4 h But thou shalt go unto my this land: must I needs bring thy country, and to my kindred, and son again unto the land from take a wife unto my son Isaac. 5 And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto h ch. 28. 2. i ch. 12. 1. whence thou camest? 6 And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou, that thou bring not my son thither again. 7 T The LORD God of heaven, every occupation chosen, every place of residence selected, every connection formed, express our firm and unvarying conviction of the reality, the importance, the preciousness of those interests which infinitely transcend all others. From the narrative contained in ch. 31, respecting Laban, it appears that some vestiges of idolatry still lingered even among the kindred of Abraham, but doubtless it was far less prevalent than in Canaan. piously, than wealthily or splendidly. In his estimate, no consideration could outweigh that of the religious character of the person sought as a companion for his son. How admirable a pattern is this for parents, in reference to the forming of matrimonial connections for their children! Unhappily great numbers, 4. Thou shalt go unto my country, &c even among the professors of godliness, That is, into Mesopotamia, v. 10, where bring nothing but worldly considerations he had lived for some time after leaving to this all-important subject. The out- Ur of the Chaldees, and where Nahor ward advantages of fortune, rank, or per- and his family still remained after Abrasonal attractions, are the only things re- ham had departed for Canaan. It was garded. But what comparison can these not therefore the land of his nativity, bear to the internal qualities of sound but the land of his former temporary principle, good sense, amiable temper, sojourning, which he here calls his, and and meek devoted piety? What per- to which the servant was commanded manent happiness can we promise our-to go. See Note on Gen. 11. 28, 31. selves in connection with one who cannot understand our views or enter into our feelings?-to whom we cannot speak of religion so as to be sympathized with, advised, or comforted?-with whom we cannot take sweet counsel on the things of all others most interesting 5, 6. Peradventure the woman will not and absorbing to our souls? No won- be willing, &c. As was very natural, der that in such unions, comfort and se- the servant being about to bind himself renity of spirit are banished from our by an oath, is tenderly concerned lest abodes. No wonder that there arise es- he should be 'snared by the words of trangement of affection, diversity of his mouth,' and engage in more than he pursuits, contrariety of will, domestic is able to perform. His conduct in this jangling, mutual accusations and retorts, matter is much to be praised. The oband all that embitters or poisons the ligation of an oath should not be assum. springs of love and peace. Whether, ed without a full understanding of its therefore, we are choosing for ourselves import, and the imposers of oaths ought in this matter, or sanctioning the choice always to be ready to satisfy the rea of others, let the example of this holy sonable scruples of those who take them. man have its due weight in governing But the answer of Abraham is equally our conduct. Let us learn from him to worthy of our attention. Whatever subordinate every thing to the one great were his anxiety that his son should concern the interests of the soul. Let take a wife from among his own kindred, every plan and purpose entertained, he here evinces an equally strong re 8 And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then " thou shalt be clear from this mine oath; only bring not my son thither again. which took me from my fath-thee, and thou shalt take a wife uner's house, and from the land of my to my son from thence. kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, 1 Unto thy seed will I give this land: he shall send his angel before ch. 12. 1, 7.1 ch. 12. 7. & 13. 15. & 15. 18. & 17. 8. Exod. 32. 13. Deut. 1. 8. & 34. 4. Acts. 7. 5. m Exod. 23. 20, 23. & 33. 2. Heb. 1. 14. m n Josh. 2. 17, 20. God, &c. The assurance which Abraham here gives his servant of the divine presence and guidance on his journey appears to be the result of a strong conviction in his mind, wrought by the experience of the past, rather than by any communication to that effect expressly received from God. 'Every former favor is a pledge of a future. Thou hast thou wilt' is a scripture demonstration. See in Ps. 86. 1-4, six thou hasts,' whereupon he infers and enforceth his 'Turn us, O God of our sal So the patriarch's pugnance to his returning and settling ) Gr. Kupios o 0ɛos, the Lord, the in the country out of which he had been called. He had had a promise given him that the land into which he had been brought, should be his and his seed's; and he lived and acted upon that promise all his life long. Against present appearances and human probabilities, he maintained an unshaken confidence in the fulfilment of the promise, and took all his measures accordingly. As he had buried Sarah in it under this assured expectation, so he would not allow Isaac on any account to remove out of it; and thus do what tended di-vation.'--Trapp. rectly to frustrate the promise. It was language here is the expression of a perhaps owing in a great measure to firm, unshaken confidence in the proshis extreme solicitude on this head, that, perous issue of the expedition. He instead of sending Isaac, who was now had been prompted by the most sincere forty years of age, and abundantly ca- regard to the will of God in having it pable of managing the negotiation him- undertaken, and he could not but infer self, he despatched his aged servant to from all that had been before done for conduct the affair in his behalf.