Matthew Henry on 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, Gen 11:18, Gen 11:22, Gen 11:24. 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 himself was likely to leave the world quickly, for he was old, and well-stricken in age, and it would be a satisfaction to him to see his son settled before he died; and, 2. That…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 24:3
thou shalt not take a wife, &c.--Among pastoral tribes the matrimonial arrangements are made by the parents, and a youth must marry, not among strangers, but in his own tribe--custom giving him a claim, which is seldom or never resisted, to the hand of his first cousin. But Abraham had a far higher motive--a fear lest, if his son married into a Canaanitish family, he might be gradually led away from the true God.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 24:3
I will make thee swear - See note on Gen 24:9.
Of the Canaanites - Because these had already been devoted to slavery, etc., and it would have been utterly inconsistent as well with prudence as with the design of God to have united the child and heir of the promise with one who was under a curse, though that curse might be considered to be only of a political nature. See the curse of Canaan, Gen 9:25 (note).
John Gill on 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; these being not only idolaters, and very wicked people, degenerated yet more and more, but were the seed of the accursed Canaan; and who in process of time would be dispossessed of the land, and be destroyed. Now t…
