Rebekah Marries Isaac

Rebekah Marries Isaac is the account of a marriage arranged across distance through Abraham’s household and affirmed by Rebekah’s own consent. Abraham’s insistence that Isaac remain in the promised land, the servant’s well-side test, and Rebekah’s decision to depart make the union a hinge between inherited family promises and the next generation.

The Household’s Marriage Charge

Old and blessed in all things, Abraham instructs the senior servant who manages his household to swear that he will not choose a wife for Isaac from among the Canaanites. Instead, he must travel to Abraham’s country and kindred. The servant asks whether he should bring Isaac back if the woman refuses to follow him; Abraham forbids that possibility, insisting that Isaac must not return to the land from which Abraham came.

Abraham grounds the mission in the divine promise of land and descendants. He says that the God who brought him from his father’s house will send an angel ahead of the servant and make the journey prosper. If the woman declines, the servant will be released from the oath, but Isaac is still not to be taken away from Canaan. The oath and its limits define the mission: seek a wife among Abraham’s kin without reversing the family’s migration.

The Sign at the Well

The servant takes ten camels and valuable goods from Abraham’s household and travels to the city of Nahor in Aram-naharaim. At evening, when women come to draw water, he prays that the woman appointed for Isaac will offer him a drink and also volunteer to water his camels. Before he has finished speaking, Rebekah arrives with her pitcher. She gives him water and hastens back to the well repeatedly, drawing until all the camels have drunk.

The servant watches in silence to learn whether the journey has prospered. After the camels finish, he gives Rebekah a gold ring and two gold bracelets, then asks about her family and whether there is room to lodge. Her answer identifies her as Bethuel’s daughter, born to Milcah and Nahor’s family; she also says that her household has straw, provender, and room. The servant bows before the LORD, recognizing the encounter as guidance to his master’s kin.

Rebekah’s Consent and Departure

At Rebekah’s family home, the servant recounts Abraham’s prosperity, Sarah’s late-born son, the oath against taking a Canaanite wife, and the events at the well. He explains that Rebekah’s response matched the sign for which he had prayed and asks her family to decide whether they will deal kindly and truly with Abraham. Laban and Bethuel answer that the matter proceeds from the LORD and agree that Rebekah may go to become Isaac’s wife.

The servant gives Rebekah garments and ornaments of silver and gold, and gives precious things to her brother and mother. When they ask that she remain for at least ten days, he urges them not to delay. They call Rebekah and ask her directly whether she will go with him; she answers that she will. Her family blesses her with the hope that her offspring will become numerous and possess the gate of their enemies. She then departs with her nurse, her attendants, and the servant’s men.

Marriage and Continuity

Isaac is living in the South and comes from the direction of Beer-lahai-roi. At evening he goes out into the field to meditate and sees the approaching camels. Rebekah sees him, dismounts, asks the servant who he is, and covers herself with her veil when told that he is her master. The servant reports to Isaac all that he has done.

Isaac brings Rebekah into Sarah’s tent, takes her as his wife, and loves her; the narrative adds that he is comforted for his mother. The ending links the new marriage to Sarah’s absence without treating the two women as interchangeable: Rebekah enters the tent associated with Isaac’s mother and becomes the wife through whom Abraham’s household continues. The journey has preserved Isaac’s place in Canaan while joining him to his father’s kindred.