Genesis 24:50-61

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

Rebekah Decides to Marry Isaac

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. Rebekah is a picture (type) of the church in her position.

  2. Rebekah is a picture (type) of the church in her response.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Parents, are you willing to let your children go?

  2. Don’t delay the decision you must make.

QUESTIONS

  1. Did Abraham’s servant accept the offer of extending his time with them?

  2. Explain, “May your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them.” (Genesis 24:60)

  3. How is Rebekah a picture of the church in her position?

  4. How is Rebekah a picture of the church in her response?

  5. Why is it unwise to delay a decision that must be made?

ANSWERS

  1. No. He replied, “Do not hinder me...that I may go to my master.”

  2. The gates had to do with victory and protection.

  3. Rebekah was planned for and selected to be the bride of Isaac before she knew it; God’s secret and eternal counsels planned for and calls out the church. (See Ephesians 1:4). Rebekah complemented or completed Isaac; the church complements or completes Christ.

  4. Rebekah responded on the basis of the testimony of Abraham’s servant about his master and his master’s son; the church responds to the testimony of God and Jesus Christ. With Rebekah, there was both the testimony and the evidence to back it up; with the church, there is the testimony and the evidence to back it up. Rebekah’s response was one of faith; the church responds in faith. See 1 Peter 1:8.

  5. Rebekah did not risk losing interest by delaying the journey to her betrothed. A non-Christian should not lose interest through delay, lest the opportunity be gone.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. Review the blessing given by Rebekah’s family (Genesis 24:60) and the one given by God to Abraham (Genesis 22:17).

  2. Rebekah responded in faith, sight unseen. Look up 1 Peter 1:8; Hebrews 12:1-2; and 2 Corinthians 5:7. How great is your faith response?

  3. Have you ever hindered your children (or other children) in their commitment to the Lord? Have you ever been hindered in your faith walk?

CHALLENGE

  1. Don’t delay decisions you must make. See 2 Corinthians 6:2.

KEY VERSES

  • “Do not hinder me, that I may go to my master.” Genesis 24:56

  • “Will you go with this man?’ ‘I will go.” Genesis 24:58

Genesis, Old Testament, TalksRon Reid