Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

PROVISIONS FOR POSTERITY 2 3 : 1-2 S : 1 8
describes with considerable minuteness his search for a
wife for Isaac and the success which he had met with thus
far, Then, v. 49, he pressed his suit, emphasizing the
providential guidance which Yahwe had seen fit to give
him, even to the granting of the “sign” which was to him
proof that Rebekah was the desired bride, both desired and
divinely identified. Laban and Bethuel also recognized
in all this the guidance of God, saying, “we cannot speak
unto thee bad or good,” that is, we cannot add a word,
cannot alter anything (Num. 24:13, 2 Sam. 13:22).
“That Rebekah’s brother Laban should have taken part
with her father in deciding, was in accordance with the
usual custom (cf. 34:5, 11, 25; Judg. 21:22, 2 Sam. 13:22),
which may have arisen from the prevalence of polygamy,
and the readiness of the father to neglect the children
(daughters) of the wife he cared for least” (KD, BCOTP,
260). V. J2-After receiving the assent of Laban and
Bethuel to the union, the servant “bowed himself down to
the earth unto Jehovah” (vv. 50-52). He then gave all
the presents to Rebekah and her kinsmen which Abraham
had sent; then, when this ceremony was all finished, they
partook of the feast provided by the host.
(7) Rebekah’s departure, vv. 50-67. Obviously the
matter is settled in accordance wtih custom. In the gifts
for Rebekah’s relatives, it has been said that we could have
a survival of the practice of purchase-price of a wife
(34:12, Exo. 22:16, 1 Sam. 18:25); in this narrative, how-
ever, what is done takes place from a more refined idea
of marriage, “from which the notion of actual purchase
has all but disappeared” (ICCG, 346). In Islam, we are
told, these customs have come to be synonymous with the
dowry.
The next morning Eliezer expressed his desire to set
off at once on the journey home. The relatives, however,
wished to keep Rebekah with them for “a few days, at
least ten.” But when the maiden herself was consulted,
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