Sunday School Camels Aren't As Thirsty

Our pastor is out of town for family vacation this week, so Brad is planning to preach this weekend.  They have been working through Genesis and Brad will be teaching out of Genesis 24 tomorrow.  Since I was at home sick for a couple days, I was also studying a little bit about the account of Eliezer's charge to find a wife for Isaac.  There are a lot of things about the story of his finding Rebekah that I had never thought about before.  I am not sure the direction Brad will take and the focus he will use for the message, but I found some new insight into the "camel test" for the woman who would be right for Isaac.  Did you know that when camels have been traveling for about a week, they need anywhere from 10-25 gallons of water to quench their thirst?  Oh, you did know that?  My bad :)  Anyway, so this was a lot bigger test for Rebekah than I originally realized from the stories on the flannel graphs.

Sunday School camels aren't as thirsty :P

Let's walk through this situation.  Eliezer makes it to the town with 10 camels and sits by the spring where the women draw water.  Eliezer then prayed a special prayer that when he asked for a drink from a lady at the well she would give him a drink and also offer to water his camels.  I love that the next verse starts with, "Before he had finished praying"....we didn't have to know this, but God always likes to remind us how attentive He is to our prayers...Rebekah came out to draw water.  The next few things I learned were very much cultural aspects of this story, but I think they provide a deeper meaning into the story and why Rebekah was God's choice.

When Rebekah was asked for a drink she said, "Drink" and quickly lowered her jar into his hands.  It may be important to note that she lowered her jar into his hands because she wanted to keep an appropriate distance between herself and this man....She did not want to keep the jar on her shoulder or in her own hands....by this action, she chose a very proper response for a lady and generosity in giving him the whole jar if he wanted it.  Also, once he drank of the water in her jar....she was faced with a couple cultural challenges.  She really could not return home with a jar of water that had been used by a stranger....she would need new, fresh water.  However, if she dumped out the remaining water on the ground, that could insult this man....So, instead of taking the easy way out... to dump the water and fill up her jar ONCE more to return home, she chose to offer his camels water as well.  That meant she could dump the remaining water into the animal trough....but it also meant she would be spending a lot of time and energy to satisfy 10 thirsty camels....can you imagine how long it may have taken her to bring 100 (on the low end) or up to 400 gallons (some commentators said) of water for his camels?  That is a lot BIGGER job than I ever imagined.  When I read this and studied it I was really struck by how committed she was in her kindness to a stranger at a well.  The passage also never mentions that Eliezer gave her a hand in this whole process and one commentary explained how it is one thing to say something kind or to give lip service to doing something with secret hopes of receiving something in return, so Eliezer may have been testing her resolve to finish that which she had promised....that does make sense.

Anyway, I see now why this was a good test and how it proved something wonderful about her character that she would place the needs a stranger above her own convenience or agenda and she would show kindness and respect to him in her choices and willingness to serve him without any expectations.  I think this is a great lesson on kindness.