Genesis 24:5
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The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the land from which you came?”
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Before taking the oath, the servant asks whether, in case no woman of their kindred would follow him to Canaan, Isaac was to be conducted to the land of his fathers. But Abraham rejected the proposal, because Jehovah took him from his father's house, and had promised him the land of Canaan for a possession. He also discharged the servant, if that should be the case, from the oath which he had taken, in the assurance that the Lord through His angel would bring a wife to his son from thence.
Open source ↗Marriages and funerals are the changes of families, and the common news among the inhabitants of the villages. In the foregoing chapter we had Abraham burying his wife, here we have him marrying his son. These stories concerning his family, with their minute circumstances, are largely related, while the histories of the kingdoms of the world then in being, with their revolutions, are buried in silence; for the Lord knows those that are his. The subjoining of Isaac's marriage to Sarah's funeral (with a particular reference to it, Gen 24:67) shows us that as "one generation passes away another generation comes;" and thus the entail both of the human nature, and of the covenant, is preserved. Here is, I. Abraham's care about the marrying of his son, and the charge he gave to his servant about it (Gen 24:1-9). II. His servant's journey into Abraham's country, to seek a wife for his young master among his own relations (Gen 24:10-14). III. The kind providence which brought him acquainted with Rebekah, whose father was Isaac's cousin-german (Gen 24:15-28). IV. The treaty of marriage with her relations (v. 29-49). V. Their consent obtained (Gen 24:50-60). VI. The happy meeting and marriage between Isaac and Rebekah (Gen 24:61, etc.).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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and if you can swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by Him, and in Him they will glory.”
They called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?” “I will go,” she replied.
Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool displays his folly.
But if you continue to restrain them and refuse to let them go,
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.