Genesis 24:28-32

V. The Servant with the Bride's Family

"And the damsel ran and told her mother's house according to these words. And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the fountain. And it came to pass when he saw the ring, and the bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man; and, behold, he was standing by the camels at the fountain. And he said, Come in, thou blessed of Jehovah; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels. And the man came into the house, and he ungirded the camels; and he gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men that were with him."

"The damsel ran and told her mother's house ..." This expression regarding "her mother's house" was normally used only when the father was dead, and that Bethuel was indeed dead is probably the case here. Scholars are divided over it, because Bethuel spoke up (Genesis 24:50), and said, "The thing proceedeth from Jehovah." Several ingenious explanations have been proposed:

1. The critics, of course, solve the question by throwing Genesis 24:50 out of the text.[4]
   
2. Aalders proposed that "mother's house" here actually means "grandmother's house," and that the household was that of Milcah.[5] This view would mean that Bethuel, Rebekah's father, was still living in the ancestral home. However, this seems unreasonable, because Laban, in such a case, would not have had charge of everything.
   
3. Still another view is that the Bethuel mentioned in Genesis 24:50 was a younger brother of Laban, the father Bethuel being indeed dead. This view seems the most plausible. It is somewhat confirmed by the statement of Josephus that, "Rebekah told him (the servant) that, `They call me Rebekah; my father was Bethuel, but he is dead'."[6] Some scholars prattle endlessly about how undependable Josephus is, but this writer has frequently found him far more believable than the wild guesses of some of his detractors.
   
4. Yet another "explanation" would leave Bethuel still alive but "non compos mentis"!
   

"When he saw the ring, and the bracelets ..." Many have pointed out what they suppose to be evidence here of cupidity and avarice of Laban; but they may be reading too much into it.

These verses detail only the welcome and reception accorded the servant by the household of Laban; but the narrative gets down to business at once.