A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

THE SERVANT AND THE FATHER
(Gen. 24:1-14)
The first part of this chapter contains the last recorded words of Abraham the man of faith
as he sent out his servant to find a Gentile bride. It describes a man who had for many years
walked by faith and was now enjoying some of the fruits of that lifestyle. The Hebrew verb
berach is a pi’el perfect conveying the idea of intensity in the verb; i.e., “He [the Lord] had
greatly or abundantly blessed” (Gen. 24:1). This is not contradictory at all to the reference to
Abraham’s age in the same verse. The translation of ba’ bayamim, “well advanced in age,” is
unfortunate in its negative connotations. The Hebrew implies only advanced age without
reference to the state of health or evidence of decay. Abraham lived about thirty-eight years after
the marriage of Isaac.
As Abraham commissioned his servant to find the bride for his son, he called on him to
place his hand under his thigh (v. 2). This custom of placing one’s hand under another’s thigh
appears to have been an act associated with swearing an oath. It is only referred to in one other
place in Scripture (47:29). Some Jewish commentators believed the act had reference to
circumcision which was the sign of the covenant. If this were the case, it would indicate the
seriousness of the vow in that one swore by the covenant of God. Others believe it symbolically
committed the descendants of the oath makers to maintain the terms of the oath and/or avenge
any infraction of it. Jewish commentator Ibn Ezra argued the act was a symbolic placing of
oneself under the authority of another. Whatever the specific meaning of the act, it was
apparently associated with making a covenant or taking an oath of special significance.
Abraham called on his servant to swear by both Jehovah and Elohim, the covenant or
relationship name of God and the strong or mighty name of God (24:3). In the years of his
pilgrimage, Abraham had come to know God as both Jehovah who could be trusted and Elohim
who was able to do as He promised. The use of both names of God in this context demonstrates
both Jehovah and Elohim were the same God and that he did not worship several gods as did his
pagan neighbors. He was different from his neighbors and therefore separated from them. His
major concern on this occasion was that his son would not violate that separation by marrying a
Canaanite. The life of faith is a life of separation-separation from sin, separation to God,
separation for service (cf. 1 Thes. 1:9).
This chapter contains the last recorded words of Abraham in Scripture (Gen. 24:7). These
words serve to illustrate the tremendous growth in the faith of Abraham over the years of his
sojourn, especially when compared with the first recorded statement of the man of faith to God
(cf. 15:2). The earlier statement is an expression of doubt, this a strong affirmation of faith. A lot
more than his name changed over the years of his pilgrimage.
Though camels were not used for military purposes until much later, there is
archeological evidence that they were domesticated even before the time of the patriarchs.
Abraham’s servant took ten of his master’s camels and samples of his master’s wealth and began
the journey. The Hebrew phrase wechal mubh ‘adonayw beyado is better translated, “taking all
sorts of choice gifts from his master in his hand” (24:10). While it is true Eliezer had control of
his master’s wealth, the emphasis here is that he took samples of that wealth with him as he went
out to find the bride. In the same way, the Holy Spirit has all the riches of God and shares
samples of that wealth with the bride of Christ today.
The servant left the camp of Abraham and made his way “to Mesopotamia, to the city of
Nahor” (v. 10). The Hebrew words ‘el ‘aram naharayim, translated “Mesopotamia,” literally