Episode 283 - "Finding a wife for Isaac" - Genesis 24:1-9

Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. 2 And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh, 3 that I may make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, 4 but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” 5 The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” 6 Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there. 7 The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 8 But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must 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.

Isaac is the promised, miracle son of Abraham and Sarah and is the one through whom the LORD will ultimately bring numerous descendants. But that can only happen if he marries and has children. So, this next story tells us how Isaac gains a wife. It’s a long story. So, I’m going to break it down in smaller chunks to point out some things we can learn along the way.

The story opens with Abraham being old. He was 100 when Isaac was born, and now Isaac is of an age to marry. So, he’s really old. He called an elderly servant of his who was, clearly, a very trusted individual. He made the servant swear an oath to not find a wife for Isaac from among the Canaanites where he was dwelling, but that he would go to Abraham’s home country and relatives and find a wife among them for Isaac. The first point that I want to make here is that this is not an issue of racism or ethnocentrism. What is at stake here is purity in faith. Abraham knew that the Canaanites worshipped other gods. If his son Isaac married a Canaanite woman, there would be a temptation to accommodate her faith, lead Isaac and any children they might have away from the LORD, and bring an abrupt end to the covenant the LORD made with Abraham. The harmony of a common faith within a household is an essential theme throughout the Scriptures. The LORD warned King Solomon not to take foreign wives for this exact reason: they would lead him away from faithfulness to the LORD. Solomon failed to heed that warning, and the result was exactly as the LORD had warned. This led to a division of the kingdom after Solomon died.

Abraham’s servant was diligent to ask questions to make sure he had the expectations correct and worked through the “what if” possibilities with Abraham. He didn’t want to make such a strong promise and be unable to fulfill it. His first question was, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” (Gen 24:5) Abraham’s response was an emphatic negative. Why? That seems like a reasonable alternative. Abraham explained to his servant that the LORD had led him from that land to the land of Canann and promised to give him the land they were on. If Isaac were to go back to his father’s homeland and wanted to marry someone, there would be pressure to stay there. Therefore, Abraham told his servant that in such a case, he would be free from the oath.

What we see here in the big picture of this story is a strong trust of Abraham in the LORD’s covenant promises. Abraham had some missteps earlier in his life. But the LORD had led him to grow in his faith of the LORD and his promises. He believed that the LORD would provide those descendants, that they would come through Isaac, and that the LORD would provide the wife who would most likely live and act in concert with Isaac’s faith.

May the LORD grant us such confidence in him that we would not trust our human reasoning over God’s word.