What Does Genesis 24:43 Mean?

He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her Camel and asked the servant, "Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?" "He is my master," the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself. The meeting of Isaac and Rebekah in the open field at evening is one of the most restrained and beautiful scenes in Genesis. Both figures see each other across the distance before any words are exchanged. The mutual seeing across the field, Isaac looking up at the approaching caravan and Rebekah looking up and seeing the man walking toward them, is the chapter's final image of convergence.

Rebekah's question, "who is that man?", and the servant's answer, "he is my master", contain one significant shift. Throughout the chapter, the servant has referred to Abraham as "my master." Here, standing at the moment of the mission's completion, he calls Isaac "my master." The authority of the household has transferred in the servant's recognition to the son who now receives the bride. The servant's role is complete; the mission accomplished; his master now is the one for whose sake he swore the oath and made the journey.

Rebekah covering herself with her veil at the recognition of Isaac is the appropriate social gesture of the bride meeting her betrothed for the first time. The veil is both modesty and dignity: she comes to him prepared, not surprised. The Spirit who brings the bride to the Son and says "he is the one" is the same servant-figure who completes the disclosure at the critical moment. The Church presented to Jesus as a bride "without stain or wrinkle" (Ephesians 5:27) is the antitype of Rebekah veiled and ready for the meeting.