Then she would think of Nazzim and how strange it was that only a short time before she had no hope but to marry him. The God of Abraham was indeed strong, and He obviously paid attention when even a maid prayed earnestly to Him. She felt a warm glow, a happy feeling of discovery. This God, who seemed to be known only to the men of her family, cared about her and had rescued her. She determined to give Him first place among the gods and to discover as much as possible about Him from the family of her uncle Abraham.
* * *
Though Eleazar pushed his caravan as fast as he thought wise, he indulged in considerable restraint for the sake of the young bride and her maidservants. As it developed, it was almost a month before they neared the area where Abraham was camped for the summer. Now when they pitched their tents for the night and sat around the fire waiting for the moon to rise or looking for the star clusters they called the seven sisters, Rebekah began to ask specific questions about Isaac. Eleazar had waited for just such a time to tell her the things he thought she should know about her bridegroom.
One night he told her how Abraham had taken Isaac up on Moriah to sacrifice him. Rebekah’s eyes grew round and questioning. “He would have sacrificed his only son, the son he and my aunt had waited so long for?”
“Abraham will withhold nothing from his God,” Eleazar explained.
“But my aunt, what did she say?” Rebekah was obviously puzzled. Usually it was the pagan Canaanites who sacrificed their children. It had never occurred to Nahor or Bethuel to sacrifice a child to the old goat-man. They didn’t really believe in his powers that much.
Eleazar was silent for what seemed a long time. He poked at the fire and studied the stars as though he didn’t intend to answer. Finally turning to her, he said, “She didn’t like it. She didn’t like it at all. There was a terrible scene as you can imagine. I must say I couldn’t blame her. All of us in the camp thought it was too much.”
Rebekah was leaning forward eagerly waiting to hear the outcome. Her maids—who had been preparing her bed and setting out her toiletries on the smooth, cool sand—stood motionless, quite shamelessly waiting to hear what happened next.
“And my cousin Isaac, what did he say?”
“I was not there to see it. I have only heard what happened, but the lad trusted his father.”
“And my uncle found he could not do such a thing. He could not sacrifice the son given so miraculously.” Rebekah could not wait for Eleazar to tell the story. She wanted Abraham to rescue his son even at the last moment.
“No, that is not what happened,” Eleazar said rather sharply. “It was an angel sent by Elohim that rescued him.” There was a gasp and rustling sound as the handmaids left their work and came closer so they could hear this strange tale.
“Abraham had tied the boy to the altar and was raising the knife …”
With a cry of horror Rebekah hid her face in her hands and turned away, not being able to bear what she was sure would come next.
At this Eleazar rushed ahead to relieve the tension. “It was an angel of Abraham’s God that saved the boy. He cried out and told Abraham not to harm his son. ‘For now I know that you fear God,’ he said. Then a strange thing happened, Abraham looked and to his surprise saw a ram caught in a thicket. He freed Isaac and sacrificed the ram in his place.”
Everyone was quiet as they marveled over the strangeness of the story. “And that is all?” Rebekah asked. “There was no explanation of why this had to happen?”
Eleazar looked surprised. “That much of the story is all I usually tell. It is enough for most folks.”
“I want to hear it all,” Rebekah said. “I must hear it all if I am to understand my husband and his family.”
“Well, it seems the angel called to Abraham a second time.”
He hesitated and Rebekah urged him to go on. Her handmaidens clustered even closer so they would not miss a single word. “And … what did the angel tell him?”
“The angel gave him a special message. Abraham has treasured this message and repeated it often as though he is constantly pondering its meaning.”
“And …” Rebekah said again.
“What the angel said was wonderful. He said, ‘Because you have done this thing and have not withheld thy son, thine only son, I will bless you and multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and the sand which is on the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.’”
“That was part of the blessing given me by my father,” Rebekah said. “How strange.”
“That has been an age-old saying of those who wish to give a meaningful blessing, but no one has ever heard such a promise from an angel of Elohim. This was different.”