Genesis 24:5 - Printer Friendly

ESV: The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?”

NIV: The servant asked him, 'What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?'

NASB: 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?'

CSB: The servant said to him, "Suppose the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Should I have your son go back to the land you came from? "

NLT: The servant asked, 'But what if I can’t find a young woman who is willing to travel so far from home? Should I then take Isaac there to live among your relatives in the land you came from?'

KJV: And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest?

NKJV: And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?”

Abraham has asked his most trusted servant to swear to find a wife for his son Isaac. This man is explicitly charged with finding a woman of Abraham's extended family, in his old homeland outside of Canaan. Before swearing to do so, however, the servant responds with a reasonable objection: What if I find a girl, but she doesn't want to travel away from her family to a strange land to marry a man she's never seen? Should I then take Isaac back to your people to live among them?

The servant's question is very reasonable. He needs to know if marrying a girl from Abraham's people is so critical that Isaac should be taken to live in Abraham's former old homeland, if no woman will agree to come to Canaan. Abraham's response will fully resolve that question—his absolutely forbids the servant to allow Isaac to return to Mesopotamia. Abraham does not want to jeopardize, in any way, his descendants' possession of the Promised Land.

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.