What Does Genesis 24:11 Mean?
And he blessed his camels, having them fold down outside the city by a well of the waters, at the time of evening, the very time that women go out to draw the waters.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.THE KEY
The Hebrew for “made his camels to kneel” shares its root with “blessed,” so the lowered posture at the well carries a hidden echo of blessing.
THE MEANING
A journey can reach its threshold and pause beside a source. The camels are brought low at the well as women go out to draw water, placing the pause within the rhythm of ordinary need.
THE ROOT
בָּרַךְ
barakh
GROWS FROM
ב־ר־ך
Bend the knee; bless.
“blessed” in this verse is barakh. The verb translated “made his camels to kneel down” is a causative form of בָּרַךְ (barakh, bend the knee; bless). The bodily bend and the act of blessing belong to one word-family, a connection the English wording does not show.
ALSO GROWS
berekh: Knee
בֶּרֶךְ
This branch makes the root’s bodily sense explicit: the camels are lowered onto their knees.
berakhah: Blessing
בְּרָכָה
It carries the same root into the language of blessing, linking this verse’s kneeling posture to the chapter’s description of Abraham as blessed.
THE PATTERN
A well becomes a gathering threshold where ordinary need brings lives into the same place.
And he saw, and behold, a well in the field, and three flocks of sheep crouched beside it, for from that well they gave the flocks drink. A great stone lay upon the mouth of the well.Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give me a drink.THE THREAD
And Abraham was old, and came into his days, and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.In 24:1, בָּרַךְ (barakh, bless) describes what the LORD does for Abraham; here its causative form describes how the servant brings the camels to their knees. One Hebrew root holds both blessing and the bent posture beside the well.
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