Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

him, believing also that God Himself would direct in the choice
made. Abraham's thoughts turned to his father's relatives in
Mesopotamia. They were not free from idolatry, but they had a
knowledge of the true God. Isaac must not go to them, but it might
be that one could be found among them who would leave her home
and unite with him in maintaining the pure worship of the living
God.
Abraham committed the important matter to Eliezer, his "oldest
servant," a man of experience and sound judgment who had served
him long and faithfully. He insisted that this servant make a solemn
oath that he would not take a wife for Isaac from the Canaanites but
would choose a maiden from the family of Nahor in Mesopotamia.
If a young woman could not be found who would leave her home
and family, then the messenger would be released from his oath.
Abraham encouraged him with the assurance that God would crown
his mission with success. "The Lord God of heaven," he said, "who
took me from my father's house and from the land of my family ...
He will send His angel before you."
The messenger set out without delay. Taking ten camels for his
own attendants and the bridal party that might return with him as
well as gifts for the intended wife and friends, he made the long
journey beyond Damascus to the plains that border on the
Euphrates, the great river of the East.
When he arrived at Haran, "the city of Nahor," he stopped
outside the walls near the well where the women came at evening
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