"And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at eventide: and he
lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were
coming."--GENESIS 24:63.
A bridal pageant on the back of dromedaries! The camel is called the
ship of the desert. Its swinging motion in the distance is suggestive
of a vessel rising and falling with the billows. Though awkward, how
imposing these creatures as they move along, whether in ancient or
modern times, sometimes carrying four hundred or four thousand
travelers from Bagdad to Aleppo, or from Bassora to Damascus! In my
text comes a caravan. We notice the noiseless step of the broad foot,
the velocity of motion, the gay caparison of saddle, and girth, and
awning, sheltering the riders from the sun, and the hilarity of the
mounted passengers, and we cry out: "Who are they?" Well, Isaac has
been praying for a wife, and it is time he had one, for he is forty
years of age; and his servant, directed by the Lord, has made a
selection of Rebekah; and, with her companions and maidens, she is on
her way to her new home, carrying with her the blessing of all her
friends.