Abraham Seeks a Wife for Isaac in Israel

Genesis 24:1–9
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)

As soon as our children were born we began to pray that the Lord would guide them to their future mate and protect them from marrying the wrong person. As they began to grow and mature we continued to pray for the person they were to have as a life partner and that the Lord would … More

Marriage

At this point “Abraham was old and well stricken in age (v. 1). This chapter reveals Abraham’s dedication to finding a godly mate for his son Isaac. Abraham is now approximately 140 years old and his son Isaac is 40. We can see in these verses how the decisive obedience of a few individuals over a family matter can shape the course of history. It is evident that the old patriarch was very concerned about who his son would marry. The daughters of Canaan were a worldly, wicked crowd with no knowledge at all of the true and living God (v. 3). They were involved in some of the most frightful forms of pagan idolatry. There could be no thought of Isaac marrying one of them. As Abraham thought about where he could find a mate for his son his mind went back to Haran where years before his own testimony had born fruit (v. 4). He may not have known Rebekah personally but he certainly knew about her (Gen. 22:23).

The Lord providentially insures the fulfillment of His promise by guiding Abraham’s servant to secure a mate for Isaac. Abraham’s eldest servant was selected for the task (v. 2). This may have been Eleazar (Gen.15:2) but the text does not say so. At least we know that he was devoted to Abraham and dedicated to such a task. When the servant questioned as to how he would know when he had found the right person he was assured that the Lord would guide him (vv. 5-8). Abraham said, “the same God of heaven, who took me from the land of my kindred will guide you to find a wife for my son from there. But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.” So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham and swore to him concerning this matter (v. 9).

Application

Just as Abraham was very concerned about who his son Isaac was to choose as a wife I was very concerned about who my children would marry and was very carfeful in giving my approval.

Genesis 24:1-9 (English Standard Version)

Warning: MagpieRSS: Failed to parse RSS file. (Space required at line 39, column 24) in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/magpie6-1/rss_fetch.inc on line 230

Warning: array_slice() expects parameter 1 to be array, null given in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/rss/esvLookup.php on line 15

View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway) »