Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #48 of Genesis, chapter 24, and we are reading Genesis 24:53-60:

And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things. And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master. 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. And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing JEHOVAH hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master. And they said, We will call the damsel, and enquire at her mouth. And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men. And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.

I will stop reading there.  We have been going along for quite some time in Genesis 24, and we are at the point where the decision has to be made.  Abraham’s servant Eliezer has forced the issue: “Tell me, one way or the other, whether you will allow her to go with me to be my master’s son’s wife.”

We talked about how Laban and Bethuel had said, “The thing proceedeth from JEHOVAH: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.”  It has to do with God restraining sin, for example, as he did in the life of Balaam where he could not go beyond the Word of JEHOVAH, bad or good.  Likewise, Laban was not a saved man.  He was a deceitful man, and the Bible reveals that, so God restrained his natural inclination to oppose the things of God, so he could not speak “bad” or “evil.”  So he told the servant, “Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as JEHOVAH hath spoken.”  It appeared to be settled and done.  Then the servant worshipped JEHOVAH upon hearing this, and he was overjoyed.  Remember what God says about salvation, that there is “joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.”  Keep in mind that he had come as a messenger of the Gospel to bring Rebekah to Isaac, a type of Christ.  So Rebekah was called and returned with him to become Isaac’s wife, which is a picture of God saving a sinner.  So the servant was showing forth proper joy, like the joy in heaven over a sinner that repenteth.  Here was one that God had predestinated and appointed to salvation.  The circumstances of how the servant found Rebekah and brought her back has God’s “stamp” all over it; the will of God was key and much involved in the whole matter.

Then after rejoicing, the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold and gave them to Rebekah.  We talked about this earlier when he first approached her, in Genesis 24:22:

And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold;

He gave them to her, and we saw how these items pointed to God’s salvation program and what He does, spiritually, when He saves someone.  We also discussed how those in the corporate church that profess to be saved are looked at as also being garnished with these adornments, according to the Biblical perspective.  So this is another picture to show that Rebekah was an elect child of God, but it also says in Genesis 24:53:

… he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things.

The term “precious things” is used three or four times, and it basically means that, but I think what is going on is best illustrated by Ezekiel 16, which is describing Jerusalem as a woman God has found and cleansed.  It says in Ezekiel 16:8-14:

Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord JEHOVAH, and thou becamest mine. Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord JEHOVAH.

If you read Ezekiel 16, which is a long chapter, it describes God’s judgment on this same “woman,” Jerusalem, which typifies the corporate church.  First, He was speaking to Judah and Israel of old, but despite all that they continued to sin and rebel against Him, so He judged them.  To be the recipient of “precious things,” like gold and silver ornaments, is really a picture of the Gospel as it comes to people.  And when people say they are saved, they are saying they have these riches, the beautiful and glorious things of God in the spiritual realm which accompany salvation.  But, in reality, they do not have it, but God does hold them responsible and accountable as though they had received these things, because they said they did.  But by their actions and the things going on in their hearts, it is obvious that they never had these things.

So Laban and his mother received these precious things.  But notice, again, that the father did not receive them.  If Bethuel, the father, was alive then it was rather odd.  Why was only Laban at the forefront?  It would make sense if the father was dead, and this Bethuel was the brother.

Let us go on, as it says in Genesis 24:54:

And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master.

He was ready to go.  He was not tarrying.  He did not want to tarry.  Would this not be a great employee or worker?  He was somebody who just wanted to do the job he was sent to do.  Of course, it is a great picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, as Eliezer is a picture of the Lord, but it is also a picture of the elect of God that were sent forth with the Gospel to obtain the “bride.”  This is the reason Revelation 19 speaks of the bride’s readiness and it says, “she hath made herself ready,” as the elect that carry and minister the Gospel are part of the “bride,” and as they do so, others become saved.  So it is the bride making herself ready through the completion of everyone becoming saved by May 21, 2011.  And, yet, the Lord Jesus was behind it all as He moved in His people to will and to do of His good pleasure, which was to carry the Gospel to the world to find the lost sheep of the house of Israel in the day of salvation.  And we always have to point out that the day of salvation is past, and we are not living in that day any longer, but this historical parable is pointing to that period of time when salvation was still possible.  So the mindset of the servant was the mindset of God.  God does not “dilly-dally” and He is not idle.  He does not stand around all day.  When God has something to do, He does it, and He put this desire into this servant.

Then it says in Genesis 24:55:

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.

