Podcasts about beer lahai roi

In the book of Genesis, a pregnant slave called Hagar was running away from her slave-owner Sarai who had been cruel towards her. The Lord sent an angel. Then the angel of the LORD told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” The angel of the LORD also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” Genesis 16: 9−13A well was dug at that place called “Beer Lahai Roi” meaning “well of the Living One who sees me”. There is a beautiful moment in the Hollywood movie Avatar. Neytiri, the Na'vi warrior and princess of Pandora recognises the call and destiny of the movie's hero, Jake Sully, the one she has been falling in love with. She says to him, “I see you!” meaning “I understand you; I see into your heart”. “I know who you are.”Hagar must have felt very alone when she was running away from Sarai. Perhaps she even thought God had abandoned her. After all, Sarai and her husband Abram were recipients of the promises of God. God had spoken to them, and they were prosperous by His hand. Hagar had effectively run away from the people of God's favour. Why would God care about her?But God hadn't forgotten her. He had seen her in the desert. He had seen her in her sadness, and after the angel spoke to her with instructions and promises, she could encourage herself with a new truth in her experience: ‘God sees me, too'; “I have now seen the One who sees me.”Perhaps we can draw comfort from these words too. Maybe nobody was watching when that guy treated you unkindly, or when you were passed over again for that promotion. Perhaps no other soul was aware of how alone you felt the other day, and no-one can possibly understand the ordeal you have just been through. But He sees you. And understands you and knows you. And He loves you. The One who, at times, may appear to only bless others, sees you too. Maybe like Hagar, we too can pray, “You are the God who sees me.”

Genesis 16:13-14 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You- Are- the- God -Who Sees; for she said, "Have I also here seen Him who sees me?" Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

Preacher: Kathy Maskell Scripture: Genesis 23:1-6 Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. 2 She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her. 3 Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, 4 “I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.” 5 The Hittites replied to Abraham, 6 “Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.” Genesis 25:5-11 5 Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. 6 But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east. 7 Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. 8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, 10 the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. 11 After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.

The God that hears El Shammah  Elohim Shama: The God Who Hears   But He doesn't merely hear our words; He is also moved by the unvoiced groanings of our hearts (Romans 8:26)   “God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.”–Exodus 2:24 Genesis Hagar and Ishmael 16 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.” 6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. 7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. 9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” 11 The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant     and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael,[a]     for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12  He will be a wild donkey of a man;     his hand will be against everyone     and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility     toward[b] all his brothers.” 13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. 15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Sunday 19th May, 2024 - West & North Sites Sunday 28th April, 2024 - Central Site AM & PM Speaker - Dan King Dan invites us into a life being seen and known by the "God who sees us". He encourages us that we are created to live in close relationship with God and those around us and to resist the temptation to hide away. ------- Luke 12v1-3 1) In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2) Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3) Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. Genesis 16v7-14 7) The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8) And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. 9) Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.”  10) The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” 11) The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael (which means God hears), for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12) He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”  13) She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” 14) That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi (which means well of the Living One who sees me). John 4v13-26 13)  Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14)  but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.' 15)  The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.' 16)  He told her, ‘Go, call your husband and come back.' 17)  ‘I have no husband,' she replied. Jesus said to her, ‘You are right when you say you have no husband. 18)  The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.' 19)  ‘Sir,' the woman said, ‘I can see that you are a prophet. 20)  Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.' 21)  ‘Woman,' Jesus replied, ‘believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22)  You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23)  Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. 24)  God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.' 25)  The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah' (called Christ) ‘is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.' 26)  Then Jesus declared, ‘I, the one speaking to you – I am he.' ------- Recorded at North Site - 19May2024

This is Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life. I'm Dave Cover. I want to help you with Christian meditation where you can stop, break through all the distractions, and bodily experience God's presence through biblically guided imagination.  If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast. Genesis 24:62-63 NIV “Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching.” John 17:20 NIV “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.” Numbers 6:22-27 NIV The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:  “The LORD bless you and keep you;  the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;  the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”'  So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it. Follow Dave Cover on X (Twitter) @davecover Follow A Bigger Life on X @ABiggerLifePod Our audio engineer is Matthew Matlack. This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located. 

This is Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life. I'm Dave Cover. I want to help you with Christian meditation where you can stop, break through all the distractions, and bodily experience God's presence through biblically guided imagination.  If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast. Genesis 24:62-63 NIV “Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching.” John 17:20 NIV “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.” Numbers 6:22-27 NIV The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:  “The LORD bless you and keep you;  the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;  the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”'  So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it. Follow Dave Cover on X (Twitter) @davecover Follow A Bigger Life on X @ABiggerLifePod Our audio engineer is Matthew Matlack. This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located. 

Bringing you another story. This story has helped me quite a bit in my battles with loneliness and depression. I pray that no matter what season of life you're going through, you will be reminded that the God of all Creation sees you and He loves you. (I hope you know I love you too.) God bless.

Scripture Reference Genesis 16: 1-16.1  Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. 3 Then Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. 4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.” 6 So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence. 7 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her:“Behold, you are with child,And you shall bear a son.You shall call his name Ishmael,Because the Lord has heard your affliction.12 He shall be a wild man;His hand shall be against every man,And every man's hand against him.And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered. 15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.Buy my New Contemporary English Version of Martin Luther's Commentary on Galatians at;https://amzn.eu/d/4xSnsa5This podcast is hosted at:https://thebibleproject.buzzsprout.comHelp me to continue to make and share great Biblical content everyday by supporting my ministry at | PatreonSupport the showFurther Discipleship Training Courses Free at;linkedin.com/in/jeremy-mccandless-68353b16Podcast Archive also athttps://www.youtube.com/c/JeremyRMcCandlessThe LIFE Podcast - The Bible Project | FacebookMy Amazon Author Pageamazon.com/author/jeremymccandlessJeremy McCandless is creating podcasts and devotional resources | PatreonHelp us continue making great content for listeners everywhere.https://thebibleproject.buzzsprout.com

Genesis 16: 7-15 7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. 9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” 11 The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael,[a] for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward[b] all his brothers.” 13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. 15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Sermon Notes Generational Sin: Is it real? Is it inevitable? Can it be broken? Exodus 20:4-6 NIV "You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments." Jeremiah 32:17-19 NIV "Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the parents’ sins into the laps of their children after them. Great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord Almighty, great are your purposes, and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to the ways of all mankind; you reward each person according to their conduct and as their deeds deserve." How much permanent damage can a parent do in their child’s life? Genesis 24:1 NIV "Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way." Genesis 25:11 NIV "After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi." Genesis 26:1 NIV "Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek, king of the Philistines in Gerar." Genesis 12:10 NIV "Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe." Genesis 26:2-5 NIV "The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, 'Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants, I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father, Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees, and my instructions.'" Genesis 26:6-7 NIV "So Isaac stayed in Gerar. When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, 'She is my sister,' because he was afraid to say, 'She is my wife.' He thought, 'The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah because she is beautiful.'" Generational Sin: The unhealthy patterns handed down to us by our parents. How can I break the pattern? 1. Believe in Jesus because God is for you. Genesis 26:12-13 NIV "Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold because the Lord blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy." 1 Peter 1:18-21 MSG "Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God." 2. Believe that through the power of the Holy Spirit, you can overcome any temptation. Galatians 5:16-17 NIV "So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other so that you are not to do whatever you want." 3. Make repentance and forgiveness part of your redemption story House Rules: This is a safe place. We will move forward when you are OK again. As your leader… I’ll decide when you’re ready. There is more than enough grace in our home to overcome any of your bad moments and bad days. If you mess up… fess up.

What is the biblical significance of Beer Lahai Roi? What important events in the Bible occurred at Beer Lahai Roi?

Speaker - John AllisterNow Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”“Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”“I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”The angel of the Lord also said to her:“You are now pregnant    and you will give birth to a son.You shall name him Ishmael,    for the Lord has heard of your misery.He will be a wild donkey of a man;    his hand will be against everyone    and everyone's hand against him,and he will live in hostility    toward all his brothers.”She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years oldwhen Hagar bore him Ishmael.

After decades of living with the ups and downs of chronic pain caused by CRPS, author and Nutritionist Darci J. Steiner wants to give a message of hope to people facing disability and chronic suffering. Her book, Beauty Beyond the Thorns, and its companion study guide, include personal stories of suffering and biblical stories to demonstrate how God can turn unexpected curveballs into victorious home runs. Key Questions:What is it like to live with chronic pain?How does God help you when your pain feels like too much to bear?Where have you seen God bring good or beauty out of your suffering?Key Scripture:“She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,' for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.' That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.” Genesis 16:13–14 Resources:Learn more about DarciGet your copy of Beauty Beyond the ThornsSend Crystal a message. Find more encouragement through Joni Eareckson Tada's radio podcast  and daily devotional.Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.Your support  makes this podcast possible! Joni and Friends envisions a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ. Founded by international disability advocate Joni Eareckson Tada, we provide Christ-centered care through  Joni's House, Wheels for the World, and Retreats and Getaways, and offer disability ministry training and higher education through the Christian Institute on Disability. 

