And Abraham answered, “God will provide himself a lamb.”
But at the top of the hill, when the wood was piled upon the ground, Abraham with tears in his eyes took Isaac and tied his hands and his feet, and laid him on the wood.
Then suddenly there came a quick voice in Abraham’s heart, and the voice called, “Abraham! Abraham!” And Abraham said, “Here am I.” And the voice said, “Do not touch the lad. Behind you in the thicket is a ram. Take that.” So Abraham untied his little boy, and kissed him, and sacrificed the ram. Thus he showed how much he was willing to do for God, but Isaac was spared. And God taught Abraham that He does not wish for such a sacrifice as that. The best thing to do with little boys is to love them, and teach them, and bring them up to be obedient and useful.
So Isaac grew to be a fine young man, and his father thought that it was high time for him to be getting married. In their country the fathers and mothers attended to all that, but Isaac’s mother was now dead, so Abraham had to manage by himself. One day he sent for his steward, Eliezer, who attended to his most important business, and said, “Eliezer, I want you to go back to the old country, and find a wife for Isaac. Go to the place where I was brought up, and where my folks still live, and find a girl who will make him a good wife.”
So Eliezer took ten camels and a bag of presents of gold and silver, and away he went, across the Jordan and across the Euphrates. One day as the sun was setting he came to a well of water beside a little town. Women were coming out with pitchers on their shoulders to draw water. The well was a deep pool, with a cold spring at the bottom of it. There were stone steps leading down, and at the top of the steps was a trough for camels. There Eliezer made his camels kneel down, as camels do, and he said to himself, “I will wait till I see a girl whose looks I like, and I will ask her for a drink, and if she says, ‘Yes, and I will give your camels drink also,’ then I will tell her about Isaac.” So he stood and waited, and one came and another came. At last came a maiden named Rebekah, who was very fair to look upon. And Eliezer said, “Will you let me drink a little water from your pitcher?” “Yes,” she said, “and I will give your camels drink also.” Then Eliezer was very glad, and in his heart he thanked God, and out of his bag he took two bracelets of gold, one for each of the girl’s arms. And he said, “Whose daughter are you? Is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge?”
She answered, “My father’s name is Bethuel, and my grandfather’s name is Nahor.”
“What,” said Eliezer, “Nahor the brother of Abraham?”
“Yes,” said Rebekah, “and we have plenty of room for you and your men and your ten camels.”
So she ran home before him and showed her mother the bracelets, and her brother Laban ran out to meet the man, and brought him into the house; and supper was ready, and they asked him to sit down. But Eliezer said, “I must not eat till I have told my errand.” So they listened as he spoke of Abraham and Isaac and Rebekah.
“Now,” he said, “what will you do? Will you give Rebekah to be Isaac’s wife?”