A Helper in Grace

You may recall that in Genesis 2, the woman (Eve) was first called a Helper fit for the man (Adam). That was marriage in the context of the covenant of works, but has the basic design of marriage changed once we are here in Genesis 24, with Abraham and then Isaac in the covenant of grace? Not at all. 

There is one more thing you have to know about God’s design for marriage, and we catch a glimpse of it in His judgment against the people for the sin of divorce.

“And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth” (Mal. 2:15).

This design of marriage—namely, to present to God a Christian line, a Christian community, a Christian world—is nothing other than the multiplication of His image-bearers, and that is not an afterthought to the covenant of grace in Abraham’s line. This covenant of grace gives a real ground to it.

• There is a mission to gain a godly seed in grace.

• There is a mission to gain a godly seed by grace.

Doctrine. The grace of God ensures a godly seed.   

There is a mission to gain a godly seed in grace.

Four things about this mission brought Isaac and Rebekah together.

First, notice the seriousness of the mission. He tells his servant: ‘Put your hand under my thigh, that I may make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and God of the earth’ (vv. 2-3). Kinder explains the significance of this form of oath: “The privacy of the thigh and its association wit begetting (46:26, Heb.) made the oath particularly solemn. Jacob’s dying charge to Joseph was similarly reinforced (47:29).”1 But why so solemn? It was because something was unthinkable here. Something must not happen.

“you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell … See to it that you do not take my son back there” (vv. 3, 6).

Call this a case of right place, wrong people; right people, wrong place. Yes, I want my son’s offspring living in Canaan. That was God’s plan. But not mixing with any of these Canaanite women! And yes, take her from our line—in a sense, go to the church (not the bar)—but not if she will not accept the fullness of this mission! Because this mission doesn’t end with you making a wedding happen.

Secondly, there is a match for the mission. The right Christian woman will follow the Christian man on mission. Again, remember the flow of the text in Genesis 2.

“The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it … Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (vv. 15, 18).

Young people need to know this, that this is how you discover the right match—namely, whether they are on the mission. And from the man’s perspective, what that means is that her getting right on line with the mission you have from God clicks. Even the brother and mother of Rebekah saw that: ‘Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, ‘The thing has come from the LORD; we cannot speak to you bad or good’ (v. 50). They knew enough to know that God’s will is what matters, as wise Gamaliel answered the council that wanted the disciples in chains: “I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” (Acts 5:38-39)

Thirdly, there is a confidence about the mission, that the God of the mission will provide. Of course Abraham is not God, so he cannot speak with divine certainty about this girl or that girl. But what he can say is that God will be faithful.

“The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there” (v. 7).

What does the famous Proverb say? “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Prov. 3:6). Without acknowledging God every step of the way, it wouldn’t be confidence. It would be presumption. But Abraham finishes well. His first recorded words were in 15:3, “you have given me no offspring,” and now among his final recorded words are ‘he will send his angel before you’ (v. 7). In the end, his confidence is in Christ.

Fourthly, there was a haste about the mission: ‘he said to them, ‘Do not delay me, since the LORD has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master’ (v. 56). It may be that Eliezer wanted to return home as quickly as possibly so that he could have confirmation of Abraham’s approval before Abraham died. But ultimately it was Isaac’s life and line that needed to get going.

There is a mission to gain a godly seed by grace.

Look at the description of the servant—‘the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had’ (v. 2). It is true that his name is not mentioned, but we will recall that when Abraham first doubted the promise, he prayed,

“O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” (Gen. 15:2).

So this chief steward of his household was very likely Eliezer.2 Now, the name Eli-ezer means “My God, the helper” (cf. Ex. 18:4). This is a type of the Holy Spirit in drawing the bride for the promised Son. So the father (here Abraham) has sent this other helper, and so Jesus said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper” (Jn 14:16). If every marriage is ordained to tell the gospel, such that the bride represents the church—as Ephesians 5:22-33 teaches—then all the more so with those marriages among God’s ancient typological people, Israel.

And this helper was sent from out of Abraham’s house to another house—so some point to the Spirit expanding the call from the Jews to the Gentiles: “God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name” (Acts 15:14). Paul speaks to the Gentiles churches as if he were making them ready as a bride to Christ: “For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2).

Notice that the bride has been made to come most willingly.

The will to follow Christ has a corresponding speed. We see this clearly with the call of the disciples by Jesus. So it is that Rebecca had to leave behind father and mother, and to us it may seem so abrupt and cold.

Finally, the helper brings the bride to the favored son.

“And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel  and said to the servant, ‘Who is that man, walking in the field to meet us?’ The servant said, ‘It is my master’” (vv. 64-65).

So, of the divine Helper, Jesus says, “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (Jn. 16:14).

Practical Use of the Doctrine

Use 1. Exhortation. Notice that in the prayer of the servant (vv. 12-14), nothing is taken for granted. Both God’s goodness and God’s guidance are the air he breathes. He prays on the “big-picture” level: ‘please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham’ (v. 12), showing that we never stop needing to pray for God’s merciful dealing with us just because we have been a Christian for a long time. But he also prays down to the “micro-level”:

“Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master” (v. 14).

The lesson here is not that we must be that specific, or that we ever ought to be, but simply that we ought to seek God’s direction on that level. One way the Bible teaches this is to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17).

Use 2. Instruction. I’m suggesting that we don’t turn this into specific sign-seeking, but actually we miss perfectly appropriate and obvious signs. You may think that the real sign here was Rebekah going through the exact motions that Eliezer had in his mind beforehand. But was she really just going through motions? It says, ‘She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up’ (v. 16) In other words, she was industrious. Then, ‘She said, ‘Drink, my lord.’ And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink’ (v. 18). In other words, she was kind, and she was quick about it. Too many young Christians don’t think there are concrete lists in Scripture for what to look for. But that is false. We just don’t value those things that we ought to. Just start at the fruit of the Spirit passage in Galatians 5 and you don’t have to add much more. But it just so happens that the Bible is also full of character examples like Rebekah here. And the main thing that shows forth in Rebekah is no surprise—FAITH. Boice, in his commentary, says,

“Nothing in the recorded history of Rebekah so puts her in the true spiritual line of Abraham as this decision.”3

Namely, to answer the call immediately with “I will go.” It reminds me of the first wife of the missionary to Burma, Adoniram Judson, Ann. I say “first” because she would die in the jungle of the fever. But she was a young woman who was zealous for the gospel of Christ and found the prospects of spreading the gospel to unknown peoples the very reason for life. Friends and even family pled with her to run from this missionary like the plague. You’ll waste your life! To the father Adoniram would write in a letter, “Can you consent to all this, for the sake of Him who left His heavenly home and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory of God?”

That’s what separates the spiritual giants from those merely inhabiting the temporary land: Will you go? Will you leave behind what used to be, for that which will never fade and for Him who will never fail you?

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1. Kidner, Genesis, 157.

2. Boice remarks that, “the incident in Genesis 15 occurred fifty to sixty years earlier, so it is possible that Eliezer had died by this time and that this is another servant” (Genesis, II:717).

3. Boice, Genesis, II:721.