Abraham was getting on in years, and Isaac had yet to marry. This devotional reading looks at the mission Abraham devised for his servant to find a wife for Isaac.
Nuggets
- We aren’t told how old Abraham was, but we can pretty much figure it out.
- Abraham sent his trusted servant to find a wife for Isaac.
- Abraham and Eliezer both knew the importance of a continuation of the covenant and showed their support by making an oath.
- The choice of Isaac’s wife was important for covenant purposes.
- So, Abraham sent Eliezer back to his family.
- Eliezer wanted to know what would happen if his mission failed and Abraham wasn’t around to give instructions.
Jehovah promised Abraham that he would have many descendants. Problem is, Isaac is pushing 40; and he not only doesn’t have children, but he also doesn’t have a wife.
Abraham was fixing to change that.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the Abraham the Patriarch series
The Charge
Abraham was now a very old man, and the Lord had blessed him in every way” (Gen. 24: 1 NLT).
We aren’t told how old Abraham was, but we can pretty much figure it out.
We are told how old Isaac was when he married (Gen. 25: 20 NLT). That means Isaac married in 1820 BC. Since we don’t know how long before the marriage the arranging took place, that is the high side.
Abraham would have been 140 years old when Isaac got married.
To round this out, we know Sarah was already dead. “And Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent, and she became his wife. He loved her deeply, and she was a special comfort to him after the death of his mother” (Gen. 24: 67 NLT).
If Sarah was 10 years younger than Abraham – and she was 127 when she died – Abraham would have been 137. That would put the date 1823 BC when Sarah died.
That would have put this discussion where Abraham was between 137 and 140.
Yes, that would make Abraham old. However, he lived another 35 years after that.
God had blessed Abraham in everything. That was because he had believed and been obedient. He had become a righteous man (Gen. 15: 6).
Now it was time for Abraham to take action for the next phase of the covenant.
The Mission
“One day Abraham said to his oldest servant, the man in charge of his household, ‘Take an oath by putting your hand under my thigh. Swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women” (Gen. 24: 2-3 NLT).
One Day
Abraham sent his trusted servant to find a wife for Isaac.
Was Abraham taking things into his own hands again in trying to find Isaac a wife? I don’t think so.
Jehovah doesn’t want us to just sit around waiting for Him to take care of us. Hughes said it in this way. He wrote, “After praying to God, there must be acting by man to find God’s answer.”
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We have our duties to perform for His purposes.
We just have to make sure we are listening to Jehovah’s voice. That is what Abraham – and Isaac – were doing: trusting in God.
So, if Isaac was pushing 40, why was Abraham the one arranging his marriage? Well, that was the custom in Abraham’s society.
Marriages were commonly arranged, according to CrossTalk. It says, “In ancient Israelite society, marriage was often arranged and served various purposes, including the consolidation of family alliances, economic stability, and the continuation of lineage.”
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Abraham and Isaac both knew that it would be Jehovah providing the wife. Leale gave us three reasons for this faith in Him.
- Sovereign God’s previous provision
- Sovereign God’s control over all aspects of our lives
- Sovereign God’s plan for our lives
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They had seen Jehovah follow through on His promises before. Both men also knew that they must follow Sovereign God in all things – especially those covenant related.
His Oldest Servant
Abraham asked his trusted servant to accomplish the mission.
Here, we aren’t given the name of the servant. But we are given enough to give his name a good guess.
“And Avraham said unto his eved zekan of his bais, hamoshel (that ruled) over all that he had …” (Gen. 24: 2 OJB).
We’ve talked about eved and zekan before. Let’s start with eved.
We looked at the explanation of slavery according to biblical law from The Jewish Virtual Library. It says, “The Hebrew term for slave, ‘eved (pl. ‘avadim), is a direct derivation from the verb ʿbd, ‘to work’; thus, the ‘slave’ is only a worker or servant.”
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We talked about zekan back when all the men in Sodom was surrounding Lot’s house. They were described as “… surrounded the bais [house], from na’ar [boy] to zeken [beard] …” (Gen. 19: 4 OJB).
In Judaism, beards represented maturity. This is not only in wisdom but also in spirituality. It denoted age.
Let’s see who that would be. “And Avram said, Adonoi Hashem, what wilt Thou give me, since I go childless, and the Ben Meshek of my Bais [son of possession, steward of my house] is this Eliezer of Dameshek (Damascus)?” (Gen. 15: 2 OJB).
The servant entrusted with the mission is probably Eliezer, the one who would have inherited if Abraham didn’t have an heir. He would have been Abraham’s oldest servant.
Ooo, baby. That took gumption for Abraham to ask Eliezer to find a wife for Isaac when he had already lost the wealth that would have come to him when Isaac was born!
