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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 greatly, and he has become great; and He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. 36 And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and to him he has given all that he has. 37 Now my master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell; 38 but you shall go to my father’s house and to my family, and take a wife for my son.’ 39 And I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’ 40 But he said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I walk, will send His angel with you and [e]prosper your way; and you shall take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house. 41 You will be clear from this oath when you arrive among my family; for if they will not give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.’

42 “And this day I came to the well and said, ‘O Lord God of my master Abraham, if You will now prosper the way in which I go, 43 behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass that when the virgin comes out to draw water, and I say to her, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,” 44 and she says to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also,”—let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’

45 “But before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah, coming out with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ 46 And she made haste and let her pitcher down from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels a drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels a drink also. 47 Then I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the nose ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. 48 And I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the way of truth to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son. 49 Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. And if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”

(Genesis 24: 29-49)

Now this is her brother Laban now Laban will be a significant part of what happens next, he becomes very significant later in this story and this might just be the first clue that he has a problem with greed. The jewellery is what appears to initially impress him. What happens next in verses 34 all the way through to verse 49 is a repetition of everything that's happened so rather than read that passage and repeat everything again. So, I'm going to summarise what's going on here in these verses but draw you attention to the fact that the full text of Chapter 24 is available in the episode notes.

The servant tells Rebecca's family about Abraham and Isaac he mentions Abraham's wealth. Then when he sits down to tell you the story of what happened at the well. His listing of the animals is his way of saying Abraham is a wealthy man. In other words, he's got plenty of money he can take care of your daughter. The other thing he does in this passage is he mentions that Isaac is in in line for all of this, so he talks about Abraham he talks about Isaac. He talks about Isaac’s birth and talks about Isaacs status. He tells him about the oath that he took with Abraham, and he talked about how God providentially led him to them. 

Now as I mentioned a minute ago all of this is repetition of what was said before, and we've already heard the story so I'm not going to repeat, but the complete text is in the episode notes if you want it, it but I want to make a comment on the use of repetition. There is often repetition in the scripture in like in this case the retelling of the story is not just repetition for repetition sake. I mentioned at the beginning that this is the longest chapter in the book of Genesis and that the repeating of this material is significant in the mind of the author because he is is retelling of the story is to re-emphasise what's going on. Namely that God is leading him to find a bride for Isaac because God made a promise to Abraham and that's the point of this whole section of Genesis and for that matter the whole Old Testament. So, they hear all about what happened and then they respond to it, and pick up at verse 50.

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 may go.”

(Genesis 24: 50-55)

This is the third time he's prayed in this passage; this servant of Abraham is constantly depending on the Lord and when he sees that things are working out, he acknowledges the Lord. He's found the girl they've accepted the fact that this is of the Lord so let's get on with it, he says, let's get back to Canaan and set up a wedding. However, her brother and her mother say let the young woman stay with us a few days at least 10 and after that she may go. That's a reasonable request isn’t it? Can you imagine some stranger showing up an telling this tale and you're going to allow you daughter to leave within 24 hours less than 24 hours, leave with their daughter? Hang on a minute, they say, I mean this is our daughter, at least let us have a going away party and give us at maybe a week or 10 days  to say goodbye. Seem like a perfectly reasonable request to me.

We will pick up the story from verse 56, next time.