The Camels are Coming - Isaac

As Isaac passed by the old well on his way to some higher ground where he might have a better view of the desert, especially the direction old Eleazer had taken, he reflected with deep emotion on some of the events that it represented. Wells were of utmost importance to the shepherds and both he and his servants knew that his father Abraham had spent many weary hours digging this one as well as others in several strategic places. So important were these wells that they had been given names of great spiritual significance, in fact, they seemed almost as important in terms of worship as the many altars that had been constructed for they often spoke of great spiritual experiences. This one, he knew, exalted Jehovah as the One Who lives and sees us. He knew that his father had learned many things about his God, and , for that matter, so had he! The day his father had taken him to Mt. Moriah was certainly one that he would never forget!

The flash of his father’s sacrificial knife as it was held over him there on the altar which they had hastily constructed, the voice of God from the heavens and the bleating of the ram caught by its horns in the thicket, these memories were impressed indelibly on his young mind at the time. His father had learned a new Name of Jehovah that day as it was revealed that He Provides. Often Abraham had shared with his son details of the wonderful plan that would include him, a plan that stretched far into the future when his people would actually possess the land that now they knew as merely strangers and pilgrims. He had told him that he felt that soon God would reveal this to Isaac personally and inside he knew that it would be his responsibility to build the altars and dig the wells. But for now his mind was much taken up with the matter at hand. He knew how important it was to Abraham, his father, that he not marry any of the women of the Canaanites and that was why Eleazer had been commissioned to cross the desert to find a wife for him among his own relatives. With ten camels and drivers he had started out and given the length of time they had been gone Isaac believed that they should be arriving home momentarily. It seemed to him that the chance of finding any of his nomadic kin was almost impossible. It had been many years since they had parted company after his grandfather Terah had died. Of course, that was long before his miraculous birth to his mother Sarah. How often that story had been rehearsed in his ears! It amused him even now to think of the derivation of his name, but wouldn’t most any woman laugh when at ninety years old she was told by an angel that she would bear a son. With a name meaning laughter in his Hebrew tongue he had often been the butt of many jokes. Now he thought of all the times he and his half-brother Ishmael had argued and fought over such trivial things. Finally, peace had been restored when Ishmael’s mother Hagar had been dismissed from the household.

That thought brought again to his mind the old well that he had just passed. This whole countryside had gotten its name from that well and the well had gotten its name from Hagar. People called it the well of the vision for there she had an encounter with The Living One and though He told her things she really didn’t want to hear she had gone back to submit to her mistress as hard as that was to do at the time. The well also spoke of the fact that not only was Jehovah caring for those who would have an important role to play in His great purpose for Israel but He also watched over the lowly servants as well. It was quite a thing to contemplate the fact that we are always under the eyes of our God.

What is that I see far on those distant hills – one, two, three …. yes, yes there are ten. Praise Jehovah, old Eleazar made it! I wonder if he found her. I wonder if she will be pretty. I wonder if she will come to love me. I wonder if she will bear me a son. Well, I won't have long to wait now for finally after so long a time, at last, the camels are coming!