{"id":"01KFXVB7C58R8X7TJ5AJXP5DGE","cid":"bafkreiacyy4xs67mdgzrbjwjqfabwvjs33kz42izntv33is5cb25l3dhbu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":266,"extracted_at":"2026-01-26T19:09:01.969Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KFXVA454RTKCJEQJMP0QKNKY","start_line":246,"text":"   177\tWhen the servant drew near Haran, he stopped at the well, placed, as wells are now, just outside the town. Customs in the East do not change. A rich man today would send to his relations for a wife for his son in exactly the manner Abraham did, and the servant would stop where this man halted, for the well is the place to see all the people of a town, and to learn all the news. It is, at evening, to an Oriental village the same meeting-spot that the post-office at mail time is to small towns here. The women come for water with which to cook the supper, and the men bring their flocks to give them drink, before shutting them up for the night.\n   178\t\n   179\tNow how would the servant set about his business in a country so different from ours? In this perplexity he prayed to God, and said: “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,\n   180\t2\n\n<!-- [Page 36](arke:01KFXV086XZD0MP9DA9KPC3Z3J) -->\n   181\t22\n   182\t\n   183\tI pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also; let the same be she whom Thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac.”\n   184\t\n   185\tWhile he was yet speaking these words in his heart, Rebekah appeared with her pitcher on her shoulder, and behold, all he had wished came to pass.\n   186\t\n   187\tIt may seem strange to you that Rebekah should have to draw water, but the daughters of rich men in the East do the same thing now; only, travellers tell me, that they never find any one so obliging, nowadays, as to water their camels. To be kind to strangers gives any one a high reputation in Oriental countries. So you see what the servant meant when he decided to make the courtesy of the young woman the test of the success of his errand. In his eyes such a girl would be a well-trained lady, and the quickness (for it says “she hasted” and “ran”) with which Rebekah set about her task filled his cup of satisfaction to overflowing, especially\n\n<!-- [Page 37](arke:01KFXV09S1Q65B6BQ8ZY25G0Q5) -->\n   188\t23\n   189\t\n   190\twhen he was sure she was one of the family he was seeking. For a man to stand by while a woman does such hard work as filling the stone troughs around a well for animals to drink from is not according to our notions, but it is still right in Palestine. Ideas of a girl’s accomplishments vary in different countries. I once asked a Japanese if young ladies in Japan were taught anything—meaning, did they go beyond what they learned as children. “Certainly,” he said, a little indignantly; “every Japanese young lady is taught the arrangement of flowers and the etiquette of making tea.” “What a different world from our own,” was all I could think.\n   191\t\n   192\tAbraham sent his servant this long journey because he wanted Isaac to have a wife who believed in the true God as he did. The people who were filling up the country where Abraham dwelt, and most of those who lived in Mesopotamia, worshipped idols. We see, further on, in Genesis, when Jacob and Laban separate, that Abraham’s family worshipped God; but\n","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFXVAZJAV0PQ1Z869591QF06","peer_label":"Chapter 1","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS","peer_label":"More Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"}],"ver":1,"created_at":"2026-01-26T19:09:02.548Z","ts":"2026-01-26T19:09:02.548Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}