Genesis 24:1-33; 54-67Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed him in everything. 2 Abraham said to his servant, the senior one in his household who was in charge of everything he had, “Put your hand under my thigh 3 so that I may make you solemnly promise by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living. 4 You must go instead to my country and to my relatives to find a wife for my son Isaac.”5 The servant asked him, “What if the woman is not willing to come back with me to this land? Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?”6 “Be careful never to take my son back there!” Abraham told him. 7 “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and the land of my relatives, promised me with a solemn oath, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.' He will send his angel before you so that you may find a wife for my son from there. 8 But if the woman is not willing to come back with you, you will be free from this oath of mine. But you must not take my son back there!” 9 So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and gave his solemn promise he would carry out his wishes.10 Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and departed with all kinds of gifts from his master at his disposal. He journeyed to the region of Aram Naharaim and the city of Nahor. 11 He made the camels kneel down by the well outside the city. It was evening, the time when the women would go out to draw water. 12 He prayed, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, guide me today. Be faithful to my master Abraham. 13 Here I am, standing by the spring, and the daughters of the people who live in the town are coming out to draw water. 14 I will say to a young woman, ‘Please lower your jar so I may drink.' May the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac reply, ‘Drink, and I'll give your camels water too.' In this way I will know that you have been faithful to my master.”15 Before he had finished praying, there came Rebekah with her water jug on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah (Milcah was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor). 16 Now the young woman was very beautiful. She was a virgin; no man had ever been physically intimate with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up. 17 Abraham's servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a sip of water from your jug.” 18 “Drink, my lord,” she replied, and quickly lowering her jug to her hands, she gave him a drink. 19 When she had done so, she said, “I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have drunk as much as they want.” 20 She quickly emptied her jug into the watering trough and ran back to the well to draw more water until she had drawn enough for all his camels. 21 Silently the man watched her with interest to determine if the Lord had made his journey successful or not.22 After the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold wrist bracelets weighing ten shekels and gave them to her. 23 “Whose daughter are you?” he asked. “Tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?”24 She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom Milcah bore to Nahor. 25 We have plenty of straw and feed,” she added, “and room for you to spend the night.”26 The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord, 27 saying, “Praised be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his faithful love for my master! The Lord has led me to the house of my master's relatives!”28 The young woman ran and told her mother's household all about these things. 29 (Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban.) Laban rushed out to meet the man at the spring. 30 When he saw the bracelets on his sister's wrists and the nose ring and heard his sister Rebekah say, “This is what the man said to me,” he went out to meet the man. There he was, standing by the camels near the spring. 31 Laban said to him, “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord! Why are you standing out here when I have prepared the house and a place for the camels?”32 So Abraham's servant went to the house and unloaded the camels. Straw and feed were given to the camels, and water was provided so that he and the men who were with him could wash their feet. 33 When food was served, he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I want to say.” “Tell us,” Laban said.54 After this, he and the men who were with him ate a meal and stayed there overnight.When they got up in the morning, he said, “Let me leave now so I can return to my master.” 55 But Rebekah's brother and her mother replied, “Let the girl stay with us a few more days, perhaps ten. Then she can go.” 56 But he said to them, “Don't detain me—the Lord has granted me success on my journey. Let me leave now so I may return to my master.” 57 Then they said, “We'll call the girl and find out what she wants to do.” 58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Do you want to go with this man?” She replied, “I want to go.”59 So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, accompanied by her female attendant, with Abraham's servant and his men. 60 They blessed Rebekah with these words:“Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands!May your descendants possess the strongholds of their enemies.”61 Then Rebekah and her female servants mounted the camels and rode away with the man. So Abraham's servant took Rebekah and left.62 Now Isaac came from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. 63 He went out to relax in the field in the early evening. Then he looked up and saw that there were camels approaching. 64 Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel 65 and asked Abraham's servant, “Who is that man walking in the field toward us?” “That is my master,” the servant replied. So she took her veil and covered herself.66 The servant told Isaac everything that had happened. 67 Then Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah's tent. He took her as his wife and loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had not given birth to any children, but she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from having children, please sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” Abram did what Sarai told him.3 So after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years, Sarai, Abram's wife, gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant, to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. Once Hagar realized she was pregnant, she despised Sarai. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You have brought this wrong on me! I gave my servant into your embrace, but when she realized that she was pregnant, she despised me. May the Lord judge between you and me!”6 Abram said to Sarai, “Since your servant is under your authority, do to her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai treated Hagar harshly, so she ran away from Sarai.7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring of water in the wilderness—the spring that is along the road to Shur. 8 He said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She replied, “I'm running away from my mistress, Sarai.”9 Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority. 10 I will greatly multiply your descendants,” the angel of the Lord added, “so that they will be too numerous to count.” 11 Then the angel of the Lord said to her,“You are now pregnantand are about to give birth to a son.You are to name him Ishmael,for the Lord has heard your painful groans.12 He will be a wild donkey of a man.He will be hostile to everyone,and everyone will be hostile to him.He will live away from his brothers.”13 So Hagar named the Lord who spoke to her, “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen one who sees me!” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. (It is located between Kadesh and Bered.)15 So Hagar gave birth to Abram's son, whom Abram named Ishmael. 16 (Now Abram was 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.)

Genesis 16 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/justahousewife/message

Listen in this episode to the naming of Ishmael, meaning "God hears", as we encounter another name of God, El Roi - "the God who sees" Genesis 16:7-16 7 Yahweh's angel found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain on the way to Shur. 8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai's servant, where did you come from? Where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai.” 9 Yahweh's angel said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands.” 10 Yahweh's angel said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, that they will not be counted for multitude.” 11 Yahweh's angel said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because Yahweh has heard your affliction. 12 He will be like a wild donkey among men. His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him. He will live opposed to all of his brothers.” 13 She called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi.[a] Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. 15 Hagar bore a son for Abram. Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

This is very special episode at the second days of resurrection. I am touched by the words Beer Lahai Roi- God who sees. Please enjoy listening. God bless

Introduction Context: Ch22 - binding of Isaac; celebration of deeper trust; confirmation of blessings by grace of God We talk about living by faith a lot What does it mean? Question: When we say, "Let's live by faith", what does that mean to you? It means, according to the NT, taking lessons from Abraham's life “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.” (Hebrews 11:8–19 1. Faith is responsive QUESTION: "What examples can you think of when Abraham was responsive?" “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8) “The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.” (Genesis 12:1–4  Go when called. They could have gone back to Ur, but were content to live and not see the fulfilment of the land promise. They knew, by faith, that it would come to their descendants. If they trusted God for something that in the OC was not made clear, how much more we should have faith for our heavenly inheritance which has been made abundantly clear.   2. Faith is Sacrificial QUESTION: "What examples can you think of when Abraham was sacrificial?" “By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.” (Hebrews 11:9 NIV11) His home in Ur was much nicer! Left comfort & security, even family. Probably similar situations were paralleled among the Jewish Christians at the time Hebrews was written. A life of movement, not settling: Ur, Haraan, Canaan, Egypt etc   3. Faith is Courageous QUESTION: "What examples can you think of when Abraham was courageous?" “even though he did not know where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8 NIV11) Did not know where he was going. Detail only came later. Takes courage to believe the promises, (Gn. 12:2; cf. Gen 13:16; Gen 15:5). Isaac on mountain - courage to trust. Abraham refused to limit God's power or the method through which He would keep His promise, and therefore he did not limit his obedience.   4. Faith is Persistent QUESTION: "What examples can you think of when Abraham was persistent?" “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” (Romans 4:18–21 NIV11) Lived among strangers in a land he was told be would inherit, but they were still there! "Waiting for God to provide them with an earthly inheritance, the patriarchs came to realise that this life is not an end in itself but a pilgrimage towards a future that God alone can construct for his people." New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition. Edited by Carson, D. A, R. T France, J. A. Motyer, and Gordon J. Wenham: InterVarsity Press, 1994. We aim to be living by faith when we die. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all died without receiving the land of Canaan as an earthly inheritance. “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.” (Hebrews 11:13 NIV11) ‘welcomed them from a distance' = ‘hailed it with delight', Brown 206. Died not seeing reward, but did see it in another sense. The people commended here were: confident, proud to witness to their faith, seeking something better, able to discern what was of real value, willing to put their security in the unseen.   5. Faith is Dependant QUESTION: "What examples can you think of when Abraham was dependant on God?" “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.” (Hebrews 11:17–19 NIV11) “As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.” (Genesis 22:6–8 NIV11) Although there was lack of clarity, there was still faith. Abraham saw God as his 'solution', the only one to hold on to.   Questions in breakout rooms QUESTION: "How do you know when you are hearing the 'call' of God to live by faith? What helps you to respond by faith?" QUESTION: "What helps you to live by faith when that means sacrificing some of the comforts of this world enjoyed by people who do not live by faith?" QUESTION: "Is there an area of life right now where you sense God calling you to courageously live by faith? What would it look like to be courageous in that situation?" QUESTION: "What helps you to persevere in your life of faith when you cannot see the end? What keeps your spiritual vision clear enough to inspire you to persevere in living by faith?" QUESTION: "What does it mean to you to be dependant on God by faith? What does that look like?" Conclusion “Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.” (Genesis 25:7–11 NIV11) Positive summary Sons honouring his wishes Buried in 'the land' The blessings signed as to continue in Isaac Communion “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!” (Philippians 3:20–4:1 NIV11) Please add your comments on this week's topic. We learn best when we learn in community.  Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here's the email: [malcolm@malcolmcox.org](mailto:malcolm@malcolmcox.org).  If you'd like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/).  Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.  “Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)  God bless, Malcolm  

