Immerse: Beginnings Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 47
24:56–25:11
G enesis
35
But he said, “Don’t delay me. The Lord has made my mission successful; now send me back so I can return to my master.”
“Well,” they said, “we’ll call Rebekah and ask her what she thinks.” So
they called Rebekah. “Are you willing to go with this man?” they asked her.
And she replied, “Yes, I will go.”
So they said good-bye to Rebekah and sent her away with Abraham’s
servant and his men. The woman who had been Rebekah’s childhood
nurse went along with her. They gave her this blessing as she parted:
“Our sister, may you become
the mother of many millions!
May your descendants be strong
and conquer the cities of their enemies.”
Then Rebekah and her servant girls mounted the camels and followed the
man. So Abraham’s servant took Rebekah and went on his way.
Meanwhile, Isaac, whose home was in the Negev, had returned from
Beer-lahai-roi. One evening as he was walking and meditating in the fields,
he looked up and saw the camels coming. When Rebekah looked up and
saw Isaac, she quickly dismounted from her camel. “Who is that man walking through the fields to meet us?” she asked the servant.
And he replied, “It is my master.” So Rebekah covered her face with her
veil. Then the servant told Isaac everything he had done.
And Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent, and she became his wife. He loved her deeply, and she was a special comfort to him
after the death of his mother.
Abraham married another wife, whose name was Keturah. She gave birth
to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan was the
father of Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s descendants were the Asshurites, Letushites, and Leummites. Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida,
and Eldaah. These were all descendants of Abraham through Keturah.
Abraham gave everything he owned to his son Isaac. But before he died,
he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them off to a land in
the east, away from Isaac.
Abraham lived for 175 years, and he died at a ripe old age, having lived a
long and satisfying life. He breathed his last and joined his ancestors in
death. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah,
near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. This was the
field Abraham had purchased from the Hittites and where he had buried his wife Sarah. After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who
settled near Beer-lahai-roi in the Negev.
