service, and expired in his house amidst the affectionate regrets of
the whole family. Melancthon invited the students of the university to attend
the funeral of his faithful servant, delivered an oration over his grave, and
composed a Latin epitaph for his tombstone.
A sympathetic servant
They that are in power should be extremely cautious to commit the
execution of their plans, not only to those who are able, but to those who are
willing. As servants and instruments it is their duty to do their best, but
their employers are never so sure of them as when their duty is also their
pleasure. To commit the execution of a purpose to one who disapproves of the
plan of it is to employ but one-third of the man; his heart and his head are
against you, you have commanded only his hands. (Colton.)
A marriage contracted in the Lord
I. Abraham, in
this matter, is evidently guided by a higher wisdom than his own; although he
is left apparently to consult and act for himself. Both Abraham and his servant
regard the transaction in which they are now engaged as essentially connected
with the covenant of which Isaac, or rather Isaac’s seed, was to be the heir.
They look upon the arrangement of this marriage as an important step in the way
of the fulfilment of the covenant. And hence, by an appeal to the covenant and
to its seal, they hallow it.
II. Such being the
spirit in which this commission is given by the aged patriarch, and undertaken
by his confidential servant--the execution of it is in entire harmony with its
commencement. The preparation for the journey is simple; the execution of it is
safe. He forms his plan of conduct--the most expedient and most likely to be
successful that could well bedevised. He spreads it out before God. And he
humbly seeks Divine countenance and co-operation.
III. It is a
striking and singular thing that now presents itself. The incident at the well,
&c.
IV. The
preliminaries of this affair having passed off so auspiciously--so manifestly,
as all the parties concerned acknowledge, under the immediate and supernatural providence
of God--the negotiation proceeds happily to its issue, and the marriage-treaty
is simply and satisfactorily concluded.
V. Thus, as to
all that is essential to it, the treaty of marriage is fully ratified,
according to all the usages of Eastern hospitality, and in a sense, too, with
all the munificence of princely state. It is now merely a question of time and
circumstance--as to when and how the treaty is to be carried out.
VI. And now the
strange embassy is well ended. The journey back to Canaan is without adventure
or interruption. The caravan, with its attendant camels and bands of servants,
is drawing near to the place where Abraham’s tents are pitched. What tumultuous
thoughts are filling the bosom of the young stranger! Her venerable friend is
not unmoved himself. The first glimpse of his master’s encampment, in the
distance afar off, stirs his soul to its warmest depths. He has right joyous
news to impart to the aged pilgrim; he has a gracious daughter to present to
him. And that daughter--may she not well be agitated as she approaches the
unknown scene of the great crisis of her life, in profoundest darkness as to
what the colour of that life is to be? What a meeting on that calm summer’s
night! It is faith meeting faith--faith venturous and bold, meeting faith
meditative and meek! (R. S. Candlish, D. D.)
A bride for the heir
On the mother’s funeral there followed, after an interval, the
wedding of her son. The sequence is according to nature. As one generation
goes, the next succeeds; and life is made up of just such contrasts. There was
no unseemly haste. With that leisurely disregard for time which characterized
the age, three whole years were given to mourning. A connection can be traced,
notwithstanding, between the funeral and the marriage. For one thing, the loss
of his wife must have warned Abraham of the passing away of his own generation,
and recalled him to the duty of providing for the permanence of the chosen
line. Already Isaac was verging on the age of forty; yet he does not appear of
his own accord to have contemplated marriage or taken any steps towards it. His
placid and inactive temper seemed likely to cling to memories of the past
rather than provide for the future. One can well believe how tender must have
been Sarah’s affection for a son long waited for, divinely bestowed, and worthy
of her love. With not less warmth did the son return his mother’s fondness. As
the months grew into years, his grief for her loss seems to have grown more
settled. There came to be some risk of its sapping the healthy vitality of his
manhood. For Isaac’s own sake, it was time to rouse him by a fresh interest,
and fill up the blank over which he was disposed to brood. (J. O. Dykes, D.
D.)
Verses 10-14
And the servant . . . departed.
The embassy of Abraham’s servant
I. HE USES ALL
POSSIBLE HUMAN MEANS OF SUCCESS.
II. HE EXPECTS
DIVINE HELP.
1. His prayer to God for success (Genesis 24:12).
2. Prayer for special Divine guidance (Genesis 24:13-14).
3. Prayer for what was good in itself.
The mission of Abraham’s servant
I. THE MISSION.
1. This delicate mission was delegated to a servant, because Isaac
was too inexperienced to go himself; but the choice was left to God.
2. Observe the touching confidence between master and servant.
3. The servant was enjoined by oath. Allowable in Judaism; but
Christ says, “Swear not at all.” The word of a Christian is to be so true that
no oath could add to its security.
II. THE DISCHARGE
OF THE MISSION.
1. The servant’s expectation of Divine help.
2. The principle on which the selection was made. The qualities
required were amiability, sincerity, modesty.
III. REBEKAH’S
ARRIVAL.
1. She found Isaac engaged in prayer and meditation; two things from
which we have sadly fallen.
2. As soon as Rebekah knew her husband was coming, she veiled
herself. And this, brethren, is what we so much want; I know it to be the bane
of domestic life, the want of modesty and delicacy; without Rebekah’s veil
affection becomes alienated, and often turns to hatred; love, to be constant,
must be kept pure. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Eliezer’s mission, journey, and suit
I. ELIEZER’S
MISSION.
1. Representative.
2. Delicate.
3. Important.
4. Successful.
II. ELIEZER’S
JOURNEY.
1. His company consisted of the men who went with him, and the ten camels
laden with presents, &c. The ten camels were intended, doubtless, not only
to express the circumstances and wealth of his master, but also to convey the
bride and her personal possessions to her husband. The men needful to look
after the camels, and also to protect Eliezer and the presents.
2. His destination. Many days’ journey across a wilderness inhabited
by warlike tribes, to the city of Nahor. Great skill required in making a safe
journey.
3.
His arrival, Rests outside the town, where was a well (11). His reliance on
God. Here he offered a prayer (12-14). God heard the prayer and conducted to
the spot a damsel who in all things fulfilled Abraham’s desire
4.
and his own wish (14).
III. ELIEZER’S
SUIT.
1.
The approach of Rebekah. Her coming providentially ordered in answer to prayer.
Though beautiful (16), she seems not to have been vain. And whatever the
circumstances of her family, she conformed to the primitive habits of the
people. Went to draw water for household purposes.
2. The request of Eliezer. Putting her to the test. Was the sign to
be fulfilled by her? She cheerfully complied. Told the story of her kindred.
3. The presents. Such as a bride might expect to receive. Her
acceptance of them promised a favourable compliance with the suit.
4.
Eliezer’s gratitude to God. He worshipped (26). Learn:
1. Faithful servants a great blessing in households.
2. All undertakings should be conducted in the fear of God.
3. God gives “ journeying mercies” to the faithful.
4. God is to be praised for all our successes. (J. C. Gray.)
Lessons
1. Faithfulness in making vows will be diligent in the performing
them.
2. Prudence will teach men to suit provisions unto undertakings
(verse10).
3. Providence makes stops to creatures where it hath more to discover
to them.
4. It is better staying in the field by a little water with God,
than to go into cities without Him.
5. Rest for man and beast is but reasonable after labour and travel.
6. Honest labours become the greatest ladies even in household affairs;
it was an honour among the saints of old (Genesis 24:11). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Good speed for the day
Matthew Henry wrote: “I forgot, when I began my work to-day,
explicitly and expressly to seek help from God, and the chariot-wheels have
driven heavily. God forgive my omissions, and keep me in the way of duty.”
I pray Thee send me good
speed
The prayer of Abraham’s servant beside the well at Nahor
We have here--
I. PRAYER IN ITS
ESSENTIAL NATURE.
II. PRAYER IN ITS
RIGHTFUL PLACE.
III. PRAYER WITH
ITS NEEDFUL ASSOCIATE. He puts himself “in the way.”
IV. PRAYER, WITH
ITS FITTING SEQUEL. Praise (Genesis 24:27). (J. F.Poulter, B. A.)
An admirable prayer
Truly he had not lived with Abraham in vain! Observe--
1. The character under which he addresses the great Supreme: “Oh,
Jehovah, God of my master Abraham.” He well knew that Jehovah had entered into
covenant with Abraham, and had given him exceeding great and precious promises.
By approaching Him as a God in covenant, he would find matter for faith to lay
hold upon; every promise to Abraham would thus furnish a plea, and turn to a
good account. Surely this may direct us in our approaches to a throne of grace,
to make mention of a greater than Abraham, with whom also God is in covenant,
and for whose sake the greatest of all blessings may be expected. The God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is to us what the God of Abraham was to
Eliezer; and in the name of our Redeemer we may pray and hope for everything
that is great and good.
2. The limitation of the prayer to the present time: “Send me good
speed this day.” We may in a general way ask for grace for our whole lives; but
our duty is more especially to seek direction at the time we want it. Our Lord
teaches us to pray for daily bread as the day occurs.
3. The sign which he presumed to ask for; that the damsel to whom he
should say so and so, and who should make such and such answers, should be the
person whom the Lord had appointed for his servant Isaac. In this he might be
under extraordinary influence, and his conduct therefore afford no example to
us. The sign he asked, however, was such as would manifest the qualifications
which he desired and expected to find in a companion who should be worthy of
his master’s son; namely, industry, courtesy, and kindness to strangers.
4. The faith in which the prayer was offered. He speaks all along
under a full persuasion that the providence of God extended to the minutest
events, to the free actions of creatures, and even to their behaviour, of which
at the time they are scarcely conscious. His words are also full of humble
confidence that God would direct him in a matter of so much consequence to his
Church in all future ages. (A. Fuller.)
Lessons
1. In hard undertakings it is best to call in God by prayer upon
man’s endeavours. He helps to purpose.
2. God in His being, power, grace, and covenant with his, is to be
conceived by petitioners in their address by prayer to Him.
3. Good success in events desired, depend only upon God.
4. The success of faithful servants is mercy to their masters, which
they should desire.
5. It is likely to prove best when matters are committed by masters
to the care of praying servants.
6. God doth indulge sometimes visible signs to be asked, to assure
His favour to His own.
7. It becomes man to wait when he desires God to appear.
8. In desiring any visible sign of God’s respect, God must not be
limited.
9. God doth appoint and determine wives eminently, for His own
specially.
10. Ingenuity and courtesy to strangers is a good guess for one to
make a good wife.
11. Observation of God’s mercies unto faith and prayer is the true
use of His signal manifestations. So did Abraham’s servant. (G. Hughes, D.
D.)
The sign sought by Abraham’s servant
It is important to observe in what sense and to what extent this
capable servant asked a sign. He did not ask for a bare, intrinsically
insignificant sign. He might have done so. He might have proposed as a test,
let her who stumbles on the first step of the well be the designed wife of
Isaac; or, Let her who comes with a certain-coloured flower in her hand--or so
forth. But the sign he chose was significant, because dependent on the
character of the girl herself; a sign which must reveal her good-heartedness
and readiness to oblige and courteous activity in the entertainment of
strangers--in fact, the outstanding Eastern virtue. So that he really acted
very much as Isaac himself must have done. He would make no approach to any one
whose appearance repelled him; and when satisfied in this particular, he would
test her disposition. And of course it was these qualities of Rebekah which
afterwards caused Isaac to feel that this was the wife God had designed for
him. It was not by any arbitrary sign that he or any man could come to know who
was the suitable wife for him, but only by the love she aroused within him. God
has given this feeling to direct choice in marriage; and where this is wanting,
nothing else whatever, no matter how astoundingly providential it seems, ought
to persuade a man that such and such a person is designed to be his wife. (M.
