Genesis 24:9 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.

NIV: So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

NASB: So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham, and swore to him concerning this matter.

CSB: So the servant placed his hand under his master Abraham’s thigh and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

NLT: So the servant took an oath by putting his hand under the thigh of his master, Abraham. He swore to follow Abraham’s instructions.

KJV: And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.

NKJV: So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

Abraham has ordered his servant to find a wife for Isaac, among Abraham's kinsmen back in Mesopotamia. However, Isaac is not to leave Canaan—the woman must be brought here. The servant is concerned he might not be able to find a suitable woman and convince her to travel so far to marry Isaac. So, Abraham made it clear to his servant that this oath would not be binding if circumstances were beyond his control.

With that reassurance, as Abraham had requested, the servant would swear not to allow Isaac to marry any local Canaanite woman and would, instead, travel himself to the land of Abraham's people to attempt to find a wife for Isaac who would agree to marry him and live in Canaan. The servant put his hand under Abraham's thigh, as was the custom, and took the oath. This symbolic gesture implied that the oath-taker would be at the mercy of Abraham's descendants if he did not fulfill his end of the bargain.

The whole conversation raises an obvious question: Where was Isaac? As a man around the age of 40 (Genesis 25:20), why did he not participate in this conversation? Why was Abraham's servant given so much authority over Isaac's decisions instead of Isaac himself being included?

We're never told. Perhaps custom demanded that finding a wife was absolutely a father's duty and one Abraham could not fulfill without the help of his servant. Perhaps Isaac was a particularly passive person. In any case, Abraham saw it as his responsibility to find his son a wife without, apparently, Isaac's input.

Genesis 24:1–9 describes an urgent conversation between Abraham and his most trusted servant. Abraham is asking the servant to swear an oath to find a wife for Isaac from among his own people in Mesopotamia. The servant must not allow Isaac either to marry into a Canaanite family or to leave the promised land of Canaan. With the understanding that he will be released from the oath if no young woman will agree to return with him, the servant swears to find Isaac a wife.

Abraham asks his most trusted servant to travel to his former homeland to find a wife for his son Isaac. Swearing to do so, the servant arrives at the city of Nahor and asks the Lord to show him which young women is appointed for Isaac. Finding Rebekah, the very granddaughter of Abraham's brother Nahor, the servant reveals the reason for his journey to her family. Her father Bethuel and brother Laban agree to allow Rebekah to travel to Canaan and marry Isaac, which she does.

Genesis 24 takes place a few years after Sarah has died. Abraham becomes urgent to find Isaac a wife, not among the women of Canaan, but from his own people back in Mesopotamia. His trusted servant, sent to accomplish this mission with the help of the Lord, eventually returns with Rebekah, the granddaughter of Abraham's own brother. Isaac is married to her at the age of 40. Abraham's death is recorded in the following chapter.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.