Introduction Context: Ch22 - binding of Isaac; celebration of deeper trust; confirmation of blessings by grace of God We talk about living by faith a lot What does it mean? Question: When we say, "Let's live by faith", what does that mean to you?It means, according to the NT, taking lessons from Abraham's life“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.” (Hebrews 11:8–19 1. Faith is responsiveQUESTION: "What examples can you think of when Abraham was responsive?" “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8)“The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.” (Genesis 12:1–4 Go when called. They could have gone back to Ur, but were content to live and not see the fulfilment of the land promise. They knew, by faith, that it would come to their descendants. If they trusted God for something that in the OC was not made clear, how much more we should have faith for our heavenly inheritance which has been made abundantly clear. 2. Faith is SacrificialQUESTION: "What examples can you think of when Abraham was sacrificial?" “By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.” (Hebrews 11:9 NIV11) His home in Ur was much nicer! Left comfort & security, even family. Probably similar situations were paralleled among the Jewish Christians at the time Hebrews was written. A life of movement, not settling: Ur, Haraan, Canaan, Egypt etc 3. Faith is CourageousQUESTION: "What examples can you think of when Abraham was courageous?" “even though he did not know where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8 NIV11) Did not know where he was going. Detail only came later. Takes courage to believe the promises, (Gn. 12:2; cf. Gen 13:16; Gen 15:5). Isaac on mountain - courage to trust.Abraham refused to limit God’s power or the method through which He would keep His promise, and therefore he did not limit his obedience. 4. Faith is PersistentQUESTION: "What examples can you think of when Abraham was persistent?" “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” (Romans 4:18–21 NIV11) Lived among strangers in a land he was told be would inherit, but they were still there!"Waiting for God to provide them with an earthly inheritance, the patriarchs came to realise that this life is not an end in itself but a pilgrimage towards a future that God alone can construct for his people." New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition. Edited by Carson, D. A, R. T France, J. A. Motyer, and Gordon J. Wenham: InterVarsity Press, 1994. We aim to be living by faith when we die. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all died without receiving the land of Canaan as an earthly inheritance. “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.” (Hebrews 11:13 NIV11) ‘welcomed them from a distance’ = ‘hailed it with delight’, Brown 206. Died not seeing reward, but did see it in another sense. The people commended here were: confident, proud to witness to their faith, seeking something better, able to discern what was of real value, willing to put their security in the unseen. 5. Faith is DependantQUESTION: "What examples can you think of when Abraham was dependant on God?" “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.” (Hebrews 11:17–19 NIV11)“As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.” (Genesis 22:6–8 NIV11) Although there was lack of clarity, there was still faith. Abraham saw God as his 'solution', the only one to hold on to. Questions in breakout roomsQUESTION: "How do you know when you are hearing the 'call' of God to live by faith? What helps you to respond by faith?" QUESTION: "What helps you to live by faith when that means sacrificing some of the comforts of this world enjoyed by people who do not live by faith?" QUESTION: "Is there an area of life right now where you sense God calling you to courageously live by faith? What would it look like to be courageous in that situation?" QUESTION: "What helps you to persevere in your life of faith when you cannot see the end? What keeps your spiritual vision clear enough to inspire you to persevere in living by faith?" QUESTION: "What does it mean to you to be dependant on God by faith? What does that look like?" Conclusion“Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.” (Genesis 25:7–11 NIV11) Positive summary Sons honouring his wishes Buried in 'the land' The blessings signed as to continue in Isaac Communion“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!” (Philippians 3:20–4:1 NIV11)Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [malcolm@malcolmcox.org](mailto:malcolm@malcolmcox.org). If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/). Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. “Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm

In this weeks episode, Fr. Paul concludes his discussion of Genesis 16, noting the appearance and subsequent itinerary of Beer-lahai-roi. (Episode 156)

It's natural to have times when we wonder if God cares about us. Is he interested in my life? Can he help, or does he even want to help me? Let me say in a word–ABSOLUTELY! The authors of Scripture know nothing of a God who creates a world and then does not act within his creation. God cares for us, and he knows all that we are going through. He works all things for our good and his glory.

Abraham again took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2 And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4 And the sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.5 And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. 6 But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had; and while he was still living he sent them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the country of the east.7 This is the sum of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived: one hundred and seventy-five years. 8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. 9 And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, 10 the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth. There Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife. 11 And it came to pass, after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac dwelt at Beer Lahai Roi.

The story of God meeting a pregnant runaway slave dying in the desert and speaking faith, hope and love into her life is more remarkable than we can ever truly comprehend. As I narrate my meagre attempts to describe it, I'm reminded again just how inadequate my words are. We so take the incarnation of God in Christ for granted, that His love and grace have lost their mystery and wonder. Stories like God meeting Hagar at Beer Lahai Roi help re-affirm the glorious truth that God knows and loves us just as we are, and wants to save and transform us into who He purposed us to be. There is no mess or failing too big for the power of His love. By the way I love the fact that it is the servant girl who isthe first person He meets with after the fallout from Hagar's pregnancy by Abram. He will meet with the Patriarch and Matriarch too, but He starts with the most insignificant and vulnerable. He doesn't mince His words, and there are consequences to the chaos we create, but that is down the road. Right here and now, this is a story of revelation and love by the the Lord of Heaven to the lowliest maidservant. 

Genesis 16:1-15 (NIV)1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”“I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:“You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son.You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him,and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. 3 Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. 4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.”6 So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.7 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her:“Behold, you are with child,And you shall bear a son.You shall call his name Ishmael,Because the Lord has heard your affliction.12 He shall be a wild man;His hand shall be against every man,And every man’s hand against him.And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Genesis 16 (NIV)Hagar and Ishmael1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”“I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:“You are now pregnant    and you will give birth to a son.You shall name him Ishmael,[a]    for the Lord has heard of your misery.12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;    his hand will be against everyone    and everyone's hand against him,and he will live in hostility    toward[b] all his brothers.”13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.FOOTNOTES:[a] Genesis 16:11 Ishmael means God hears.[b] Genesis 16:12 Or live to the east / of[c] Genesis 16:13 Or seen the back of[d] Genesis 16:14 Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.

Genesis 16 (NIV)Hagar and Ishmael1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”“I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:“You are now pregnant    and you will give birth to a son.You shall name him Ishmael,[a]    for the Lord has heard of your misery.12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;    his hand will be against everyone    and everyone's hand against him,and he will live in hostility    toward[b] all his brothers.”13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.FOOTNOTES:[a] Genesis 16:11 Ishmael means God hears.[b] Genesis 16:12 Or live to the east / of[c] Genesis 16:13 Or seen the back of[d] Genesis 16:14 Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.

Genesis 16 (NIV) Hagar and Ishmael 1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.” 6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. 7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. 9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” 11 The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant     and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael,[a]     for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;     his hand will be against everyone     and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility     toward[b] all his brothers.” 13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. 15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael. FOOTNOTES: [a] Genesis 16:11 Ishmael means God hears. [b] Genesis 16:12 Or live to the east / of [c] Genesis 16:13 Or seen the back of [d] Genesis 16:14 Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.

Genesis 25 The death of Abraham1 Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. 3 Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of Dedan were the Ashurites, the Letushites and the Leummites. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.5 Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. 6 But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.7 Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. 8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, 10 the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. 11 After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.Ishmael’s sons12 This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Sarah’s slave, Hagar the Egyptian, bore to Abraham.13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 16 These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps. 17 Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. 18 His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt, as you go towards Ashur. And they lived in hostility towards all the tribes related to them.Jacob and Esau19 This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac.Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ So she went to enquire of the Lord.23 The Lord said to her,‘Two nations are in your womb,and two peoples from within you will be separated;one people will be stronger than the other,and the elder will serve the younger.’24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skilful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, ‘Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!’ (That is why he was also called Edom.)31 Jacob replied, ‘First sell me your birthright.’32 ‘Look, I am about to die,’ Esau said. ‘What good is the birthright to me?’33 But Jacob said, ‘Swear to me first.’ So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.So Esau despised his birthright.

Genesis 16:1-16 (NIV) 16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.” 6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. 7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. 9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” 11 The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael,[a] for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward[b] all his brothers.” 13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. 15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Hagar and Ishmael16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:“You are now pregnant    and you will give birth to a son.You shall name him Ishmael,[a]    for the Lord has heard of your misery.12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;    his hand will be against everyone    and everyone’s hand against him,and he will live in hostility    toward[b] all his brothers.”13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.”14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Genesis 15 New King James Version (NKJV) God's Covenant with Abram 15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, [a]your exceedingly great reward.” 2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I [b]go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one[c] born in my house is my heir!” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” 5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. 7 Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.” 8 And he said, “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?” 9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, you shall [d]go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” 17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. 18 On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” Footnotes: Genesis 15:1 Or your reward shall be very great Genesis 15:2 am childless Genesis 15:3 a servant Genesis 15:15 Die and join your ancestors   Hagar and Ishmael 16 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall [a]obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. 3 Then Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. 4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her [b]eyes. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, [c]“My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.” 6 So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence. 7 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” 9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her: “Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name [d]Ishmael, Because the Lord has heard your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” 13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-[e]the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here [f]seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi;[g] observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered. 15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. Footnotes: Genesis 16:2 Lit. be built up from Genesis 16:4 sight Genesis 16:5 The wrong done to me be Genesis 16:11 Lit. God Hears Genesis 16:13 Heb. El Roi Genesis 16:13 Seen the back of Genesis 16:14 Lit. Well of the One Who Lives and Sees Me   Romans 8:28 New King James Version (NKJV) 28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. ---------------------------------------------  NOTES:    God Will Always give you word, a promise. He will then give you instructions. After the instructions there should be an anticipation of a sacrifice. Then there will be a test.  As long as you pass the test some substance will be established.  There are always systems in terms of how God gives instructions. You need to take some time to listen to the voice of God to know him and to know when he is speaking to you.     an·to·nym /ˈan(t)əˌnim/ noun: antonym; plural noun: antonyms a word opposite in meaning to another (e.g. bad and good ).

