Genesis 24:11

WEB

He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water.

KJV

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.

Commentary

And he made his camels to kneel down,.... Which these creatures are used to do when they are loaded and unloaded, and also when they take rest, and it was for the sake of the latter they were now made to kneel. It seems that this is what is not natural to them, but what they are learned to do: it is said (r),"as soon as a camel is born they tie his four feet under his bell y, put a carpet over his back, and stones upon the borders of it, that he may not be able to rise for twenty days together; thus they teach him the habit of bending his knees to rest himself, or when he 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 (s) 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 hath a more whitish troubledness than others. I have (says he) drank of it several times, out of the conduit that runs from thence into the middle the great camp, and it hath 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; as it was especially in the eastern countries: and 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). (r) Calmet's Dictionary in the word "Camel". (s) Travels, par. 2. ch. 10. p. 177. Ed. Ray. (t) Shaw's Travels, p. 241. Ed. 2.