Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #17 of Genesis, chapter 24, and I am going to read Genesis 24:16-21:

And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking. And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.  And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether JEHOVAH had made his journey prosperous or not.

Now the servant (who is likely this Eliezer) is seeing acted out before him the very thing he had prayed about.  Remember that he said, in Genesis 24:12-14:

And he said, O JEHOVAH God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: 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.

The next thing he knew, it said in Genesis 24:15:

And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out…

The very thing he had prayed to God moments before took place and it was acted out before him.  Yes –  we can see this as an evidence or sign that he had come to the right place and that Rebekah was the right girl, and so forth.  But we should also look at it from another perspective.  I do not know if I mentioned this, but the title of “servant” does apply to the Lord Jesus in a few places in the Bible.  I will just read one of them, in Isaiah 53, a Messianic chapter.  It says in Isaiah 53:11:

He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

We have discussed how the servant Eliezer is a picture of the body of Christ carrying out the Great Commission by sending forth the elect with the Word of God in the day of salvation to recover the remnant of His people to form the eternal bride of Christ.  So the servant is at times a picture of the body of Christ, but at other times it is a picture of Jesus Himself.

And here is one of those pictures as Eliezer has a conversation with JEHOVAH God as he prays that the woman to be found for his master’s son would come and do this and that, and then this woman did those very things.  You see, it is a quick glimpse into the counsel of the Godhead in eternity past as God predestinated in His salvation program to produce the bride of Christ.  And in that counsel, the people that would become the bride and saved by the grace of God through the faith of Christ were chosen.  God worked out all things that would eventually happen; it was already in His mind.  He already knew everything that would take place after He created the world and how it would impact the lives of every human being and how the Gospel would come to each one of His people as they were saved.

Remember, we saw this same picture with Noah in Genesis, chapter 6, when God first came to Noah to tell him to build the ark.  Speaking to Noah, the Lord said in Genesis 6:18-19:

But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee…

From what we can read, this was God’s first encounter with Noah when He told him that he would build the ark.  And we know that the building of the ark took 120 years, so these statements were made to Noah long before he began to build the ark.  Then God told him exactly who would come on board the ark: his sons, his wife and his son’s wives.  You can read in Genesis 7 that these were precisely the same souls that entered the ark 120 years later; there were no other human beings.  In this historical parable, God predestinated 120 years in advance who would come into the ark in order to illustrate what He had done before the foundation of the world when He selected everyone He would save.  And then time unfolded during the course of history, and God fulfilled His Word and did exactly what He said He would do, and He saved only those people He said He would save.  That is what we are getting a little picture of in Genesis 24 of the glorious counsel of the Godhead wherein the servant Eliezer, a type of Christ, has conversation with JEHOVAH God, representing two Persons of the Trinity.  Of course, Eliezer is just a man and servant, but he was picturing the Lord Jesus, one of the three Persons of the Trinity and one God.  Then it was acted out. 

In this case, it was not 120 years later, but only moments after he was done speaking.  But what is the difference?  With God, there is no difference, whether the conversation with God was the day before, the year before or a hundred years before.  It is, once again, showing us the power of God to be in charge and to be in control and the “mover” of all events.  He is the one that controls circumstances, situations and events, and He works them out according to His perfect will and grand design.  So we see it here, as it happens just a few seconds later.  Nonetheless, it is pointing to God’s counsel in eternity past.

Again, it said in Genesis 24:16:

And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.

Again, we know that the well is a picture of salvation and, yet, it is an interesting Hebrew word, Strong’s #5869, which is often translated as “sight” or “eyes.”  We also spent some time looking at a few verses where that is the case, but I want to look at two or three more verses.  Let us go back to Genesis 6:8:

But Noah found grace in the eyes of JEHOVAH.

The word “eyes” is our word translated as “well.”

And it says in Isaiah 42:1:

Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

The Lord Jesus is that servant.  And He is also called the elect because He was chosen, just as all those that became saved are chosen by God.  Then it says in Isaiah 42:7:

To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

Again, “eyes” is this same word.