Eliezer, though, had long proven his trustworthiness. He wouldn’t be in the position he was if he hadn’t. He certainly wouldn’t have been given this important mission.
Take an Oath
Abraham and Eliezer both knew the importance of a continuation of the covenant and showed their support by making an oath.
Abraham asked Eliezer to swear an oath, which was allowed in Judaism. Now, the way he swore sounds kind of yuck to us, but it is logical when we put it in Jewish culture.
Both men would have been circumcised on the same day. “On that very day Abraham took his son, Ishmael, and every male in his household, including those born there and those he had bought. Then he circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins, just as God had told him” (Gen. 17: 23 NLT).
We know Eliezer was already in Abraham’s household. That was how he was going to be heir (Gen. 15: 2). He would have been circumcised under the every male in his household provision.
Both were compliant with the covenant of God.
Eliezer putting a hand under Abraham’s thigh would have been putting it close to the circumcised part. It is like our putting our hand over our heart to show our sincerity of our promise.
Fun fact. There is only one other time in God’s Word that this type of gesture is added to an oath. That is when Jacob was asking Joseph to swear that he would be buried in the same tomb as Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, and Leah (Gen. 47: 29 NLT).
Back to Abraham and Eliezer.
Abraham was asking Eliezer to perform a mission to keep his end of the covenant – have descendants.
Maybe that was Abraham’s way of saying, “You have been a faithful servant lo these many years, and you would have been a worthy heir. But God had different plans. We both want to be obedient to God.”
Think about this. Abraham was giving Eliezer permission to choose Isaac’s bride.
True, it probably was because he was sending him on a long journey that he didn’t feel he could make himself. Otherwise, I think he would have gone himself.
But Abraham also didn’t know how long this journey would take or if it would be successful. He was giving Eliezer this mission until it had a successful ending – even if Abraham was no longer alive.
So, Abraham sent his most trust servant – with very specific instructions.
You Will not Allow My Son to Marry a Canaanite Woman
The choice of Isaac’s wife was important for covenant purposes.
Abraham knew God didn’t want Isaac to take a wife from the local women. There was a couple of considerations for this.
Abraham knew of their idol worship. Their lifestyle was full of sin and depravity.
There was no way that Abraham wanted a woman of Canaanite religions raising the covenant sons.
Does that make a contradiction to what we saw in Genesis 23? I think not.
Remember, we have to be in the world but not of the world. In means it is okay to buy a field for burial, but not of, which means compromising with their belief system and taking their daughters in marriage. Compromise has to happen a lot in a marriage.
Jehovah expressed this sentiment in a later book. “You must not intermarry with them. Do not let your daughters and sons marry their sons and daughters, for they will lead your children away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and he will quickly destroy you” (Deut. 7: 3-4 NLT).
If Jehovah wants the eventual overthrow of idolatry, He would not allow it in His covenant line. Plus, He would not dilute the purity in that way.
Another consideration was that Abraham had been promised the land of Canaan for his descendants. He knew Jehovah was not going to have him make alliances with the current occupants to get it.
What that meant was the land would be taken from the current inhabitants. Abraham just didn’t know when or how. But he probably knew that they would have a hard-fought battle at the least or the Canaanites destroyed at the worst.
But what would it have done to Isaac’s marriage – and his safety – when ownership was switched if he had married a Canaanite woman? That wouldn’t have been a happy household.
Go Instead to My Homeland, to My Relatives
“Go instead to my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son Isaac” (Gen. 24: 4 NLT).
So, Abraham sent Eliezer back to his family.
Okay. I have to work through some things that are still a bit mushy in my mind.
We know Terah, Abraham and Nahor were living in Ur. We know they worshiped false gods.
“Joshua said to the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Long ago your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River, and they worshiped other gods. But I took your ancestor Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him into the land of Canaan. I gave him many descendants through his son Isaac” (Josh. 24: 2-3 NLT emphasis added).
Genesis 11: 31 says only part of the family came with Terah. “One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there” (Gen. 11: 31 NLT).
Even though they are not listed, many, such as the Biblestudy.org’s Old Testament Timeline we have been using, believe that Nahor and Milcah should have been included in the list.
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Maybe. Maybe not.
I can see Moses not including them in the list as — at that point — they weren’t main players in the story. Moses only put what was absolutely necessary.
But a lot of things in God’s Word have to be taken literally. Maybe Nahor came later.
It would be logical to believe that, if Nahor and Milcah didn’t go in 1890, they came sometime before Terah’s death in 1885. Nahor, as some believe he was the oldest son, would have become the patriarch upon his death.
