Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis. Tonight is study #28 of Genesis, chapter 24, and we are going to read Genesis 24:31-33:
And he said, Come in, thou blessed of JEHOVAH; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels. And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men's feet that were with him. And there was set meat before him to eat: but he said, I will not eat, until I have told mine errand. And he said, Speak on.
Then he began to tell his errand, which will be a recount of what we read earlier in this chapter, so let us stop right here and go back to verse 31. Laban invited this man, Abraham’s servant, into his home, so he is showing them hospitality. In the Bible, hospitality has to do with sharing the Word of God with others and, in this case, it is with strangers. And God does typify the elect as being strangers in a strange world.
So Laban is doing that which is right and good, and he is a man that God used (I believe) to picture the corporate church. For almost two thousand years, the corporate church did have the Spirit of Christ in its midst and did, in part, what God would have them do. They did that which was right and good to the degree that the Lord had opened understanding of His Word to them. It was only partial understanding.
The church was also a mixture of good and evil – saved and unsaved. So, perhaps, Laban is a good illustration of that. We were looking at his name, which is translated as “white,” and we looked at how that can point to that which is holy or to that which is unclean, like leprosy, so maybe that is how God is using him.
Laban invited the man and the men with him to his house, and he also began to take care of the camels, as it says in Genesis 24:32:
And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels…
This is a little unclear. Is this referring to Laban or the servant, as far as the man coming into the house? He entered into Laban’s house or the house of Bethuel. And, yet, Laban is the one in the forefront in this account. A little later, it says in verse 50: “Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from JEHOVAH: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.” This is about the only other time we hear of Bethuel. For the most part, it is either Laban or the mother who was having a dialogue with this servant. So when the man came into the house, I think it is referring to the servant, who can be a type of Christ. Then he “ungirded his camels,” so that is why I think it refers to Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, who can be a type of Christ. He ungirded his camels.
And Laban, again, is a figure that is kind of in the middle. One phrase the Lord identifies with Laban is “not doing good or evil.” In this account we will see that, as well as in the account of Jacob later on. So I don’t think it was Laban (that ungirded the camels). I think it was the servant, and the reason I think this is because of the word “ungirded,” which is Strong’s #6605, and it is most often translated as “opened.” For example, it says in Ezekiel 37:12-13:
Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am JEHOVAH, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
Here, it is in the context of the “dead dry bones” that God spoke life into, and they stood upon their feet, a great army. And that typifies the great multitude that God saved out of great tribulation, so the opening up of the graves points to salvation. It has to do with salvation: “I will open your graves.” This is also in view in Psalm 102:20:
To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;
The word “loose” is the same Hebrew word as “ungird.” Again, it is to open the graves, so to speak, of those that were in their sins and under the wrath of God in the day of salvation, and God sent forth the Gospel which accomplished their “loosing.” It freed them from the bondage of sin and death and Satan, and they became saved.
The same word is found in Isaiah 58:6:
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
And, again, this is a verse that is referring to salvation. We will look at one more in Psalm 105:20:
The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.
Here, the phrase “let him go free” is a translation of that one Hebrew word that we saw translated in other places as “loose” or “open.” This verse is referring to Joseph, who was in prison. “Let him go free,” and that is exactly what the Gospel accomplished in the lives of the chosen ones, the blessed people that God predestinated to receive it. They were let free from sin and bondage to Satan. They are no longer dead in their souls; they have received the gift of life. Remember the Lord Jesus Christ said, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” And this is what salvation has done with everyone that God has saved – it has let us go free. We are free from the penalty for our sins, which is death, and, therefore, we have received the gift of eternal life.
Going back to Genesis 24, it says in Genesis 24:32:
And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels…
He “let go free” or “loosed” his camels. The camels are an unclean animal. We discussed that earlier in this chapter. It is as though the unsaved had come into the churches during the church age when God was working in the congregations to save His elect. Remember the camels were also given water by Rebekah and now they came back to the house or the church. You know, this is what happened during the church age. A person would hear the Gospel through a friend or family member, and they would find their way to the church and come to a church. They were a visiting member over the course of, perhaps, many Sundays. They would hear the pastor preach, and if they were one of God’s elect, God would “ungird” them or “loose” them from bondage to sin, and they would become part of the figurative 144,000, the firstfruits unto God. That is the picture here.
It is similar picture to the New Testament account when Christ told the disciples that they would find an ass that was tied, and they were to loose it. Let us turn there and read about one account, in Mark 11:2-7:
And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him. And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither. And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him. And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt? And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him.
And here we see the spiritual picture. The ass was “bound.” Remember the woman who had an infirmity, and she was bowed over and could not stand upright, and Jesus said she had been “bound” eighteen years by Satan. And He loosed her of that infirmity, a picture of salvation. Man is bound to sin and to Satan, and it is only when Christ delivered a person that they could be loosed from the bondage and freed. But then we see in Mark 11 that Jesus sat upon the colt. It was bound, and then loosed, and then Jesus sat upon him, and in the Bible “to sit” identifies with ruling, like a king sits upon a throne. So the picture is that Jesus is now ruling over the life of the one he has saved, as the donkey typified an unclean animal or a sinner still in his sins. And now Christ is the Lord of the person’s life, and he or she serves the Lord Jesus Christ as He rules.