Dods, D. D.)
A sign of duty
If you are at present engaged in something that is to your own
conscience doubtful, and if you are not hiding this from God, but would very
willingly, so far as you know your own mind, do in the matter which He
pleases--if no further light is coming to you, and you feel a growing inclination
to put it to God in this way: “Grant, O Lord, that something may happen by
which I may know Thy mind in this matter”--this is asking from God a kind of
help which He is very ready to give, often leading men to clearer views of duty
by events which happen within their knowledge, and which, having no special
significance to persons whose minds are differently occupied, are yet most
instructive to those who are waiting for light on some particular point. The
danger is not here, but in fixing God down to the special thing which shall
happen as a sign between Him and you; which, when it happens, gives no fresh
light on the subject, leaves your mind still morally undecided, but only binds
you, by an arbitrary bargain of your own, to follow one course rather than
another. This matter that you would so summarily dispose of may be the very
thread of your life which God means to test you by; this state of indecision
which you would evade, God may mean to continue until your moral character
grows strong enough to rise above it to the right decision. (M. Dods, D. D.)
And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold,
Rebekah came out
The finger of Providence in the appointment of a bride for Isaac
I.
IN
THE PROMPT AND COMPLETE ANSWER GIVEN TO HIS PRAYER. The maiden appeared on the
scene which he had pictured to his mind’s eye, and displayed all the qualities
which he had looked for in a bride for Isaac. She was civil and courteous, open
and sincere, kind, simple, and unaffected.
II. IN THE CONTROL OF
APPARENT ACCIDENTS.
III. IN THE IMPRESSION MADE
UPON THE STEWARD HIMSELF.
1. He pauses to see whether Divine Providence is still leading on (Genesis 24:21).
2. He acts upon the favours of Providence already received (Genesis 24:22).
3. He engages in an act of praise (Genesis 24:26-27).
IV. IN THE RECOGNITION OF GOD
BY ALL CONCERNED (Genesis 24:27-28; Genesis 24:31). (T. H.Leale.)
The advantages of being found in the path of duty
I. THE PROMISES OF GOD LEAD
US TO EXPECT HIS BLESSING IN THE PATH OF DUTY.
II. BY ATTENDING THE MEANS OF
GRACE, WE ENJOY COMMUNION WITH THE PEOPLE OF GOD. We should attend the means of
grace too.
III. BECAUSE BY THIS WE SHOW
TO THE WORLD OUR ATTACHMENT TO THE CAUSE OF CHRIST, AND SET THEM AN EXAMPLE FOR
IMITATION.
IV. ANOTHER ADVANTAGE ARISING
FROM THUS “BEING IN THE WAY” IS, THAT IT LEADS US OFTEN TO INDULGE IN THE
DELIGHTFUL ANTICIPATION OF ENGAGING IN THE PERFECT AND NEVER-ENDING WORSHIP OF
THE REDEEMED BEFORE THE THRONE ABOVE. (Essex Remembrancer.)
Lessons
1. God sometimes answers His in the instant of prayer.
2. Providence orders motions for time and place in fitting persons
for marriage according to His will.
3. The fittest wives and husbands are such who are the answer of
prayer.
4. Goodness of family, honesty of calling, comeliness of person,
purity of conversation, industry in labour, concur sweetly to make a good
consort (Genesis 24:15-16).
5. After praying to God, there must be acting by man to find God’s
answer.
6. Humble addresses become strangers in desiring courtesies as
answers from God’s mercy (Genesis 24:17).
7. Ingenuity is quick and active in doing courtesy unto strangers.
8. Much kindness sometimes is shown in giving but a little water (Genesis 24:18).
9. Ingenuous spirits are free to do good to beasts as well as men (Genesis 24:19).
10. It is a sweet disposition to satisfy man and beast until they be
full.
11. Providence makes good the signs He gives to His to the uttermost
(Genesis 24:20).
12. Wonderful are God’s providences many times in answering prayer,
and so to be admired.
13. A silent and serious consideration there should be about the rare
events of God’s providence.
14. The knowledge of God’s mind in all providences is to be laboured
after for man’s duty and God’s glory (Genesis 24:21). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Ingenuous spirits perform what kindness they do offer.
2. Courtesies being finished, it is time to prepare for thanks.
3. Ornaments best suit with them that are of pure minds and
ingenuous conversations.
4. Gifts are not unlawful, being justly bestowed in gratefulness,
and in pursuance of lawful desires (Genesis 24:22).
5. Prudence finds out by queries such as are appointed unto marriage
by God’s providence.
6. Inquiry for a night’s lodging may conduce under Providence to
further great affairs (Genesis 24:23).
7. Providence ordereth the desired answer concerning persons sought
for to them whom God sends.
8. Answers of abundant provision God maketh unto strangers sent
about His business. All suits well (Genesis 24:24-25).
9. Whatever answers of good men have from creatures, they should
produce worship to God (Genesis 24:26).
10. Gracious hearts bless God by praising when He blesseth them by
prospering.
11. Good servants bless God for mercy and truth to their masters as
for guidance to themselves.
12. Though angels minister to us, God alone must have the glory of
all good events (Genesis 24:27).
13. In such returns God speeds instruments to further on His own
designs of good to His servants (Genesis 24:28). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Children to be brought up to all honest employments
The patriarchs of old were principal men and princes in their
generations, yet their tender daughters were brought up in doing household
business. Rebekah went, with her pitcher on her shoulders, to give drink to her
father’s camels; and the seven daughters of the Priest of Midian accustomed
themselves to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s sheep;
and some say--how true is uncertain-that Christ Himself wrought as a carpenter
at His father’s trade. Such was the harmless simplicity of those days, and such
was the obedience of children, that even she that was appointed to be the
mother of patriarchs, prophets, and kings, refused not to set her hand to
ordinary employments. But how is the case altered in these days of ours! Our
delicate damsels are ready to urge Rebekah’s example for the wearing of
bracelets and jewels about their necks, but they will not hear of Rebekah’s
carrying the pitcher upon her shoulders; they would be clothed like the lilies
of the field, but they cannot endure to spin nor work at all; so that, whereas
Solomon’s good housewife laid her hands to the wheel, they, for want of taking
pains--especially if once married--set all upon wheels, and, while they do
nothing, they undo themselves and bring all to nothing. (J. Spencer.)
Golden trinkets for presents
Golden trinkets were abundantly used among most of the Asiatic
nations from early times; and those which Abraham’s servant offered to Rebekah
(Genesis 24:22) belong to the most
common ornaments. The nose-ring, chiefly, though not exclusively, worn by men,
and applied by American tribes also, is inserted in the cartilage of the nose,
either in the middle or in one side; it is often of considerable size, reaches
generally beneath the mouth, and not always contributes to enhance the beauty
of the face. It is here stated as having the weight of a beka, which is half a
shekel, or a Greek drachm. The nose-rings worn at present by the Oriental women
are often of ivory, or of gold; they are hollow, to render them less
inconveniently heavy, and sometimes set with jewels--mostly a ruby between two
pearls. Bracelets are such favourite ornaments with Oriental ladies, that they
are not only worn by them in an unusual quantity, but are promised by Mohammed
among the rewards of piety. Sometimes the whole arm, from the wrist of the hand
to the elbow, is covered with them; sometimes two or more are worn, one above
the other; and they are not unfrequently so heavy that they almost appear to be
a burden to the fair owners. Two of them are here stated to have weighed ten
shekels of gold--certainly a liberal present. Men also liked to adorn their
wrist or upper arm with bracelets. On the Assyrian sculptures scarcely any
person of wealth or station, or even any deity, appears without them. They were
generally worn on one arm, and sometimes on both. Those who were unable to
purchase gold or silver bracelets, contented themselves with procuring them of
copper, ivory, horn, or glass. They were not always made with great skill or
taste; they had not in all cases a lock, and often consisted merely of a large
broad ring, through which the wearer forced the hand. The Egyptian bracelets,
however, are in many instances not without elegance; and those represented on
the Assyrian monuments, or found in the excavations of Mesopotamia, are
scarcely inferior to them either in taste or in costliness. (M. M. Malisch,
Ph. D.)
Blessed be the Lord God
The servant’s thanksgiving
1. The piety of it. He does not ascribe his success to chance or
fortune, but to God. Moreover, he adores God by His covenant name as the Redeemer.
2. The confidence of it.
Verse 27
I being in the way, the
Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren
Home coming
Where did this man want to
go?
To “the house of his master’s brethren.” Then he had a master! We all have. No
one is his own master. There are two great masters--Jesus and Satan. Can we
serve both? No; for they work against one another. The one pulls up what the
other plants, and plants what the other pulls up; and no one can serve two
masters whose ways are so contrary. Which is your master? If it is not Jesus,
it must be Satan. A master you must have; oh, let it be Jesus I This master has
many brothers. “I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s
brethren.” A rich little boy was boasting one day to a poor little boy about
his, great relatives, and said at last, “My uncle is a lord.” “So is my
brother,” said the poor boy. “Your brother a lord!” said the other, scornfully;
“pray, what is he called?” “He is called the Lord Jesus,” was the answer. Yes;
Jesus is the Brother of every one who has the same spirit, the same heart, that
He has. You can be His brother, or His sister; and oh! is it not grand to think
that our elder Brother is the King of earth and heaven! These brothers of Jesus
have a house. “The Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.” Where is
that house? It is the church. Every church is a house of the Master’s brethren;
and if you are in the Lord’s way, you will most surely be led there very often.
Yes, but they do not stay there always. There is another, a greater house and a
finer one, into which they are led by and by. It is like this: When people are
invited to go to the palace and be presented to the queen, they come up from
all parts of the country and from beyond the seas; but they do not go straight
to the palace. No; they first take up their abode in some house in the city,
and there they wait till the day comes when they are to be presented to the queen,
and then they leave the house they stayed in for the time, and go into the
palace and see the queen. It is the same with the Master’s brethren--with the
Lord’s brothers; they wait first in the earthly house of God, andthen, when the
time comes, one after another is called to go and see the King--and the King is
Jesus! They find, as Joseph’s brothers found, that He is their very own Brother
who has all the power! How did this man the text speaks of get to the house of
his master’s brethren? It was by putting himself in the way. “I being in the
way.” That is the great thing, to get into the way. If I want to find out the
road that leads to a distant place, I look up the map, and make inquiries as to
whether there is a ferry at this river or a bridge at that, and so try to find
out all I can about the road. But does that bring me any nearer to the place I
want to go to? No; I am just as far from it as ever. There is but one way I
ever can get there, and that is by putting myself on the road and going forward!
It is the same with the way to the Master’s house on high. The Bible is the
map, and it shows us all we need to learn about the way. But we must do
something more than study the map; we must go on the way ourselves. What is the
way? It is doing what the Bible tells us; it is loving Jesus, and trusting
Jesus, and doing things for His sake. It is trying to look on things as Jesus
would look on them, and trying to do things as Jesus would do them. That is
getting on the way. The way to Jesus is trying to be like Jesus. But how did
this man keep the way? You know, many get on the right road at the first, but
afterwards, when they come to cross-roads, and roads that lead out of roads,
they often go astray. How did this man keep the right way? Because the Lord led
him! “I being in the way, the Lord feel me.” Yes; and when we are on the way to
the house of the Master’s brethren, the Lord Himself goes with us, and leads
us. We may not see Him, but He sees us. How does He lead us? Oh, in a thousand
different fashions! When you do wrong, is not there something inside you that
tells you you have done wrong? That is the Lord trying to lead you right. It is
the Lord who whispers in your heart sometimes, saying, “Do not do that!” or,
“Do not go there, it is wrong!” or, “Do this!” or, “Go there, that is right!”
