After the passing of his wife Sarah, Abraham's attention focused upon their only child, Isaac, in and through whom alone could be fulfilled the promise of countless descendants which had been granted to them long years before. Thus the question of Isaac's marriage was of paramount importance to his father. It was surely not fitting that he should marry a woman from among the lawless Canaanite tribes, notorious for their idolatry; and so the father's thoughts turned towards his own relatives who had remained in distant Haran when he had entered Canaan some sixty-five years before. Following an ancient eastern custom, arrangements for the marriage were to be made by an intermediary—in this case the patriarch's trusted steward, Eliezer. The importance of the mission is emphasized by the administration of a solemn oath at its inception (Gen. 24:3), while in due course Eliezer set out for Mesopotamia with a caravan of ten camels.
Arriving at the city of Nahor, we find him offering a prayer for guidance in his choice, and scarcely had he uttered it when we obtain our first introduction to Rebekah, who was "very fair to look upon" (verse 16), and who, with a ready kindliness matching her beauty, not only provided water for the wayfarer, but did not rest until she had watered all the camels—no slight task, as every eastern traveler knows. Eliezer clearly felt that here was the answer to his prayer, and when the maiden explained that she was the granddaughter of Abraham's brother Nahor (verse 24), his intuition was confirmed. Rebekah was shortly joined by her brother Laban, who, learning of Eliezer's identity, welcomed him as a guest. A further interesting sidelight on the customs of the East is provided by the fact that the all-important question of Isaac's betrothal to Rebekah was discussed primarily with Laban her brother and Bethuel her father, who on hearing the rehearsal of Eliezer's mission promptly responded (verse 51), "Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go." It was not until the eve of the steward's departure that Rebekah herself was consulted —"Wilt thou go with this man?" Her response was brief, and to the point. Despite the fact that she was to visit an unknown land to marry a man she had never seen, she replied simply, "I will go" (verse 58).
Her first glimpse of her future husband came one evening after long weeks of travel. Isaac had gone out "to meditate in the field at the eventide" (verse 63), and it was there that his cousin was brought to him, heavily veiled after the eastern manner, "and she became his wife; and he loved her" (verse 67).
