Genesis 24.1-9

In the last devotion, we discussed how these remaining chapters served as a transition from Abraham's story to his offspring. There were three things that needed to occur for this transition to be complete: namely Sarah's death, Isaac's marriage and Abraham's death.

Yesterday, we saw what happened at the death of Sarah. A beginning of God's promise to Abraham was fulfilled by the purchasing of a cave.

Abraham has begun to acquire the promised land.

Now we are moving onto the story of Isaac acquiring a wife. This narrative of Abraham's son and his heir occurs in four consecutive scenes. In the story as a whole, the first and fourth scenes deal with introducing the problem of producing a pure, appropriate heir for Isaac (vv. 1-9) and the stating the resolution to that problem (vv. 62-67). The dramatic power is in the middle two scenes. Let's take a look at the first scene of this story, the problem:

¹ Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. ² He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. ³ I want you to swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, ⁴ but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.”

 ⁵ 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?”

 ⁶ “Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said. ⁷ “The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. ⁸ If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” ⁹ So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

In this scene, there are two characters making an oath to one another. The first character is Abraham who is old and getting ready to die. Because of this, he wants to makes sure that he has done everything in his power to prepare Isaac to be a faithful servant to God the way Abraham has been. Because of this, he needs a wife.

Now he doesn't need just any wife. That is the problem. For the women of the land they were living in, the Canaanite women, were steeped in idolatry. And too many times women have led men astray from the faith. 

This could have been what Moses' audience was experiencing as he wrote this book to them in the wilderness. 

The problem is this: Isaac needs a wife that is also going to be faithful to God. 

Abraham is convinced that he cannot find that kind of woman in Canaan, and he is also nervous that if Isaac returns to his homeland to get a wife, he will stay there and not inherit the promised land like he was supposed to. 


So Abraham makes this unnamed servant promise that he will go to Abraham's homeland and get a wife for Isaac there. This homeland was 450 miles one way. This is a HUGE commitment and journey. Yet, this man agrees to the terms of this deal. And as we will see, he is faithful to the very end. 


What is being presented here is this...in between God's promise and the fulfillment of his promise, what does life look like in between. 


What does God require out of us who play a short role in his story.


There is only one Abraham, one Moses, one Joshua and Elijah and David and Isaiah. There is only one Peter and Paul and John and Augustine and Martin Luther and Jonathan Edwards and Billy Graham. 


These people come far and few between. Most of us play a supporting role in God's story, we are an unnamed servant who is asked to be faithful in the small things. 


And for God to carry out his big plan, it consists of small people being faithful in small things. 


And friends, that is a big deal.