The Bible In One Year - Day 12 (Genesis 24, Job 13-14, Proverbs 2:16-19)

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Wisdom will save you from evil people, from those whose words are twisted. (Proverbs 2:16)

The Servant and Rebekah (Benjamin West)

Day 12 Isaac and Rebekah

A Commentary
Finding a Wife for IsaacUnderstanding the Scriptures - The Didache Series (Chapter 6, p 108  - 109)

All God's promises to Abraham were to fulfilled through Isaac. The only way to keep Isaac from falling into idolatry, Abraham had decided, was to keep him away from the Canaanites.  Abraham's servant was sent back to Nahor to find a wife for Isaac.  

Abraham's servant saw the women gathering at the will and prayed to God to guide him, "Let the maiden to whom I shall say, "Pray, let down your jar that I may drink," and who shall say, "Drink and I will water your camels' - let her be the one whom thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac." 

One did arrive and do this exactly.  The young woman was Rebekah, the granddaughter of Nahor, Abraham's brother.  Her brother Laban was the head of the household now and when Abraham's servant came to his house, he told Laban how Abraham had prospered and what his mission was.   Rebekah agreed to leave her home and return with Abraham's servant. When she met Isaac they married. 

The Meeting of Isaac and Rebekah ( Giovanni Castiglione)

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A Daily Defense
DAY 12 “The Word Was God” 

CHALLENGE:  “Jesus is not God. John 1:1 shouldn’t be translated ‘the Word was God’ but ‘the Word was a god.’” 

DEFENSE: What the Gospel says about Jesus makes this translation impossible. It is true that Greek lacks the
indefinite article (“a,” “an”), and so translators must decide whether to add it in English. However,
one cannot simply assert that it should be added in a particular case. One needs proof from the context. 

Considered apart from its context, the Greek phrase normally translated “the Word was God”
(theos ē n ho logos ) could be rendered a number of ways. However, the thing that determines which

translations are accurate is the context—what else the Gospel of John has to say that has a bearing on

the meaning of this phrase. When this is taken into account, it is clear that any translation of John 1:1

that would reduce the Word to the status of a created being, such as a finite “god” inferior to the true

God, is inaccurate. The Gospel of John repeatedly emphasizes the full divinity of Christ. 

John is explicit about the matter when he states, “This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill

him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal

with God” (John 5:18). 

Similarly, when Jesus is asked how he could have seen Abraham, he replies, “Before Abraham

was, I am ” (John 8:58), using the same Greek phrase for “ I am ” ( eg ō eimi ) used in the Greek Old

Testament when God declares his name to Moses and tells him, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘ I

am has sent me to you ’ ” (Exod. 3:14). Jesus’ audience understood that he was claiming to be God,

“so they took up stones to throw at him” (John 8:59). 

Later Jesus declares, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).  And after the Resurrection, 

Thomas declares him to be, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). This

reference is particularly significant, because it serves as the bookend for John 1:1’s statement “the

Word was God.” The two declarations frame the Gospel of John’s teaching on Jesus’ divinity. 

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist