So much has been written about the stages of life. Erik Erikson described 8 beginning with the most basic developed as an infant of trust or distrust then through the later period of establishing identity or confusion and then the challenge of middle age in deciding whether we become stagnant or continue to be generative. The final stage is whether we retain our integrity or give in to despair.  Shakespeare gave us seven memorable stages in “As You Like It.”

The. puking infant, the whining schoolboy, the lover sighing like a furnace, the soldier seeking the bubble of reputation in the mouth of the cannon, the justice full of wise saws, the old man with spectacles on his nose whose stockings sag, and then, finally, second childhood, sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Abraham’s life had stages as well and we are going to look at two of them this morning. Like all our lives, each stage came with challenges, conflicts and obstacles.

His first was his calling out to leave his home

Second, was the promise in Chapter 15 where he responds in faith but not without the question, “How can I know?”

Third, the part of his life where he accumulates wealth, influence and standing but that also comes with the unimaginable test of his ultimate trust

Fourth, preparing for a permanent place after the death of Sarah

Fifth, providing for the next generation

Finally, breathing his last and being gathered to his people.

It is stage four and five – preparing and providing – we are going to look at this morning.

Not long after the miraculous rescue of Isaac on Mt. Moriah, his wife Sarah passes away. Until now, Abraham has been moving from place to place in Canaan but the death of Sarah causes him to think about creating a place of permanence for his descendants. It is what we used to call the family plot in the churchyard. We don’t do that anymore, do we? We don’t want to be morbid or make people have to walk through a graveyard to get to worship but there were some real advantages to being reminded every week of the inevitable. In many country churches there is still the annual reunion when families come back to tend to their family plots. It is more than a duty. No one sends their landscaper to do it. It is a source of identity and belonging as much as an obligation because it is almost always followed by a sit down supper with stories. It is more than a cemetery. It is part of the sacred space of the church itself. It is the place that draws us back to our roots – and that is what Abraham was creating for his family. No matter where they wandered in their lives they eventually came back to this place. Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah.

But it was something else as well. It was a piece of land to which Abraham was the rightful owner. He would not take it as a gift. Gifts can be withdrawn later when there is a falling out. He wanted the title of permanent ownership to this land. Abraham was a stranger in the land but he was intent on establishing a sign for his family to come that in time the promise of their owning the land would be fulfilled. Today, we know how important it is to have a legal title to a piece of property. It is more than owning land but it is, as the economist Hernandez de Soto writes in the “Mystery of Capital” the basis of an entire economic system that enables the creation of capital by providing security and collateral. De Soto writes that property ownership, through legal property documents, empowers individuals to create surplus value and access credit, crucial for economic development. Formal property titles not only simplify transactions but also increase market prices by offering guarantees and enabling individuals to leverage their assets effectively. Ultimately, the recognition of property ownership through land titles plays a significant role in facilitating economic development and empowering individuals to participate more actively in market economies.” Legal ownership is so much more than simply owning a piece of property. It provides the foundation for an entire economy.

Abraham moved from being an honored and highly regarded guest in the land to being a property owner and that made a difference. He had title to a piece of property that was binding. It was like an embassy in a foreign country but not like a settlement or sudden invasion that would intimidate others or cause suspicion about his intentions. It was simply a cave for burial. But for him, it was his sign of faith that one day the promise would be fulfilled. It was his small but permanent foothold in the land of Canaan.

And then we begin in Chapter 24 with Abraham’s next serious challenge. He is old and his son, now 40, has no wife and with no wife he will likely either marry a local woman, like Isaac’s son, Esau, does later or he may have a child by one of the servants in Abraham’s household. I am sure Sarah did not die without impressing one last time on Abraham the importance of his finding a suitable wife for Isaac. It was bad enough that she was dying with no grandchildren. I suspect she did not let him forget that either.

In my opinion, Chapter 24 is as much about his servant, Eliezer of Damascus, as it is anyone else. When do we first meet this remarkable man? It is in Chapter 15.

“After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.

 I am your shield,

 your very great reward.”

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

You could take that to mean Abraham was concerned about his servant inheriting everything and, in a way, he was. He wanted a son – not just an heir. However, clearly he had enough trust in him already that he had arranged for him to inherit everything if Abraham and Sarah did not have a son. Given Abraham’s increasing wealth that is quite a vote of confidence in a servant. He did not have to do that. He could have left everything to Lot or to other family members but he trusted Eliezer more than anyone else in his life.

Sadly, it is not always the case that the person the husband trusts the most is the one who acts with integrity toward the widow and her family. There are too many stories about lawyers, accountants, financial advisors and executors who take advantage of the widow. It was one thing to be a trusted friend of the husband but that respect does not always transfer to the wife. In fact, I have too often seen situations where the widow is simply an obstacle standing between the friend and the estate. It’s always a surprise and a disappointment when trust and fidelity are not transferred. 

On the other hand, I have met a few who have been faithful to the wishes of their friend and not seen the money as an opportunity to gain for themselves. Many years ago, I met Curtis Meadows who was then the President of the Meadows Foundation in Dallas. His uncle, Algur Meadows, had left a good portion of his large estate to create a family foundation. Families are challenging at best and often experience splits after the death of the patriarch but Curtis had a genuine sense of duty to keep the family foundation together. To do that, he created ways for everyone to have a say and while he was admired and respected by them all he never allowed that to turn his head or make him look for control or use the foundation to make him wealthy. In fact, he intentionally retired long before he needed to in order not to block the younger members from having leadership. His loyalty was to his Uncle and the family. It remains that way for him today. That describes men like Eliezer. His loyalty was fixed and pure.

