A Loose End At The End Of A Blessed Life...

For the past several months, we have been looking at a section of the very first letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Genesis, where we have seen that it is in God’s promises, and how we respond to God and His promises that powerfully impact our lives as well. This week, as we jump back into the book of Genesis, we are going to discover another timeless truth regarding God and God’s promises. So let’s discover this truth together, in Genesis 24:1:

Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in every way.

Moses begins by setting the stage for the story that we are going to look at. Moses explains that, at this point in God’s story, Abraham was old, advanced in age. In other words, Abraham’s time on earth was almost over. In addition, Moses reminds us that the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way.

You see, the Lord had demonstrated to Abraham the He was a promise maker and a promise keeper. The Lord had blessed Abraham with a long life, as Abraham was now 140 years old. The Lord had blessed Abraham with a prosperous life. And the Lord had blessed Abraham with a son.

Yet, as Abraham approached the end of his life and looked in the rearview mirror of his life, he recognized that there was something that he needed to make sure was taken care of before he died. However, Abraham was now too old to take care of this loose end himself. Moses then reveals what this loose end was and brings us into the story in verse 2:

Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he owned, "Please place your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac."

You see, Abraham’s son Isaac was still single. So the loose end to be tied up before Abraham died was to make sure that Isaac found a wife. And since Abraham was now too old and frail to do what he believed was necessary to find Isaac the right wife, Abraham called upon his most trusted servant, the servant that had been with him the longest, to tie up this loose end.

Now when Moses tells us that Abraham had his servant place his hand under his thigh and swear by the name of the Lord, he is asking his most trusted servant to commit himself to a solemn oath. And this solemn oath, or commitment, was to be made in the presence of God. In addition, placing ones hand under another thigh was to serve as a word picture that this oath, or commitment, would be enforced by Abraham’s descendants.

So failure to follow through on this commitment would result in this servant having to answer to Abraham’s descendants, even if Abraham passed away before he was able to fulfill this oath. The oath, the commitment that Abraham asked his servant to fulfill, was to find a bride for his son Isaac. And this bride was not to be just any woman.

Abraham charged the servant to make sure that Isaac did not marry a woman who was from the land of Canaan, as the Canaanites were perhaps the most wicked culture that ever existed. Instead, the servant was to find a bride for Isaac from the land of his relatives. And while Abraham did not mention that Isaac must marry someone of the same faith, Isaac was to marry a woman who shared the same ethnic and cultural background.

In addition, the servant was not allowed to take Isaac with him to find his wife. Instead Isaac was to remain in the land that God had promised Abraham. So, in essence, Abraham asks his most trusted servant to head, by himself, to the land of Abraham’s relatives, which was 400 miles away, find Abraham’s relatives, and then find a wife for Isaac from one of those relatives.

Now imagine yourself as Abraham’s servant. What would you be thinking? How would you be feeling at this point? Would you have questions? I know I would have several questions. We see the question that Abraham’s servant had recorded for us in verse 5:

The servant said to him, "Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?"

In other words, Abraham’s servant asks “well what if I find one of your relatives that is interested in marrying Isaac, but does not want to leave? If there is a woman that wants to marry Isaac but wants to stay where she is at, should I help Isaac move so he can marry her?” We see Abraham’s response in verse 6:

 Then Abraham said to him, "Beware that you do not take my son back there! "The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, 'To your descendants I will give this land,' He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. "But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this my oath; only do not take my son back there." So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

Abraham’s response is pointed and powerful. His response, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Be very careful and be on guard to make sure that never happens. Make sure that never happens because it was God who led me from there to here and promised to me that my descendants would someday live here and become a great nation.  And because God is a promise maker and a promise keeper, He will prepare the way for you to find the right woman for Isaac. You just need to follow my instructions and trust me. If there are no women that are willing to come back with you and marry Isaac, you are free from your commitment. But I am confident that God will lead you to the right woman”.

You see, from Abraham’s perspective, Abraham was confident that the Lord would continue to fulfill His promises to him, so his servant should be confident that he will find a spouse for Isaac there. The woman would not have to be coerced, but could reject the move to Canaan. However, under no circumstances was Isaac to move back to the region where Abraham had come from. Moses tells us that the servant responded by binding himself to the oath and commitment to find Isaac a wife.

Tomorrow, we will look on as the search begins….