Genesis 24:56
But he replied, "Do not delay me, since the LORD has made my journey a success. Send me on my way so that I may go to my master."
Sermons
The Christian's HindrancesS. H. Tyng, D. D.Genesis 24:56
The Unfolding of the Divine PurposeR.A. Redford Genesis 24














Wherefore standest thou without? The character of Laban has been well explained by Blunt in his ' Coincidences.' It is one of consistent greed. He was sincere in inviting Eliezer because he saw the bracelets on his sister's hand, and expected still further favors from a guest who can so lavishly bestow gifts. Christ asks us to enter his kingdom, but he expects nothing from us in return but love. We may adapt this inquiry of Laban to souls as yet outside the Church.

I. THE POSITION OCCUPIED. "Without." Probably they have no realized pardon, no enjoyment in religion, no future prospects of joy. Life is a dread mystery to them. They are saying, "Who will show us any good?" They may be just awakened spiritually, like the Philippian jailor. They may be under the condemnings of law and conscience, and in dread of the consequences of sin. Those within the true Church know in whom they have believed, and rejoice in forgiveness and the prospect of heaven. They are no longer outside the gates of mercy. We may be in a visible Church without being of Christ's fold. It is penitence, faith, and character that determine our position, and not birth, rank, or ceremonial observances.

II. THE REASONS WHEREFORE MANY RETAIN A POSITION OUTSIDE THE CHURCH.

1. Accustomed to the state, and unwilling to change. They are like the prisoner who, after many years' imprisonment in the Bastile, was liberated, and went forth only to find all his friends gone and himself a mere burden to society. He went back and entreated to be allowed to retain his cell until he should pass out of the world.

2. Many, because they are ignorant of the fullness of Divine mercy.

3. Others, because they think there is so much to be done ere they can be fitted to be received within, and are looking to their own efforts to prepare themselves.

4. Many, because they fear their opportunity of admittance is past.

5. Others, because undecided as to whether they shall give up the pleasures of the world for the privileges of Christian fellowship.

6. Others, because they lack faith in their faith and its power to justify.

7. Many stand outside because they think themselves as secure outside as within. They forget that Christ demands open confession, and that to be united openly, to his Church is one way of confessing his name before men. Let there be a personal and searching inquiry, "Wherefore standest thou without?" The invited guest passed within, and found his highest expectations more than realized, because God "had prospered his journey." - H.

Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way.
The Lord hath prospered our way. He has provided means for our return to Him. He has awakened us from entire carelessness. He has bestowed upon us thus far all the comfort and peace which we have received, and enabled us to do all that we have done for Him. Our past prosperity is an unceasing encouragement to future effort, and may be employed as an answer to every hindrance. Under this view would I adopt the expression of our text.

I. It is the entreaty of an awakened sinner returning to the Lord. "Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way." A new and living way of salvation invites him. But there are many adversaries. The worldly and careless around him scoff at his fears, and deride his apprehensions. They know not the terrors of an awakened conscience, and they can mock when fear cometh. "Hinder me not," the persecuted penitent replies. "I have seen enough of worldly cheerfulness and mirth. I have seen that the end of that laughter is bitterness. The sorrows of a sinner's death-bed I will not try. The portion of the worldly shall not be mine. He offers me forgiveness, and I will embrace it."

II. The words of our text may be the prayer of the new convert to Christ — the Christian who has just experienced the new creating grace of God; "hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way." The character of God appears to him full of glory, and shining in love. The great salvation which He has offered, seems worthy of all acceptation. His whole heart is arrested and occupied with the objects and excitements of this first love. But there are many hindrances surrounding this infantile state of grace. At one time he meets a sneer from some former companion in folly, at another, a false and unkind construction of the motives by which he is governed in his new determinations. The merely nominal Christian, the cold and carnally minded professor, hates him, as one who assumes a higher standard of religious character than he is pleased with. These various outward trials are severe.

III. But hindrances do not disappear, even when men become old in grace. Our text may, therefore, be the petition of the Christian who is established in the faith; "hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way." Through the whole period of a mortal life, he not only dwells in a laud of enemies, but drags about with himself a weight which is painfully retarding. There arises often around him a cloud of darkness, which hides all his evidences of grace, and conceals the blessed witness which God has given him within himself. Momentary feelings of unbelief intrude themselves into his breast. Occasional coldness and torpidity spreads itself through the members of his spiritual man, threatening permanent paralysis and death. He obtains larger conceptions of the depravity of his own heart; and his soul often sickens over the views which are presented to him, as the Spirit of God carries him still farther into its recesses, and exposes to his observation greater abominations than he has seen before. Then does he exclaim in the language of our text, "Hinder me not, for the Lord hath prospered my way." "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, though I fall, yet shall I rise again; and though I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. Sin has been pardoned; God has received, and is able to keep me. I have entered into a covenant with Him, from which I will never shrink, to walk before Him, and to be His for ever."

