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The Mother of Thousands of Millions: Rebekah’s Kindness

Kindness matters! May I tell you the story of a single act of kindness that affected the lives of billions, even to this day?

The ancient patriarch Abraham “was old and well stricken in age.” He was concerned that his son Isaac was not yet married. He called for his most trusted servant, and in the custom of the day sent him back to the land of Abraham’s ancestry to negotiate a wife for Isaac. Now that may seem a strange custom to us, but for the servant, it must have been a daunting task: he was to travel to a land he did not know, find a family he had never met, and persuade a girl to leave her home and kin forever, and marry a stranger.

Dubious, but faithful, the servant loaded ten camels and set out for Mesopotamia, arriving at the well on the outskirts of the village, just as the women were coming to draw evening water. But now, which maiden is she? How does he find her? The servant prayed, “O Lord God of my master Abraham…let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, let down thy pitcher, I pray thee that I may drink; and she shall say, drink and I will give thy camels drink also; let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac.”

He did not even finish the prayer before a very lovely young woman approached the well, filled her pitcher, and started back. He ran and asked for a drink. She gave him a drink and then said, “I will draw water for thy camels also.” Do you know how much water ten thirsty camels can drink? More than 250 gallons! No one had known the like of Rebekah. The servant watched her in wonder. Could this be her? Could it be that easy? She had passed the first test, but was she of the covenant lineage? She was.

Rebekah invited the man to her home where he presented his incredible story to her and her family. The next morning Rebekah’s family put the decision to her, “Wilt thou go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.”

It was evening. Isaac went out into the fields to meditate. In the distance he saw the camels coming. From atop the camel Rebekah saw him, and asked, “What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us?” When she learned that it was “him,” she came down from the camel, veiled her face as a bride would and went to meet him. Isaac “took Rebekah, and she became his wife and he loved her.”

Rebekah became “the mother of thousands of millions.” Nations today call her mother, probably even you, and all because of a timely act of kindness coupled with simple faith. Kindness does matter!

Source: Genesis 24