Genesis 24 (NIV)Isaac and Rebekah 24 Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. 2 He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. 3 I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, 4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.”5 The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?”6 “Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said. 7 “The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring[a] I will give this land'—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. 8 If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.10 Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master's camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim[b] and made his way to the town of Nahor. 11 He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.12 Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14 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. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”15 Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor. 16 The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.17 The servant hurried to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.”18 “Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink.19 After she had given him a drink, she said, “I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.” 20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. 21 Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka[c] and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels.[d] 23 Then he asked, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?”24 She answered him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor.” 25 And she added, “We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.”26 Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, 27 saying, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives.”28 The young woman ran and told her mother's household about these things. 29 Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring. 30 As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring. 31 “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord,” he said. “Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”32 So the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels, and water for him and his men to wash their feet. 33 Then food was set before him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say.”“Then tell us,” Laban said.34 So he said, “I am Abraham's servant. 35 The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. 36 My master's wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. 37 And my master made me swear an oath, and said, ‘You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, 38 but go to my father's family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.'39 “Then I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not come back with me?'40 “He replied, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked faithfully, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father's family. 41 You will be released from my oath if, when you go to my clan, they refuse to give her to you—then you will be released from my oath.'42 “When I came to the spring today, I said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come. 43 See, I am standing beside this spring. If a young woman comes out to draw water and I say to her, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar,” 44 and if she says to me, “Drink, and I'll draw water for your camels too,” let her be the one the Lord has chosen for my master's son.'45 “Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.'46 “She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I'll water your camels too.' So I drank, and she watered the camels also.47 “I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?'“She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milkah bore to him.'“Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms, 48 and I bowed down and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son. 49 Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn.”50 Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the Lord; we can say nothing to you one way or the other. 51 Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master's son, as the Lord has directed.”52 When Abraham's servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord. 53 Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother. 54 Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there.When they got up the next morning, he said, “Send me on my way to my master.”55 But her brother and her mother replied, “Let the young woman remain with us ten days or so; then you[e] may go.”56 But he said to them, “Do not detain me, now that the Lord has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master.”57 Then they said, “Let's call the young woman and ask her about it.” 58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?”“I will go,” she said.59 So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,“Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands;may your offspring possess the cities of their enemies.”61 Then Rebekah and her attendants got ready and mounted the camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.62 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. 63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate,[f] and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. 64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel 65 and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”“He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.66 Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. 67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.Genesis 25The Death of Abraham25 Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. 3 Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of Dedan were the Ashurites, the Letushites and the Leummites. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.5 Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. 6 But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.7 Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. 8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, 10 the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites.[g] There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. 11 After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.Ishmael's Sons12 This is the account of the family line of Abraham's son Ishmael, whom Sarah's slave, Hagar the Egyptian, bore to Abraham.13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 16 These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps. 17 Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. 18 His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt, as you go toward Ashur. And they lived in hostility toward[h] all the tribes related to them.Jacob and Esau19 This is the account of the family line of Abraham's son Isaac.Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram[i] and sister of Laban the Aramean.21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.23 The Lord said to her,“Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated;one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.[j] 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob.[k] Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.[l])31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”32 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”33 But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.So Esau despised his birthright.Footnotes:Genesis 24:7 Or seedGenesis 24:10 That is, Northwest MesopotamiaGenesis 24:22 That is, about 1/5 ounce or about 5.7 gramsGenesis 24:22 That is, about 4 ounces or about 115 gramsGenesis 24:55 Or sheGenesis 24:63 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.Genesis 25:10 Or the descendants of HethGenesis 25:18 Or lived to the east ofGenesis 25:20 That is, Northwest MesopotamiaGenesis 25:25 Esau may mean hairy.Genesis 25:26 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he deceives.Genesis 25:30 Edom means red.

Genesis 24 (NIV)Isaac and Rebekah 24 Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. 2 He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. 3 I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, 4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.”5 The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?”6 “Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said. 7 “The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring[a] I will give this land'—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. 8 If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.10 Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master's camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim[b] and made his way to the town of Nahor. 11 He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.12 Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14 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. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”15 Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor. 16 The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.17 The servant hurried to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.”18 “Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink.19 After she had given him a drink, she said, “I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.” 20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. 21 Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka[c] and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels.[d] 23 Then he asked, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?”24 She answered him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor.” 25 And she added, “We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.”26 Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, 27 saying, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives.”28 The young woman ran and told her mother's household about these things. 29 Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring. 30 As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring. 31 “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord,” he said. “Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”32 So the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels, and water for him and his men to wash their feet. 33 Then food was set before him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say.”“Then tell us,” Laban said.34 So he said, “I am Abraham's servant. 35 The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. 36 My master's wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. 37 And my master made me swear an oath, and said, ‘You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, 38 but go to my father's family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.'39 “Then I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not come back with me?'40 “He replied, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked faithfully, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father's family. 41 You will be released from my oath if, when you go to my clan, they refuse to give her to you—then you will be released from my oath.'42 “When I came to the spring today, I said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come. 43 See, I am standing beside this spring. If a young woman comes out to draw water and I say to her, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar,” 44 and if she says to me, “Drink, and I'll draw water for your camels too,” let her be the one the Lord has chosen for my master's son.'45 “Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.'46 “She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I'll water your camels too.' So I drank, and she watered the camels also.47 “I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?'“She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milkah bore to him.'“Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms, 48 and I bowed down and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son. 49 Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn.”50 Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the Lord; we can say nothing to you one way or the other. 51 Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master's son, as the Lord has directed.”52 When Abraham's servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord. 53 Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother. 54 Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there.When they got up the next morning, he said, “Send me on my way to my master.”55 But her brother and her mother replied, “Let the young woman remain with us ten days or so; then you[e] may go.”56 But he said to them, “Do not detain me, now that the Lord has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master.”57 Then they said, “Let's call the young woman and ask her about it.” 58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?”“I will go,” she said.59 So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,“Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands;may your offspring possess the cities of their enemies.”61 Then Rebekah and her attendants got ready and mounted the camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.62 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. 63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate,[f] and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. 64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel 65 and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”“He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.66 Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. 67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.Genesis 25The Death of Abraham25 Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. 3 Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of Dedan were the Ashurites, the Letushites and the Leummites. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.5 Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. 6 But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.7 Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. 8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, 10 the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites.[g] There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. 11 After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.Ishmael's Sons12 This is the account of the family line of Abraham's son Ishmael, whom Sarah's slave, Hagar the Egyptian, bore to Abraham.13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 16 These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps. 17 Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. 18 His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt, as you go toward Ashur. And they lived in hostility toward[h] all the tribes related to them.Jacob and Esau19 This is the account of the family line of Abraham's son Isaac.Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram[i] and sister of Laban the Aramean.21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.23 The Lord said to her,“Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated;one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.[j] 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob.[k] Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.[l])31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”32 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”33 But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.So Esau despised his birthright.Footnotes:Genesis 24:7 Or seedGenesis 24:10 That is, Northwest MesopotamiaGenesis 24:22 That is, about 1/5 ounce or about 5.7 gramsGenesis 24:22 That is, about 4 ounces or about 115 gramsGenesis 24:55 Or sheGenesis 24:63 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.Genesis 25:10 Or the descendants of HethGenesis 25:18 Or lived to the east ofGenesis 25:20 That is, Northwest MesopotamiaGenesis 25:25 Esau may mean hairy.Genesis 25:26 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he deceives.Genesis 25:30 Edom means red.

Genesis 24 (NIV) Isaac and Rebekah 24 Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. 2 He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. 3 I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, 4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.” 5 The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?” 6 “Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said. 7 “The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring[a] I will give this land'—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. 8 If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter. 10 Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master's camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim[b] and made his way to the town of Nahor. 11 He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water. 12 Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14 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. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.” 15 Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor. 16 The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. 17 The servant hurried to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.” 18 “Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. 19 After she had given him a drink, she said, “I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.” 20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. 21 Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful. 22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka[c] and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels.[d] 23 Then he asked, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?” 24 She answered him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor.” 25 And she added, “We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.” 26 Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, 27 saying, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives.” 28 The young woman ran and told her mother's household about these things. 29 Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring. 30 As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring. 31 “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord,” he said. “Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” 32 So the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels, and water for him and his men to wash their feet. 33 Then food was set before him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say.” “Then tell us,” Laban said. 34 So he said, “I am Abraham's servant. 35 The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. 36 My master's wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. 37 And my master made me swear an oath, and said, ‘You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, 38 but go to my father's family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.' 39 “Then I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not come back with me?' 40 “He replied, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked faithfully, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father's family. 41 You will be released from my oath if, when you go to my clan, they refuse to give her to you—then you will be released from my oath.' 42 “When I came to the spring today, I said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come. 43 See, I am standing beside this spring. If a young woman comes out to draw water and I say to her, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar,” 44 and if she says to me, “Drink, and I'll draw water for your camels too,” let her be the one the Lord has chosen for my master's son.' 45 “Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.' 46 “She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I'll water your camels too.' So I drank, and she watered the camels also. 47 “I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?' “She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milkah bore to him.' “Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms, 48 and I bowed down and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son. 49 Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn.” 50 Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the Lord; we can say nothing to you one way or the other. 51 Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master's son, as the Lord has directed.” 52 When Abraham's servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord. 53 Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother. 54 Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there. When they got up the next morning, he said, “Send me on my way to my master.” 55 But her brother and her mother replied, “Let the young woman remain with us ten days or so; then you[e] may go.” 56 But he said to them, “Do not detain me, now that the Lord has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master.” 57 Then they said, “Let's call the young woman and ask her about it.” 58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?” “I will go,” she said. 59 So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the cities of their enemies.” 61 Then Rebekah and her attendants got ready and mounted the camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left. 62 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. 63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate,[f] and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. 64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel 65 and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?” “He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself. 66 Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. 67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. Genesis 25 The Death of Abraham 25 Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. 3 Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of Dedan were the Ashurites, the Letushites and the Leummites. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah. 5 Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. 6 But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east. 7 Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. 8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, 10 the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites.[g] There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. 11 After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi. Ishmael's Sons 12 This is the account of the family line of Abraham's son Ishmael, whom Sarah's slave, Hagar the Egyptian, bore to Abraham. 13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 16 These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps. 17 Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. 18 His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt, as you go toward Ashur. And they lived in hostility toward[h] all the tribes related to them. Jacob and Esau 19 This is the account of the family line of Abraham's son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram[i] and sister of Laban the Aramean. 21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” 24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.[j] 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob.[k] Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them. 27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.[l]) 31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” 32 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?” 33 But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright. Footnotes: Genesis 24:7 Or seed Genesis 24:10 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia Genesis 24:22 That is, about 1/5 ounce or about 5.7 grams Genesis 24:22 That is, about 4 ounces or about 115 grams Genesis 24:55 Or she Genesis 24:63 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. Genesis 25:10 Or the descendants of Heth Genesis 25:18 Or lived to the east of Genesis 25:20 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia Genesis 25:25 Esau may mean hairy. Genesis 25:26 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he deceives. Genesis 25:30 Edom means red.