He is then leading you. And so this man got to the house of his master’s
brethren; and so will you, by putting yourself in the way--the way of love to
Jesus, the way of trusting Him and praying to Him. Do this, and the Lord will
lead you, step by step, till He brings you to the house of many mansions. (J.
Reid Howatt.)
Verse 31
Come in, thou blessed of the Lord
Confession of Christ; or, persuasives to church fellowship
As Laban said “I have prepared the house,” so Christ has ordained
the Church and provided it with all things necessary for the refreshment,
repose, and invigoration of His people.
As Abraham’s servant was invited to enter, so the ministers and stewards of
God’s word, and all the members of His Church, should bless those whom the Lord
has blessed, and affectionately invite them to participate in all the
privileges of the Lord’s house.
I. WHO ARE THE
BLESSED OF THE LORD? The Lord Jesus answered our question in the very first
sentences of His great sermon on the mount. “He opened His mouth and taught
them, saying, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit.’” The Lord also said, “Blessed
are they that mourn.” The Lord also said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and
thirst after righteousness.” These are “blessed of the Lord.”
II. Let us inquire
WHY THOSE WHO ARE “BLESSED OF THE LORD” SHOULD ACCEPT THE INVITATION of the
Church to “come in,” by personal confession of Christ.
1. The Lord commands it (Matthew 10:32-33; Mark 8:38).
2. The Church solicits it. A Christian who never confesses Christ
and who holds aloof from fellowship with the Church, might as well not exist,
so far as the interests of the Church are concerned.
3. The world needs it. The stronger the Church the more potent is
the influence at work for the world’s good.
4. Your own spiritual welfare requires it. The value of association
is recognized in other things. And thus church fellowship is useful in
strengthening the convictions of those who share in a common faith and love
towards Christ. An additional safeguard is thus furnished in seasons of
temptation.
III. Let us now
examine SOME OF THE EXCUSES adduced by those who, though “blessed of the Lord,”
yet “stand without.” Some are ashamed of Christ, and shrink from the ridicule
or enmity which confession might bring upon them. But these are not “blessed of
the Lord,” for He says to them: “He that is ashamed of Me, of him shall the Son
of Man be ashamed.” Some keep outside that they may be free from the restraints
of membership, and have more liberty for sin, or at least for folly. Others
keep outside because they resolve to postpone repentance. But why do any who
really trust in Jesus and who desire to love and obey Him “stand without”? They
are hindered by unscriptural obstacles, erroneous opinions, or misapplied humility.
(Newman Hall, LL. B.)
The blessed of the Lord
I. WHAT IT IS
THAT CONSTITUTES REAL HAPPINESS IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. It is being blessed of the
Lord.
II. WHO ARE THEY
THAT MAY BE SAID TO RE EMPHATICALLY BLESSED?
1. They who are justified in the sight of God.
2. Those who are sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
III. IN WHAT
RESPECT AWE THEY BLESSED?
1. In their souls.
2. In their trials and sorrows.
3. In their mercies and prosperity.
4. In their labours.
5. In their relationship.
6. Throughout all eternity.
IV. And those, in
the next place, who are thus blessed of the Lord, may TEST THE REALITY of their
having that benediction by what they do for, or distribute amongst others, to
whom the knowledge of that blessing has long been strange. He who is most
blessed of God is always the greatest blessing to those that are about him. The
greatest receiver of spiritual things is always the greatest giver; and the
more he gives the more he gets, till he learns, by blessed and practical
experience, “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” (J. Cumming, D. D.)
Led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter
unto his son
The marriage treaty
I.
ITS
RELIGIOUS ELEMENT.
1. The sense of instant duty.
2. A recognition of God’s gracious dealings.
3. A solemn sense of responsibility.
II. ITS ECONOMIC
ELEMENT. The steward gives an account of Abraham’s wealth and position (Genesis 24:35). He knew that the parents
of this well-bred damsel would never consent to give their daughter to a man of
mean circumstances and living one hundred miles away, nor to one of ignoble or
degraded family. He takes care, therefore, to state that his master is rich,
and that the bride would have a suitable home and congenial society. Still,
with that pious feeling which marked him hitherto, he takes equal care to note
that the riches of his master were righteously gotten. “The Lord hath blessed
my master greatly” (Genesis 24:35). He also gave suitable
presents (Genesis 24:47). He treats her as one who
is to enter such a distinguished family. In all this transaction the religious
and the economic elements are mixed in due proportion. The men who most
believed in the supernatural, and who had most abundant witness of it, were the
men who used the most care in the employment of common prudence and skill. This
man does not blindly rely upon miracles alone, but uses human means and
proprieties to their proper extent and trusts for the blessing of God. (T H.
Leale.)
Divine guidance
I. DIVINE
GUIDANCE. God’s gracious way of saving sinners is a “right way.”
II. THE IMMUTABLE
CHARACTER OF THE GUIDE.
III. THE DEVOTION
OF THE GUIDED MAN. (J. Irons.)
Lessons
1. Fidelity makes servants own and honour their masters in performing
their trust, especially in the Church (Genesis 24:34).
2. Pious souls know and acknowledge God to be the only author of the
prosperity of His servants.
3. Prosperity of believers is God’s blessing. This maketh rich and
adds no sorrow (Proverbs 10:22).
4. God is not strained towards His in outward things, when they are
good for them.
5. Greatness of estate and honour sometimes God uniteth unto
godliness. So it was here with Abraham (Genesis 24:35).
6. God’s miracles should be related when they make to His praise,
and His people’s good. So doth he.
7. The heir of promise may be the heir of all things here below. So
Isaac. So eminently Christ was.
8. It is but rational in seeking marriage to declare the state in
measure which God hath given (Genesis 24:36). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Abide with us a few days
Delay is dangerous
We shall not have anything more to do with Laban to-night, than to
use his desire to retain his good sister Rebekah as an illustration of the way
in which this wicked world endeavours to meet the invitations of the gospel, by
trying to retain the awakened sinner a little longer in its grasp.
Satan’s last counsel to his servants seems to have been, “Do not openly oppose
the gospel; give way to it, but suggest delay.”
I. I want to draw
your attention, first of all, to THE WORLD’S PRETEXT FOR THIS DELAY. I stand
knocking to-night at the world’s door, and I say, “There is a young heart here
I want for Christ”; the world replies, “All right, you shall have it one of
these days, but there is time enough yet.” I say of another, “Here is a man
whose strength and vigour I want for the Saviour.” “All right,” says the world,
“do not be in such a fever about it; we are all agreed with you; we all think
as you do that religion is important, but wait awhile, put it off, take time,
tarry a little; there is no cause for all this hurry and this fuss.” Then the
world says, “O stop a little longer; we should like these young people to know
something about life.” Well, but, base world, what dost thou mean by that? What
hast thou to do with life? We, too, want the young people to know something
about life: but what is life? Why true life is to be found only in the
followers of Christ, in Whom is life. “Ah! then,” says the world, putting on
its best smiles, “it is all very well for you to talk, but we do not want our
young people to give up all their pleasure.” And what hast thou to do with
pleasure, thou painted Jezebel? what hast thou to do with happiness, false
deluder of souls?
II. Shall I tell
you now WHAT IS THE DRIFT OR ALL THIS WAITING? Ten days did not seem too long;
but they might have been ten days too late. To be too late for ever;
yea, one minute too late is an eternity too late! Remember that if thou hast
missed of Christ by but the ticking of a clock, thou hast missed of Christ for
ever; so that minutes and ticks of clocks may be invested with a very solemn
power, if we come to look at them in that light. But what the world means is
just this, “Ah!” says Madam Bubble, “here is a young person impressed--if we
laugh at him it will deepen the impression; but we will say to him, ‘Come,
come; let the impression go for a little while; this is not the fit time; when
you have a more convenient season, you can bring it on again.’” Moreover, the
world says, “Well, if they do go at last, yet we will exact from them as long a
time of service as we can.”
III. Thirdly,
having exposed the pretexts of the world, and tried to show its cruel designs,
our REAL OBJECT IS TO HAVE OUR HEARERS SAVED, AND TO HAVE THEM SAVED NOW. There
were three reasons why Abraham’s servant wished Rebekah to go with him at once,
and these move me to desire your conversion to-night.
1. First, he desired it for his master’s sake. He knew that Isaac
was looking forward to the happy day when he should be married to his chosen
bride. And oh! the heart of Jesus is longing after sinners.
2. Abraham’s servant, too, desired it for his own sake, because he
was a faithful steward, and wanted to do his business well. And how we desire
your conversion for our sake! It will make us so happy I There is no bliss that
can come to the soul of the Christian minister like the bliss of knowing that
he has been made the means of bringing some to Christ.
3. But the principal reason that the man wished it was for Rebekah’s
sake. He knew that Isaac would make a good husband to her. And we know that
Jesus Christ will make a blessed husband to your souls. He will enrich you with
all the treasure of His grace.
IV. Now, lastly,
WE BELIEVE THAT THIS DESIRE OF OURS IS A VERY REASONABLE ONE, and we think we
can prove it without the necessity of entering upon a long argument. It is a
snowy day, and some boys have put a few bricks together; they have made a sort
of square box of them, and have set one up on edge on a piece of stick, and
have scattered under it a few crumbs. Here comes a robin, and he picks up a
crumb or two, and while he is picking, down comes the brick! “I did not wait
long,” says the robin, “but I am caught! I did not wait long, but I cannot get
out! I did not wait long, but I have lost my liberty! I did not wait long, but
it may be I shall lose my life!” Ah! little robin, thou shalt be a preacher to
some here. They have gone a little into sin, and they are inclined to-night to
wait a little while. Take care that this is not your song one of these days, “I
did not wait long, but the devil caught me in his trap! I did not wait long,
but I waited too long! I did not wait long, but I lost my soul for ever!” God
grant that this may not be your lot. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way
The Christian’s hindrances
The Lord hath prospered our way.
He has provided means for our return to Him. He has awakened us from entire
carelessness. He has bestowed upon us thus far all the comfort and peace which
we have received, and enabled us to do all that we have done for Him. Our past
prosperity is an unceasing encouragement to future effort, and may be employed
as an answer to every hindrance. Under this view would I adopt the expression
of our text.
I. It is the
entreaty of an awakened sinner returning to the Lord. “Hinder me not, seeing
the Lord hath prospered my way.” A new and living way of salvation invites him.
But there are many adversaries. The worldly and careless around him scoff at
his fears, and deride his apprehensions. They know not the terrors of an
awakened conscience, and they can mock when fear cometh. “Hinder me not,” the
persecuted penitent replies. “I have seen enough of worldly cheerfulness and
mirth. I have seen that the end of that laughter is bitterness. The sorrows of
a sinner’s death-bed I will not try. The portion of the worldly shall not be
mine. He offers me forgiveness, and I will embrace it.”
II. The words of
our text may be the prayer of the new convert to Christ--the Christian who has
just experienced the new creating grace of God;“hinder me not, seeing the Lord
hath prospered my way.” The character of God appears to him full of glory, and
shining in love. The great salvation which He has offered, seems worthy of all
acceptation. His whole heart is arrested and occupied with the objects and
excitements of this first love. But there are many hindrances surrounding this
infantile state of grace. At one time he meets a sneer from some former
companion in folly, at another, a false and unkind construction of the motives
by which he is governed in his new determinations. The merely nominal
Christian, the cold and carnally minded professor, hates him, as one who
assumes a higher standard of religious character than he is pleased with. These
various outward trials are severe.
