WHEN TWO WOULD-BE LOVERS MET...

A LOOK BEHIND THE STORY

Dear viewer: This is by no means a sermon, rather it is an interesting revelation that has come to my attention and I share it F.Y.I. for its unusual enlightenment...And to prove that I'm still alive and kicking although my preaching days may be over.

In Genesis 24, Rebekah a beautiful young girl, makes the incredible, providentially life-changing decision to leave her home and go to Canaan to marry Isaac. At the very end of this chapter, when Rebekah sees Isaac for the first time, she literally falls off her camel! The English translation, she dismounted from her camel (Gen. 24: 64), doesn’t correctly reflect the original Hebrew: vatipol me’al ha’gamal (ותפל מעל הגמל). But the real question is, why did Rebekah fall?

So, what happened before Rebekah fell? Isaac was coming from the way of Beer Lahai Roi (Gen. 24:62), meaning, the Well of The Living One Who Sees Me. This profound name tells us that, even after his binding on Mount Moriah, when Isaac disappeared from everyone else’s sight, he did not disappear from God’s sight. Not his earthly father, but his Heavenly Father Himself, restored him following the terrible shock he had experienced when his father Abraham offered him up as a sacrifice while still a child. 

A dazzling appearance

After the time he had spent with God, some interpretations suggest that Isaac must have been simply glowing with God’s light and shining with God’s glory. Rashi (a well-known Torah commentator) writes about Rebekah and this initial meeting: “She saw his majestic appearance, and she was astounded by him.” Isaac is coming up out of the desert, radiating God’s light and dazzling Rebekah as she laid eyes on him for the first time. 

 

This is how the Standard version of the bible describes the scene in Genesis 24:62-67:

62 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. 63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate,[a] and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. 64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel 65 and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”

“He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.

66 Then the servant told Isaac all he had done (i.e. enticing Rebekah to join/meet his master). 67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Maybe, this is an additional reason why “she took her veil and covered herself.” (Gen. 24:65) Of course, a bride had to be brought veiled into the presence of a bridegroom. However, both her falling off the camel, and covering herself makes more sense if we imagine Isaac shining and dazzling the suddenly coy and discreet maiden Rebekah. This is a wonderful example of the nuances that can only be understood when studying original Hebrew.

There is such a thing as divinely-inspired and magical love at first sight...Even in biblical times. Some people fall hard! That's the way you can tell that God "sees" us too. How else can you account for a union made in heaven?

Personally, I've glowingly been there and experienced that!

Thanks be to God for seeing me!