The Recount - Genesis 24:32-49

24:32-49 - When all the men get to the house, a man takes care of the camels, gives them food and water, and then washed the feet of the men in the traveling party. What is difficult to grasp with this is who is doing all this work? Verse 31 portrays Laban as being the main actor there, but then verse 33 shifts the focus to Eliezer, so I don’t know exactly who verse 32 is referring to. I don’t know very much about ancient hospitality etiquette, so I don’t know if it was proper for the traveling people to go through the stuff of the residence to find food and water for their camels or if it was customary for the residents to stop whatever they were doing to take care of the needs of their guests, I guess I can see it both ways. Regardless of who did all the work, when Eliezer sits down to eat with the group, he stops everything and says, “I will not eat, until I have told mine errand.” I don’t know exactly what the significance is here, why he put off eating until he told of his mission, but I’m sure he was hungry just like everyone else. Maybe if they had eaten and were full and tired then maybe it would have seemed less urgent and not needing a decision right then but because everyone was hungry they might have been more enticed to make a decision in a more timely manner. Maybe it was a case of “don’t go grocery shopping when you’re hungry,” don’t ask for a big favor AFTER you’ve eaten a big meal, do it before when everyone still is hungry then they’ll do what you want so they can eat, but probably not. Eliezer identifies himself as Abraham’s servant, which Rebekah and Laban already knew but other household members probably didn’t. He tells of Abraham’s great favor with God in that God has made Abraham rich, with “flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses.” He notes that Sarah gave birth to a son “when she was old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath.” I think this is important here because it demonstrates that Isaac’s place as the only successor is secure, there isn’t going to be an internal civil war after Abraham dies where brothers fight for their father’s belongings. The inheritance is vast and undisputedly Isaac’s only. All this to demonstrate that Rebekah would be going to a stable, wealthy household, the family wouldn’t have to worry about Abraham’s side of the family becoming a burden if allowed to join through marriage. Eliezer tells of his vow to find a wife for Isaac among “my father’s house, and to my kindred.” It should be noted here that the account that Eliezer gives is different in a few ways than the earlier record of events as given by Moses, like it’s suggested that Abraham never said to find a wife from among his family specifically, only to his home town. This wouldn’t really make sense to me as an explanation and I don’t think that it changes enough of the context to make note of all the ways that his story differs so I’m just going to skip that part. Eliezer tells about the oath he made to Abraham including that he would be released from his obligation if the woman didn’t agree to go with him, and I think that’s significant because it takes the pressure off of Rebekah to agree to go. If Eliezer had said something like “if the woman I chose for Isaac’s wife should decline to come back with me then myself and all my family will be killed,” that changes the power dynamic of the conversation and might guilt Rebekah into going when she didn’t want to. Alternatively, if the oath had been “don’t come back until you find a wife,” that would raise the question, just how many other women had he tried to convince and why did they decline? This is honestly just the easiest way to make sure that Rebekah understood the gravity of the situation but also knew that she was not obligated to go back with him. He tells about approaching her for water and her generosity in getting water for the camels, he tells about his discussion with God about the sign for the right woman, he tells about giving her jewelry and her telling him that she was “the daughter of Bethuel,” and finally he tells about praising God “which had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter unto his son.” And here comes the proposition, “now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me: and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.” Maybe it was the case where he had traveled so far and had so many things fall into place where he just couldn’t wait any longer to find out if this had worked or not. Maybe he was trying to make his plans about continuing on in his search for a wife, or if he was going to be done at this point. Maybe he was just so anxious to accomplish his mission that he just didn’t want to wait any longer. But we leave it here for the answer for tomorrow.