III. But hindrances
do not disappear, even when men become old in grace. Our text may, therefore,
be the petition of the Christian who is established in the faith; “hinder me
not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way.” Through the whole period of a
mortal life, he not only dwells in a laud of enemies, but drags about with
himself a weight which is painfully retarding. There arises often around him a
cloud of darkness, which hides all his evidences of grace, and conceals the
blessed witness which God has given him within himself. Momentary feelings of
unbelief intrude themselves into his breast. Occasional coldness and torpidity
spreads itself through the members of his spiritual man, threatening permanent
paralysis and death. He obtains larger conceptions of the depravity of his own
heart; and his soul often sickens over the views which are presented to him, as
the Spirit of God carries him still farther into its recesses, and exposes to
his observation greater abominations than he has seen before. Then does he
exclaim in the language of our text, “Hinder me not, for the Lord hath
prospered my way.” “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, though I fall, yet
shall I rise again; and though I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light
unto me. Sin has been pardoned; God has received, and is able to keep me. I
have entered into a covenant with Him, from which I will never shrink, to walk
before Him, and to be His for ever.”
IV. Lastly, I may
consider this as the demand of the faithful minister of the Gospel. “Hinder me
not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way.” This joy would be vastly increased
were there none disposed to hinder his way, and to retard the progress of the
word of God. (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)
They called Rebekah and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man?
And she said, I will go
The success of the marriage treaty
I. DUE TO THE
MANIFEST INTERPOSITION OF PROVIDENCE (Genesis 24:50).
II. ACKNOWLEDGED
BY SUITABLE ACTS OF DEVOTION.
1. By acts of worship (Genesis 24:52).
2. By faith and ready obedience (Genesis 24:55; Genesis 24:58).
3. By human benedictions (Genesis 24:60).
III. FOLLOWED BY A
GRATEFUL SENSE OF RELIEF (Genesis 24:54). It is the mark of a pious
mind when we esteem the commandments of God more than our necessary food. (T.
H. Leale.)
The soul’s answer to the Divine summons
I. A LESSON TO
THOSE WHO CARRY THE SUMMONS OF GOD.
1. Let us saturate our work with prayer.
2. We must also wait upon God for direction.
3. Let us say much in praise of our Master.
II. THE SUMMONS
ITSELF. Such a call as came to Rebekah is sent to every soul that hears the
Gospel. In yonder azure depths lives the great Father God. He has one Son, His
only-begotten and well-beloved. He has resolved to choose from amongst men
those who as one Church shall constitute His bride for ever. He sends this call
to you, not because you are worthy, or wealthy, or beautiful; but because He
has so willed in the counsels of His own heart; and He longs that you shall be
willing to detach yourself from all that you hold dear.
III. How To DEAL
WITH THIS SUMMONS.
1. We must find room for it.
2. We must bear witness.
3. We must not procrastinate, or confer with flesh and blood. (F.
B.Meyer, B. A.)
Rebekah
I. HER HOME LIFE.
1. She was fair, chaste, and modest.
2. She was industrious, courteous, and kind.
3. She was deferential and obedient.
II. HER MARRIAGE.
1. Arranged for by proxy, according to Oriental custom.
2. This match was made in heaven. It was pre-ordained--love at first
sight: love all through her life.
III. HER MISTAKES.
1. She consents to pass for Isaac’s sister at the court of Gerar.
2. She is partial to Jacob.
3. She teaches Jacob how to deceive.
4. By the use of deception she secures the blessing for her
favourite son.
IV. HER SORROW.
1. A divided household--the result of favouritism.
2. Esau’s marriage with two Canaanitish women.
3. The separation from Jacob: for she never saw him again after his
flight to Mesopotamia.
V. REFLECTIONS.
1. The choice of a wife is an appropriate subject of prayer, and
worthy of grave deliberation.
2. Is it right for parents to be partial to their children? (Lewis
O. Thompson.)
Lessons
1. God’s favour being manifested in His providences, natural and
comfortable refreshings may be used.
2. After refreshings needful, return to duty and just employments is
beseeming God’s servants.
3. Sedulity and speed concern faithful servants in their trust
committed by their masters to them (Genesis 24:54).
4. Natural affection will not easily part with near and dear
relations (Genesis 24:55)
5. God’s call, if apparent, is reason sufficient to take of the
delays of natural desire.
6. Nothing but haste with good speed will content faithful servants
entrusted (Genesis 24:56).
7. Answers from creatures may help to know God’s mind, and so far we
are to be consulted (Genesis 24:5, “Call the damsel and know,”
&c.).
8. Children’s consent as well as parents’ must be had in marriage.
9. God sometimes giveth in answers of His will by moving the hearts
of creatures (verse58).
10. Fear of God in any measure will yield to God’s will when so
revealed.
11. Nearest relations must part to give way to the union of marriage.
12. Such dismission of relations should be suitable to the conditions
of men (Genesis 24:59).
13. The fear of God will not send away relations from a family
without a blessing.
14. Fruitfulness of the womb is a great blessing from God on His
people.
15. Tower and prevalency of the Church’s seed over all enemies is a
sweet blessing.
16. All this, even to the vanquishing of the gates of hell, is
desirable by God’s people (Genesis 24:60).
17. Marriage should not be yielded without a blessing, especially in
the Church. “And they blessed her and sent her away.” (G. Hughes, B. D.)
A love story
I. AN EXCELLENT
SERVANT. In the early days of the Jews, when a servant loved his master, he
sometimes said to him, “I will not leave thee: I will serve thee all my days.”
The master then placed the man-servant against his door-post, and bored his ear
through with an awl, as a token that he should serve him for ever. We are not
told whether or not Abraham’s servant had passed through this ceremony, but it
is certain that he was one of the most faithful of servants. Now, beloved
brethren, you have not to undergo any outward ceremony in order to become a
servant of God. There are some who believe that partaking of the Lord’s Supper,
and being baptized, are processes by which we become the Lord’s people. On the
contrary, when we become His servants, we then, because we are servants, do the
Lord’s will in these two matters. Then, if you would become a servant of God,
the first process must be an inward desire. “My child, give Me thine heart,”
saith the Lord. The Christian is a servant of the Lord, and, as such, gives up
himself, body, spirit, and soul, to do the will of his Heavenly Father. He is a
consecrated vessel filled with the Spirit of the Almighty.
1. This servant of Abraham was a trusted one. All that his master
had was placed in his keeping. Beloved servants of the Lord, what a blessing I
what a privilege! what an enjoyment I to possess the fulness of God! Seek it;
pray for it; believe it; and God shall pour His fulness into your being. Then,
surely your lives, like the angels of heaven, shall be shrines for the
indwelling of love. The providence of God sent across my path some years ago a
thief who had been in prison above twenty times, and who had been twice in
penal servitude. I could find no work for him here, because he was well known,
and therefore I sent him across the ocean to America, but his character
followed him, and he was returned to England. At length we obtained work for
him out of Manchester; and he turned out to be a faithful servant. One day the
manager of the works was removing his goods to a new house, and the
mistress--who did not know what the man had been--called him, saying, “John,
this basket contains all our silver; will you please be very careful about it,
and carry it to the new house.” I said to the man, “And what did you do? “ He
replied “When I got outside, I looked into the basket and saw the silver
shining. I lifted it up, and it felt very heavy.” “Well, what did you do then?
“ He said, “I cried, because I was trusted.” Of course, he carried it safely.
Brethren, God knows the past sin of our lives, yet He takes us into His service
and trusts us with human souls, bidding us to take them to the mansion in
heaven.
2. The servant of Abraham was under a special vow. And are not all
who are servants of God under a vow to render faithful service? A mother whose
son was about to leave her to fight the battles between the Northern and
Southern States of America, was called into her bedroom on the morning of his
departure. She, weeping upon his neck and kissing him, bade him farewell; and
drawing from her finger a ring which she prized exceedingly, she kissed it and
placed it upon his finger, saying, “Promise me, my son, that you will not touch
any intoxicating liquors whilst you are away.” And he, looking at the ring, on
which was the motto, “Never forget,” kissed his mother and made the vow. When
he joined the army, he manfully resisted the temptations of his comrades; but
at length enticed beyond his strength, he went with them to the canteen.
Lifting the foaming liquor to his mouth, he saw his mother’s ring, and his
conscience smote him. He dropped the glass upon the table, and rushing out, he
prayed to God to forgive him and to help him to keep his promise. On the
evening of that day, when the battle was over, he was found wounded and dying
with his mother’s ring pressed to his lips. Brethren, you also have made a vow
not only to your parent, but to your God. And if the promise made to our
earthly parents has such a power for good over us, how much more the promise we
have made to our Heavenly Father! Brethren, will you not keep the vow? Will you
not re-resolve it?
3. Abraham’s servant was a believer. “O Lord God of my master
Abraham.” How sweet it is when the employer can lead the employed to God!
4. Abraham’s servant believed in the Lord’s presence. Beloved, our
Saviour is not dead. He is here. All who are the Lord’s servants have the
inward testimony that Jesus Christ is a Saviour nigh at hand.
5. He believed in the Lord’s guidance. If we acknowledge God in all
our ways, He has promised to direct our paths. In Abraham’s servants, we have
an example of a man who trusted God. Brethren, trust Him also. Wherever you go
your Father is with you; your path may be dark; but your Father holds your
hand. The chart of every day’s journey is before your God, and when you stand
in the sunshine of heaven you shall then see that His hand did really direct
your course. Go on!
6. This servant judged his errand to be more important than himself.
He would not partake of food until he had told the mission on which he was
sent. Brethren, we should not consider ourselves more important than the work
which Christ has given us to do. Let us pray for grace to be enabled with Paul
to say, “For me to live is”--not myself--but “Christ.” Our purpose is to be
conformed to the image of God’s dear Son, and to live in the spirit of His
loving life.
7. His heart was in it. In crossing over the Atlantic Ocean once, on
the second day of the voyage, an unfortunate fellow was pulled up from the
hold--a “stowaway.” Desiring to go to America, and being too poor to pay his
passage, he hid himself on board the ship. But the captain said, “You must work
out your passage now that you are here.” He was set to wash the decks, and do
other rough work on the ship, but I noticed the man had no heart in it; he did
it because he was compelled. How different with the true sailors! When they ran
up the rigging they sang out with delight, and did their work with all their
heart. It did one good to hear the hearty song of the man up near the top of
the mast, but the hang-dog look of the stowaway caused gloom in the midst of
sunshine. NOW, brethren, do your work for Christ with all your heart; put your
soul into it; do it with enthusiasm. It is the earnest men only who succeed in
temporal things; and it is only God’s earnest ones who bring in a plentiful
harvest to the heavenly barn. Servants of God, awake! awake! When you speak to
people about their souls, let them see that you mean it.
II. AN IMPORTANT
QUESTION. Rebekah was asked, “Will you go with this man?” And now I ask you,
will you come with us to heaven? God gives every one of us at some period of
our lives an opportunity of becoming His servants. It is said that “time and
tide come to every man once in his life.” I feel persuaded that salvation’s
tide has come to your very heart, and that every one of you may enter Christ’s
lifeboat and sail with us to paradise. This is your opportunity. Do not reject
it.
III. THE LOVING
ANSWER. Will you not say, as did Rebekah to Abraham’s servant, “I will go.”