—¶ | him, and said to him, that he would put Bring again. Isaac, it is true, had never the seal of his approbation upon the been in that land in person, but in the step proposed. And how pleasant is loins of his father he had: and it is a it to enter upon our work with such common usage of the sacred writers to an inward assurance!--to be able unhesispeak of a family or line of descendants tatingly to promise ourselves or others, as one continued person. Upon this the presence, protection and blessing of idiom the use of the word again in this the God of heaven in our enterprises! place is no doubt founded. In like If governed in the main by the pious manner, it is said Gen. 15. 16, ‘In the spirit of Abraham, this confidence may fourth generation they shall come be freely entertained. God will regard it hither again,' although that generation as an acceptable exercise of faith, and had of course never been in that land not as the promptings of an unhallowed before. presumption.- - Will send his angel 7. The LORD God of heaven, &c. before thee. Nothing, we think, is more Rather according to the Heh. The susceptible of proof, than that the term Lord, the God of heaven (angel' in scriptural usage is employed 9 And the servant put his hand | camels, of the camels of his master, under the thigh of Abraham his and departed; (for all the goods, master, and sware to him concern- of his master were in his hand;) ing that matter. and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. 10 T And the servant took ten • ver. 2. P ch. 27. 43. not only to denote those personal agents 10. Took ten camels, &c. Although whom the Most High may see fit to we are not expressly told that this was make the executors of his will, but also done by Abraham's direction, yet there in an impersonal sense, implying in ma can be little doubt that the whole businy cases merely a dispensation of provi-ness of the preparation and outfit was dence, whether in a way of mercy or conducted under his eye, and ordered of judgment. The phraseology, indeed, but rarely occurs in respect to the ordinary incidents of life, but extraordinary operations of providence, or events fraught with momentous consequences, and as such, having a peculiarly noticeable character, though accomplished by natural means, are in Scripture spoken of as 'angels.' Thus the destruction of the first-born in Egypt is attributed to an angel, because such an event was extraordinary and memorable in the highest degree. In like manner, the destruction of Sennacherib's army is ascribed to angelic agency for the same reason. In both cases we cannot doubt that the judgment was executed directly and immediately by the hand of God. Thus, too, as to the present declaration. We suppose the angel to be the personification of a special providence. God would send his angel before the servant in the sense of preparing his way, of removing difficulties and objections, and fully reconciling the minds of his kindred to the step. See Note on Ex. 12. 23, for fuller confirmation of this idea. 9. Abraham his master. Heb. 17 adonav, his lord. So also in the next verse.- -¶ Sware to him. Heb. yish-sha-ba, was sworn to him. The Heb. verb for swearing, is always used in the passive voice, as if it were an act which no one was supposed to engage in voluntarily, but only as he was adjured by another with his approbation. The brevity of the scripture narrative often requires us to supply from the character of the parties or the circumstances of the case many subordinate items which are omitted by the writer. Such inferential additions are frequently clearly confirmed by subsequent parts of the narrative, or the parallel recitals elsewhere found. Thus, in the present passage nothing is said of the servant's being accompanied by attendants; yet it is evident that one man would be unable to manage so many camels, nor would it be at all consonant with Oriental customs or notions for such an expedition to be undertaken for such an object by a single individ ual; and from vss. 32, 59, it is obvious that it was not. Without allowing his faith such a paramount influence as to lead to the neglect of prudent means, he no doubt designed by fitting out such an imposing retinue, amounting, in fact, to a small caravan, to make an impression upon the minds of the maiden and her family, whoever they might be, to whom the proposals should be made. It would obviously tend to a favorable result were they to receive such an idea of Abraham's and Isaac's substance, as should preclude the apprehension of a female's losing or lessening the comforts of her present condition by acceding to the proposed connection. Had the servant gone alone, without any evidences of his master's wealth, it is clear that he could not reasonably have expected to 11. And he made his camels to evening, even the time that wokneel down without the city by a men go out to draw water: well of water, at the time of the Exod. 2. 