When Abraham received an update from Milcah in Genesis 22: 20-26, Moses did not include where they were living. So, either Abraham already knew where that was, or it wasn’t an item Moses included.
Whatever, Abraham knew where to send Eliezer then. More importantly, he knew that they believed in Jehovah as Sovereign God.
Marrying within the clan was acceptable in those day, even encouraged. Remember, Abraham had married his sister, Sarah (Gen. 20: 12). It provided economic stability.
Family is an ongoing theme within God’s Word.
What If?
“The servant asked, ‘But what if I can’t find a young woman who is willing to travel so far from home? Should I then take Isaac there to live among your relatives in the land you came from?’ ‘No!’ Abraham responded. ‘Be careful never to take my son there. For the Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son. If she is unwilling to come back with you, then you are free from this oath of mine. But under no circumstances are you to take my son there’” (Gen. 24: 5-8 NLT)
Eliezer wanted to know what would happen if his mission failed and Abraham wasn’t around to give instructions.
In Eliezer’s mind, even being family didn’t necessarily guarantee the success of the mission. He wanted to make sure he knew what to do if it was a failure.
Oaths were taken very seriously in Abraham’s culture as they were binding and sacred. It showed the importance of the integrity to fulfill one’s promise.
Eliezer didn’t want to make a promise that he couldn’t keep.
Therefore, it was a big deal to be released from the oath. In effect, it was saying Eliezer had faithfully tried to comply with the oath and was innocent of not breaking the oath.
Remember, Eliezer was swearing to the oath before Sovereign God. He wanted to be right before Him.
Abraham was thinking of the covenant when he answered Eliezer. Don’t take Isaac back on any condition.
No, it wasn’t that Abraham doubted that God wouldn’t hold up his end of the bargain. It is just that – other than Sarah’s burial place – we aren’t told he had acquired any more land. He would have felt his status in the region as tenuous at best.
Making the Connections #1
Abraham did exactly right. He did not compromise with the pagans surrounding him. He held out for another believer for Isaac’s wife.
That is Jehovah’s preference. He does not want us united with a non-believer.
- “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” (II Cor. 6: 14 NLT).
- “Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god” (Mal. 2: 11 NLT).
But then there are some verses that discuss being married to a non-believer.
- “In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands. Then, even if some refuse to obey the Good News, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over by observing your pure and reverent lives.” (I Pet. 3: 1-2 NLT).
- “Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity” (Col. 4: 5 NLT).
Are these contradictory? I don’t think so.
But this is the covenant line. It had to be made up of not only believers but also righteous believers.
Making the Connections #2
Bradford made a great observation. We don’t hear Abraham say another thing.
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The very last words we hear from Abraham are “… But under no circumstances are you to take my son there” (Gen. 24: 8 NLT).
Oh, yes. Abraham wasn’t struck mute for 35 years. His words just weren’t recorded.
What would you have wanted Abraham to say? Rebecca was a good choice???? Jacob was clearly the better choice than Esau for continuation of the covenant??????
No, it was time to pass the covenant on to Isaac – even though he had 35 good years to go.
Remember, this isn’t about Abraham. It is about Sovereign God, Creator and Ruler of the universe.
But let’s go at it another way. What are Abraham’s first recorded spoken words?
“As he was approaching the border of Egypt, Abram said to his wife, Sarai, ‘Look, you are a very beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife. Let’s kill him; then we can have her!’ So please tell them you are my sister. Then they will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you’” (Gen. 12: 11-13 NLT).
Ouch. Abraham’s first recorded words were a lie and a deception.
But the last recorded words showed how much Abraham’s faith had grown.
It doesn’t matter where we start. It is where we end that matters. We have to end with Jehovah’s character.
Making the Connections #3
How much would Eliezer have known about Abraham’s covenant with Sovereign God? I’d say probably all there was to know. If he didn’t know before, he did now.
Did Eliezer leave Ur with Abraham? I’d say that was a distinct possibility.
I’d say when the caravan pulled out of Haran — or even Ur — Eliezer had been Abraham’s heir for a while. As much as we think Abraham didn’t like confrontation, even considering he was a servant, I think they would have had this discussion when Isaac was born.
How could Eliezer run Abraham’s house if Abraham was keeping this big secret from him?
So, I agree with Fuller. Eliezer knew about the covenant and it’s promises.
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I see it as a component of that trust.
How Do We Apply This?
- Be a faithful servant to Jehovah.
- Rely on Sovereign God in all things.
- Praise God when our missions are successful.
- Approach Jehovah as a God in covenant.
- Kindness can be no more than giving someone water.
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Father God. You have plans for us, and You share those plans with us. At times, You will do everything needed. Other times, You expect us to do our part. Help us know when You expect what. Amen.
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