Genesis 24:50 Commentary and Bible Study

They are both struck by the hand of the Lord in what has happened and the openness of the servant has won them over. They clearly knew about the God of Abraham. It was impossible that the family should not know why Abraham had left Ur more than sixty-five years before, and that it was in obedience to the command of God that he had gone to a strange land. Whether they worship the Lord in their family is not stated, but we read later of religious images kept by the family, one of which Rachel stole from her father (Genesis 31:19). Certainly Terah, Abraham’s father, had been a worshipper of idols and this had affected the whole family (Joshua 24:2), but they had sufficient fear of God to know that they must yield to such clear indications of God’s will. Rebekah behaves as a sanctified woman in submitting her life so entirely to the will of God and casting her whole future into His hands. They feel that they cannot even comment on the Lord’s choice. They cannot speak for it or against it, as if they had any scope to influence it either way. They were certain, as Calvin says, that they must obey God in this matter. Rebekah is not consulted at this stage, nor does the servant insist that she should be. Later she is called to see what she thinks, but at this point Laban and Bethuel feel quite able to make a decision on her behalf.