Isaac and the Covenant

When Isaac as old enough to take a wife, his father, Abraham, was concerned greatly that he not marry outside of the Covenant line.  Since Abraham lived in the midst of the Canaanites, there were none of the line for Isaac to marry.  Therefore, he called his eldest servant and gave him a commission:  

And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go into my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. (Genesis 24: 3-4)

Abraham's servant set out for the City
of Nahor to find a suitable wife for Isaac.

Abraham's servant journeyed to the home of Abraham's nephew, Laban. Laban's father, Bethuel, was the son of Abraham's elder brother, Nahor. both Nahor and Bethuel had died, and Laban was, under his birthright, taking care of his extended family. This included his younger sister, Rebekah.

The servant was concerned that he chose the right wife for Isaac, and he had prayed fervently on his journey that God would reveal the chosen one to him. When he arrived at Nahor, he had his ten camels kneel outside the city by the well where the women came to draw water every evening.  He prayed: 

O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee send me good speed this day and show kindness unto my master Abraham.  Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou have appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou have shown kindness unto my master. (Genesis 24: 12-14)

Found this little gem online: a camel coming from
the desert can drink about 25 gallons of water.

Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking. And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. (Genesis 24: 18-20)

A water pitcher from this part of Bronze Age Palestine holds between two and three gallons, but let’s call it 2.5 gallons just to make this easy. That comes to about 100 trips to the well, drawing over a ton of water. She did this for a complete stranger and did so without being asked. *

*Rebecca at the Well or, Going the Extra Mile for the Camels - Rational Faiths | Mormon Blog

Having faith that the Lord had shown his will, the servant negotiated with Laban for Rebecca to marry Isaac. Such was the power of the covenant.