Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

PROVISIONS FOR POSTERITY 2 3 : 1-2 5 : 1 8
the land of his fathers? Would the oath bind him to take
Isaac back to Haran? The suggestion elicited from the
patriarch “a last utterance of his unclouded faith in God,”
Yahwe, said Abraham, had taken him from his father’s
house and had promised him and his seed under oath that
they should have the land (Canaan) for a possession. He
also discharged the servant, in case of failure to procure a
bride and bring her back willingly to his place of sojourn-
ing, from the oath he had taken, being fully assured him-
self that Yahwe, the God of heaven, would seqzd His aagel
to providentially guide events in such a way that the
Divine promise would be fully actualized. There was no
doubt in Abraham’s mind that the servant would bring
back the bride-to-be, because all this was God’s doing in
fulfilment of His eternal purpose. “God had ordered
Abraham’s departure from Mesopotamia; it was therefore
improper that either he or his son should return thither,
where they would be tempted to a partial idolatry” (SIBG,
251). To sum up Abraham’s faith: on no account, said
he, must Isaac leave the land of promise, because such a
move would be a final act of unbelief and disobedience,
v. 8. Whereupon the servant, understanding clearly the
nature of his mission, and feeling satisfied in all matters
that impinged on his conscience, “put his hand under the
thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concern-
ing the matter,” v. 9.
(4) The Servant at the Well, vv. 10-15. Taking ten
camels to bring home the bride-to-be and her attendants
and “all goodly things” sent by his master to be presents
to the bride and her relatives, the steward of Abraham’s
house traveled to Mesopotamia, “to the city of Nahor,”
evidently Haran ( 11 : 3 1, 12 :4), where Nahor dwelt.
(Note the Hebrew for Mesopotamia, Aram-naharctiw, i.e.,
“Aram of the two rivers.” This was Central Mesopotamia,
originally the region within the great bend of the Euphra-
tes. The area was also known as Paddan-Aram, “field of
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