Genesis Chapter 24

Abraham’s servant, guided through prayer and providence, finds Rebekah in Nahor’s city; she chooses to go, and becomes Isaac’s beloved wife.

Genesis 24:1-9

Abraham Commissions His Servant

Genesis 24:10-27

Prayer and Answer at the Well

Genesis 24:28-33

Welcome in Bethuel’s House

Genesis 24:34-49

The Servant Tells His Story

Genesis 24:50-61

Consent, Delay, and Departure

Genesis 24:62-67

Isaac Receives Rebekah

Genesis 24:1

The chapter opens with two notes about Abraham. He “was old, and well stricken in age,” and “the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.” Isaac would marry at forty (25:20), so Abraham is about one hundred and forty, and Sarah has been in the grave at Machpelah for some three years. Age gives the scene its urgency. The promise of a multitude of descendants now hangs, humanly speaking, on an unmarried son, and the patriarch knows that his remaining strength is limited.

The second statement looks back over the whole story since Genesis 12. God had said, “I will bless thee” (12:2), and the narrator now records that the word has come true. Abraham’s wealth, his son, his safety among the nations, and even the burial plot he has just secured are evidence of the LORD’s favour. Blessing is the first and last word of this chapter’s opening and of its later speeches: the servant will repeat it to Rebekah’s family (v. 35), and they will bless Rebekah when she leaves (v. 60).

The blessing is not yet complete. The land is still mostly owned by others, and the nation is still one man. Abraham’s faith therefore looks forward, and his last recorded act is to secure the next step in God’s plan. God’s past faithfulness becomes the ground for trusting him with what remains.

Old age in Scripture is a time for passing on the faith as much as for resting from labour. The psalmist prays, “when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation” (Psalm 71:18). Abraham uses his remaining strength for that purpose. His concern in this chapter is not his own comfort or legacy but the continuation of God’s promise through his son.

Study Links

Cross References

Genesis 12:2Genesis 25:20Genesis 18:11

Word / Phrase Notes

בָּא בַּיָּמִים (ba bayyamim) — well stricken in age

Literally “gone into the days,” an idiom for advanced old age used of Abraham and Sarah in 18:11 and of Joshua and David near the end of their lives. It marks a time for settling the household’s future.

Genesis 18:11

בֵּרַךְ (berakh) — had blessed

The verb of 12:2–3 returns as a completed fact: God has blessed Abraham “in all things.” In Genesis blessing includes life, fruitfulness, and prosperity given by God, and it is meant to flow on to others through Abraham’s seed.

Genesis 12:2-3Genesis 22:17