Let us look at one last place this word is used in Jonah 2, where Jonah was cast into the sea and the great fish swallowed him up.  It says in Jonah 2:4:

Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

Here, the word “sight” is this same Hebrew word translated as “well,” so there are all kinds of verses where it is translated as “sight” or “eyes,” and a few verses where it is translated as “well,”  Of course, the translators realized Rebekah was carrying a pitcher, so it says she went down to the well.  But if it said she went down to the “eyes” or the “sight,” it did not make sense, historically.  But she filled her pitcher and came up.  Obviously, since she was carrying an empty pitcher, she went down and filled the pitcher, and then the rest of the context tells us in Genesis 24:17:

And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.

So she had filled the pitcher with water after she went down.  It had to be a well and, yet, God did not use the word that would more accurately identify with a well, but He used this word that has a much greater emphasis upon “seeing” and “sight” and “eyes.”  It has to do with (spiritual) vision.  So the translators translated it correctly, as they considered all this information and the context, and it would not have made any sense to the reader if it said, “She went down to the eyes, and filled her pitcher, and came up.”  But, you see, that is how God wrote the Bible – the deeper spiritual meaning is always the more important meaning of the Bible.

And we have talked about this before, but sometimes God often makes it an impossibility to fulfill a literal, physical meaning of His Scripture, like the command to “circumcise the heart,” which has to do with the spiritual command to be born again.  You cannot literally circumcise your heart, or you would die.  Occasionally, God will make it so obvious that you have to look for a deeper meaning, and a surface and literal meaning must be looked through to see what lies deeper within.

So, too, here, when we see the word “well,” we must look through it.  Yes – there was a well of water there.  That is where Rebekah was going with her empty pitcher.  What is the spiritual meaning?  It says she went down to the well.  Now let us try to substitute the idea of “seeing.”  She passes by the servant or, at least, he has seen her, and she descends down to the place of “sight.”  Then at the place of “sight,” she filled her pitcher with water, and then she comes back up, because it says at the end of verse 16 that she filled her pitcher and came up.  She came up or ascended from the place of “sight,” and at that point, it says in Genesis 24:17:

And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.

So what is in view here, spiritually?  You see, it has to do with Rebekah as a figure representing God’s elect, and she first has to receive “sight.”  God’s elect people must first receive sight, and then it is as though they fill their pitcher with water, and they are now a proper messagenger of the Gospel and a proper “water bearer,” and then they can come back up from the place of receiving sight.  And where do we go down to receive sight?  We  have to go down into the pit of “hell” in the Person of Christ Jesus as He bore our sins and paid for them, cleansing us from all sin.  And then we come up, now qualified through salvation to be a messenger of the Gospel. 

And that is the first thing Rebekah had opportunity to do.  As soon as she came up from the place of “sight,” she was called upon, as the servant said, “Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.”  Then it says in Genesis 24:18-20:

And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking. And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. 

Immediately she was carrying out her service to a stranger.  “Let me give you drink.”  Then she went right back to the well, and that would point to going back to Christ and the Word of God to fill the pitcher up again and to carry the message of truth that the Bible reveals.  And then she returns and gives water to the camels, as well, and remember that the camels are unclean animals, which points to sharing the Gospel with the unsaved.

So we can see the beautiful picture, and we also see a Biblical principle that is seen in a few places, like that found in Psalm 51:12-13:

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

First, there needs to be a cleansing of sin from the sinner, the washing away of sin and the giving of spiritual sight at the moment of salvation.  The person is then alive in his soul and he is able to see spiritually, hear spiritually and walk spiritually.  Then he teaches or carries the message of the Gospel.

Or, we also see this principle in Acts 9 with Saul of Tarsus at the time of his conversion, in Acts 9:17-20:

And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

Here, we see Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, and he encountered the Lord Jesus Christ.  Christ struck him blind and then commanded a servant names Ananias to go and put his hands on him, and Saul was given sight.  And immediately (straightway), he preached Christ, and that is the picture the Bible presents.  It is a Biblical principle.  When God saved someone and opened their spiritual eyes, then right away that person became a servant to carry the message of the Word of God, the Bible, to others. 

And that is what we see with Rebekah going down to the well.  God uses the Hebrew word normally translated as “eyes” or “sight” and, yet, in Genesis 24 it is translated as “well.”  So she went down to the place of “sight.”  Then she could see, and upon seeing, she became a servant of the Lord to bear water to others, representing the spiritual water that flows forth from the Word of God.

We will touch upon this a little bit more when we get together in our next Bible study, but we are going to stop at this time.