Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the LORD: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.
The words are the reply of Laban and Bethuel in the history of Abraham sending his God-fearing servant Eliezer to seek out and arrange a wife for Isaac. That history treats the choice of Isaac's wife as subject to God's direction. Eliezer makes the search, and Laban and Bethuel discern in what follows that the matter proceeds from the Lord.
The reply comes after the servant recounts his errand and tells how his prayer at the well was answered through Rebekah. It answers his appeal for a plain decision whether they will deal kindly and truly with his master, so that he will know whether to turn elsewhere. It then leads to presenting Rebekah to be taken to Isaac as God has directed.
By this reply Laban and Bethuel recognize that the circumstances, events, and evidence behind the proposed marriage of Rebekah to Isaac were directed by the Lord. They therefore accept that she should become Isaac's wife as the Lord has spoken. They acknowledge that they cannot rightly oppose or alter what God has brought about.
The marriage history to which the words belong teaches that parents should guide the affections of their children and help them choose suitable companions. Abraham's effort to find Isaac a wife stands as the example of that parental guidance toward suitable companions. Isaac's own example teaches those who fear God to seek God's direction in choosing a spouse while deferring to a father's judgment and respecting wise parental counsel.
The words are the reply of Laban and Bethuel in the history of Abraham sending his God-fearing servant Eliezer to seek out and arrange a wife for Isaac. That history treats the choice of Isaac's wife as subject to God's direction. Eliezer makes the search, and Laban and Bethuel discern in what follows that the matter proceeds from the Lord.
The reply comes after the servant recounts his errand and tells how his prayer at the well was answered through Rebekah. It answers his appeal for a plain decision whether they will deal kindly and truly with his master, so that he will know whether to turn elsewhere. It then leads to presenting Rebekah to be taken to Isaac as God has directed.
By this reply Laban and Bethuel recognize that the circumstances, events, and evidence behind the proposed marriage of Rebekah to Isaac were directed by the Lord. They therefore accept that she should become Isaac's wife as the Lord has spoken. They acknowledge that they cannot rightly oppose or alter what God has brought about.
The marriage history to which the words belong teaches that parents should guide the affections of their children and help them choose suitable companions. Abraham's effort to find Isaac a wife stands as the example of that parental guidance toward suitable companions. Isaac's own example teaches those who fear God to seek God's direction in choosing a spouse while deferring to a father's judgment and respecting wise parental counsel.