That is the same picture in view insofar as the camels are loosed. They were set free, and then they gave straw and provender to the camels. The camels were nourished or fed, once they are loosed. So that is really a nice Gospel picture that God is giving.
And remember that this is the Bible, and God does not waste space writing about things that are of no significance or importance or things that have no real meaning except for some kind of historical “scene.” That is how the churches approach the Bible. They really empty the Bible of its glory and its deeper spiritual meaning with their manmade hermeneutic of looking for only the historical, grammatical teaching of Scriptures and seeking no other meaning. That is the teaching of the churches, but Christ’s teaching is that He spoke in parables, and without a parable He did not speak. And to prove to His elect children that this principle does apply to all Scripture, God does reveal in numerous places that this is the case. For example, when He is speaking in Deuteronomy of not muzzling the ox that treadeth out the corn, it has a spiritual meaning. Or, when He talks about the son of Sarah or the son of Hagar, that also has a spiritual meaning – it is an allegory. And all through the New Testament, God is teaching us that the principle that Christ spoke in parables, and without a parable He did not speak, applies to all historical accounts in the Bible. And it applies to what is typically thought of as “the Law.” It applies to the whole Word of God. We could go on talking about that for quite a while, but that is the Bible’s teaching.
Regarding the camels, we also read in the second part of Genesis 24:32:
… and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men's feet that were with him.
And, again, I mentioned that Laban was showing good hospitality. He was doing what was customary or what men in ancient civilization typically did and which we read about in the Bible. We read of the Lord Jesus and this custom of “foot washing” in John 13, which was written in the 1st Century A. D., whereas what we are reading in Genesis 24 happened about two thousand years before Christ, so the custom continued for a couple of millenniums. It says in John 13:1-5:
Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
I think the situation here is significant that we read of the supper being ended, and then he rose from the supper in verse 4, and it really points to the fact that the work He had come to do was completed. Remember that during the supper, He had said to eat because the bread was His body broken for you and to drink of the cup that was His blood shed for you. So the supper being ended would be the completion of His demonstration, the work that He had entered into he world to perform and which was completed at the cross, and rising from the supper, like rising from the dead. And then what happened after that, historically? Not long thereafter was the day of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the Gospel going out to the nations of the world. How does God figure or portray the sending forth of the Gospel to the nations of the world? As it says in Romans 10:15: “And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” So in John 13, the supper ended, and Christ arose from the supper, indicating that on the third day He would arise from the dead.
And then what was the next thing that happened? He poured water into the basin. The Gospel water would be used to be applied to the elect scattered among the nations of the world as the churches were established and set up over the course of the church age. And then He began to wash the disciples’ feet. You see, Christ started it, and He washed the disciples’ feet, cleansing their feet and thereby qualifying them, in turn, to carry the Gospel to others: “How beautiful are the feet of them!” They had been saved in their souls, although they were not completely clean because they were still in their physical bodies. (God will take care of that on the last day.) And, therefore, “Go ye into the world.” It goes on to say in John 13:6-8:
Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
Of course that is true, spiritually. That is, if the Word of God was not applied to your ears and soul (as faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God), then you would have no part in the Lamb’s Book of Life, as it says in Revelation 22:19, “God shall take away his part out of the book of life,” and this applies to those that are ungodly and wicked. As it says in Revelation 20:6: “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.” Again, the washing of the soul is really being pictured in the washing of the feet. It was not a washing of the complete body. Again, God saves the soul first, not the whole personality in body and soul, but just that portion. Then it goes on to say in John 13:9-10:
Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet…
That is, he who has been cleansed from all sin is clean. Christ is saying, “You have been cleansed from sin, as I bore those sins at the foundation of the world. They were laid upon me and I died for them, paying the penalty of death, thereby washing them away by the baptism of hell, and the cleansing wrath of God washed them away.” So he that is saved needs not save to wash his feet; that is, the Gospel enters into that person while he is alive on the earth. Before he dies, he must hear the Word and be washed by the Word, and once he is saved, he is commissioned to carry forth the Gospel. How beautiful are the feet of them. That is what Jesus is saying of the elect: “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.” The “not all” is referring to the corporate church, and the elect were in the midst of the churches throughout the church age. There were (both) wheat and tares.
That is one place God speaks of washing the feet. Lord willing, when we get together in our next study, we will look at another place in the Gospels where foot washing is in view. Then we will come back to Genesis 24, and we will see that Laban, in allowing the man to do this, is doing a very proper and good thing. And, again, it ties in with God’s overall Gospel picture that He is painting for us in that chapter.