Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20110515.htm

BIOGRAPHIES OF BIBLE SAINTS
IV. Abraham's Servant: Finding The Right Spouse God's Way
C. Step Three: "Leaving" The Initial Family To "Cleave" To The Spouse
(Genesis 24:54-61)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    Seeing God lead us to identify the right partner to marry is a truly amazing, wonderful experience, but identifying the right partner is only part of the process of gaining a godly spouse! Complications in the family ties of the parties to be married often cloud the mind, making it hard for one to know how to proceed into marriage itself:

    (1) I heard of a wedding of a Christian couple where, after the wedding ceremony and the reception that followed, the bride felt she could not go any further in the relationship, so she left the reception to go back home to live with her mother!

    The groom was shocked and devastated, but nothing he could do could convince his bride to leave her mother and come live with him!

    (2) Sometimes family relationships of the prospective spouse are so complicated, a groom or bride is confused as to how to proceed. One in such a situation feels like Charlie Brown in the May 9, 2011 "Classic Peanuts" cartoon in the Republican-American, p. 3D:

    In the first frame, Lucy calls Charlie Brown on the telephone to say, "Hey Chuck . . . you wanna go with me?"

    Charlie responds in the next frame, saying, "Go where?"

    Lucy chides Charlie Brown in the third frame with: "Don't you know anything, Chuck?" and adds in the fourth frame, "You'd better be there! And don't forget, I asked you before what's-her-name did!"

    In the fifth frame after the phone conversation has ended, another girl asks Charlie Brown, "Who was that?" and Charlie, sitting down on the couch unsure of what went on, and somewhat detached answers, "I've been invited to something someplace before what's-her-name invites me sometime . . ."



    Accordingly, we ask, "If the Lord has led me to the right partner to marry, but family relationships complicate and confuse me as to how to proceed toward marriage, what would God say?!"

    Need: "God led me to the right party to marry, but I'm unsure how to proceed due to family tie issues, so what would God suggest?!"

  1. The morning after Abraham's servant had acquired permission from Rebekah's family to take her to Canaan to marry Isaac, he asked the family to let him take her away that day, Genesis 24:54.
  2. Rebekah's brother and mother felt this was too sudden to part with Rebekah, so they suggested she stay with them at LEAST ten more days so they could adjust to her moving away, Genesis 24:55!
  3. Well, the reason Abraham's servant hurried to take Rebekah was to keep her family from thinking about the depth of parting as Rebekah would live 500 miles away and thus rescind their wedding agreement, leaving the servant lured to sin in taking Isaac to her:
    1. When he received his order to acquire a wife for Isaac, Abraham's servant was concerned that the bride might not want to leave her home to marry a man so far from her family, Gen. 24:5a. He had thus asked Abraham that were she not willing to come with him to Canaan, should he take Isaac back to woo her in her own land, Genesis 24:5b.
    2. Abraham had replied, literally telling his servant to "Guard yourself" (hishamer leka) against taking his son Isaac back to the land God had called him to leave for Canaan, Gen. 24:6, 7; Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 31; B. D. B., A Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament, p. 1037; H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, 1974, vol. II, p. 662.
    3. Thus, Abraham's servant felt that since he had gained the approval of Rebekah's family to let him take her, he had to "guard himself" from temptation: he had to take her away before her family thought about the distance involved so as to rescind their consent to the marriage and left him tempted to sin in taking Isaac back to woo Rebekah!
  4. So, to INSURE he did GOD'S WILL, Abraham's servant led Rebekah's kin to see GOD wanted HIM to TAKE HER AT ONCE:
    1. The Hebrew text at Genesis 24:56 links Jahweh ("LORD") with a causal waw, and Jahweh as subject of the verb "prospered" precedes that verb, making Jahweh emphatic, Ibid., p. 681; Ibid., Kittel, p. 34.
    2. Accordingly, Abraham's servant responded to the suggestion of her brother and mother that Rebekah stay with them for ten more days by asserting that they should not hinder him because it was the LORD (Jahweh) [emphatic] Who had led him to acquire Rebekah for Isaac!
    3. This argument by Abraham's servant was potent for two key reasons:
      1. The argument aligned with the testimony of Rebekah's own kin:
        1. When Abraham's servant had told her family of God's leading him to Rebekah, both her brother, Laban and her father, Bethuel had confessed that Jahweh had led him to where they gave their approval to the marriage, Ibid., p. 33; Genesis 24:50; 24:15, 29.
        2. These two men together customarily decided such issues (Ibid., Leupold, p. 678), so Abraham's servant stated a fact both male heads of Rebekah in her culture had previously acknowledged!
      2. Also, the argument by Abraham's servant utilized the great force of the plan of Rebekah's Creator for her marriage, Gen. 2:21-24:
        1. Though the name for "God" in Genesis 1 is Elohim, "Creator God," in Genesis 2:21-22 where He creates the first woman out of Adam's rib and brings her to Adam, God's name is Jahweh Elohim, the LORD God with "LORD", Jahweh, carrying the focus of God's personal relation with man, Ibid., Kittel, p. 1-3.
        2. In that Genesis 2 context, Jahweh Elohim had directed that the creation of a wife for Adam from his own body meant a man was to "leave" his parents and "cleave" to his bride, and they twain would become one flesh, Genesis 2:24 KJV.
        3. Thus, for Abraham's servant to emphasize by Hebrew word order that it was JAHWEH Who had made his way successful in acquiring Rebekah as Isaac's wife, the same Jahweh Who had established in Genesis 2 that she leave her family to cleave to her groom, he stated that no one, including her family, should keep him from taking her then in line with her Creator's order!
    4. Unable to answer Abraham's servant, the family asked Rebekah for her decision, and she in faith and obedience to her Creator Jahweh agreed to go immediately with Abraham's servant, Genesis 24:57-58!
    5. Thus, the family blessed her, and let her go with her nurse that day atop a camel off to Canaan with Abraham's servant, Gen. 24:59-61!
Application: If God has clearly led upright believers to identify the right spouse to marry, and the agreement to wed has been made, but family ties threaten to counter it, may the couple appeal to God's will to leave the initial family and cleave to each other in marriage!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 Dr. C. I. Scofield, author of the Scofield Reference Bible, wrote an article that applies to this message, one that appeared in a 1907 issue of Moody Monthly magazine, and was reprinted in the Centennial Issue of the magazine in February, 1986.

The article was titled, "Are You Definitely Sure?", and in it he had noted that "the vice of our thinking about the things of God is indefiniteness; the vice in our living the Christian life is indefiniteness." To answer this problem, he cited 1 Corinthians 9:26 where Paul had written: "I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air." Dr. Scofield then added: "Now every word of that is precious above rubies, but I am going to paraphrase it: I am definite.'"

That word, definite, is a great word to use in summing up the application of this message: if God has clearly led a man and a woman to identify each other as the right party to wed, and the couple has been forthright with their respective initial family units on the matter so that there is no question but that they should marry, the couple needs to be definite about that fact so as to PROCEED to marry in assurance of God's blessing regardless of the strains of family ties to the contrary!

IF the One Who CREATED the bride and groom wills that they unite in marriage, the bride and groom are to HEED GOD'S WILL and LEAVE their initial family units so as to CLEAVE to one another in creating a NEW, DISTINCT family unit. That is the plan of their Creator going back to creation in Genesis 2:24!



May we then be DEFINITE in "LEAVING" and "CLEAVING" in line with how GOD DEFINITELY LEADS us.