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Genesis 24:1
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A Bride for Isaac

1 Now Abraham awas old, well advanced in age; and the Lord bhad blessed Abraham in all things.  
2 So Abraham said ato the oldest servant of his house, who bruled over all that he had, “Please, cput your hand under my thigh,  
3 and I will make you aswear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that byou will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell;  
4 abut you shall go bto my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”  
5 And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?”
6 But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there.
7 The Lord God of heaven, who atook me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, b‘To your descendants I give this land,’ cHe will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.  
8 And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then ayou will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there.”  
9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.
10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, afor all his master’s goods were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to bthe city of Nahor.  
11 And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time, the time awhen women go out to draw water.  
12 Then he asaid, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, please bgive me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham.  
13 Behold, here aI stand by the well of water, and bthe daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.  
14 Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And aby this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”  
15 And it happened, abefore he had finished speaking, that behold, bRebekah, who was born to Bethuel, son of cMilcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her pitcher on her shoulder.  
16 Now the young woman awas very beautiful to behold, a virgin; no man had known her. And she went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up.  
17 And the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.”
18 aSo she said, “Drink, my lord.” Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand, and gave him a drink.  
19 And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.”
20 Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.
21 And the man, wondering at her, remained silent so as to know whether athe Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.  
22 So it was, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden anose ring weighing half a shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold,  
23 and said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please, is there room in your father’s house for us1 to lodge?”  
24 So she said to him, a“I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.”  
25 Moreover she said to him, “We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge.”
26 Then the man abowed down his head and worshiped the Lord.  
27 And he said, a“Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken bHis mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord cled me to the house of my master’s brethren.”  
28 So the young woman ran and told her mother’s household these things.
29 Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was aLaban, and Laban ran out to the man by the well.  
30 So it came to pass, when he saw the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, “Thus the man spoke to me,” that he went to the man. And there he stood by the camels at the well.
31 And he said, “Come in, aO blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels.”  
32 Then the man came to the house. And he unloaded the camels, and aprovided straw and feed for the camels, and water to bwash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.  
33 Food was set before him to eat, but he said, a“I will not eat until I have told about my errand.” And he said, “Speak on.”  
34 So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant.
35 The Lord ahas blessed my master greatly, and he has become great; and He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.  
36 And Sarah my master’s wife abore a son to my master when she was old; and bto him he has given all that he has.  
37 Now my master amade me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell;  
38 abut you shall go to my father’s house and to my family, and take a wife for my son.’  
39 aAnd I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’  
40 aBut he said to me, ‘The Lord, bbefore whom I walk, will send His angel with you and1 prosper your way; and you shall take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house.  
41 aYou will be clear from this oath when you arrive among my family; for if they will not give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.’  
42 “And this day I came to the well and said, a‘O Lord God of my master Abraham, if You will now prosper the way in which I go,  
43 abehold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass that when the virgin comes out to draw water, and I say to her, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,”  
44 and she says to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also,”—let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’
45 a“But before I had finished bspeaking in my heart, there was Rebekah, coming out with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’  
46 And she made haste and let her pitcher down from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels a drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels a drink also.
47 Then I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the nose ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.
48 aAnd I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the way of truth to btake the daughter of my master’s brother for his son.  
49 Now if you will adeal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. And if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”  
50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, a“The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot bspeak to you either bad or good.  
51 aHere is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as the Lord has spoken.”  
52 And it came to pass, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, that ahe worshiped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth.  
53 Then the servant brought out ajewelry of silver, jewelry of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave bprecious things to her brother and to her mother.  
54 And he and the men who were with him ate and drank and stayed all night. Then they arose in the morning, and he said, a“Send me away to my master.”  
55 But her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman stay with us a few days, at least ten; after that she may go.”
56 And he said to them, “Do not1 hinder me, since the Lord has prospered my way; send me away so that I may go to my master.”  
57 So they said, “We will call the young woman and ask her personally.”
58 Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.”
59 So they sent away Rebekah their sister aand her nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men.  
60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her:
“Our sister, may you become
aThe mother of thousands of ten thousands;
b And may your descendants possess
The gates of those who hate them.”  
61 Then Rebekah and her maids arose, and they rode on the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed.
62 Now Isaac came from the way of aBeer Lahai Roi, for he dwelt in the South.  
63 And Isaac went out ato meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there, the camels were coming.  
Commentaries:
Forerunner Commentary
What is the Forerunner Commentary?
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What Does Genesis 24:1 Mean?



