Watering the camels

“May it be that when I say to a girl, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’ – let her be the one You have chosen for Your servant Isaac. By this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.” Genesis 24:14
Genesis 24 tells us the story of how Rebekah came to be Isaac’s wife. Abraham called his most senior servant to return to his family in Aram and find a wife from among his relatives. The servant obeyed, and upon coming to the town, he went to the well and asked God to show him which of the girls was the one He had chosen. The sign he asked for was that she would willingly offer to water all his camels.
Since we don’t have the background of that culture, let me explain: a thirsty camel can drink up to 200 litres of water. This servant had ten camels (Gen. 24:10), which could mean the girl was offering to draw 2000 litres of water from the well, or about 530 gallons. That’s a lot of water!
As we know, Rebekah came to the well and offered to draw water for the camels. She hadn’t heard the servant’s prayer and didn’t know what the reward was for doing so. She was simply showing hospitality to a stranger. Similarly for us: the book of Hebrews tells us, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it” (Heb. 13:2). Showing hospitality should be a characteristic of our lives as Christians. We should be going out of our way for others – you don’t know who they are. They might be the person with that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that God has for you, or they might even be an angel. But of course, our motivation should not be for what we can get out of it, but out of our love and gratitude to God.