Genesis 16:1-14 (NIV)Hagar and Ishmael 16 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”“I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:“You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son.You shall name him Ishmael,[a] for the Lord has heard of your misery.12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him,and he will live in hostility toward[b] all his brothers.”13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.Footnotes:Genesis 16:11 Ishmael means God hears.Genesis 16:12 Or live to the east / ofGenesis 16:13 Or seen the back ofGenesis 16:14 Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.

Genesis 16:1-14 (NIV) Hagar and Ishmael 16 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.” 6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. 7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. 9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” 11 The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael,[a] for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward[b] all his brothers.” 13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. Footnotes: Genesis 16:11 Ishmael means God hears. Genesis 16:12 Or live to the east / of Genesis 16:13 Or seen the back of Genesis 16:14 Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.

Genesis 16:1-14 (NIV)Hagar and Ishmael 16 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”“I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:“You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son.You shall name him Ishmael,[a] for the Lord has heard of your misery.12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him,and he will live in hostility toward[b] all his brothers.”13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.Footnotes:Genesis 16:11 Ishmael means God hears.Genesis 16:12 Or live to the east / ofGenesis 16:13 Or seen the back ofGenesis 16:14 Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.

Genesis 15 (NIV)The Lord's Covenant With Abram1 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield,[a] your very great reward.[b]”2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring[d] be.”6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”8 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[e] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”Genesis 16Hagar and Ishmael1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”“I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:“You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son.You shall name him Ishmael,[f] for the Lord has heard of your misery.12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him,and he will live in hostility toward[g] all his brothers.”13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[h] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[i]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.Footnotes:Genesis 15:1 Or sovereignGenesis 15:1 Or shield; / your reward will be very greatGenesis 15:2 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.Genesis 15:5 Or seedGenesis 15:18 Or riverGenesis 16:11 Ishmael means God hears.Genesis 16:12 Or live to the east / ofGenesis 16:13 Or seen the back ofGenesis 16:14 Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.

Genesis 15 (NIV) The Lord's Covenant With Abram 1 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield,[a] your very great reward.[b]” 2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” 4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring[d] be.” 6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. 7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” 8 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” 9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. 12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” 17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[e] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.” Genesis 16 Hagar and Ishmael 1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.” 6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. 7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. 9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” 11 The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael,[f] for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward[g] all his brothers.” 13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[h] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[i]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. 15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael. Footnotes: Genesis 15:1 Or sovereign Genesis 15:1 Or shield; / your reward will be very great Genesis 15:2 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. Genesis 15:5 Or seed Genesis 15:18 Or river Genesis 16:11 Ishmael means God hears. Genesis 16:12 Or live to the east / of Genesis 16:13 Or seen the back of Genesis 16:14 Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.

Genesis 15 (NIV)The Lord's Covenant With Abram1 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield,[a] your very great reward.[b]”2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring[d] be.”6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”8 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[e] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”Genesis 16Hagar and Ishmael1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”“I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:“You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son.You shall name him Ishmael,[f] for the Lord has heard of your misery.12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him,and he will live in hostility toward[g] all his brothers.”13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[h] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[i]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.Footnotes:Genesis 15:1 Or sovereignGenesis 15:1 Or shield; / your reward will be very greatGenesis 15:2 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.Genesis 15:5 Or seedGenesis 15:18 Or riverGenesis 16:11 Ishmael means God hears.Genesis 16:12 Or live to the east / ofGenesis 16:13 Or seen the back ofGenesis 16:14 Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.

We find ourselves from time to time in different places - good or bad. Each one of these places makes an impression on us. We look at one such place in this sermon. A place of living water and how it influence each one of us.

GENESIS 16:11 The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” 13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

GENESIS 16:11 The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” 13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

Slide 1 Psalm 130:1-2 Slide 2 Genesis 16:11, 13-1 Slide 3 Psalm 130:3-4 Slide 4 Psalm 103:1-5 Slide 5 Psalm 130:5-6 Slide 6 Psalm 130:7-8 Sermon notes: Psalms 120-134 are called "Pilgrim Psalms" or "Psalms of Ascent" sung by worshippers who journeyed to the temple and so "ascended" for the annual feasts. Psalm 120 begins in a distant country in hostile surroundings. Psalm 122 pictures the pilgrim arriving in Jerusalem. The rest of the psalms move toward the temple, recollecting the goodness of The Lord along the way. We too are pilgrims. We travel through a distant country. The land we travel is hostile to our faith. We have trouble here. But this land is not our home. Our destination is the presence of our King. As you read, you'll hear the struggle of the pilgrim. But listen to his longing to be in God's presence. Psalm 130:1-2 1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; 2 O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. "out of the depths" psalmist prays to God in a desperate state. Depth may have been fear, depression, illness, poverty, failure... Does God hear? Does he listen when we pray? Genesis 16:11, 13-14 - The Lord hears and sees Hagar 11 The angel of the Lord also said to her: “You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, (meaning, “God hears”) for the Lord has heard of your misery. 13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” ("El Roi") for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; (“the well of the Living One who sees me”) it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. When you see Egypt in the OT, it represents a place of refuge. Sometimes positive, often negative. Abram ran to Egypt to escape a famine (Gen. 12). Sarai had turned to an Egyptian to escape barrenness. Hagar had run to Egypt to escape misery. In later generations, the Israelites would run to Egypt over and over for help. Egypt would come to represent the Israelite's attempt to find salvation apart from God. But Egypt also came to represent something else - slavery. Israel's salvation apart from God didn't save them, but enslaved them. It is God who rescues and saves. Many times we run to our Egypt, looking for help, looking for relief, but God hears and sees you. He alone can help and save. Have you prayed like that? Psalm 130:1-2 1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; 2 O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. He hears and sees you. Psalm 130:3-4 3 If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. The deepest depth to which our souls can sink is in sin. Sin separates us from God. It builds a wall between us and our Creator. It interrupts the relationship that he desires with us. If he kept a record of our sins, no one could stand. But with God, there is forgiveness. Sin is our greatest problem. It causes all our relationship problems. It sparks all our fears. It is our worst illness. It is our deepest debt. It is our greatest failure. But "with God there is forgiveness". He does not keep a record of our sins, but puts them away. Psalm 103:1-5 1 Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2 Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits— 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit. and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. Psalm 130:5-6 5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. Like a watchman standing at his post all night, excited to see the morning light. The psalmist longs for The Lord to come to him - in love, knowing that he has God's favor. Knowing that he will see God's kindness, mercy, grace If you don't long for him, you've forgotten his goodness. Psalm 130:7-8 7 O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins. Put your hope in The Lord. We heard earlier that forgiveness was with The Lord, Now unfailing love (unconditional, loyal, unending love) and redemption are with him. His full redemption forgives and frees us from sins consequences.

Genesis 24: 62 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. 63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching.64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel 65 and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?” “He is my master,” the servant answered.  [READ MORE]

