John Gill Commentary Genesis 24:11
John Gill Commentary
Genesis 24:11
John Gill Commentary
Genesis 24:11
SCRIPTURE
"And he made the camels to kneel down without the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water." — Genesis 24:11 (ASV)
And he made his camels to kneel down. These creatures are used to kneel when they are loaded and unloaded, and also when they take rest; it was for the sake of the latter they were now made to kneel. It seems that this is not natural to them, but what they are learned to do.
It is said F18 , as soon as a camel is born they tie its four feet under its belly, put a carpet over its back, and stones upon the borders of it, so that it cannot be able to rise for twenty days together; thus they teach it the habit of bending its knees to rest itself, or when it is to be loaded or unloaded.''
This was done without the city ; the city of Nahor, Haran, near to which the servant was now come: and it was by a well of water : which place was chosen for the refreshment of his camels, as well as of himself and his men.
Rauwolff F19 says that near Haran, now called Orpha, 'there is a plentiful well still to this day (1575), called Abraham's well, the water of which has a more whitish troubledness than others. I have (says he) drunk of it several times, out of the conduit that runs from there into the middle of the great camp, and it has a peculiar pleasantness, and a pleasant sweetness in its taste.'
The time of Abraham's servant coming hither was at the time of the evening, [even] the time that women go out to draw [water] ; which was the custom for women to do, for the necessary uses of their families, especially in the eastern countries. The Arabian women to this time, after they have been hard at work all day, weaving, or grinding, or making bread, at evening they set out with a pitcher or a goat's skin, and, tying their sucking children behind them, trudge it in this manner two or three miles to fetch water {t}.