So Abraham had decided that Eliezer was the person he trusted the most – to the point of making him not only the executor of the estate but the heir. In a way, Eliezer had a vested interest in Abraham dying without a son. Everything could then be his. When he heard that God had said, “This man will not be your heir,” he could have taken offense and seen that as a slap in the face or a remark about his trustworthiness. But he didn’t. He remained loyal and committed to Abraham and the promise that there would be a son and heir. 

Forty years later here in Chapter 24 it is the same servant that Abraham sends off on the important assignment to find a wife for Isaac. Forty more years of faithful service even though he is no longer the eventual heir. For some, it would be in the back of their minds that should Isaac die without an heir then he would choose Eliezer as well. A less honest man would have mixed motives. But forty years have made no difference in his commitment to Abraham. If anything, his loyalty is even stronger. Of course, men like Abraham attract men like Eliezer, don’t they? This loyalty is a reflection of Abraham’s character as much as Eliezer’s.

Under the responsibility of an oath he has made to Abraham he heads to Nahor where Abraham’s family resides. He is commissioned to find a wife for Isaac and that is what he is, with the guidance of the Lord, determined to do. Abraham knows the importance of Isaac’s not marrying into one of the families in Canaan. They would only corrupt him and eventually the line of descendants as well. Many years later we see that happen with Esau, the rogue son of Isaac and Rebekah, marrying into Hittite families and causing great grief to them. Solomon is seduced by marrying foreign wives as are kings of Israel, like Ahab, who married Jezebel who brought with her the worship of Baal that was a permanent form of idolatry in the life of Israel. 

It is a heavy responsibility and the future of the promise made to Abraham depends on Eliezer’s finding the right woman. There could not have been more pressure. But he does it, doesn’t he? He knows how to leverage Abraham’s obvious advantages. After all, he says nothing about Isaac being a good choice. It’s all about influencing Rebekah and her family that they could not do better by picking a local husband. I like what John Calvin says about this:

“He takes the camels with him, to prove that Abraham is a man of great wealth, in order that he may the more easily obtain what he desires. For even an open-hearted girl would not easily suffer herself to be drawn away to a distant region, unless on the proposed condition of being supplied with the conveniences of life. Exile itself is sad enough, without poverty as its attendant. Therefore, that the maid might not be deterred by the apprehension of want, but rather invited by the prospect of affluence, he ladens ten camels with presents, to give sufficient proof to the inhabitants of Chaldea of the domestic opulence of Abraham.”

How could Rebekah and her family not be impressed and encouraged about her future? Not only that but Eliezer gives Rebekah a small sample of what she can expect in the future if she agrees to the arrangement. Eliezer is a student of human psychology it seems.

However, John Calvin does not appreciate this gesture in the least:

“With respect to the earrings and bracelets of Rebekah, as I do not doubt that they were those in use among the rich, so the uprightness of the age allowed them to be sparingly and frugally used; and yet I do not excuse the fault. This example, however, neither helps us, nor alleviates our guilt, if, by such means, we excite and continually inflame those depraved lusts which, even when all incentives are removed, it is excessively difficult to restrain. The women who desire to shine in gold, seek in Rebekah a pretext for their corruption. Why, therefore, do they not, in like manner, conform to the same austere kind of life and rustic labor to which she applied herself? But, as I have just said, they are deceived who imagine that the examples of the saints can sanction them in opposition to the common law of God. Should any one object that it is abhorrent to the modesty of a virtuous and chaste maiden to receive earrings and bracelets from a man who was a stranger, and whom she had never before seen.”

For Calvin, Eliezer was just encouraging the worst part of her human nature or what he calls her appreciation for the finer things a weakness and immodest fault:

“Where, indeed, is pure sincerity of heart found under splendid ornaments? Certainly all acknowledge this virtue to be rare. It is not, however, for us expressly to forbid every kind of ornament; yet because whatever exceeds the frugal use of such things is tarnished with some degree of vanity; and more especially, because the cupidity of women is, on this point, insatiable; not only must moderation, but even abstinence, be cultivated as far as possible. Further, ambition silently creeps in, so that the somewhat excessive adorning of the person soon breaks out into disorder.”

Fortunately, Rebekah’s accepting the gift does not break out into disorder. Just the opposite. The engagement is accepted – especially by the crafty brother Laban when he sees the ring and the bracelets. After that he is all in and after a little negotiation Rebekah is off the next morning to meet Isaac. It is not until years later that we see how wise his choice of Rebekah was. She saves the line.

And through it all Eliezer takes no credit or seeks any recognition. He is simply focused on completing his obligation. He will not even eat until he has told the story of why he has come. Even when he prays he is grateful for the kindness God has shown to Abraham and the joy it gives him that Abraham is blessed by God. There is nothing of self-aggrandizement or wanting to share in the spotlight. 

Scripture is full of stories about stewards – faithful and unfaithful. But none of them serve as good an example of true humility, trust, competence, and lifelong loyalty as Eliezer of Damascus. May we be found as faithful.