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Monday 8 February 2010

Genesis 24

Abraham was reaching the end of his life and was thinking of the next generation. His main concern was that Isaac would not marry a Canaanite. There is no racial prejudice here, the distinction is whether someone is a member of God's people or not. Abraham knew that if Isaac married a Canaanite, then he would be led into following their ways. In today's world it means that Christians should not marry non-Christians. Now a number of things need to be said. If you are already married to a non-Christian then you should stay in the marriage, and it will be blessed by God (1 Corinthians 7). Sometimes a Christian does go out with a non-Christian and the non-Christian gets saved, when that happens we should give thanks to God, but it is more likely that the Christian will drift away from God.

The servant could see obstacles in the way of this plan, namely he not being able to find a suitable woman, but Abraham is confident that God will provide the necessary means for His plan to be fulfilled. Note also that he does not put the responsibility on the servant to force a woman to come back. He only requires of the servant what is reasonable to expect. We too, even if we are following God's plan, should be careful not to put unreasonable burdens on others.

The servant set out to fulfil his task, and prayed to the Lord for guidance and help. Not surprisingly, things worked out, and the servant found Rebekah. She went back to Abraham with him and became Isaac's wife.

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