Gen 24:3c-10

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†. Gen 24:3c-4 . . that you will not take a wife for my son from the
daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell, but will go to the
land of my birth and get a wife for my son Isaac.

The words "land of my birth" can also mean "to my country and to my
relatives." That is exactly how the steward understood them because that is
how he will narrate Abraham's instructions in Gen 24:38.

I just bet Abraham was fully aware of the fate of the sons of God who married
the daughters of men back in the early parts of Genesis. Those sons of God
all died in the Flood right along with their impious wives.

The influence of a non God-fearing spouse could prove fatal to Isaac's
future. If he's going to serve and worship his dad's god, then he is going to
have to marry a girl who fully appreciates and supports the prophecies
regarding Abraham's progeny.

Spouse hunting demands a level head and cold steel discernment or there is
real risk in ending up like Solomon, one of the greatest of God's men, who
was ruined by his marriages to women who didn't share his religious
convictions. (1Kgs 11:1-10)

†. Gen 24:5-6 . . And the servant said to him: What if the woman
does not consent to follow me to this land, shall I then take your son
back to the land from which you came? Abraham answered him: You
must not, for any reason, take my son back there!

I think Abraham knew only too well just how much like sheep men are.
When they fall in love, they'll literally sacrifice their lives to keep a woman;
which is exactly what Jacob did. Rachel was a good girl; but she cost Jacob
fourteen years of his life away from home in a foreign land with a bad
influence: uncle Laban.

Suppose Isaac went up north and feasted his glims on Rebecca? Well, up
ahead we're going to find out that she was young, cute, and filled out in all
the right places. I've seen what that does to men. I worked with a married
man once who kept a young love on the side. He often used his wages to
buy that girl jewelry while his wife and two little kids were housed in a
ramshackle rental unit.

It was too risky to let Isaac go up there. He might be tempted to remain
with Rebecca if she refused to live so far off from her family. Isaac's future
was in the land deeded to Abraham on oath; not up there in Mesopotamia;
and his bride's place was with him and Yhvh; not with her family and Laban's
idols.

†. Gen 24:7 . .The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my
father's house and from my native land, who promised me on oath,
saying "I will assign this land to your offspring" He will send His
angel before you, and you will get a wife for my son from there.

The identity of the angel to be sent is a complete mystery. Some feel it's a
personification of God's providence. Others feel it might be Metatron; the
angel in sacred Jewish literature whose name is his Master's. But it's far
more likely to be God's spirit-- the eye of Ps 32:8-10 --secretly manipulating
circumstances to serve God's best interests. There is not one single square
inch of the cosmos of which God's eye is unaware (Ps 139:7-12).

†. Gen 24:8-10a . . And if the woman does not consent to follow you,
you shall then be clear of this oath to me; but do not take my son
back there. So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master
Abraham and swore to him as bidden. Then the servant took ten of
his master's camels

Nobody is quite sure exactly when camels were domesticated. The earliest
depiction of them in relief and cuneiform text as beasts of burden and
transportation is sometime around 1100 BC.

†. Gen 24:10b . . and set out, taking with him all the bounty of his
master;

The servant will need to demonstrate to the bride, and to the bride's family,
that she'll be well taken care of. The servant of course didn't take along
everything Abraham owned in total, but merely an adequate representation
of his abundant wealth; which by inheritance, would all be Isaac's some day;
and, by association, his future wife's too.

Additional men accompanied the servant (Gen 24:32) who were very likely
all armed (Gen 14:14); not only for the caravan's protection, but for the
bride's as well. No doubt included among the camel's burdens were tents,
victuals, provender, water, and appropriate accommodations for the bride's
comfort on the journey back to Canaan. It was at least five hundred miles
from Hebron up to Abraham's people in Mesopotamia, so the return trip
couldn't possibly be made in a single day on camels and would necessitate
overnight bivouacs in rugged country.

†. Gen 24:10c . . and he made his way to Aram-naharaim, to the city
of Nahor.

The Greek translation renders naharaim in dual form meaning, "two rivers",
and from that arose the name Mesopotamia-- the land between the two
rivers. Some feel that the name naharaim really means "the land along the
river" or "the land within the river".

It's a territory bounded approximately on the east by an imaginary
north/south line drawn from Ar Raqqah Syria to Urfa Turkey. The southern
and western borders are delineated by the Euphrates as it runs from Ar
Raqqah Syria towards Gaziantep Turkey: an area within which at one time
lay the kingdom of Mitanni. This is called Naharain in the Egyptian texts, and
Naharima in the El-Armana letters.

The details of the journey are passed over. It would have been fun to hear
about the caravan's adventures. How they had to dodge a flock of ostriches
that ran out in the road, and maybe how a lion came around at night and
spooked everybody, or how one of the men fell asleep at the wheel and his
camel ran off the road and hit a tree; stuff like that. But Genesis has
priorities; and the journey's details were not one of them. In a blink, the
caravan arrives; a trip that took maybe two weeks or so; and Rebecca
rapidly becomes the prime focus. This chapter, after all, about the bride;
rather than the groom.

Cont.
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