Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 1.djvu/170

138 ch. 22. 17, to which promise they had an eye in this blessing, Be thou the mother of that seed.

62. And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahai-roi; for he dwelt in the south country. 63. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the even-tide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. 64. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. 65. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, it is my master: therefore she took a veil, and covered herself. 66. And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done. 67. And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

Isaac and Rebekah are, at length, happily brought together.

I. Isaac was well employed, when he met Rebekah, v. 62, 63, He went out to meditate, or pray in the field at even-tide. Some think he expected the return of his servants about this time, and went out on purpose to meet them. But it should seem, he went out on another errand, to take the advantage of a silent evening, and a solitary field, for meditation and prayer, those divine exercises by which we converse with God and our own hearts. Note, 1. Holy souls love retirement; it will do us good to be often left alone, walking alone, and sitting alone; and if we have the art of improving solitude, we shall find we are never less alone than when alone. 2. Meditation and prayer ought to be both our business and our delight, when we are alone; while we have a God, a Christ, and a Heaven, to acquaint ourselves with, and to secure our interests in, we need not want matter either for meditation or prayer, which, if they go together, will mutually befriend each other. 3. Our walks in the field are then truly pleasant, when in them we apply ourselves to meditation and prayer; we there have a free and open prospect of the heavens above us, and the earth around us, and the hosts and riches of both, by the view of which we should be led to the contemplation of the Maker and Owner of all. 4. The exercises of devotion should be the refreshment and entertainment of the evening, after the care and business of the day, to relieve the fatigue of that, and before the repose and sleep of the night, to prepare us for that. Merciful providences are then doubly comfortable, when they find us well-employed, and in the way of our duty. Some think Isaac was now praying for good success in this affair that was depending, and meditating upon that which was proper to encourage his hope in God concerning it; and now, when he sets himself, as it were, upon his watch-tower, to see what God would answer him, as the prophet, Hab. 2. 1, he sees the camels coming; sometimes God sends in the mercy prayed for, immediately. Acts 12. 12.

II. Rebekah behaved herself very becomingly, when she met Isaac: understanding who he was, she lighted off her camel, v. 64, and took a veil, and covered herself, v. 65, in token of humility, modesty, and subjection; she did not reproach Isaac for not coming himself to fetch her, or at least to meet her a day's journey or two; did not complain of the tediousness of her journey, or the difficulty of leaving her relations, to come into a strange place; but having seen Providence going before her in the affair, she accommodates herself with cheerfulness to her new relation. Those that by faith are espoused to Christ, and would be presented as chaste virgins to him, must, in conformity to his example, humble themselves, as Rebekah, who lighted, when she saw Isaac on foot, and must put themselves into subjection to him who is their head, Eph. 5. 24, as Rebekah, signifying it by the veil she put on, 1 Cor. 11. 10.

III. They were brought together, (probably, after some further acquaintance,) to their mutual comfort, v. 67. Observe here, 1. What an affectionate son he was to his mother: it was about three years since she died, and yet he was not, till now, comforted concerning it; the wound which that affliction gave to his tender spirit, bled so long, it was never healed, till God brought him into this new relation: thus crosses and comforts are balances to each other, (Eccl. 7. 14.) and help to keep the scale even. 2. What an affectionate husband he was to his wife. Note, Those that have approved themselves well in one relation, it may be hoped, will do so in another. She became his wife, and he loved her; there was all the reason in the world why he should, for so ought men to love their wives even as themselves. The duty of the relation is then done, and the comfort of the relation is then enjoyed, when mutual love governs; for there the Lord commands the blessing.

CHAR XXV. The sacred historian, in this chapter, I. Takes his leave of Abraham, with an account, 1. Of his children by another wife, v. 1..4. 2. Of his last will and testament, v. 5, 6. 3. Of his age, death, and burial, v. 7..10. II. He takes his leave of Ishmael, with a short account, 1. Of his children, v. 12..16. 2. Of his age and death, v. 17, 18. III. He enters upon the history of Isaac. 1. His prosperity, v. 11. 2. The conception and birth of his two sons, with the oracle of God concerning them, v. 19..26. 3. Their different characters, v. 27, 28. 4. Esau's selling his birth-right to Jacob, v. 29..34.

HEN again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. 3. And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4. And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 5. And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. 6. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east-country. 7. And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred three score and fifteen years. 8. Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people. 9. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre; 10. The field which Abraham purchased of the