"Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, 'The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you either bad or good. Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as the Lord has spoken.' And it came to pass, when Abraham's servant heard their words, that he worshiped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth. Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother. And he and the men who were with him ate and drank and stayed all night. Then they arose in the morning, and he said, 'Send me away to my master.' But her brother and her mother said, 'Let the young woman stay with us a few days, at least ten; after that she may go.' And he said to them, Do not hinder me, since the Lord has prospered my way; send me away so that I may go to my master.' So they said, 'We will call the young woman and ask her personally.' Then they called Rebekah and said to her, 'Will you go with this man?' And she said, 'I will go.' So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her: 'Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and may your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them.' Then Rebekah and her maids arose, and they rode on the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed. Now Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he dwelt in the South. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there, the camels were coming. Then Rebekah lifted her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from her camel; for she had said to the servant, 'Who is this man walking in the field to meet us?' The servant said, 'It is my master.' So she took a veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death." (Genesis 24:50-67)
It is to the credit of Bethuel and Laban that, whether they actually worship the Lord or not, they do at least acknowledge His existence and will defer to His choice of Rebekah as the bride for Abraham's son, Isaac.
And it is to Rebekah's credit that she is agreeable to go immediately with the servant to meet her husband-to-be. Perhaps all the extraordinary circumstances of the previous day stirred up in her heart a desire to know more about the God who had orchestrated it all, and to see just what it was God had in mind for her.
While I have my concerns about whether Abraham's relatives worship God versus idols, they, like Abraham, are descendants of the line of Shem (not from the line of cursed Canaan); Abraham heard God when He spoke, perhaps these might have as well had they been the ones chosen. I cannot say for sure. It is only future scripture that tells me Laban has household idols that concerns me about the other relatives there; nevertheless, Rebekah is obedient to the Lord, as surely the Lord knew she would be before He chose her.
But now let's look closely at the blessing that is spoken over Rebekah as she is about to depart from the home of her family. We are not sure who is actually speaking this blessing over her. It appears to be spoken, not by her father or mother, but by more than one sibling, as the opening begins with "our sister." Whether the speakers realize it or not, it is a prophetic blessing, thus inspired by the Lord to be spoken over her.
Rebekah will indeed become the mother of thousands of ten thousands, for all those who descend from her children will be great in number. And even more importantly, her descendants will possess the gates of those who hate them.
That last part of the blessing can be seen both in the natural and in the spiritual.
In the natural sense, Israel, whom Rebekah will be seen as the mother of, is surrounded by many enemies who HATE Israel, and can be said to possess the gates (or the borders) of its enemies' lands; borders that the enemies want possession of, so that the land of Israel can become theirs.
But in the spiritual sense, this possession of the gates has even greater meaning. Just as Paul tells the Roman Christians (Romans 9:6-8) that the true seed of Abraham are those who are children of the Promise, in other words those who are born (again) by faith; Rebekah is the mother of those who BY FAITH "possess the gates of those who hate them."
There is one party in particular who is responsible for the hatred of all those who belong to the Lord: and his name is Satan. Satan is the enemy of the "ekklesia" – "the called out ones" – all of those called by faith, as Abraham was, to follow the Lord, whether in Abraham's times or our own.
But Jesus Christ died on the cross in obedience to the Lord and was resurrected by the power of God, all of which gave Him the authority to TAKE the keys of the kingdom back out of the hands of Satan (to whom those keys had been surrendered by Adam and Eve when they sinned against God) and to share the ownership of those keys with those who are considered to be His own Body: the church, the "ekklesia." There is a lot of truth in that last sentence which seems complicated to those who do not yet know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but it is the simple "Good News" of the gospel to those who do.
The simple Good News is this: Jesus Christ died on the cross to atone for our sins, thereby reconciling us to God and securing a "pardon" for us by which we escape the punishment for those sins of hell. But it is because of the resurrection power of God that has been made available to us through Jesus Christ (the same power that brought Jesus back to life again on the third day after his death on the cross) that allows us – by FAITH in Jesus – to overcome the lies of the enemy whose desire is to see us live our lives as slaves to sin even though we have been set free by Jesus and have been given the keys to the prison gates. All are made free in Christ, but they don't know it. Either the Good News has not reached their ears yet, or they have heard the Good News and have rejected it for they cannot believe.
They are the ones who believe instead, that they are trapped in a prison cell of SIN; sins that plague them and possess them and over which they believe they have no control, no power.
But the TRUTH now is that we have been given the key to the gate of that prison cell and can get up, open the gate, walk away from sin, thereby breaking its power over us once and for all.
The KEY is Jesus Christ Himself. He is all we need to possess the gates of our enemy.
And all of this was prophesied thousands of years ago when the Lord found a bride for Isaac in Rebekah. For the "ekklesia" is the BRIDE of Christ and so this was an appropriate time to make such a prophetic announcement.
We, the chosen bride, have been given spiritual gifts, the greatest gift of all being our bridegroom, Jesus Christ, who gives us as our wedding gift: the key to the gate of our prison cell and sets us FREE in such a way that none can prevail against us as long as we believe in and cling to our bridegroom, Jesus.
Jesus Christ said: "…upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18)
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