Have you ever thought when you have read this chapter of the meeting? Isaac was
walking in the field at eventide, and whilst he meditated, he lifted up his
eyes and beheld the camels on their return, and noticed that all of them
carried burdens. His heart filled with joy, and he said, “She is come.” Will
you come? Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world I Trust
Him. (W. Birch.)
Isaac’s marriage
I. THE DOMESTIC
COUNCIL.
1. The family of Bethuel. Evening. Work of the day nearly over. The
daughter gone to the well. Her long delay. Growing wonder. Rebekah’s return.
Shows the presents, and relates the story to her mother. Laban, hearing the
tale and seeing the jewels, goes out to the well (Genesis 24:29) and invites Eliezer to
come into the house (Genesis 24:31).
2. Eastern hospitality. Provision for man and beast.
3. The council.
(4) Bethuel and Laban reply. They see the hand of God (Genesis 24:50), and give their consent (Genesis 24:51).
52), and produces more presents.
4. This council conducted with frankness and piety on the one hand,
and a due respect for the will of God on the other.
II. THE EARLY
DEPARTURE.
1. Eliezer having performed his mission, is anxious to return.
Thinks of his master, aged and anxious. Life uncertain.
2. Laban and her mother plead for delay. Suggestive of the lovable
character of Rebekah, and her value in the household. Perhaps never more prized
than now that she must go. Reminds us of the tenacity with which we cling to
dear objects in the moment of separation.
3. Rebekah decides for a prompt departure. Having been a faithful
daughter, she would now do her duty in her new relation. Her husband should not
hear that she had been an unwilling bride.
4. She bids adieu to home scenes, in company with her nurse; and dowried
with the blessing of her family.
III. THE HAPPY
MEETING.
1. The home of Abraham. The patriarch following his servants with
his prayers. Reliant on God.
2. Isaac waits the issue of this negotiation for his marriage.
3. Goes out into the open country to meditate and pray (see marg.
Verse 63). Much in the past and present and future for him to pray and think
about.
4. Sees the camels and goes to meet them.
5. The well of the “living one that sees me.” Happy would it be for
the future life of many if their early meetings were ruled by the thoughts
suggested by the name of the well near which Isaac first met Rebekah. Much sin
and sorrow might be avoided.
6. Rebekah’s modesty, the veil, and cordiality. Alights at once.
7. Isaac’s welcome. He conducts Rebekah to the tent that had been
his mother’s. Learn:
I. The advantage
of family union in matters of domestic importance.
II. The duty of
consulting parents in affairs of such consequence.
III. To be diligent
in business, like Eliezer.
IV. To have times
and places for meditation and prayer.
V. To remember
“the Living that sees us” in all our intercourse with friends. (J. C. Gray.)
The chief thing to know about a suitor
After Mr. Philip Henry, who came to Worthembury a stranger, had
been in the country for some time, his attachment to Miss Matthews, afterwards
his wife, became manifest; and it was mutual. Among the other objections urged
by her friends against the connection was this, that although Mr. Henry was a
gentleman and a scholar, and an excellent preacher, he was quite a stranger,
and they did not even know where he came from. “True,” replied Miss Matthews,
“but I know where he is going, and I should like to go with him.” (Bayley’s
Family Biblical Instructor.)
Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide
Meditation
Meditating was the same to Isaac that it is to us.
Under all skies, in all times, thought has flowed in the same channel and
observed the same laws. It is those who love to meditate that are most open to
impressions from nature. It is the open eye before which the vision passes.
Notice:
I. THE MAN WHO
MEDITATES. Isaac’s meditations would be very different from those of a more
stirring, energetic character; above all, very different from those of a mere
secular man. A man’s meditations are the pure outcome of what he is. The word
itself is suggestive. It means to be in the midst of a matter, to have it in
your very centre. Do not be afraid of losing yourself in meditation. The more
you lose yourself in great themes the better. The dream is the way to reality,
but let it be reality and impression and abiding results that you are seeking.
The Hebrew word here rendered “meditate” means also to pray. The meditation of
a devout spirit on almost anything will soon run into prayer.
II. MEDITATION AND
NATURE. Isaac went out to the field to meditate. The variety of nature draws us
out. We all tend to make self a prison, and this leading us out of ourselves is
perhaps the main benefit of nature. Nature takes down our prison walls. The
twitter of a bird in a bush can emancipate us. Nature whispers of the
supernatural, and the fleeting preaches the eternal.
III. MEDITATION AND
TIME. Isaac meditated in the evening. The evening is the darling hour of
meditation. The quiet gloaming, with its glamour and mystery, its long shadows
and dying light, whispers into the heart of man.
Meditation is the twilight of thought. Its region lies between
this world and the next, between definite ideas and dimmest yearnings. No one
ever loved Christ deeply--no one ever was strong or high or pure or deep in any
way without meditation. (J. Leckie, D. D.)
Religious meditation
I. THE GREATNESS
OF ITS OBJECTS.
1. It unfolds the volume of nature.
2. It discloses the principles and ends of the Divine govermnent.
3. It reveals the dispensations of grace.
4. It draws aside the veil of mortality, and directs our view into a
future and eternal state.
II. ITS MORAL ADVANTAGES.
1. By meditation we shall acquire a competent knowledge of our own
hearts.
2. It will enable us to form a just estimate of the world.
3. Meditation promotes holiness. As the architect, before he can
erect an extensive edifice, must, in private, first prepare his plan; and as
the philosopher, before he can enlighten the world with his discoveries by
study, must first digest and arrange his system; so, before we can come forth
into life as patterns of holiness, and skilful champions of the truth, we must,
by meditation, have imbibed the principles of religion, and submitted our
hearts to its influence. It is a practice that will produce repentance, by
setting “ our sins before us, our secret sins in the light of our countenance.”
It will humble the mind, and destroy its love to sin. It will produce fear and
love towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It places the soul under
the Influences of the Divine Spirit, who transforms and renews it in the image
of Christ. Thus changed, we shall come from retirement, as Moses from the
mount, shining with the lustre of spiritual “ glory and beauty.”
4. Meditation leads to a union with God. “I will dwell in them, and
walk in them. I and My Father will come in to him, and abide with him.” But
when are these words verified? Particularly in the hour of religious
retirement.
5. Meditation prepares us for heaven. (R. Watson.)
Meditation
I. WHAT
MEDITATION IS. Before I can define it I must distinguish it.
1. There is that which we call occasional meditation, which is an
act by which the soul spiritualiseth every object about which it is conversant.
A gracious heart is like an alembic, it can distil useful meditations out of
all things it meeteth with. Look, as it seeth all things in God, so it seeth
God in all things. So small a matter as a grain of mustard-seed may yield many
spiritual applications.
2. There is set and solemn meditation. Now this is of several sorts,
or rather, they are but several parts of the same exercise.
(a) Dogmatical, whose object is the Word.
(b) Practical, whose object is our own lives.
These are the kinds of meditation. The definition may be formed
thus: Meditation is that duty or exercise of religion whereby the mind is
applied to the serious and solemn contemplation of spiritual things, for
practical uses and purposes. I shall open the description by the parts of it.
1. It is a duty and exercise of religion.
II. THE NECESSITY
AND PROFIT OF MEDITATION, OR MOTIVES TO PRESS TO THIS DUTY. I shall urge such
as will serve also for marks; for when it is well performed, you will find
these effects wrought in you. Meditation is the mother and nurse of knowledge
and godliness, the great instrument in all the offices of grace; it helpeth on
the work of grace upon the understanding, affections, and life, for the
understanding of the doctrine of godliness, for the provoking of godly
affections, and for the heavenly life.
1. In point of understanding it is of great advantage to us in the
entertainment of the doctrines of religion.
2. It is a great advantage to the work of grace upon the affections.
3. It is an advantage to the fruits of grace in the life; it maketh
the heavenly life more easy, more sweet, more orderly and prudent.
III. RULES TO GUIDE
YOU IN THIS WEIGHTY AFFAIR OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
1. Whatever you meditate upon must be drawn down to application.
2. Do not pry further than God hath revealed; your thoughts must he
still bounded by the Word.
3. When you meditate of God you must do it with great care and
reverence; His perfections are matter rather of admiration than inquiry.
4. In meditating on common things, keep in mind a spiritual purpose.
God hath endowed man with a faculty to discourse, and employ his mind on
earthly objects to spiritual purposes (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
5. Take heed of creating a snare to your souls. Some sins are
catching, like fire in straw, and we cannot think of them without infection and
temptation; the very thoughts may beget a sudden delight and tickling, which
may pass through us like lightening, and set us all on fire Ezekiel 23:19).
6. Meditate of those things especially which you have most need of.
There is the greatest obligation upon the heart. The matter is not arbitrary;
there you will find most he]p, and there the benefit will be most sensible.
7. Whatever you meditate upon, take heed of slightness. Transient
thoughts leave no impression. See that you meditate but of one thing at once.
8. Come not off from holy thoughts till you find profit by them,
either sweet tastes and relishes of the love of God, or high affections kindled
towards God, or strong resolutions begotten in yourselves.
9. Be thankful to God when He blesseth you in meditation, or else
you will find difficulty in the next.
10. Do not bridle up the free spirit by the rules of method. That
which God calleth for is religion, not logic.
11. Your success in the duty is not to be measured by the multitude
and subtlety of the thoughts, but the sincerity of them.
12. You must begin and end all with prayer. Duties are subservient
one to another. In the beginning you must pray for a blessing on the duty,, and
in the end commend your souls and resolutions to God. There is no hope in your
own promises, but God’s.
IV. THE LETS OR
HINDRANCES OF MEDITATION, TOGETHER WITH THE HELPS AND MEANS THAT MAY QUICKEN
YOU TO THE PERFORMANCE OF IT. The lets may be sooner discovered than remedied.
The lets and hindrances are of several sorts, some common to this with other
duties, and others more peculiar to the duty of meditation.
1. I begin with the first sort, such hindrances as are common to
other duties, and they are four--sloth, love of pleasure, a guilty conscience,
and an unwieldy mind. How shall we do to shake off this spiritual sloth? I
answer--
2. Another let and hindrance is love of pleasures. Men that would
pass their time in mirth are unwilling to be so solemn and serious. When
children’s minds are set to play, it is irksome to hear of school or of their
books; so when the heart is set for pleasure, it is a hard matter to bring the
soul to religious performances. How shall we do to wean the soul from
pleasures?
3. The next general hindrance is a guilty conscience. What shall we
do to remedy this?
4. Another let and hindrance is unwieldiness of spirit to spiritual
and heavenly duties. This our Saviour bids His disciples have a care e!! Luke 21:34). What shall we do to help
this?
1. Leanness and barrenness of thoughts. Now to remedy this--
2. A loose garish spirit, that is apt to skip and wander from
thought to thought. There is a madness in man; his thoughts are light and
feathery, tossed to and fro, and like the loose wards in a lock, only kept up
whilst we are turning the key. This doth much discourage Christians, that they
cannot keep up their affections and command their thoughts. How shall we help
and remedy this?
The duty and advantage of solemn meditation
I shall first explain the duty, and then apply the subject.
I. I AM TO SHOW
WHAT MEDITATION IS.
1. A choice of some spiritual subject to meditate upon. Many
meditate upon sin with delight, and so ride post to hell with little din. “He
deviseth mischief upon his bed, he setteth himself in a way that is not good;
he abhorreth not evil. Others employ their thoughts only in the meditation of
things of the world. But he that would meditate aright must choose some spiritual
subject to think upon. And it is needful we should select some one, and not
abide in generals (Psalms 63:6; Song of Solomon 1:4).