Pastor Andy Davis preaches an expository sermon on Genesis 24. The main subject of the sermon is how God provided a wife for Isaac after his mother's death. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - We're looking today, as you heard, at Genesis 24, and I stand before you, a blessed man. I'm thinking about Ephesians 1, in which it says that, as a Christian, I'm “blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” All of those spiritual blessings are mine, but I'm blessed in the earthly realms too by my wife, and the delight in having her as a wife is infinitely greater because I believe that God gave her to me. Not just that we stumbled on each other and as luck would have it, or like in some of those romance novels — which I don't read, but I imagine what they would be like — as boy meets girl and all that kind of thing, just the random swirling chance that puts a man and a woman together. I don't believe in that. I believe, rather, that God makes marriages. I believe he draws a man and a woman together, he puts them together. Now, I think it's mysterious, like it's very mysterious how God works, and I doubt that any of it, if I spoke to the married couples, those who have been married a long time or a short time, and I asked, How did you get together? I doubt that the watering of camels had anything to do with it. And if I were to follow the lives of single people and find out how you eventually got married, again, I don't think camels are gonna be involved. But yet there are some amazing principles here in Genesis 24. That show us that there's a God at work in this process, that God puts a man and a woman together, and yes, it's mysterious and yes, it's hard to understand. The wisest man who lived before Christ was Solomon. This what he wrote in Proverbs 30 — I love this — he says, “There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden.” “I don't know how that works,” Solomon says, "I don't know how he's acting like he's never acted before, and how she's actually interested as a result and how the whole thing comes together. I don't know, it's a mystery to me," says Solomon. It’s a mystery to me as well. But I see the Father's hand in it, don't you? I. What God Joined Together: Isaac Marries Rebekah And Jesus told us when he was speaking on divorce in Matthew 19, He said, “…what God has joined together, let man not separate.” God makes marriages, that's a delightful thing, isn't it? And so therefore, the gift that I have in Christi, the gift that all of you have in your spouse, it's come to you from God, and that makes it a million times more precious. Amen? That's what Genesis 24 is about. It's about the sovereign hand of God. It’s about providence. It’s about how God causes specific things to happen at specific moments, so that a specific man knows a specific thing, and a couple gets together. Now we're gonna look at this chapter over two weeks, this morning, we're just gonna look at what happens in this, the longest chapter of Genesis. You know that there's no way I could preach 67 versus in a time you'd wanna listen to, okay? So, what we're gonna do is, we're just gonna go through 67 verses and just find out what's here. Next week, we're gonna look at five theological principles that come from this chapter; we’re gonna look at three different ways to look at this chapter, points of perspective, so that we can gain applications; and then we're gonna really draw out some applications on how it is that God makes marriages and how God works even today. Okay? So, let me just give a summary of the chapter as a whole. When Abraham grew very old, he sent a trusted servant to his ancestral homeland to find a wife for his unmarried son, Isaac. Once he was there, the servant prayed to God that a woman would offer him and his camels water, and that was to be a sign that that was the woman that Isaac was to marry. Rebekah at that moment, the beautiful granddaughter of Abraham's brother, came to the well, and when the servant asked for a drink, she gladly gave it to him and to his camels as well. She offered him and his camels shelter also for the night at her home. When the servant told the family why he was there, they said that the whole matter was obviously from the hand of the Lord, so what could they say one way or the other? That God was working this out. That night, the servant gave gifts of gold and silver to everyone in the family. In the morning, Rebekah said, “I will go”, and riding upon the camel, she and her maids followed the servant back to the land of Abraham. She and Isaac met and were happily married. That's the whole story, and it's a marvelous story, because in it, the sovereign hand of God is celebrated all the way through. And so, frankly, while the centerpiece is marriage, there's a bigger issue here, and that's just that God is sovereignly, providential at work in your life. And the things that you want the most, whether it's a spouse or for me, a fruitful evangelistically powerful, godly church, or any one of a number of good things you could desire, God works to bring those things about in answer to prayer. He's a powerful God. And so, yes, marriage is centerpiece, and we're gonna talk a lot about that, and next week we're gonna talk about principles of how God forms marriages and we're gonna get into those details. But the big picture is, a God who fulfills His promises, who is sovereign, who's at work in the details, the nitty-gritty of your life like watering camels (you don't have any camels, but anyway), the nitty-gritty of your life, He's at work in those things, fulfilling His purposes for you. Let's look at it piece by piece. God joined Isaac and Rebekah together. Jesus said so, as I mentioned in Matthew 19:6, “…what God has joined together, let man not separate.” The basic lesson here then is that God makes marriages, he's in the business of making marriages, and this was true from the very beginning. In Genesis 2:22, it says, “Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” That's very similar to our chapter, isn't it? We'll talk more about that next week, but God put Adam and Eve together. He made that first marriage. Jesus understood that principle. Well, so also God was providing a woman, a wife for Isaac. Now, the context here is significant, this is Genesis, this is one of the last chapters of Abraham's life. Who was Abraham? Well, he was a specially-called instrument of God, and it says that God had blessed him in every way, but the first blessing was the call of God, that came. Genesis 12: “The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’” That's the original call, Genesis 12. And later, God kind of unfolded and expanded. Abraham said, "Well, I'm gonna be a father of many nations and all that, but I don't have a son. And Eliezer of Damascus is my heir and you've not given us a child." And so God spoke in Genesis 15 said, ”This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.’ He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the heavens and count the stars — if indeed you can count them.’ [And then He spoke the word of promise, what I would say is the word of gospel promise for Abraham.] Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Abraham believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness.” And so, God would provide for Abraham descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. Well, Isaac in the course of time, was born a miracle baby to Abraham and Sarah when she was 90 years old, and Abraham was 100 years old. Now, however, Sarah is dead, she's died, she's been buried at Machpelah, the cave, and Isaac's 40 years old, and there's no indication of any worry that's saying, "We gotta get going here.” Alright, it's time for a wife. Absolutely essential to the redemptive plan of God. God is a God of means, and if through Isaac, all peoples on earth are gonna be blessed, he needs to have a wife. And so, Genesis 24, the longest chapter in Genesis is the answer to how Isaac, the next link from Abraham to blessing all nations got his wife. "God is a God of means, and if through Isaac, all peoples on earth are gonna be blessed, he needs to have a wife." II. Abraham Charges and Commissions His Servant Now, the first section is Abraham charging and commissioning a servant. That’s in verses 1-9. Look what it says in Verse 1-4, “Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, ‘Put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.’” Now, Abraham is old, doesn't know how much longer he will live, and his great concern is that Isaac, his son, will compromise and go the easy route and just marry one of the women that's around there somewhere. Now, notice the father's role in getting a wife for his son. He’s involved. And notice how much Isaac trusts his father in that process. And so there's a role there for the father in reference to the son, trusted his father's judgment. Now, Abraham's grandson, grandchildren must be brought up in the covenant, they must be brought up knowing about the Lord. This is absolutely essential. Remember what it said in Genesis 18, God speaking of Abraham, saying, “Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” In other words, essential to the choice, the calling of Abraham was the training of children, the training of Isaac, and then that Isaac would train also his children after him, so that they would remember and keep the way of the Lord and so bring about the promise. Every Sunday, as I've mentioned before, my children and I, we read a Psalm and talk about it as we drive into church — we have about a 20-25 minute drive. This morning, we read Psalm 78, and in Psalm 78, it talks about how one generation will commend God's mighty deeds to the next, so that they will learn to fear the Lord and trust in Him, and would not turn away like their ancestors did. And I said, "Do you see," (the children and I were talking) and I said, "Do you see how important it is for your mother and I to tell you the stories about Exodus and about God and about what happened with Abraham and Isaac, and the manna, and the quail, and the rebellion in the Red Sea, and all these stories that have been your mind since you were little. Do you see how vital it is?" "Yes." “Why is it vital?” Well, it says there in Psalm 78:7, "So that they would trust in the Lord, so that their sins would be forgiven, so that faith will be formed inside." Well, that is also in God's mind and it's in Abraham's mind too. And that kind of intensive training of children cannot really be done with a Canaanite wife, with an unbelieving, a pagan wife. And Abraham's very concerned about this, very difficult to do with a mixed marriage. Paul talks about this in Corinthians, talking about an unequally yoked situation: “What fellowship does a believer have with an unbeliever?” How in the world can you saturate your children's mind with the Word of God, if the two of you aren't pulling, yoked, in the same direction? Very tough. As a matter of fact, Isaac's own son, Esau, compromised, didn't he, and married some Hittite women. And Rebekah, Esau's mother says, "I'm disgusted with living because of these Hittite women that Esau's married. Please don't let my son Jacob get one of these Canaanite women for himself, but go back to the ancestral homeland and get a believing, a godly woman for him." So, it's the same concern; you see it. Abraham wants to be sure that Isaac has a godly and a believing wife. It's also vital in the redemptive plan that Isaac not be allowed to leave the Promised Land. He’s gotta stay there. The servant asked, "Now what if the woman's unwilling to go?" A big issue; we'll come back to it in a minute, "But what if she's not willing to come back, and should I bring your son there so that she can meet." They didn't have the internet back then or the pictures, you know all that. So, it's really gonna be very tough, you're asking a lot of a woman here. Can he go and so that they can meet and maybe she'll like him, maybe she won't, and we can work this thing out. And he said, "Make sure you do not take my son. He must stay here in the promised land." It's vital. Abraham is not willing to compromise in this. It’s essential to the redemptive plan of God. And so he solemnly commissions his servant with an oath: “Put your hand under my thigh and swear.” It's a very solemn, a very serious oath, sworn by the God of heaven and the God of earth, the sovereign Lord of all the universe, concerning this matter. Now, the servant has some questions. A very reasonable question, as I mentioned a moment ago, is what if she doesn't wanna come back? We are asking this young lady to leave her country and her people and her homeland, very much like Abraham did, and go across hundreds, if not a thousand miles or more of burning sand, and marry a man she's never seen before. What if she doesn't wanna do it? And I just love Abraham's answer. It’s so faith-filled, but it's also practical. Look at it, verses 7-8: “The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’ — he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.” Totally confident in God there, do you see? Do you see the similarity between this and his answer to