The servant was in a hurry.  Well, maybe we cannot say he is in a hurry, but he just wants to perform the task that had been given to him.  He had accomplished it, so there was no reason for him to stay at their house and eat, drink and party.   Well, maybe he should be considerate in this, and think of the family and how they were not expecting all this.  Yes, it was true that Rebekah had lived with them for many years, but now they are faced with the reality that she will go with this man and his company, and they may not ever see her again.  You know, it was no easy matter to travel back then, and it was a long journey from the land of Canaan to Haran.  Historically, it was understandable.  I think we can acknowledge that it is understandable that the mother, brother and the whole family would want to delay her departure to spend more time to say things to her they had not said to one another up to that point, or to give gifts to her, or to hold her close and go for a walk and have some talks.  Yes, we can understand all those things that make perfect sense in the historical context. 

But the spiritual meaning of the Bible is always the more important meaning.  It is always the main focus of what God is recording in the Bible.  It was a long historical account.  Remember, we talked about how it is one of the longest chapters in the Bible, composed of sixty-seven verses.  And God has a deep spiritual meaning for all Scripture and for this historical account, and here He is painting a beautiful picture of the calling of a sinner to Himself to become the bride of Christ.  So the servant wanted to take her back to his master as soon as possible so Isaac and Rebekah could become man and wife and the marriage could be consummated.  In other words, when we look at the history of the world, we know the world is in no hurry for the “time” to end that is allotted to them.  God has established the timekeepers, the sun, moon and stars, in the heavens, but the world is in absolutely no hurry for God to work out His plan of salvation, which is the main reason that time has unfolded for these thousands of years.  The world has its own purposes, desires and things it wants to do.  It wants to enjoy family.  It wants to enjoy a long life on this earth, but God has his “times and seasons” scheduled according to His salvation plan.  He does everything according to His plan, and He does not tarry. 

When we look at the history of the world, things have happened at precise times in history according to the time schedule and program of God.  So we have the Old Testament history up until the birth of Christ in a Jubilee Year.  Then we have Jesus’ ministry period of 40 calendar years.  Then we have the church age of 1,955 years, and then the time of the end, starting with the 2,300 evening mornings from 1988 to 1994.  Then the Latter Rain fell precisely on the day God arranged for it to start, and then Judgment Day came on May 21, 2011, and now there is a prolonged judgment period in which God is executing judgment.   It is not speedy – it is prolonged.  We are told in Ecclesiastes 8:11: “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily…”  But everything is done in its time and in its proper season and place and, yet, God makes no tarrying.  Immediately after the Tribulation, the “sun was darkened.”  It was not weeks, months or years to allow the world to enjoy some further festivities.  No – the Tribulation came; the Tribulation ended; Judgment Day followed immediately thereafter.  The Bible uses language like, “Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”  God will come quickly at the first available instant according to His time program for the world.

So it is understandable, historically, why Laban and his mother would want Rebekah to abide for them a few days, “at the least ten.”  By the way, I need to mention that the Hebrew word translated here as “ten” is not the typical word.  It is Strong’s #6218, and it is translated in ways like, “in the tenth” or “on the tenth,” in relationship to important feast days, like the Day of Atonement or the Jubilee.  There is another Hebrew word that could have been used for just the number “ten.”  This word is also translated in the Psalms as “an instrument of ten strings,” so I am not exactly why this word was used.  Again, it said, “Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten.”  The words translated as “at the least” could be translated as “or.”  So, I think it may carry the idea of “in the tenth” or until the tenth.  We do not know what day of the month it was, as we have not been given that kind of time information in this chapter.  But it does seem that if it were the first day of the month, it could be referring to her staying until the tenth.  (Just look it up and you will see what I mean.  This is the only instance in which it was translated in this particular way.)

Then it says in Genesis 24:56:

Hinder me not, seeing JEHOVAH hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master.

The servant Eliezer was a faithful man.  Although the desire of the family to have her remain a few days longer was understandable, Eliezer was moved by God to say, “Hinder me not, seeing JEHOVAH hath prospered my way.”  The idea of JEHOVAH prospering His way has everything to do with God’s salvation program.  “I have found one of the lost sheep, the firstfruits unto God from the church age, and it is time to bring those elect to their Lord, or to bring the bride of Christ to Him, so hinder me not.”

Lord willing, when we get together in our next Bible study, we are going to see what the Bible has to say about hindering the Gospel.  And it does have something to say about that, and we will not be surprised to find that there is a force behind those that would hinder the work of the Lord or that would hinder the Gospel message or the person responding to it.