2. A calling in of the heart front all other objects. The mind of
man is too narrow to be taken up to purpose about many things at once,
especially with thoughts of divers kinds; therefore prays David, “Unite my
heart to fear Thy name.”
3. Employing the heart on the spiritual subject so chosen, to think
upon it, study it, and seriously consider of it; to lay it before our
understandings, so as to move our affections and improve our hearts.
II. LET US APPLY
THE SUBJECT. I exhort you to make conscience of this duty of meditation, and
particularly of fixed meditation, setting yourselves as solemly to it as to
prayer and other duties. Motive
1. Consider it is the command of God. “Commune with your own heart
upon your bed.” “And meditate upon these things,” says Paul to Timothy. Why do
you perform other duties but because God commands you? Well, He that bids you
do other duties, bids you do this also.
2. It is made desirable by the testimony which it hath from the
practice of the people of God.
3. It is of notable use for a Christian’s improvement. It much
increases knowledge: “I have more understanding,” says David, “than all my
teachers, for Thy testimonies are my meditation.” It is the way to comfort
under affliction. When David’s enemies plotted against him, “thy servant,” says
he, “did meditate in thy statutes.” It makes a Christian tender in his way. “I
will meditate on Thy precepts, and have respect unto Thy ways.” It gives a
Christian a sweet relish of the goodness of God (Psalms 63:5-6). (T. Boston, D. D.)
A lost art
The text brings before us the lost art of meditation. Here are
three things that it is very difficult to get, indeed almost impossible--solitude,
leisure, and a field. Solitude which shuts out the sight and sound and thought
of the busy world, how can we get that in this great Babel? And leisure, who
can find that in times of rush and whirl like ours? So it comes that meditation
is almost a lost art, and with it goes, and must go, all great attainment in
the religious life. There are but two things that can loose a man from the
world, and set him free from its tyranny and put him outside and above
it--those two are meditation and sleep. Now this is what meditation does for
us. It gives us freedom from the littleness of earth; it is the unfolding
within us of other and greater faculties; the escape from the prison of
ourselves and our circumstances that we may soar into the heavens.
1. Man can only find himself in God; and he can only find God by
meditation. A man has heights and depths and lengths and breadths which only
God can reveal to him. We know how it is in the smaller round of our life. We
are put into possession of ourselves by others. He who has most soul and heart
is he who gives me not only most of himself, but most of myself. Charity,
gratitude, faith, love, service, inspirations, do not these come from contact
with those about us? We are like a musical instrument, we only know what can be
got out of us when others play upon us. The clapper puts the bell in possession
of itself. But God and God alone can put us in full possession of ourselves.
Take, for instance, the faculty of reverence. Only by knowing God is reverence
begotten. And only by meditation is it that we can know God and enter into any
true relationship with Him. As I commune with Him my soul is bowed in
lowliness. I may think of Him as all this without being solemnized and awed,
for my thought is indeed a narrow and a shallow vessel to hold the glory of the
Most High. But meditation is the way of revelation--it is the lifting of the
veil that we may pass into the very Holy of Holies. So is it that God comes
near to us and reveals Himself to us as our Gracious Father.
2. And briefly glance at the range of this truth--it covers
everything. As a man finds himself in God, so does he find his brother. If God
so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
3. So again, this meditation puts a man in possession of the world.
The little things of earth sink down in that Presence into their true estimate.
4. Again, meditation puts a man in possession of all the ages. The
past comes up and yields him its tribute. All these great saints of old do
speak comfortably to us of the faithfulness and love of our God.
Take some other aspects of meditation.
1. It possesses what thought only sees. There is a well-known shop
that I often pass, where the windows are filled with all manner of daintiest
sweets set forth in most attractive shapes. I have seen a crowd of little
children flattening their noses against the window-panes, and ragged, hungry
men and women standing looking within. But out of the door with paper parcels
have come tripping little children and happy men and women laden with good
things, beaming and smiling, possessing what others only look at. Meditation
does that. It is as I begin to let the truth sink down within me that my love
is kindled and my faith is stirred, and all my soul goes out in triumphant
possession of that which I have heard.
2. Again, meditation retains what hearing lightly loses. Photography
can secure the picture in a second, but in a second it is lost. There is a
process of developing and a process of fixing for which retirement and solitude
and darkness are necessary. Then the picture is secured. Truth is mostly lost
because it is heard only and not retained. Meditation has not come in to
develop and fix it. There is, too, a process by which the photograph is eaten
into the plate, bitten into it by means of some acid. That also is what
meditation can do for us--we want the truth graven upon us, we want the name
and the message and the word of Jesus our Master wrought thus into us.
3. Again, meditation turns into life and strength what otherwise is
but a burden. A man can carry a sack of flour and yet be very hungry. He must
eat the bread if he would live thereby. Yet it is not what a man eats, but what
he digests, that administers to him. And digestion is not all; he must
assimilate it, turn it into his very life and being, into his blood and bones
and muscles.
4. Meditation is the source of sweet serenity. I have sometimes sat
with some old man sagacious, experienced, successful, quick to perceive at a
glance the right course. And in the eventide, after the day’s business is done,
the son has come to talk over the day’s work--an order from such a firm--a
mishap there--this matter to be arranged, and such a thing to be seen to, and
such a possibility to be considered. To talk with the Lord of these things of earth,
to wait for the light which He gives and the wisdom of His guidance, is indeed
to be at peace.
5. Meditation kindles the fire. While I was musing, says the
Psalmist, the fire kindled. To meditate upon the goodness of God, to muse upon
the love of Jesus, to trace the unfailing bounty, to spell the sweet promises
of His Word, is to kindle afresh the flame of our love and to send it leaping
and surging heavenward.
6. Of meditation the Word of God is the best basis. Do not read the
Bible only, it is not meant only to be read. Even searching the Scriptures may
be a dull, dead exercise. Turn from the Word to Him that speaketh, and
let the heart commune with Him. But hearing all this and believing it will
avail us nothing unless we set ourselves to learn and master this art of
meditation. (Mark Guy Pearse.)
Meditation at eventide
The active duties of life, the calls of necessary business, the
means required for our daily subsistence, may take up much of our time and
employ most of our thoughts; but there is also a season when the mind should
unbend from the weariness and troubles of ordinary employments, should seek
tranquillity and repose from the agitations of society, and when we should go
forth in holy contemplation “ to meditate in the field at the eventide.” At
such a season there is much to awaken our serious consideration, and to keep
our souls in congenial mood with the quiet and peaceful features of nature
around us. When we wander forth “at the eventide,” or sit down absorbed in
pensive meditation, we think of all that now convulses society and agitates the
human breast; we think of the vanities and follies of the world, its strifes
and animosities, its bitterness and woe, its incitements and excesses, its
delusions and disappointments; and we look to the time when all these must soon
end. When we “go out at the eventide,” we may in sweet meditation look upon the
works of creation around us, and read many a lesson of instructive wisdom.
Actuated by a fine perception, we may dwell with rapture and delight on every
object, may see in every tree and plant and flower the constructive hand of
Deity displayed; and, when thus we discern the finger of God in all things, the
world itself becomes a temple, and all its various parts harmoniously set forth
the praise and glory and power of God. When “the burden and heat of the day”
have passed away, and we go forth “at the eventide,” we may well be insensibly
carried away by contemplations on the character and nature of human life. We
have seen during the day the sun shining over our he, ads in fullest power and
brightest effulgence; and we are led to compare it to the noontide of human
life, when the spirits of man are wrought up to the highest pitch, and his
vigour and strength are put forth in the fullest exercise and liveliest
animation. But we know how soon this passes away, and we feel ourselves
intimately concerned in the lesson it teaches. (Archdeacon Fothergill.)
Meditation
The word meditate is most suggestive in its etymology. It means to
be in the midst of a matter, to have it in-your very centre. Could anything
more fitly express the most thorough kind of meditation? It would be a mistake
to identify meditation with study which bus always a distinctly intellectual
purpose. It is not analysis, it is not synthesis, it is no kind of intellectual
process. It is letting the mind seethe and work and play about a subject,
guided by conscience or emotion or desire or strong resolution, till it gets
impressed with the subject, till the sap and taste of it flow into the soul.
Nothing, however great, is yours till you get the substance of it into you by
meditation. It remains entirely outside of you. Neither faith, nor love, nor
hope can dispense with meditation. Faith gets no good of its objects, love is
unable to love, hope forgets to burn and to soar, ceases to hope--if there is
no meditation. By meditation we pasture on the sky, we draw the secret strength
from all truth, we serve ourselves heir to all things. You can poison yourself
by meditation if you will. You can soothe and chasten and elevate yourself.
Make your choice. You must meditate, but you may do it earnestly, or dully and
drowsily. You must meditate, but you may meditate on things that will make you
strong and good, brave and free in the service of God, or on things that will
make you a fit companion for devils. You may so meditate as to make life a
triumph and full of blessing to your friends and the world. You will be a slave
or a free man, a starveling dwarf or a giant, a blessing or a curse, according
as you meditate. You cannot make yourself good or right by any direct effort of
will alone, any more than a man can make himself strong by wishing it. But you
can feed yourself by meditation. You can decide what you shall meditate on. The
whole universe of God and His truth is there for you to feed upon, and
meditation is not a hard, ungrateful task. There is nothing more natural, easy,
and pleasant. It is only brooding. (J. Leckie, D. D.)
Nature helps meditation
What help, then, does nature give us in meditating? That she does
give help you may have noticed from the aspect of companies gay, sprightly, and
talkative, whom nature soon began to silence. Gradually the rattle of tongues
died away, and each got isolated and absorbed in the world around; and yet it
was no intentness of observation. It was no keenness of search. It was simply
the hush of the spirit in a great, vast presence. The calm and quiet of nature
infect the spirit. There is something that steals away the fret and worry and
care. The babbling brook runs away with our fever and ache and burden. It
cheats us out of our scheming and planning. It says to us, Come and be for a
while like me. Nature whispers of the supernatural, and the fleeting preaches
the eternal. Nature suggests thoughts to us, and breathes impressions that are
beyond our explaining, A line of meditation is entered on, and we do not know
how it rose. We never imagine that it was the wind sighing through the trees or
the scent of the new mown hay. The sights and sounds of nature, her silence and
repose, her vastness and variety, are always inviting us to meditation. Our old
lines are broken and new presented to us--sometimes pressed upon us. We can
only resist the solicitation by a sort of forced and obstinate prepossession.
It is a short path into the infinite from any point of our aggressive and
contagious surroundings. How can a man by any possibility escape being reminded
of the perfect, the vast, the beautiful, the solid, the eternal of which nature
is always speaking through her sameness and change? Nature cannot quite force a
man to let his thoughts go in these directions, though she sometimes comes to
the very edge of force with her sudden surprises, her golden effulgence, her
far tremulous haze, her flashes and outbursts, her mountain peaks, and awful
chasms and abysses. If any one goes through the world in a thoughtless vein, if
he sleeps the journey as men sometimes do in everyday travel, he cannot blame
nature. She has been perpetually calling him, inviting, coaxing, wooing,
hinting, insinuating, admonishing, and threatening him, that he may reflect and
meditate. (J. Leckie, D. D.)