Isaac, when Isaac said, "Here's wood and here's fire, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?" You remember what he said in Genesis 22: "God will provide the lamb, my son." And so he says to the servant, God will provide. He will send His angel and He will work this out; trust in Him. But practically speaking, I know you need to know. And so, he says in verse 8, “If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” So he's adamant about this. He says, “You've got to go and you've gotta try. Trust in the Lord, watch what he does. Alright? But don't take my son back there." And so, the commission is given, the servant swears the oath, verse 9, “So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.” That's the first section. III. Abraham’s Servant: Journey and Model Prayer The second section is this the journey of the servant and his remarkable and model prayer, verses 10-14. Now Abraham has chosen the servant wisely. It was the chief servant in his household. Some commentators think it may have even been Eliezer of Damascus, but we don't know, it doesn't say. But he was a remarkable man. And clearly from the text, a believer in the Lord, the God of heaven and earth. And so, I think that Abraham had been evangelistic within his own household. He had led this servant to faith in the true God, the living God, and we see the servant's faith on display, don't we? It's not just Abraham who believes, but the servant is a believer. Abraham has chosen well. And so he get's sent out, he makes provisions for the journey, 10 camels, that's a lot of camel-age. We'll get to that again later, 'cause they're very thirsty, alright? But there's a lot of goods for the journey. They're taking provisions for the journey, but they're also taking a lot of good stuff. And why? Well, it's going to be a display of wealth to the young lady's father, so that he will release her to him. And so all kinds of good things are laden on this camel. Now, one thing you can't tell because the focus is so totally on this one servant, but there's a bunch of men that ride with him. They're mentioned in verse 32, so the men are there, and the image there that I get, like in World War II, when there were ships that were going over to besiege England from America, and there were Nazi submarines attacking and picking off these ships one at a time. So, what they did was they started having a convoy, surrounded by destroyers, so that they couldn't be picked off and sunk one at a time. It is a dangerous journey this servant's making. He's going across roads and deserts where there will be Highwaymen, robbers who are ready to pick off such a lavishly appointed train. So my guess is there's a lot of men involved here, and they're traveling back to the ancestral homeland. However, the real protection was not the men. They were there, it's reasonable to have them there, but like it says in Psalm 27, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.” And so they were trusting in God as they went, and God did protect them and watched over their journey. Now, the arduous journey itself passed over in silence, so there's no point in commenting, just that it was a difficult trip, it would not have taken a short time to get there, it was arduous and difficult. And so, they'd come to the town of Nahor, Abraham's father's name, where Abraham's brother Bethuel lived. Notice that the servant wastes no time searching anywhere else, he goes right back to Abraham's hometown. He feels very much that that's where God is going to provide a wife for Isaac. Now, when he gets there, he prays this faith-filled model prayer. Look at verses 11-14: “He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water. Then he prayed, ‘O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a girl, “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. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.’” Now, there's some remarkable aspects of this prayer, I really love it. First of all, notice how faith-filled and specific it is. I think it's wonderful to teach children a prayer such as, "God bless the world." I'm glad that children can learn how to have a generally positive disposition toward the world and ask God that God would bless that. But I'll tell you something, you can never measure a prayer like that. Now, this prayer is specific: “May it be that when I ask such and such, that she says such and such.” That's remarkable, isn't it? Do you pray like that? Anything like that. Do you pray in such a way that you could tell whether there would be an answer or not? Faith-filled and specific prayer. It's remarkable. And by the way, what is he asking? It was a small thing that she would offer him a drink. That's no big deal. Common desert hospitality, "Could I have a drink?" "Sure, here you go." But to water the camels, now that's a whole different ball game. Had to do some research on this. It's true, I don't know much about what camels drink. Okay? But a thirsty camel can, it seems, drink up to 32 gallons of water. A gallon of water weighs a little over 8 pounds; with the ceramic jar you're talking 10 pounds for each gallon. That would be a total of 320 gallons, or sorry, 320 pounds of water that she's moving. Have you ever moved water? You remember when we had the ice storm? We're on a well and we had no water, and we had to go get water for certain necessities. Okay? So, we had to move water and it was heavy. It’s very heavy. So, he's asking something to God that he would never ask her directly, "Please, would you mind moving 320 pounds of water for me and my camels?" That's a thing that she must volunteer, and she does. That's a remarkable thing. Very specific prayer, it's based on his need for immediate identification of the young woman that God has chosen. IV. God’s Providential Answer: Rebekah Waters the Camels Well, God gives a providential answer. Look at verses 15-27. And by the way, one of the most amazing things about providence is not that miraculous things happen, such as as things suddenly pop out of thin air or whatever. It’s not that. What's amazing about providence is how common place things happen in remarkable timing; that's what it is. It's that ordinary things happen and they just click in at just the right moment. Now, that's what makes it so amazing. You have to know what to look for. And so it is that there's a remarkable answer here. Look at verse 15, “Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder.” I mean, God didn't waste any time. Before he'd finished praying, there she is. The first one that he interacts with. Amazing timing. "What's amazing about providence is how common place things happen in remarkable timing; that's what it is. It's that ordinary things happen and they just click in at just the right moment. " Now, when Rebekah came out so quickly, the servant was ready to move, he's ready to not just pray but to be an answer to prayer, be involved, he trusts in the sovereignty of God, but he knows he's got some acting to do too. And so in Verse 17, it says, “The servant hurried to meet her [so, he goes out to make himself available for God's answer to the prayer. He's energetic, he's going out, he's not just there like, "Lord, you gotta do it." No, no, no, he's gonna go out, he hurries, is she the one? Maybe she is. And so he says,] ‘Please give me a little water from your jar.’” Now, Rebekah's qualities are immediately put on display. She is a high quality woman, she is a good choice for Isaac. Now, the servant doesn't know this yet, but she's about to show what kind of person she is. First of all, her family origin: she was a daughter of Bethuel, Abraham's brother, as it turns out, Bethuel is Abraham's nephew and Isaac's cousin. That would make Rebekah Isaac's first cousin once removed. Now, if you think I know that kind of thing, I don't, but I went on the internet and found a chart where you can work it out, and she was his first cousin once removed, that was their relationship. But the key thing is she comes from the family ancestry that Abraham had in mind. He wanted somebody from home. So, family origin was there. Physical beauty — it says of the girl that she was very beautiful. We understand it says in 1 Peter 3, that the beauty of a woman comes from a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight, but God had also made Rebekah physically beautiful, and it mentions that Isaac would be very pleased when he saw her. It also speaks of her virginity; it says specifically, no man had ever lain with her. Nowadays, virginity is seen almost as a joke, it's almost like how quickly can we throw it away, but it's a precious and valuable thing, and that's why it's mentioned specifically here in the text, no man had ever lain with her. And so, that which is precious to God we should consider precious too, and we should protect. I'll talk about more about that next week, but it's listed as one of the qualities. It also speaks of her hard work. It says that she quickly worked doing a difficult task. She hurried. She drew enough water for all the camels — 320 pounds of water — a huge amount of work that she does cheerfully. We see also her hospitality; we see it many times in this account. First to offer him some water and then to extend it to the camels, and then to extend it to all of the entourage to stay with them. We see her respectfulness, she calls him, "My Lord." She uses an honorific title, she's a respectful young lady, gives him a title of honor. We see also her graciousness and her compassion, she's concerned for the needs that he may have and his entourage after their long travel. Eventually in the account toward the end, we're gonna see her courage and her faith. Now, young ladies, especially unmarried young ladies, would you have done what Rebekah did? Now, stop and think about it. Would you have just led by the Lord, traveled a thousand miles back to marry some guy you have never met, never seen, nothing, just because God was leading you to do it? That's remarkable. She had incredible faith and she had incredible courage. She was a great choice for Isaac. Now, Rebekah, the key thing with her, was her hospitality. And isn't it amazing how God can use a little thing like that, a character trait formed in her from her youngest days to be the issue which would click her together with her husband. If she had been surly or rude or lack compassion or inhospitable, she would never have been chosen, she would not have met the request that the servant prayed. She would have just said, "Here, have some water, I gotta be on my way." She would have been surly or brusque, but instead she was hospitable. God used that to bring her into His redemptive plan. Remarkable. And so it is, everyday life has significance, how you treat a single individual who makes a simple request of you, it has significance. Everything matters. There was no way she could have known that that request and the offer to water camels would eventually lead her to the Promised Land, but so it did. Well, her hospitable answer leads her to a bunch of work. The Bible says in Matthew 10:42, “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” What kind of reward is she gonna get for 320 pounds of water? So, she is working hard, working hard, but notice the servant, what does he do? He stands and watches her and doesn't say a word. What is he waiting for? He's waiting for her to finish the job. It doesn't count if she does it halfway or three-quarters of the way. He’s waiting to see if God has answered the prayer and he will not know until she has watered the last camel. And when she has watered the last camel, then he goes up and he asks some questions, verse 23: “Then he asked, ‘Whose daughter are you? [Kind of an important question. And then he says,] Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?’ She answered him, ‘I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milcah bore to Nahor.’ And she added, ‘We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.’” Now, here's the deal. The servant knew before anyone else. Isn't that wonderful? He knew before Abraham, he knew before Isaac, he knew before any of the men, he knew before Rebekah, he knew before Laban, he knew before anybody, she is gonna be Isaac's wife. And what does he do? He bows down and he worships the Lord God. He praises the Lord: “Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD, saying, ‘Praise be to the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives.’” I tell you, great joy comes from being in the center of God's will. Great joy comes from seeing remarkable coincidences happen to specific prayers done for the glory of God. Incredible joy comes from that. My first Christmas as a Christian, Christmas of 1982, I went on evangelism project with Campus Crusade for Christ in Philadelphia. And we went out witnessing. It was my first experience witnessing. I was terrified. We're going door to door in the streets of Philadelphia; we come to an inner city home, a town house. A lady opened the door. We talked to her about some things; she wanted to talk to us about the Lord, she invited us in. We came in and it was utter mayhem. There were, it seemed like, 50 kids in the house (there were probably more like four or five) but they're running around like little Indians. It was crazy — it was loud and the TV was blaring. And it was just very, very difficult. I felt there was no way we're gonna be able to talk to this lady, she was interested, but she didn't have a chance. We sat down at the table and my partner began witnessing to her, and I began to pray. I said, "Oh Lord," — I mean, I’m a new Christian — I said, "Lord, please, make these kids be quiet, make them... Or go out or something." Because I can't hear myself think and the lady was getting distracted every 30 seconds. Well, I don't remember, I think I got into the conversation with my partner and we're talking, but I notice about 10 minutes later, all five of them are sitting on the couch, ching, ching, ching, ching, ching. I looked over and the mother hadn't said anything in a while. She’s absorbed in the gospel. And one of the children, about six, seven years old, gets up, goes across the floor, turns the TV down and goes back and sits down. Now tell me, that's not a miracle! That was amazing! It was a specific answer to prayer. William Temple once said, "The more I pray, the more coincidences happen. And the less I pray, they stop happening." And so, that was a coincidence, wasn't it? No, it wasn't. It was an answer to prayer. And so it was, he's worshipping God. Let me tell you something, if you're missing joy in your life, maybe you're not stepping out in faith and serving, maybe you're not in the center of God's will, maybe you've kind of veered away from God's redemptive plan. Go out and take some risks for him, do some things that you wouldn't ordinarily do because you're a Christian and trust Him for some specific things and see the coincides start to happen in your life again. And see your joy go off the charts. Abraham's servant was the first to know, and he fell down, and he worshipped God. V. Rebekah’s Family Learns of God’s Providence Well, then the family learned about God's providence in verses 28-49. They noticed that Rebekah is a little different. First of all, she's wearing some jewelry. They hadn't seen that before — she's got the bracelet, she's got the nose ring... No comment, we'll just move on. She's got the bracelet, she got the nose ring, she’s just… looking good, in that culture. And then she goes and we meet this man for the first time named Laban. Laban is her older brother, and Laban is taking the role, it seems, of the head of the household. Now, I don't know if Bethuel is just too old or whatever, but it really seems that Laban is the one negotiating concerning Rebekah. Laban is the one who receives the gifts, and so he's taking that significant role. We will meet, God willing, in the future, Laban again, when Jacob goes to get a wife and he ends up with Laban's daughters, Leah and Rachel. And we find out what kind of man he is at that point. I'll tell you right now what kind of man he is. He is a conniver, he's a con-artist; he's the kind of man that God will use to change Jacob forever. But we'll get to Laban in due time. This is just right now, at this point, her older brother. And he finds out what's happening, he takes them in, the servant tells the story in verses 34-49, he goes over some details, and the bulk of this section is just a repetition of what we already knew. But he does focus on Abraham's wealth. He says, "The Lord has blessed him. He's got lots of sheep and cattle and donkeys, he's got silver and gold, he's got men servants and maid servants, he is very wealthy. And Isaac, the one that we have in mind here, is the sole inheritor. He's the sole heir, if that matters to you." Well, it mattered to Laban. In all seriousness, it's vital for a young man to be able to provide for a young woman, and the servant's message is, he can provide for your daughter, for your sister, he can meet her needs. And so the final confirmation in verses 47-48, “I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms, and I bowed down and worshiped the LORD. I praised the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son.” Now the servant pops the question. Verse 49: “Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn.” What is it? What's it going to be? Is it yes or no. VI. Rebekah and Her Family Submit to God’s Providence And so, Rebekah and her family submit to God's providence in verses 50-60. The first key to this is you have to recognize the hand of the Lord. You have to see it, you can't see events as just swirling mass of nothingness — luck and chance and all kinds of coincidences, no. This is the hand of the Lord. And so, the first thing they do is they say, "This is the hand of the Lord. We see it, we acknowledge that God is doing something." Just like Henry Blackaby in Experiencing God, to see where God is at work and join him. They could see that God was at work here. “This is from the LORD…” verse 50. And then they submit to the hand of the Lord, that's the next step. First, you got to see that God is acting, and then next you gotta submit to it. In verse 50-51, “We can say nothing to you one way or the other. Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has… [literally, it says] as the Lord has spoken.” Now, there must have been a good deal of sadness here. The key is not just submission, as though it's grim, but glad submission. I really believe the essence of the kingdom of heaven is glad submission to Jesus as the king. That's the essence of the kingdom of heaven. But they submit to the hand of God, and I'm sure there must have been some sadness there. "I really believe the essence of the kingdom of heaven is glad submission to Jesus as the king." And then they rejoice verse 52:“When Abraham's servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD. [And then, they profited from it. Verse 53] Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother.” Let me tell you something, weddings are expensive. I mean, they did a study recently, somebody… investigative reporters, and they said, "We're doing a retirement dinner for a boss and we wanna get a photographer, how much is it gonna cost?" A rate was given. They call back about an hour later and say, "We're having a wedding, etcetera." The rate was three times what it was for the retirement dinner. It's very expensive to have a wedding, everybody knows you're gonna spend a lot of money. In the United Arab Emirates, for example, a bridegroom can expect to spend an average of $75,000 to get married. Lavish gifts, parties, clothing, incredible. In every culture, it's expensive. And so we see these gifts, these material gifts. But then the time comes to complete the task without delay. The next morning the servant is ready to go back, and so he says, "I wanna go back and complete the task that the master has given." Well, they don't want her to leave so soon, and we're gonna see this pattern later in Genesis, in due time, in the future, God willing, but Laban doesn't want them to leave, and so he's bargaining for some more time. He say, "Well, let us stay for 10 days." Finally, they just put the matter to Rebekah. And by the way, it's the first time she's asked. You may find that interesting as 21st century people. She's not been asked up to this point, but now she's asked, "Will you go with this man or not?" And she says, "I will go." And with that word, you see her heart, you see her courage, you see her faith, her willingness to follow God. VII. Isaac Marries Rebekah Well, in verses 61-67, we see Isaac marrying Rebekah. “Then Rebekah and her maids got ready and mounted their camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left. Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel and asked the servant, "Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?" "He is my master," the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself. Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.” Now, the journey has passed over in silence again as they come back, but you can well imagine that Rebekah talked to the servant, "What kind of man is Isaac?” Do you think she was curious? Would you have been? I would have been, wondering what is this... What is he like? And so, I'm sure they had plenty of time to talk, and by the time she got back to that area, she was ready to meet him. It's a pretty dramatic first meeting. It’s more dramatic in the Hebrew than it is in any English translation. I've talked with Jeremy and others about whether I'm gonna tell you what it really says happened concerning the camel. But literally, it says, "She fell from her camel." Now, I know that that makes it seem undignified. It’s just a simple word, Hebrew word, for fall, so she sees him and down she goes. But let's let her light gracefully. Okay. So she comes down and lands, and then she finds out that it's Isaac. “It's my master,” and notice the servant calls him “my master”, because he's the sole heir, he is also his master. She covers herself chastely with a veil. The chastity, the purity, it's so beautiful. Then he, understanding who she is, talking to the servant, he does a remarkable thing. He brings her to his mother's tent, to Sarah's tent, and it says, "And he married her.” Now, what's remarkable about this account is that the wedding ceremony itself is passed over, I really believe with all my heart they had one. This was the same group of people that celebrated greatly with a big party when the child was weaned, when Isaac was weaned, so there's no way that they're gonna skip the wedding. It just doesn't say anything about it. What's remarkable is that Rebekah symbolically has now taken Sarah's place. She becomes somewhat the clan matriarch. She’s immediately given a position of honor, because she's going to be Rebekah, Isaac's wife, and he's the heir. And so, he takes her and she's set up in Sarah's tent. But there's one other thing. She has to some degree taken Sarah's place now in Isaac's heart. And this is really beautiful, isn't it? It says, the final word in the chapter is, “And so Isaac was comforted concerning the death of his mother, Sarah.” Let me tell you something, it must have been incredible to have Abraham as a father: he was called the friend of God, he was a faith-filled man, incredible life, the whole experience of Mount Moriah, but you know something, there were things that only Sarah could do for Isaac. The woman's touch, the woman's place, irreplaceable in Isaac's life, irreplaceable. And so, he's had an emptiness, a vacuum in his life ever since Sarah died, and now Rebekah has come to fill that place. And then, even more, to be an avenue of comfort and of blessing, and so she would be. Song of Songs 8:10 says, "I've become in his eyes like one bringing contentment." And that's exactly what she was, she was a fountain of contentment and a blessing. “A godly wife, who can find? Her worth is more precious than rubies or jewels.” She's essential to God's salvation plan. Without Rebekah, we don't get Jesus Christ. And that's where I wanna end this message today, Jesus Christ. We're gonna talk next week about theological implications and marriage and all those things in due time. But the center of this is God's faithfulness to keep his promises. Isaac needed a wife. Only God could have brought Isaac and Rebekah together in this way, to give Rebekah enough courage and faith to get on that camel and go back with the servant and marry a man she's never met before. But she does because God brought it about. God is sovereign. And all of God's promises, all of the flow of redemptive history, all of the words spoken to Abraham, and then Isaac and Jacob, all of it was pointed toward the coming of Jesus Christ. In Christ and in Christ alone are all the promises of God, yea and amen. Everything comes down to Jesus Christ. And my question is, just like Abraham's servant, do you have enough faith to trust in Jesus Christ, not just for the provision of an earthly spouse, not just for health or for physical prosperity. Oh no, I'm talking about something far greater than that. Do you have enough faith to trust in Jesus Christ for the resurrection of your body and the salvation of your soul? Where is your faith today? "And all of God's promises, all of the flow of redemptive history, all of the words spoken to Abraham, and then Isaac and Jacob, all of it was pointed toward the coming of Jesus Christ." And I believe I'm talking to two different categories of people right now. Those that have made a profession of faith in Christ already, but who perhaps are tempted to drift away from faith, I prayed for you this morning already. Perhaps already your hearts are getting a little hard. You’re turning away from Christ, you're drifting from Him. Can I urge you to come back to Christ? He is the lover of your soul. Come back again to the things you did at first, to prayer and Bible reading, to service in Him, to loving Christ. And then I believe in this large assembly, there must be some that have never trusted in Christ. Jesus Christ is a lover of your soul, He is the only savior there is, trust in Him. Put your faith in Him. All of the promises of God are focused on Him. Know Him and love Him today.