Rebekah is the most determined and energetic of the matriarchs in the Old Testament. Not only does she seem to RUN everywhere, but she shows incredible resolve, wisdom and strength many times throughout her life.
One of these times is when, only a few hours after Rebekah watered his camels at the well, Abraham’s servant asked her if she would travel with him across the desert to marry Isaac, a man whom she had never seen. Rebekah, knowing how the Lord had answered the prayer of Abraham’s servant, recognized His hand in her life and, courageously, replied with a firm and determined, “I will go.”
We can only assume that Rebekah had been prepared by the Lord for what He was asking her to do. That she was ready; ready to obey, ready to go, ready to do what the Lord was asking of her. It was so small thing for her to leave her family, knowing she would never see them again, and marry a man she had never seen, to live in a land she had never been to. Yet, within only one day of her meeting with Abraham’s servant at the well, Rebekah was on her way, not knowing where she was going but going anyway; having faith that the Lord was guiding her.
Rebekah’s inspirational words “I will go” are echoed through out the rest of scripture, most famously by Nephi in the Book of Mormon who, when asked to travel across the desert to get the brass plates from Laban, replied, “I will go and do the things the Lord commands.” (1 Nephi 3:7).
Nephi, who was a Jew, would have known the story of Rebekah. He would have been taught it when he was young. I can’t help but wonder if her story was influential in his life. That perhaps, when asked to do something scary and uncertain, he relied upon Rebekah’s example. Maybe her faith and courage to do what the Lord had commanded her, helped Nephi to find the courage to “go and do” what he was being asked to do. Like Rebekah, Nephi went forward with faith, trusting that the Lord would guide him.
So next time you sing the primary song “Nephi’s Courage” and sing the words, “I will go, I will do, the things the Lord commands. I know the Lord provides a way, he wants me to obey”, imagine Rebekah singing along too! She had the same type of faith, the same type of courage and it is possible that it was her example, given so many years before Nephi was even born, that inspired him with the courage and faith to also say, “I will go” .