IV. Lastly, I may consider this as the demand of the faithful minister of the Gospel. "Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way." This joy would be vastly increased were there none disposed to hinder his way, and to retard the progress of the word of God.

(S. H. Tyng, D. D.)

People
Abraham, Aram, Bethuel, Canaanites, Isaac, Laban, Milcah, Nahor, Rebekah, Sarah
Places
Beer-lahai-roi, Hebron, Mesopotamia, Nahor, Negeb
Topics
Delay, Granted, Hinder, Journey, Master, Outcome, Prospered, Seeing, Success
Outline
1. Abraham swears his servant.
10. The servant's journey.
12. His prayer.
14. His sign.
15. Rebekah meets him;
18. fulfils his sign;
22. receives jewels;
23. shows her kindred;
25. and invites him home.
26. The servant blesses God.
29. Laban entertains him.
34. The servant shows his message.
50. Laban and Bethuel approve it.
58. Rebekah consents to go, and departs.
62. Isaac meets and marries her.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Genesis 24:28-60

     5737   sisters

Genesis 24:50-60

     5661   brothers

Genesis 24:56-59

     5428   nurse

Library
Guidance in the Way
'I being in the way, the Lord led me.'--GENESIS xxiv. 27. So said Abraham's anonymous servant when telling how he had found Rebekah at the well, and known her to be the destined bride of his master's servant. There is no more beautiful page, even amongst the many lovely ones in these ancient stories, than this domestic idyll of the mission of the faithful servant from far Canaan across the desert. The homely test by which he would determine that the maiden should be pointed out to him, the glimpse
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

No Compromise
The faithful servant of Abraham, before he started, communed with his master; and this is a lesson to us, who go on our Lord's errands. Let us, before we engage in actual service, see the Master's face, talk with him, and tell to him any difficulties which occur to our minds. Before we get to work, let us know what we are at, and on what footing we stand. Let us hear from our Lord's own mouth what he expects us to do, and how far he will help us in the doing of it. I charge you, my fellow-servants,
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 34: 1888

If, Therefore, Even they who are United in Marriage Only for the Purpose Of...
22. If, therefore, even they who are united in marriage only for the purpose of begetting, for which purpose marriage was instituted, are not compared with the Fathers, seeking their very sons in a way far other than do these; forasmuch as Abraham, being bidden to slay his son, fearless and devoted, spared not his only son, whom from out of great despair he had received [1997] save that he laid down his hand, when He forbade him, at Whose command he had lifted it up; it remains that we consider,
St. Augustine—On the Good of Marriage

Jesus Sets Out from Judæa for Galilee.
Subdivision B. At Jacob's Well, and at Sychar. ^D John IV. 5-42. ^d 5 So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 and Jacob's well was there. [Commentators long made the mistake of supposing that Shechem, now called Nablous, was the town here called Sychar. Sheckem lies a mile and a half west of Jacob's well, while the real Sychar, now called 'Askar, lies scarcely half a mile north of the well. It was a small town, loosely called
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Blessing of Jacob Upon Judah. (Gen. Xlix. 8-10. )
Ver. 8. "Judah, thou, thy brethren shall praise thee; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; before thee shall bow down the sons of thy father. Ver. 9. A lion's whelp is Judah; from the prey, my son, thou goest up; he stoopeth down, he coucheth as a lion, and as a full-grown lion, who shall rouse him up? Ver. 10. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto Him the people shall adhere." Thus does dying Jacob, in announcing
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Blessings of Noah Upon Shem and Japheth. (Gen. Ix. 18-27. )
Ver. 20. "And Noah began and became an husbandman, and planted vineyards."--This does not imply that Noah was the first who began to till the ground, and, more especially, to cultivate the vine; for Cain, too, was a tiller of the ground, Gen. iv. 2. The sense rather is, that Noah, after the flood, again took up this calling. Moreover, the remark has not an independent import; it serves only to prepare the way for the communication of the subsequent account of Noah's drunkenness. By this remark,
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Genesis
The Old Testament opens very impressively. In measured and dignified language it introduces the story of Israel's origin and settlement upon the land of Canaan (Gen.--Josh.) by the story of creation, i.-ii. 4a, and thus suggests, at the very beginning, the far-reaching purpose and the world-wide significance of the people and religion of Israel. The narrative has not travelled far till it becomes apparent that its dominant interests are to be religious and moral; for, after a pictorial sketch of
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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