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A wife for Isaac

Abraham's servant sent to find a wife for Isaac.
Contributed by Sweet Publishing
Story also available on our translated websites: Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Hindi, Simplified Chinese
1
Abraham was now a very old man and his wife Sarah had died. She was buried in a cave at Mamre at Hebron in the land of Canaan that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. – Slide 1
2
God had promised Abraham and Sarah a son and that their offspring would become a great nation. When Abraham and Sarah were too old to have children, God miraculously gave them a son whom they named Isaac. – Slide 2
3
Isaac was now a young man and Abraham was determined that his wife should not be chosen from the Canaanite tribes living nearby who did not worship God. – Slide 3
4
Instead Abraham wanted Isaac to have a wife from among his own people who did worship God. But they lived many hundreds of miles away in the land of Mesopotamia. – Slide 4
5
Abraham summoned his senior servant and said, ‘ I want you to swear by the Lord God that you will not get a wife for Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites but from my own relatives in my home land. You cannot take Isaac, as he might settle there instead of in the land of Canaan that God promised to our descendants.’ – Slide 5
6
Abraham’s chief servant promised to obey. He took with him ten camels loaded with all kinds of gifts from Abraham. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. – Slide 6
7
He made the camels kneel down near the well outside the town. It was towards evening, the time the women go out to draw water. – Slide 7
8
Abraham’s servant prayed, ‘Lord God, make me successful today. May it be that when I say to a young woman, “Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,” and she says, “Drink, and I’ll water your camels too”– let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac.’ – Slide 8
9
Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. Her father was Bethuel, who was related by marriage to Abraham’s brother Nahor. Rebekah was very beautiful. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. – Slide 9
10
The servant hurried to meet her and said, ‘Please give me a little water from your jar.’ ‘Drink, my lord,’ she said. After she had given him a drink, she said, ‘I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.’ – Slide 10
11
When the camels had finished drinking and the servant had found out Rebekah was from the family of Abraham, he took out a gold ring and two gold bracelets and put them on Rebekah. Then he asked, ‘Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house to spend the night?’ Rebekah replied, ‘We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.’Then the servant bowed down and worshipped the Lord for answering his prayers. – Slide 11
12
Rebekah ran home and her brother Laban returned to fetch Abraham’s servant and the camels. – Slide 12
13
Abraham’s servant would not eat until he had told Rebekah’s family why he had come and how God had answered his prayer. Rebekah’s father, Bethuel, answered, ‘This is from the Lord. Here is Rebekah, take her and go, and let her become the wife of Isaac, as the Lord has directed.’ – Slide 13
14
Rebekah’s brother and her mother wanted her to stay for ten days but the servant insisted they left right away. So her family blessed her and Rebecca and her attendants travelled south to Canaan. Isaac was in a field when he saw the camels arriving. Rebecca covered her face with a veil. – Slide 14
15
Isaac married Rebekah. She became his wife, and he loved her. – Slide 15
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