Genesis 24:1-28

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 24:1-9

Three things we may observe here concerning Abraham:? I. The care he took of a good son, to get him married, well married. It was high time to think of it now, for Isaac was about forty years old, and it had been customary with his ancestors to marry at thirty, or sooner, Gen. 11:14, 18, 22, 24. Abraham believed the promise of the building up of his family, and therefore did not make haste; not more haste than good speed. Two considerations moved him to think of it now (Gen. 24:1):?1. That he... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 24:10-28

Abraham's servant now begins to make a figure in this story; and, though he is not named, yet much is here recorded to his honour, and for an example to all servants, who shall be honoured if, by faithfully serving God and their masters, they adorn the doctrine of Christ (compare Prov. 27:18; Titus 2:10); for there is no respect of persons with God, Col. 3:24, 25. A good servant that makes conscience of the duty of his place, and does it in the fear of God, though he make not a figure in the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 24:1

And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age ,.... Being now one hundred and forty years of age, for as he was an hundred years old when Isaac was born, and Isaac was forty years of age when he married Rebekah, which was at this time, Abraham must be of the age mentioned, see Genesis 21:5 , and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things ; with all kind of blessings, with temporal and spiritual blessings; the former seems chiefly designed here, because of what follows; God had... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 24:2

And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house ,.... To Eliezer his servant, according to the Targum of Jonathan, and as is generally thought; and who may well be called an old servant, and his oldest servant, since he must have lived with him fifty years and upwards; one may trace him near sixty years in Abraham's family, and it is highly probable he lived much longer; he was his servant when he had the vision between the pieces, Genesis 15:2 ; and then he was the steward of his... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 24:3

And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of earth ,.... The Maker and possessor of heaven and earth, by whom Abraham used to swear whenever he did, and by whom only men should swear, see Genesis 14:22 . The Targum of Jonathan is,"I will make thee swear by the name of the Word of the Lord God,'which strengthens the sense given of the rite before observed: that thou wilt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell ;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 24:4

But thou shalt go unto my country ,.... Not Canaan, which though his by promise, yet not in possession, but Mesopotamia, as appears from Genesis 24:10 ; which taken largely included the Chaldea, see Acts 7:2 , the country where Abraham was born, and from whence he came: and to my kindred ; the family of Nahor his brother, which now dwelt at Haran in Mesopotamia, called the city of Nahor, Genesis 24:10 ; see Genesis 29:4 ; of the increase of whose family Abraham had heard a few... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 24:5

And the servant said unto him ,.... Before he would take the oath, being cautious of it, and desirous of knowing how far it reached, and what it would or would not oblige him to, which was prudently done: peradventure the woman will not be to follow me into this land ; supposing this should be the case, as it is not unlikely that the woman would object to coming along with him to the land of Canaan, and insist upon Isaac's coming into her country, and dwelling there, what must then be... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 24:6

And Abraham said unto him ,.... Not blaming him for putting such a question, nor charging him with impertinence, but plainly seeing the propriety of it: and in order to clear up this matter to him, gives the following instructions: beware thou, that thou bring not my son thither again ; for the command to come out of the land of Chaldea, never to return more, and to come into the land of Canaan, and there abide, respected both Abraham and his posterity; and besides, it was dangerous for... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 24:7

The Lord God of heaven, which took from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred ,.... Jarchi distinguishes between his father's house, and the land of his kindred; the former he takes to be Haran, in which he seems to be right; for his father and his family came with him from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran, and there stayed, from whence Abraham was taken and separated from them; by the latter he understands Ur of the Chaldees, interpreting the phrase of the land in which he was born,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 24:8

And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee ,.... Or "but" if F13 ואם "sin autem", V. L. , which is said by Abraham, not as doubting she would be willing, of which he was satisfied, being persuaded that that God that had made him willing to leave his own country, and his father's house, would make her willing to do the like, and come and settle with his son in the land that God had given him; but this, and what follows, he said to make the mind of his servant easy, who had... read more

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