AS THE servant pressed his plea to be sent away immediately with Rebekah, the older members of the family were unable to respond any further, but were then willing to put the matter up to her. “And they said, We will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth.” v. 57.
We can conclude that this expression from Laban and the mother was exactly what the servant wanted most to hear. Well could he understand their natural reluctance to send one of their family away from their home and their desire to keep her with them “just a little longer.” But we can scarcely question that the faithful servant knew before ever her lips replied just what her response would be. Had not that servant searched out her heart as he faithfully told the story of that father and son in Canaan’s land? If the others could not rightly judge the gleam of her eye and see the eagerness with which she had taken in every detail of his story on the preceding night, if her amazement in contemplating the riches bore her, betokened by the jewels and bracelets of gold, had escaped their observation—he certainly had been a witness to those stirrings of her heart and affections. It is not likely that he was fearful of her reply, for as God had been with him thus far, He would surely bless to a full conclusion of the matter.
How could she, the promised bride of a great and wealthy heir, longer delight in tending her brother’s sheep in a place so distant from the one to whom her affection had already been pledged? Scarcely could she contemplate him waiting for her and remain any longer in the surroundings that had now lost their appeal to her! The servant’s testimony about Isaac had already drawn her affections far from those surroundings. And now her feet would know no rest until they could follow her heart to the place where she would soon share a wonderful inheritance with her promised one.
“And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.” v. 58. Oh, that this might be the true response of all the Lord’s people in our day! It was not at that moment pledging herself to Isaac (type of Christ), for that had already taken place. It was now trusting herself to the complete care and guidance of the servant (illustrative of the Holy Spirit) on the long journey which would end in the presence of her loved one. Thus her answer spoke of full faith and confidence in the one who had brought the story, produced the evidences, and had drawn her heart to a new and beloved object.
Happiness on the heavenly road, Christian friend, will be in proportion to the measure in which we commit ourselves to the directing of the Holy Spirit. This is the practical expression that, as that Person of the Godhead has been the One to touch our hearts and bring us the knowledge of salvation through the work of Christ, so too, that same One may be entrusted to show the entire way through the wilderness on the journey to our true Isaac, awaiting His own in the courts of glory.
ML-04/10/1966