16. is peculiarly choice and valuable. Comp. rayim, that is, Syria of the two rivers; obtain the same credence for his asser-precious things of all kinds. So the tions on the subject. The measure, term is elsewhere repeatedly used in therefore, was in every view politic and an emphatic sense to denote that which wise, although we cannot question that both Abraham and his servant, as habitually pious men, placed more dependence on a secret divine interposition, than upon any devices, however well chosen, of their own. For all the goods of his master were in his hand. More literally And all the goods,' &c. The original term toob, here rendered goods, is the proper Heb. word for goodness or excellency of any kind, whether moral or physical. In such connections as the present, it evidently has a secondary or accommodated import, being applied to riches or substance, because these are what men usually esteem good, and industriously pursue as such. The exact purport of this parenthetic clause is a matter of some doubt. Calvin, and perhaps most commentators, understand it as rendering a reason for the servant's large and sumptuous preparations for 11. Made the camels to kneel down. As the journey. Having all his master's this immediately precedes an act of goods at his disposal, he might exercise prayer on the part of the servant, it a discretionary power in making might possibly be thought that he inprovision for the expedition. But per- tended in some sort to make his haps the rendering of the Gr., adopt- camels participators in that act. But ed also by Jerome in the Vulgate, is to kneeling is not peculiarly an attitude of be preferred. In both these versions devotion in the East; and Eliezer himthe construction is, 'And (he took and self did not kneel; for even in his prayer, carried) of all his master's goods (some- he describes himself as standing by the thing) with him.' According to this the well. He merely intended to give the idea is that the servant took with him wearied camels a little rest, kneeling be'in his hand' a portion of the choicest, ing the posture in which camels always the best, the most precious of his master's repose. The time that women go out effects, of which to make presents to to draw water. Heb. Nun nay nyb the lady elect and her family. Thus it leaith tzeth hash-sho-aboth, at the time of is said of the present brought by Ha- the going forth of the women-drawers (of zael from Ben-hadad to Elisha, 2 Kings, water.) Water is usually drawn in the 8. 9, that he took a present with him, evening and frequently in the cool of the even of every good thing (5 kol morning also. Fetching water is one of toob) of Damascus ;' i. e. of the most the heaviest of the many heavy duties VOL. II. 4 The present well seems to have been quite near the town, and we concur in the translation which renders Rebekah's vessel' a pitcher.' The word kad is different from that (chemath) rendered 'bottle in the narrative of Hagar's expulsion; and is the same word used to describe the vessels in which Gideon's soldiers concealed their torches, and which they broke to produce a crashing and alarming noise. The women contrive to draw an enjoyment even out of this irksome duty, as it affords the best opportunity they have of meeting and talking together, and of displaying their finery to each other. They by no means appear to the worst advantage, as to dress, at the wells; and this circumstance shows that Abraham's servant might there, without any incongrui which devolve upon the females in the East, and one which most sensibly impresses us with a sense of their degraded condition. The usage varies in different countries. Among the Arabs and other nomades, and also in many parts of India, it is the exclusive employment of the women, without distinction of rank. But in Turkey and Persia, the poorer women only are subject to this servile employment, respectable families being supplied daily by men who make the supplying of water a distinct business. The tents of the Bedouins are seldom pitched quite near to the well from which they obtain their water; and if the distance is not more than a mile, the men do not think it necessary that the water should be brought upon the camels; and, unless there are asses to be employed on this service, ty, invest Rebekah with the ornaments the women must go every evening, he had brought. To a traveller in the sometimes twice, and bring home at East, the best opportunities of making their backs long and heavy bags full of his observations on the females will ocwater. The wells are the property of cur in the evening at the wells. Eliezer tribes or individuals, who are not al- was aware of this, and regarded the opways willing that caravans should take portunity as favorable for his purpose. water from them; and in that case, a It appears that the unmarried females girl is sometimes posted at the well to even of towns went unveiled, or only exact presents from those who wish to partially veiled, on ordinary occasions in have water. It is not likely that Abra- these early times. Now all go veiled; ham's servant travelled without a and the more extended use of the veil leathern bucket to draw water, and it is in modern times has probably, in one therefore probable that he abstained respect, operated favorably for the wofrom watering his ten camels until he men, by exonerating those in families should have obtained permission. The decently circumstanced, from the very women, when they are at the wells in heavy duty of fetching water, the prothe evening, are generally obliging to per management of the veil being travellers, and ready to supply such wa- scarcely compatible with the performter as they may require for themselves ance of this laborious office. Accordor their beasts. The women of towns ingly we find that this duty devolves in Turkey and Persia have seldom far more exclusively on the females, withto go, except under peculiar circum-out distinction of rank, in those Asiatic stances in the situation or soil of the countries or tribes where the women place, or quality of its water. Their are not obliged to veil their faces, as in water-vessel depends much upon the India, and among the Arabian and othe distance; if rather far, a skin will pro- nomade tribes. We have already no bably be preferred as most convenient ticed the Arabian usage. In consequence for carrying a good quantity; but if near, of the modifications which we venture an earthen jar will often be chosen. to think that the extended use of the |