May 29: Leave a Godly Legacy

Wiley Richards is a retired professor of theology and philosophy at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.

A legacy is anything handed down from one generation to another, whether it be land, money, or something intangible. Many of us have relatively little to leave our families in the area of material possessions. After parents are gone, survivors may gather around family mementoes and divide them according to some pre-arranged procedure. The intangibles are another matter, one in which we all participate whether planned or otherwise. The family values, so often an over-worked phrase, are indeed the most significant. How shall we ensure a wholesome legacy?

• As relates to a wholesome family, it begins with a God-blessed decision (vv. 1-4). Abraham searched for a godly wife for Isaac and did not like the available candidates. He saw daughters of the Canaanites all around him, but he could not bear the thought of Isaac marrying a woman whose god was Baal and whose morality centered around fertility rites. The solution he chose surely came from God. Taking his most trusted servant, Eliezer (15:2), he solemnized an oath in the name of the God of heaven and earth for him to go back to Abraham’s kindred in his native country to find Isaac a wife. The servant raised several possible outcomes, but under no circumstances was Isaac to journey to Ur of the Chaldees (v. 6). If a woman could not be found, Eliezer was clear of the oath (v. 8).

• The next step was taken through a God-blessed choice (vv. 12-16). As he approached a well of water near the city of his destination, the old servant followed the wisest strategy available to him. Causing his camels to kneel down so as not to cause any distraction, he lifted up his voice in prayer for guidance. He devised a way to know God was directing him as well as the unknown maid whom he sought. The request was simple. As the young women arrived to draw water for their animals, he asked for a specific answer to his request for water (v. 14).

God answered in a marvelous way. Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, had come to the well for water. At Eliezer’s request for a drink of water, she volunteered to water his animals also, a part of the response Eliezer asked of God (v. 19). He had received his answer. After further conversation and the giving of gifts to her, Rebekah ran home to apprise her family of the encounter (v. 28). After Laban saw the jewelry on his sister’s hands, he immediately invited Eliezer into his house.

• Rebekah’s family exhibited the characteristics of a Family-blessed marriage (vv. 50-51). They realized the family agony of having a daughter move away, possibly never to see her again. Laban’s subsequent dealing with Jacob, Rebekah’s as yet unborn son, show he was not above taking advantage of another person. Yet, he is to be admired for understanding the spiritual power at work. God surely had worked through Eliezer to bring him to the correct family. If Rebekah was willing to go with Eliezer, who was he to object?

• In the final scene, the Bible shows the importance of a couples-blessed union (vv. 61-67). After the long, dusty journey to Canaan, God had arranged a happy first sight of each other for the couple. When Rebekah saw a young man in the distance, a servant identified him as Isaac. In the custom of the day, she demurely covered herself with a veil. It must have been love at first sight, because Isaac took her into his mother Sarah’s tent to become his wife. With the coming of Rebekah, Isaac was comforted over his grief at his mother’s death. We are told nothing about the marriage ceremony, but the outcome secured Abraham’s godly legacy.