The Wife Who Arrived by Camel

Sarah was quite old when she died at Hebron. Abraham was sad and he cried for a while over her body—but then he got up from beside his dead wife and said to his neighbors the Hittites, "I am a stranger and a foreigner residing among you; please, I need some of your land for a burial place, so that I can bury Sarah someplace where I cannot see her grave."

The Hittites answered Abraham, "Listen, my lord; foreigner or not, you are an important person living among us. You can bury Sarah wherever you want.  None of us will withhold from you any of our land for burying your dead wife."

Abraham bowed in gratitude to the Hittites, and said, "If you are willing that I bury my dead Sarah where I cannot see her grave, please ask your countryman Ephron if he will provide me with the cave of Machpelah, which he owns, which is at the far end of his property.  I promise in your presence that I will pay full price for the land.”

Ephron the Hittite had been sitting among the Hittites and he answered Abraham in the hearing of his countrymen, "No, my lord Abraham, hear me. I give you the field and I give you the cave at the end of the field, I give it all to you, with my people here as witnesses."

Abraham bowed down before the Hittites and he said to Ephron so that everyone could hear him, "Please listen to me! I want to pay for the field; you must accept payment from me to confirm the agreement that I may possess your land and bury my dead there."

Ephron answered Abraham, "My lord, that piece of land is worth four hundred shekels of silver—what is that between you and me?  OK, if you insist I will accept the payment. Take the land and bury your dead."

Abraham weighed out the payment amount, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants. So the field of Ephron together with the cave and all the trees that were in the field, throughout the whole area, became the property of Abraham, and Abraham buried Sarah in the cave. 

Abraham was now pretty old.  He called his long time servant to him, the foreman in charge of the day to day management of his household, and said to him, "Put your hand under my thigh and swear an oath to Lord Yahweh, the god of the skies and the earth, that you will not let Isaac marry any Canaanite woman.  Promise me that you will go to Haran, to my country and to my tribe, to find a wife for my son Isaac."

The servant said to Abraham, "Did you consider that the woman I find for Isaac may not be willing to come back with me on the long journey to your house?  If that happens, should I then take your son Isaac back to Haran to meet the woman I chose for him to marry?"

Abraham said to him, "No, see to it that you do not take my son back to my homeland. His place is here.  The Lord Yahweh, the god of the sky, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and swore to me, 'To your offspring I will give this land,' he will send his messenger ahead of you, and he will help you find a wife for my son from there.  But if the woman is not willing to follow you back here, then you will be free from this oath of mine—but you must not take my son back there under any circumstances."  So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.

The servant took ten of Abraham's camels and all kinds of choice gifts from Abraham to his relatives in Haran, and then he set out on the long journey to Haran.  When he arrived at the city it was evening and he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water.  It was the time of evening when women go out to draw water for their homes.

The servant prayed, "O Lord Yahweh, god of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show your love for my master Abraham.   I am standing here by the spring of water, and the women of the town are coming out to draw water.  I will ask the girls for a drink of water. Let the girl to whom I shall say, 'Please may I have a drink from your water jug,' and who replies, ‘Sir, have a drink and while you are drinking I will water your camels'—let her be the one whom you have appointed as wife for Isaac.” 

Before he had finished speaking, he saw Rebekah, the granddaughter of Nahor, Abraham's brother, coming down the path with her water jar on her shoulder.  The girl was very pretty and a virgin. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and started to leave.  Abraham's servant ran to meet her and said, "Please let me sip a little water from your jar."

"Drink, sir," she said, and quickly lowered her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, "I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking."  So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw, and she drew water from the well for all his camels. 

The servant gazed at her in silence to learn whether or not Yahweh had made his journey successful.  When the camels had finished drinking, the servant took a gold nose-ring weighing a half shekel and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels, and gave them to her and said, "Tell me whose daughter you are.  Is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?" 

She said to him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah."  She added, "We have plenty of straw and fodder and a place to spend the night."

The servant bowed his head and said, "Thanks to the Lord Yahweh, the god of my master Abraham, who has demonstrated his faithfulness toward my master.  Yahweh has led me on the way to the house of my master's relatives."

The girl ran and told her mother's household about these things. Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban ran back to the spring to find the servant.  As soon as he had seen the nose-ring, and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah telling what the servant had said to her, he went to look for the stranger and he found him where Rebekah had left him, standing by the camels at the spring.

Laban said, "Come with me, Sir, I have prepared the house for you and a place for the camels."   So the servant came into the house and Laban unloaded the camels, and gave him straw and fodder for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.  Then food was set before him to eat, but then servant said to his host, "I will not eat until I have told you why I am here."

Laban said, "Speak on."

The servant said, "I am Abraham's servant, who is brother of your grandfather.  The Lord Yahweh has greatly blessed my master and he has become wealthy.  Yahweh has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys.  Sarah my master's wife bore a son to my master when she was very old. Abraham has given his son Isaac all his possessions and his wealth as his inheritance. My master made me swear, saying, ‘You must not let him marry a Canaanite woman; you must go to my father's home city, to my relatives, to find a wife for my son.'

"Today I arrived at the spring, and said, 'O Lord Yahweh, god of Abraham, let the woman who gives me drink and offers water to my camels be the woman that Yahweh has selected to be wife of my master's son.'  Before I had finished speaking there was Rebekah coming toward us with her water jar on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring, and drew water. I said to her, 'Please let me drink.'  She gave me water to drink and also watered my camels.” 

Laban thought for a moment and then said, "This marriage decision comes from Lord Yahweh.  We have nothing to say about it one way or the other.  So take Rebekah and go, and let her be the wife of your master's son Isaac, as the Lord Yahweh has said."

When Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed low to the ground before the Lord Yahweh.  Then he brought out jewelry of silver and of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah.  Then he gave a dowry of costly jewelry and ornaments to her brother and to her mother.  Then the servant and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there.  When they rose in the morning, the servant said, "It's time for me to leave. Send me on my way back to my master."  

Her brother and her mother said, "Let Rebekah remain here with us a while, at least ten days; after that she may go with you."

The servant said to them, "Do not delay me, since the Lord Yahweh has made my journey successful.  Let me go back to my master right away."

They said, "We will call Rebekah and ask her." So they called Rebekah, and said to her, "Are you willing to go now with this man?"

She said, "Yes, I'll go with him."

So they sent Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham's servant and his men, but before she left her family wished her well and said to her, "May you, our sister, become tens of thousands; may your offspring conquer their enemies."  Then Rebekah and her maids rose up, mounted the camels, and went with Abraham's servant. 

Meanwhile Isaac had made his home in the Negev Desert.  One evening he went out for a walk in the field, and looking up, he saw camels coming. Rebekah looked up and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel, and said to the servant, "Who is the man over there, walking across the field to meet us?"

The servant said, "It is my master, Isaac." So Rebekah took her veil and covered herself. 

The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah's old tent. He took Rebekah and she became his wife.  He made love to her.  So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

Not long after Lot had married Rebekah, Abraham died.  His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the Hittite, beside his wife Sarah.

 

This story reflects authentic traditions of the time.  Abraham’s tribe was one of several nomadic Hebrew tribes that occupied the grasslands between the Canaanite cities during this early period.  They lived in tents and did not own land. Nomadic tribes tended to marry within their tribe, so traveling back to the tribal home is consistent with nomadic practices.  Abraham could have buried Sarah anywhere on open land without having to get permission, but he wanted a special place and he wanted clear title to the burial land, which is why he insisted on paying for the land.  “Arranged” marriages were customary and a gift of dowry in exchange for taking the woman from her family home was accepted practice and sealed the marriage contract.