Eventide constrains thought
The twilight speaks of the flight of time, of the evanescence of
all worldly glory, the vanity of all mere earthly hopes. It whispers that all
days will soon be over as this is. Does it not require a most determined
perverseness to shut out thoughts like these? And what a hardening process a
soul must go through that has often and often, thousands and thousands of times,
deliberately refused to listen to these twilight voices, and, it may be,
sometimes laughed away the solemn, tender feelings as if they were idle
phantoms of the brain. The great event of evening is sunset. The sun droops
toward the west. As he approaches the horizon he darts rays of marvellous
brilliance. The clouds become transfigured, glorified. No mortal tongue can
tell the enchanting beauty of many sunsets. It is a thing in the world that
stands alone without rival. Its magnificence arrests the most heedless. Men
stand transfixed by the celestial vision. I have seen a man with a heavy burden
on his back arrested by it. That is nature constraining men to think, and
filling them with vague and vast delight, mixed with regret and longings. The
setting sun is an appeal to the love of pleasure and glory. It does say that
there is glory somewhere. It tells of joy beyond imagination. (J. Leckie, D.
D.)
Rules for contemplation
Conceive of things clearly and distinctly, in their own nature;
conceive of things completely, in all their parts; conceive of things
comprehensively, in all their properties and relations; conceive of things
extensively, in all their kinds; conceive of things orderly, or in a proper
method. (Dr. Watts.)
Meditation
Of all the angels, the “cherub Contemplation” soars nighest
heaven. Of all moods of the mind, meditation is, in its serenity, depths, and
seriousness, nearest what we could conceive to be the action of the soul of Him
who seeth the end from the beginning, and things not as in their jagged edges,
or protuberant parts, but as rounded holes. Meditation has not, perhaps, struck
out very brilliant sparkles, but it has produced many solid orbs of truth. It
is the intellect and imagination severed from the passions, and moving on without
being either interrupted or falsely accelerated by their power. Of meditation,
you may say that there is rest even in its motion, and motion even in its rest.
It does not abruptly break, but silently eddies round, and gently solves great
problems. It is the parent of all lofty resolves, genuine change of character,
and of all continuous courses of worthy and energetic thoughts. Hence the
masters of human nature, in history, in fiction, or in poetry, generally
describe their heroes, ere conversion to the high purpose which gives them
their ultimate fame, as being much alone and much in meditation. Hercules is
meditating when Virtue and Pleasure meet him; and when his “choice” is made,
Marius is meditating amidst the ruins of Carthage, when he forms his dread
resolution to return and conquer Rome. Meditation, with such giants, is just
the Antaean act of touching the ground, to derive strength for renewed
endeavours. (G. Gilfilhan.)
Evening, the time for meditation
Morning is too fresh and hopeful; day, too bustling and summy;
even night too sombre and uniform for the sweet serenities and gentle
fluctuations of contemplation. It is an exercise especially suited to the
evening, when day and night meeting form the “conflux of two eternities”; when
thought tends (like the bat in the twilight air), not to fly onward or
backward, but to trace circles, now narrowing and again enlarging; when an
autumnal feeling pervades, in a less degree, the mind during all the seasons of
the year; when the sun becomes more spiritual as he departs, and the stars and
planets arise in the sky like thoughts and feelings in the mind--some cold and
glittering as the former, and others warm and panting in their purple light,
like the latter; when the exquisite sensation of “moonlight approaching” is
conveyed, reminding you of the first dim dawning of love in the heart, or of
some grand and new conception slowly lifting itself up in the horizon of the
soul; when the tender shade over the landscape, the mild compromise between
light and darkness, and the feeling of general repose, excite anew a luxurious
emotion, half of sense and half of imagination, as different from the stern
clearness of noonday thought as it is from the unearthly speculations and
excursions of the lonely midnight mind--then is the time for meditation on all
the themes dearest to man--on nature, poetry, the great characters and actions
of the past, on the future life, on heaven, and on God. (G. Gilfilhan.)
Evening meditations
Most of us suppose we have some little plot of time railed off for
God morning and evening, but how often does it get trodden down by the profane
multitude of this world’s cares, and quite occupied by encroaching secular
engagements. But evening is the time when many men are, and when all men ought
to be, least hurried; when the mind is placid, but not yet prostrate; when the
body requires rest from its ordinary labour, but is not yet so oppressed with
fatigue as to make devotion a mockery; when the din of this world’s business is
silenced, and as a sleeper wakes to a consciousness when some accustomed noise
is checked, so the soul now wakes up to the thought of itself and of God. I
know not whether those of us who have the opportunity have also the resolution
to sequester ourselves evening by evening, as Isaac did; but this I do know,
that he who does so will not fail of his reward, but will very speedily find
that his Father who seeth in secret is manifestly rewarding him. What we all
need above all things is to let the mind dwell on Divine things--to be able to
sit down knowing we have so much clear time in which we shall not be disturbed,
and during which we shall think directly under God’s eye--to get quite rid of
the feeling of getting through with something, so that without distraction the
soul may take a deliberate survey of its own matters. And so shall often God’s
gifts appear on our horizon when we lift up our eyes, as Isaac “lifted up
his eyes and saw the camels coming” with his bride. (M. Dods, D. D.)
Benefit of meditation
The Rev. Matthew Henry died in 1714, at the age of 52. His
“Commentary on the Bible” will be a standing monument of his labour, piety, and
zeal. He improved his time, and knew what it was by experience to enjoy
communion with God. Of retirement and meditation he thus speaks:--“It
will do us good to be often left alone, and sitting alone; and if we have the
art of improving solitude, we shall find we are never less alone than when
alone. Meditation and prayer ought to be both our business and our delight when
we are alone; while we have a God, a Christ, and a heaven to acquaint ourselves
with and to secure an interest in, we need not want matter either for
meditation or prayer, which, if they go together, will materially befriend each
other. Our walks in the fields are then truly pleasant, when in them we apply
ourselves to meditation and prayer. We there have a free and open prospect of
the heavens above us, and the earth around us, and the hosts and riches of
both; by the view of which we should be led to the contemplation of the Maker
and Owner of all.” As to the time for meditation, the same hour may be
seasonable to one and unseasonable to another. “I have always found,” says Mr.
Baxter, “that the fittest time for myself is the evening from sunsetting till
twilight.” In another case, when an orator was asked what was most eminent in
rhetoric and oratory, he gave this answer, “Pronunciation, pronunciation,
pronunciation.” “So,” says Dr. Bates, “if I should be asked what I think are
the best means and way to advance the faculties, make the ordinances fruitful,
increase grace, enlarge our comfort, and produce holiness, I should answer,
‘Meditation, meditation, meditation.’” (Buck.)
Necessity of meditation
It is not enough to hear the Word, we must meditate upon it. If
the bee went quickly from flower to flower it would never gather honey: but by
resting there it secures great spoil. Meditation, like the harrow, covers the
good seed, that it may not be dissipated by contact with the world. (J. G.
Pilkington.)
Meditation before prayer
Meditation before prayer matures our conceptions, and quickens our
desires. Our heart is like a watch that is soon run down, and needs constant
winding up. It is an instrument that is easily put out of tune. And meditation
is like the tuning of an instrument, and setting it for the harmony of prayer.
What is the reason that in prayer there is such a slight discurrency in our
thoughts, that our thoughts are like dust in the wind, carried to and fro; but
only for want of meditation? What is the reason that our desires, like an arrow
shot by a weak bow, do not reach the mark? But only this--we do not meditate
before prayer; he that would but consider, before he comes to pray, the things
that he is to pray for, pardon of sin, and the life of glory, how would this
cause his prayers to ascend like incense towards God? The great reason why our
prayers are ineffectual, is because we do not meditate before them. (H. G.
Salter.)
Meditation and prayer
“During his seclusion at Enderley,” writes one of the biographers
of Robert Hall, “almost entirely without society, he spent much of his time in
private devotion, and not infrequently set apart whole days for prayer and
fasting--a practice which he continued to the end of life, deeming it essential
to the revival and preservation of personal religion. When able to walk, be
wandered in the fields and sought the shady grove, which often echoed with the
voice of prayer, and witnessed the agony of his supplications. He was
frequently so absorbed in these sacred exercises as to be unaware of the
approach of persons passing by, many of whom recollected with deep emotion the
fervour and importunity of his addresses at the mercy-seat, and the groanings
which could not be uttered. His whole soul appears, indeed, to have been in a
state of constant communion with God; his lonely walks amid the woodland
scenery were rendered subservient to that end, and all his paths were bedewed
with the tears of penitential prayer. Few men have spent more time in private
devotion, or resorted to it with more relish, or had a deeper practical
conviction of its benefits and its pleasures, as well as of its obligation as a
duty binding upon all.”
Influence of meditation
“I lived alone,” writes Channing, in mature life, speaking of his
experience when a tutor at Richmond at the age of eighteen, “too poor to buy
books, spending my days and nights in an outbuilding, with no one beneath my
roof except during the hours of school. There I toiled as I have never done
since. With not a human being to whom I could communicate my deepest thoughts
and feelings, I passed through intellectual and moral conflicts so absorbing as
often to banish sleep and to destroy almost wholly the power of digestion. I
was worn well-nigh to a skeleton. Yet I look back on those days and nights of
loneliness and frequent gloom with thankfulness. If I ever struggled with my
whole soul for purity, truth, and goodness, it was there. There, amidst sore
trials, the great question, I trust, was settled within me, whether I would
obey the higher or lower principles of my nature--whether I would be the victim
of passion or the free child and servant of God. It is an interesting
recollection that this great conflict was going on within me, and nay mind
receiving an impulse toward the perfect, without a thought or suspicion of one
person around me as to what I was experiencing.”
Meditation, what it is
Whoever has pondered long over a plan which he is anxious to
accomplish, without distinctly seeing at first the way, knows what meditation
is. It was in this way that one of the greatest of English engineers, a man
uncouth, and unaccustomed to regular discipline of mind, is said to have
accomplished his most marvellous triumphs. He threw bridges over almost
impracticable torrents, and pierced the eternal mountains for his viaducts.
Sometimes a difficulty brought all the work to a pause; then he would shut
himself up in his room, eat nothing, speak to no one, abandon himself intensely
to the contemplation of that on which his heart was set, and at the end of two
or three days would come forth serene and calm, walk to the spot, and quietly
give orders which seemed the result of superhuman intuition.
Placid, pastoral Isaac
Crowded into a brief chapter or two, between the heroic life of
Abraham and the adventurous life of Jacob, Isaac seems overshadowed by the
father and the son. He is the longest lived of the patriarchs, with the
shortest history. It is related of him chiefly that he dug wells--excellent
wells, no doubt, and famous some of them, as Sitnah and Rehoboth and
Beer-sheba; but, with this exception, he is notable chiefly as being the son of
his father, and the father of his son. And yet the thought grows upon me at
every resting-place among the labours of life, at every reminder of my personal
ineffectiveness and unimportance--at every quiet Sunday evening pause between
the work and strife of the week past and those of the week to come, how much
comfort there is, here in this long, quiet, almost unrecorded interval between
Abraham and Jacob, in pondering the peaceful story of a man who had neither the
heroism of the one nor the subtlety of the other, but who, just as much as
either of them, has this testimony, that he pleased God. “When I think of my
father’s life, crowded with great and noble deeds for the Church and for
humanity, and think of my passing years and of their meagre record, it is
comforting to remember that God requires to be served also by other men than
heroes; it is pleasant to turn from Abraham, sitting in his tent-door in the
heat of the fiery noon-day, to placid, pastoral Isaac, meditating in the field
at eventide . . . In the margin of the chapter, we find over against the word
“meditate” the alternative reading, “Or, pray.” We do not need this marginal
note to assure us that this evening meditation of the shepherd-lever was a
prayer. In so grave a crisis of life, the meditation of one who believes in God
of course becomes a prayer. What anxious questions of a lifetime’s joy or
wretchedness were to turn on what might be the result of that far-away embassy
of the faithful slave, Eliezer! (L. W. Bacon.)
