‘And Rebekah lifted up her eyes and when she saw Isaac she alighted from the camel. And she said to the servant, “What man is that who walks in the open country to meet us?” And the servant said, “It is my master.” And she took her veil and covered herself.'
Rebekah too has an instant response. Something tells her that this man she can see walking in the open country is her future husband and she slips from her camel. Then she seeks confirmation from the steward, who replies “It is my master.”
Some have cavilled at this statement on the grounds that Abraham is his master, but it has always been commonplace for the son of the house to be thought of as ‘the young master'. There is a delicacy of touch in his slightly exaggerating Isaac's status in the eyes of the future wife. He wishes Rebekah to know that he will be as faithful to her future husband as he is to her future father-in-law.
“And she took her veil and covered herself.” She has been travelling unveiled but now modesty requires that she veil herself to meet her betrothed, for this is a formal meeting and she does not wish to appear forward.