A topic for today is “blind date”. I wondered, has there ever been a blind date in the Bible? The answer is “Yes!”
Issac and Rebekah were set up on a blind date, well marriage.
You can read the scripture here:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+24&version=NIV
Abraham was getting old and wanted Issac to marry, but he wanted someone from his own country not in Canaan where he was now living. Abraham sent his servant and told him to find someone. The servant first prayed.
Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”
Genesis 24:12-14 (NIV)
Rebekah did just that and then agreed to go back with the servant.
Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”
“He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.
Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Genesis 24:64-67
Covering With the Veil
I’ve read so many interesting things about Rebekah and why she covered herself.
http://www.jtsa.edu/rebeccas-veil-of-independence
Notice that Rebecca does not veil herself after meeting and wedding Isaac, as a sign that she is saving herself for the sole purview of her husband. Rather, she veils herself before approaching Isaac. Similarly today, a bride veils herself before the chuppah. The veil suggests that, despite the intimate union of marriage, a bride will retain her independence and her unique identity. Rebecca veils herself as if to say, “I will give myself to you, but there will always be a part of myself that is separate and distinct from you.”
From the above article link
http://www.gobible.org/study/460.php
Some people think it was a custom, she was shy, she was reverent. The list goes on and on.
The Perfect Matchmaker
In thinking about the blind date match, I can see that God was the actual matchmaker. Issac only had one wife. Rebekah is considered one of the patriarchs.
She has impacted us today because the bride in traditional Jewish and Christian wedding wears a veil.
Along with the biblical account, you can read more about Rebekah in this article and it gives interesting references to miracles and Rebekah’s family tree.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca
I would say that God is the perfect matchmaker for a blind date!