Genesis 24:1-4

In America and other places in the Western world, oath-takers raise their right hands and pledge to perform certain actions, sometimes placing their left hands on a Bible. On other occasions, people promise to do something—pay back a loan, perform a service, hold wealth in trust, etc.—by signing their names to a legal document before witnesses. Some promises are made with a Boy Scout oath. Young girlfriends make pinky promises.

These were not the norm four thousand years ago in the land of Canaan. As the Old Testament attests, oaths and vows were taken far more seriously than they are today in our winner-take-all, I'll-do-what's-best-for-me world. One's word was truly his bond, and oaths were not to be taken lightly or frivolously. In some modern Bibles, "oath" or "vow" is often accompanied by a modifier like "solemn," especially since they usually invoke God to bind them on the oath-taker.

The next two verses confirm Abraham's reason for requiring his servant's oath: "I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac” (Genesis 24:3-4). The patriarch desired to bind his servant to his wish to have his son marry a daughter of his own people, a woman from among those who had migrated with Terah and Abram to the area of Haran in Mesopotamia. There was no stronger way to bind him than to have him make an oath with his hand under the patriarch's thigh.

We see the same kind of oath in Genesis 47:29, when aged Jacob requires Joseph to promise to bury him in Canaan. In both situations, the instigators of these oaths are patriarchs of a clan, and it is this fact that provides understanding about the symbolism of placing a hand "under the thigh." The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament fills us in on what this placement represented: "by placing his hand inside Abraham's thigh (in the vicinity of or on the genitals), the servant ties his oath of obedience to the acquisition of a wife for Isaac and thus the perpetuation of Abraham's line."

Evidently, this kind of oath—called by some a "bodily oath"—was made for matters pertaining to the most important family and clan matters. Abraham's oath is easily seen in this light, as he desired his only son by Sarah, his heir, Isaac, to marry and have children from among his own people, those from the line of Shem and Eber (the progenitor of the Hebrews). He binds his servants actions on his behalf to considering young women only from that narrow ethnic group.

Jacob's demand for a similar oath is more difficult to explain, but he, too, requests it for the good of his clan. The patriarch knew the prophecy God gave to Abram in Genesis 15:13-21, that his descendants would "be strangers in a land that is not theirs. . . . But in the fourth generation they shall return here." Jacob's desire that his bones be buried in Canaan makes a statement that the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were then living, was not the tribal inheritance of Abraham's people, but they must return to the land of Canaan, where the bones of Israel were interred. Later, Joseph also told the Israelites to "carry up my bones from here" (Genesis 50:25), passing to the next generations the expectation of returning to Israel's promised land.

Faced with fulfilling such a solemn oath, Abraham's servant, likely Eliezer of Damascus (Genesis 15:2), takes great care to choose a suitable mate for Isaac, placing his trust in God to lead him to the right woman. In fulfilling his oath, Eliezer is blessed by God and led directly to the family of Nahor, Abraham's brother. And so, in the course of events, Rebekah travels to Canaan with Eliezer, marrying Isaac, and perpetuating the line that ultimately leads to Jesus Christ.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh

Related Topics: Bodily Oath | Boy Scout Oath | Choosing a Suitable Mate for Isaac | Choosing a Suitable Mate for Isaac | Eliezer of Damascus | Hand Under Patriarch's Thigh | Isaac and Rebekah | Legal Document before Witnesses | Oath Takers | Oaths | Pinky Promises | Placing Left Hand on the Bible | Promises | Servant's Oath | Solemn Oath | Solemn Vow | Solemnity | Vow | Word as Bond


 
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