Genesis 24:33-48

2008.Mar.15 03:35

The Servant Reviews

Read Genesis 24:33-48 | Full Chapter

Then food was set before him to eat. But he said, "I will not eat until I have said what I have to say." He said, "Speak on." So he said, "I am Abraham’s servant. The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys.
(Genesis 24:33-35, ESV)

Thus the servant begins to tell his story to Rebekah’s father, Bethuel, and Laban, her brother. Which I am not going to quote in it’s entirety. It’s pretty much a rehash of the chapter so far.

There are two “retellings” going on here. First, the servant is telling this story once again, but to an audience that hasn’t heard it. So, it’s natural that he would need to retell recent history here, lest Bethuel and Laban have no idea what’s going on. But there’s another retelling, which is to us readers of the Bible. I try to take note when the scriptures repeat something. This is because, especially back in youth group, I found that so often people focused on the one-off phrases in the Bible and made huge deals out of them whilst ignoring the things the Bible says over and over and over and over… “Love your neighbor” for example. Realizing that I too am often guilty of doing so, I do try to make an effort to pay more attention to that which is said multiple times.

In this case, I’m not sure why this explanation is recorded rather than “and the servant explained what he was doing.” It’s not a bad review though. After all, in the midst of the story, I can forget why the servant is on this errand anyway (Not that I drew any real firm conclusions on that earlier). It is significant to remember though that the servant did not meet Rebekah in a vacuum, although it may feel like that to her and her relatives at this point. He has arrived for a purpose and one in which Yahweh has blessed him.

And, to an extent, what the servant is retelling here is Abraham’s life since leaving his relatives. Sure, the servant doesn’t spend much time on the power and wealth Abraham has collected. Instead he focuses more time (not much more, technically) on Abraham’s son, Isaac, and particularly on Isaac’s future. Is that weird?

One of my wife’s professors one time mentioned that you know someone is dying when that person stops including themselves when considering the future–or stops considering the future altogether. Abraham is getting old, so his thoughts for the future are naturally more directed towards his descendants than himself. But he is determined to take interest in that future. In effect, I read what the servant is saying right now as, “Abraham is blessed and he’s expecting more blessing for his descendants.” Which is a good sort of expectation for a parent to have.