Tomorrow, I should see my future husband for the first time.

The servant tells me that we should arrive at their camp in the late afternoon, as long as we start early in the morning and don't get delayed.

I'm feeling rather nervous about it, although I'm glad that God has chosen my husband for me.

To be honest, it's good to leave home, too.  My brother Laban can be a bit overbearing.  He runs the house and coerces my mother into doing what he wants.  I really didn't want him choosing my husband!  I was also getting the impression that one of his friends was interested in me, and I don't like any of Laban's friends.

Since my father Bethuel had a stroke a while ago[1], Laban has taken over more and more, and I admit that I don’t like it, so it’s good to be out of there.

My "escape" came about in a way that Laban couldn't really prevent – and anyway, he was rather pleased with the valuable gifts that were given.

I want to write down how it all happened so that I don't forget what took place and how God intervened to make sure that I could marry my cousin Isaac.  Well, actually, he's not exactly my cousin because we come from different generations – our family tree is a bit mixed up that way.  It’s really my father Bethuel who is Isaac's cousin, but soon he will be his father-in-law, so that will make it feel as if we are in the same generation anyway.

So let's start at the beginning with a bit of important background.  In our family, I have the job of collecting the water from the well.  That normally means going early in the morning to collect what we will need during the day, and again in the early evening for the water we need for the night.  When we have visitors or other special needs, there are sometimes extra visits at other times as well.

Water is heavy, and making sure that we have enough available keeps me busy, as well as rather thankful that I am naturally quite strong.

That particular evening, I took the water jug to the well a little earlier than usual, and it was clear even before I got there that something was different from normal.  It looked as though a small trading caravan had come to visit.  A man was sitting a short way from the well, looking tired and hot, with a few servants and some camels nearby.  Now these sorts of men can be a bit of a handful at times, and I was the first to arrive at the well, although several other women were in sight.  Groups of men travelling around, far away from their womenfolk and their homes, sometimes have a tendency to make life difficult for young women like myself.  I hoped that these men would be too tired to cause trouble.

As I approached, they seemed to notice me, but they didn't move or say anything – which at least alleviated my initial concerns.  They looked harmless enough from closer up.  In fact, the man who was obviously the leader of the party had a rather pleasant, friendly face.  He smiled slightly in my direction but remained seated.

I walked down to the spring and calmly filled my jar with water, being quite eager to fill it and leave as quickly as I could – just in case.

Then, just as I lifted the jar to my shoulder and started to walk away from the spring, the leader of the men surprised me by jumping up and running towards me.

My heart was in my mouth as he stopped in front of me and said, "Please give me a little water to drink from your jar."  He was carrying a cup and held it out towards me.

He smiled again, and I quickly swung down the jar from my shoulder and rested it on my hand.

"Have you come far?" I asked, as I poured the water into his cup.

He took the cup and put it to his lips eagerly.  It was clear he was thirsty.

"Not too far today," he answered after taking a long draught and wiping his lips with the back of his hand, "but our longer journey has been from Canaan.  It has been a long way, and some of the people we've met haven't been very friendly."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said, and offered him some more water.  "Drink, my lord," I urged him, filling his cup again.  Once more, he drank eagerly.

After a few swallows, he took the cup from his mouth and said, "Ah, that is good!  It's been a dry day for us."  He emptied the cup and added,  "Thank you.  That will be enough for me."

The other men were all watching us, and they looked rather thirsty too.  Even the camels were gazing at my burden with interest.  They had seen the small amount of water that had spilled when I had taken the jar off my shoulder, and were stirring.

"I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking," I said, well aware of the magnitude of the task I was committing myself to.

I knew it would be hard work, but a visitor is a visitor and these men need to be treated as visitors should be treated.  They deserved better treatment than they had been receiving so far in my country.

Near the well there was a trough for watering animals, so I quickly emptied what was left in my jar into the trough and went back to the well.  Fill the jar; empty it into the trough.  Fill the jar again; empty it into the trough.  By then the leader had brought his camel to the trough and the beast was eagerly drinking the water.  Before I came back with the fourth jar, the trough was almost empty and the other camels were being led towards it as well.

The leading man stepped back and watched.  He didn't offer to help, and I was glad because that is not how we do things in Nahor.  I was the hostess and it was my job to look after them.  My family has always insisted on showing hospitality, and I love it.  I wasn't doing anything special that day to get attention or anything: it's just what our family is like.

By then some of the other women from the town had arrived for water too.  I'm sure they would have helped me if I had asked them to, but I knew that they would all be in a hurry to return to their families, so I just greeted them and kept working.

Ten more jars full and the first camel seemed satisfied.  The other camels were still waiting for their turn, and I suspect that at this point the leading man was expecting me to give up when the first camel finished.  He watched me in a questioning, wondering, excited way as if something important was happening.

"Let the other camels have a drink too," I urged, a little short of breath, but determined.

"Alright," he replied, somewhat doubtfully, but still with that excited look. "The other men can get their own water, though – you don't need to do that."

I suppose I was grateful for the small reduction – although it would only save me one jar full – but I knew there would still be many, many jars of water to be brought to the trough.

When camels are thirsty, they drink a lot, and it took me more than an hour to satisfy them.  Even then, I'm not sure that they were completely satisfied.  Towards the end, the men were discouraging the camels from drinking much, and even dragging them away from the trough.  I heard a rumour that they brought the camels back to the trough again later in the evening, and some of the servants spent another hour or so topping them up!

Nevertheless, for the time being, the camels had finished drinking.  That was when the leader went to his camel and came back with a beautiful solid gold nose ring and two heavy bracelets, also of solid gold.  I was utterly amazed.

He asked me whose daughter I was and when I answered, he told me that he was a servant of my father's uncle Abraham.  Can you imagine how I felt?  You see, Abraham is well-known in our family for his hospitality and generosity.  In fact, I have tried to model my attitudes on what I have heard of him, and now that has brought me to marry his son – though I didn’t know that until later.

We invited the men to stay at our house for the night – we always have lots of spare food for any visitors and their animals – and while they were there, the leader explained what had happened.  He described how he had been sent by Abraham to find a wife for Isaac, and how he had set up a test to let God show him who was the right wife for Isaac.  And straight away I had come along and done everything that he had asked for!  No wonder he’d had that waiting, watching, excited look.  Every little detail he had specified, I had done.  And yet I had done it of my own free will.  He hadn't suggested it, nor had there been any angel whispering in my ear telling me, "Rebecca, go and water those camels."  What an amazing God we worship!  How did he organise that?

If I hadn't been generous with the water for the camels and someone else had been, none of this would have happened for me.  Abraham is a rich man, so his only "real" son is a very special catch as a husband.  That's probably the only reason why Laban was happy with the arrangement, but that's not how I felt, or feel.

I knew that God had chosen a husband for me.  Generous Abraham will be my father-in-law and his miracle son Isaac will be my husband.  Beautiful Sarah has recently died, so both Abraham and Isaac will be grieving still.  Maybe I can help to comfort them both.

Hospitality.  I never suspected where it would lead me.