Advantages of meditation
A garment that is double-dyed, dipped again and again will retain
the colour a great while; so a truth which is the subject of meditation. (Philip
Henry.)
She became his wife
A primeval marriage
I.
ITS
SIMPLICITY.
II. ITS PURITY.
III. ITS GODLINESS.
IV. IT ILLUSTRATES
THE PRINCIPLE OF UNITY IN DIVERSITY. The characters of Isaac and Rebekah were
most diverse. They were truly complements of each other, and when brought
together made a complete whole. (T. H.Leale.)
A new home
I. THIS NEW HOME
IS FILLED WITH LOVE. “Isaac loved her,” and it is but fair to infer that she
loved him. This love is not mere romance or sentiment. It is better than a
transient conceit, and is that kind which only deepens and strengthens, as the
ideal and the fanciful vanish away. It stands the strain of trial, and falters
not before affliction, and what is more wonderful yet, it seems to be only
purified by the mutual revelation of every phase of character and every mood of
temper, and all the relations and duties of the household. There may be such a
thing as “love at first sight,” and if it be genuine it only gets more hallowed
and more tender as the years roll; but if it is not genuine, if it be only a
fancy, a dazzling flash, a temporary spell of lovely witchery, then you soon
find either the divorce court in session or the domestic court disagreeing and
contending with sensitive intolerance. In the case of the young couple before
us, we find that their love, which seems to have been at “first sight,” was
deep and fond and lasting, and that it was ennobled and blessed with that piety
which, like a divine chemistry, made even life’s cares and annoyances a means
of grace and gracious growth. What a beautiful spectacle this! Two frail
natures on their way to the unknown land, maintaining a moral and life-long
unity, proving a mutual blessing, constituting an affectionate representation
of Christ and the Church, a bulwark for society, and a compound factor in the
world’s destiny.
II. THIS HOME, AS
TIME WORE ON, MADE UP FOR MUCH PAIN AND LOSS. “Isaac was comforted after his
mother’s death.” Comforted! The record is not that he forgot her. Ah! he could
not possibly do that, and doubtless the bereaved Abraham and he frequently
talked about the precious dead! But such was Rebekah’s influence, such her
delicate and efficient ministry, such her care and company, that the heart of
her husband began to heal, and the shadow of the sepulchre to shorten. Every
human home ought to be a place of comfort. It is rough enough outside. The
especial shade of that which I desire you to see now is this filling the place
of the dead, this making up, in a measure, for their loss. These practical
hints I have given, are essential elements; but then there is something beyond
and more! The home should not only be one of comfort, but COMFORTING! Death is
a strange magician even to the believer. He cannot do any real harm to my loved
one, and yet he makes me tremble and cry out, as I imagine, say my mother,
cruelly smitten and changed. And the wand is still further powerful in making
me forget all her blemishes, all her weaknesses, all her failings. I only think
of the virtues, the excellences, the splendid qualities of head and heart, and
my loss seems irreparable. In many a home there is need for a bright, fresh,
loving, tender Rebekah; Heed for a hen]lug and restoring ministry. Your hand is
like God’s when it wipes the tear off the cheek; your heart is Christ-like when
it makes the grave ring with prophecies of resurrection; your effort is angelic
when you whisper comfort in the moonlight, under the olives, to some prostrate,
bleeding form at your feet. No matter what relationship the bereaved one in
your home sustains to you, the thought of the text holds good--be a comfort; be
neither indifferent nor intrusive; do not drawl a saintly lecture, nor grieve
with a reckless folly; be all you can of that which is missed!
III. THIS
PARTICULAR HOME HAD ITS TRIALS. It would be passing strange if it had not. It
would straightway become one of the world’s wonders. If every heart knoweth its
own bitterness, certainly every house has its own anxieties and adversities.
Try to meet them with the grace of Him who was the friend and trust of Isaac. (J.
R. Kerr.)
Rebekah: the chosen bride, wife, and mother
There are delineated here--
I. SOME TYPICAL
VIRTUES OF MAIDENLY CHARACTER ESSENTIAL TO GOOD WIVES AND MOTHERS. Rebekah’s
name is significant. It means a cord with a noose at the end of it--that which
can both catch and hold fast. An old Hebrew writer says, with a biting scorn
and sarcasm--“Not unfit as the name of a girl who ensnares men by her beauty.”
It is a most unworthy saying, and it misses the very point and meaning of the
designation, as such sayings generally do. Rebekah means winning in character
and fast in friendship. It is the opposite of the shallow, frivolous, and
changeful butterfly beauty, as destitute of power as of sincerity. What was the
attraction of Rebekah? what was the force by which she held those who yielded
to her influence?
1. There was a deep religious basis on which her life was built up.
You can never be what you ought to be unless you have possession of that pearl
of great price, true religion, the friendship and favour of God. Commit thy way
unto the Lord, young woman! Delight thyself in the Lord and He shall
give thee the desires of thine heart.
2. There was in Rebekah calmness and self-control. Considering the
general seclusion of Eastern women, there is a remarkable absence of
excitement, flurry, and confusion in presence of the stranger and his
attendants when she was accosted at the well. She had all her wits about her;
had herself in hand, reined in and guided by true judgment; saying right words,
doing right actions. This is a grace which comes of nature often, but may come
of culture when nature has withheld the boon.
3. There was in Rebekah courteousness. There was a polish and
refinement of manner about her which indicate the genial influence of true
education. She was considerate of the rights and of the feelings of others; she
endeavoured to put them at their ease; she tried to promote, and was pleased in
their happiness.
4. Another grace in Rebekah’s character was modesty. She was calm,
ready-witted; but she was without forwardness, self-assertion, loudness.
Nothing is lost to a true modesty, either of right or the respect of others. It
is better to be retiring than self-demonstrative. Power is with the former and
not with the latter.
5. Another point in her character was readiness to oblige. The
stranger had not to ask twice; he received more than he asked. She was mindful
to entertain strangers; ready to communicate; hospitable. Where need was she
hastened to supply it. She had the happy art and faculty of making strangers
feel at home. There was a wise sympathy in her heart which taught her what to
do, and how to do it well.
6. And, last of all, she had great strength and decision. When she
was asked whether she would go with the steward to Abraham’s residence to be
Isaac’s wife, there was no hesitation about her, and no desire to tarry. She
said, “I will go.” Isaac was a quiet, yielding, contemplative-natured man; she
was his very counterpart and help-meet. Decision of character is essential to
all noble life. There are innumerable failures and innumerable evils attendant
upon its absence. They who lack moral strength are open to all manner of evil inducements
and temptations. The fierce conflicts of the flesh can only be maintained
through resoluteness. To hesitate is to be lost.
II. THERE ARE
CERTAIN PRINCIPLES AND LESSONS ASSOCIATED WITH AND GROWING OUT OF REBEKAH’S
LIFE AND HISTORY WHICH NAY BE SUGGESTED FOR QUIET HOME THINKING.
1. The elevated distinction of the wife in the kingdom of God. Any
woman would not do to be Isaac’s wife. She had to be sent for from afar. Shehad
to be richly endowed and beautiful. She had to be a woman of exalted character
and capability. This was so because there was to be a typal life in the
believing home, and because the regeneration of society was to go out from it.
If women be not noble, homes cannot be pure and strong to withstand the
deteriorating influence of the world on character and life. As the homes are,
society must be. In Christianity the home virtues have a high, if not the
highest, place. To rule the home a woman needs to possess abundance of grace.
2. The importance of strong-minded, strong-hearted, pious mothers in
the kingdom of God. The great men of the Bible were all endowed with the
greatness of their mothers. They owed to them what was best and brightest in
their heart and lives. It was through them they achieved their successes. Never
had women greater responsibilities thrust upon them than had the mothers of
Moses, Jacob, Samuel, David, and Jesus Christ. Never did women more nobly
fulfil their trust. It is of immense importance to a man, the first and most
formative and lasting influence which moulds his character and directs the bent
and tendency of his nature.
3. All social ties and relationships should be sanctified,
consecrated, by prayer. The prayer of Eliezer, the prayer of Isaac--here called
his eventide meditation--and the prayer of Rebekah’s relatives, all suggest and
convey the lesson that there is a religious aspect and element of those
relationships of affection on which homes are to rest and be built up. If
anywhere Divine direction should be sought, it is in connection with steps which
are irrevocable--which once taken cannot be retraced.
4. The last word must be a word of caution. It is the temptation of
the strong to be impatient of Divine delays. It was Rebekah’s. (W.
H.Davison.)
Isaac’s marriage
In this tender manner is the admirable story closed. Who can
forbear wishing them all happiness? The union of filial and conjugal affection
is not the least honourable trait in the character of this amiable man. He
“brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent”; and was then, and not till then,
comforted for his loss of her. Dutiful sons promise fair to be affectionate
husbands: he that fills up the first station in life with honour, is thereby
prepared for those that follow. God in mercy sets a day of prosperity over
against a day of adversity. Now he woundeth our spirits by dissolving one
tender union, and now bindeth up our wounds by cementing another. (A.
Fuller.)
Lessons
1. Honourable and due
reception is but due to a wife sent from God.
2. Solemn taking of a wife as well as consent, is requisite for
perfecting marriage.
3. Conjugal love must follow in all marriages made by God.
4. A wife’s comfort may supply a mother’s loss. So God makes up
creature losses with creature revivings sometimes. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Rebekah a suitable wife for Isaac
Isaac’s continence had its reward. In the suitableness of Rebekah
to a man of his nature, we see the suitableness of all such gifts of God as are
really waited for at His hand. God may keep us longer waiting than the world
does, but He gives us never the wrong thing. Isaac had no idea of Rebekah’s
character; he could only yield himself to God’s knowledge of what he needed;
and so there came to him, from a country he had never seen, a help-meet
singularly adapted to his own character. One cannot read of her lively,
bustling, almost forward, but obliging and generous conduct at the well, nor of
her prompt, impulsive departure to an unknown land, without seeing, as no doubt
Eliezer very quickly saw, that this was exactly the woman for Isaac. In this eager,
ardent, active, enterprising spirit, his own retiring and contemplative, if not
sombre disposition, found its appropriate relief and stimulus. Hers was a
spirit which might indeed, with so mild a lord, take more of the management of
affairs than was befitting; and when the wear and tear of life had tamed down
the girlish vivacity with which she spoke to Eliezer at the well, and leapt
from the camel to meet her lord, her active-mindedness does appear in the
disagreeable shape of the clever scheming of the mother of a family. In her
sons you see her qualities exaggerated: from her, Esau derived his activity and
open-handedness; and in Jacob, you find that her self-reliant and unscrupulous
management has become a self-asserting craft which leads him into much trouble,
if it also sometimes gets him out of difficulties. But such as Rebekah was, she
was quite the woman to attract Isaac and supplement his character. So in other
cases where you find you must leave yourself very much in God’s hand, what He
sends you will be found more precisely adapted to your character than if you
chose it for yourself. You find your whole nature has been considered--your
aims, your hopes, your wants, your position, whatever in you waits for
something unattained. And as in giving to Isaac the intended mother of the
promised seed, God gave him a woman who fitted in to all the peculiarities of
his nature, and was a comfort and a joy to him in his own life; so we shall
always find that God, in satisfying His own requirements, satisfies at the same
time our wants--that God carries forward His work in the world by the
satisfaction of the best and happiest feelings of our nature, so that it is not
only the result that is blessedness, but blessing is created along its whole
course. (M. Dods, D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》