Genesis 24:5

Gen 24:5 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?

Ver. 5. Peradventure the woman, &c.] He swears cautiously, he doth not rashly rush upon his oath; he swears not in jest, but in judgment. So must we, {Jer 4:2} duly considering the conditions and circumstances; as the nature of an oath, the matter whereabout, the person by whom, and before whom, the time, the place, our calling, and warrant thereunto. "Be not rash"; {Ecc 5:2} the best that can come of that is repentance, that fair and happy daughter of an ugly and odious mother. {a} Swear not in heat and choler, as David did when he was going against Nabal; but soon after blessed Abigail for better counsel. Swear not in jest, lest you go to hell in earnest. {Jas 5:12} Swear not petty oaths, those civilised compliments, and interjections of common talk, Faith and truth, &c. Thou must not swear by thy hairs, thou canst not make one of them white or black; much less by faith and truth, that is more worth than hairs. Remember that large roll, ten yards long, and five yards broad, full of curses against the swearer. {Zec 5:2} And it rests upon his house, where he thinks himself most secure. When we are called to take a lawful oath, we must be reverently affected (as this good servant in the text), according to the excellency of the duty, and greatness of the person, whom we attest and invocate. The ancient form of taking and imposing an oath was, "Give glory to God". {Jos 7:19 Joh 9:24} And he that took the oath was said to "confess to God". {Isa 45:23 Rom 14:11} Therefore also St Paul, in swearing, useth a word of attention, and saith "Behold," I speak it "before God". {Gal 1:20} Louis the French king was taken prisoner by Meletisaka the Sultan; and conditions of peace being concluded between them, for more assurance thereof, the Sultan offered to swear, if he failed in performance of anything, to renounce his Mohammed; requiring likewise of the king to swear, if he failed in anything that he had promised, to deny his Christ to be God: which profane oath the king detesting, and wishing rather to die than to give the same, the Sultan wondering at his constancy, took his word without any oath at all, and so published the league. {b} As on the other side, King John of England, being overcome in his barons’ wars, when he sent ambassadors to the monarch of Morocco for aid, offering to swear fidelity to him, and to receive the law of Mohammed, he grew into such a dislike of our king, that ever after he abhorred the mention of him. {c}

{a} εχθρου πατρος φιλτατον τεκνον; as the Romans, in Plutarch, said of Pompey.

{b} Turk. Hist.

{c} Heyl., Geog., p. 714.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 5. Peradventure the woman will not be willing] We may see, says Calmet, by this and other passages of Scripture, Jos 9:18, what the sentiments of the ancients were relative to an oath. They believed they were bound precisely by what was spoken, and had no liberty to interpret the intentions of those to whom the oath was made.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. And the servant said unto him. Since he raises no objection respecting Isaac, we may conjecture that he was so fully persuaded of his integrity as to have no doubt of his acquiescence in his father’s will. We must also admire the religious scrupulosity of the man, seeing he does not rashly take an oath. What pertained to the faithful and diligent discharge of his own duty he might lawfully promise, under the sanction of an oath; but since the completion of the affair depended on the will of others, he properly and wisely adduces this exception, “Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me.”

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

5. bring … again] Here and in Gen_24:6; Gen_24:8 and Gen_22:5 the word “again” is used for “back.” Abraham’s tone is that of a man who is on his death-bed.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 done?

must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest? that is, must I agree with the woman on these terms, and promise that Isaac shall come and dwell with her in Mesopotamia? Now there was good reason for the servant's putting this question, since he was neither ignorant of the call of Abraham out of that laud, no more to return to it, nor of the promise of the land of Canaan to him and his posterity: and as for bringing Isaac "again", where he never had been in person, this may be accounted for by his being in the loins of Abraham when he was there, and came from thence, as Levi is said to be in his loins when he paid tithes to Melchizedek, and to pay them in him, Heb 7:9; and in like manner he might be said to be brought again, or return to Abraham's country, should he ever go there, as all the seed of Abraham are said in the fourth generation to come to Canaan again, though they had none of them been in person there before, Gen 15:16; besides, as Drusius observes, to bring again, or return, signifies sometimes only to bring on, or to go to some certain place, see Rut 1:10; however, the justness of the expression is confirmed by Abraham's answer in the next words.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

If the woman. Thus he shews his religious respect for an oath; and will not depend on his own explanation of the sense of it. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Note here the prudence and piety of this good man, who, before he would take an oath, doth diligently inquire into the nature and conditions of it, and expressly mentioneth that exception which might seem to be of course supposed in it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. The servant said — He was cautious and far-sighted, and before taking on himself so solemn an oath he will have an understanding about all contingencies.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the servant said unto him (not having the same faith as his master), Peradventure (with perhaps a secret conviction that he ought to say, "Of a surety") the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land. Prima, facie it was a natural and reasonable hypothesis that the bride elect should demur to undertake a long and arduous journey to marry a husband she had never seen; accordingly, the ancient messenger desires to understand whether he might not be at liberty to act upon the other alternative. Must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest? In reply to which the patriarch solemnly interdicts him from attempting to seduce his son, under any pretext whatever, to leave the land of promise.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Before taking the oath, the servant asks whether, in case no woman of their kindred would follow him to Canaan, Isaac was to be conducted to the land of his fathers. But Abraham rejected the proposal, because Jehovah took him from his father's house, and had promised him the land of Canaan for a possession. He also discharged the servant, if that should be the case, from the oath which he had taken, in the assurance that the Lord through His angel would bring a wife to his son from thence.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

What if

"What should I do if"

will not be willing to follow me

"will not follow me" or "refuses to come back with me"

Must I take your son back to the land from which you came

"Should I take you son to live in the land from which you came"

Make sure that you do not take my son back there

The phrase "Make sure" emphasizes the command that follows. "Be careful not to take my son back there" or "You definitely must not take my son there"

who took me from my father's house

Here "house" stands for the people in his family. AT: "who took me from my father and the rest of my family" (See: Metonymy)

promised me with a solemn oath

"swore an oath to me"

saying, 'To your offspring I will give this land,'

This is a quotation within a quotation. It can be stated as an indirect quotation. AT: "saying that he would give this land to my offspring" (See: Quotes Within Quotes and Direct and Indirect Quotations)

he will send his angel

The words "he" and "his" refer to Yahweh.

translationWords

servant

Yahweh

God

heaven

promise

oath

offspring

angel

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

PERADVENTURE THE WOMAN WILL NOT BE WILLING. The meaning [of the definite article in the word ha’ishah] is that it refers to “the woman to whom I will speak of all the women there”, or it may mean the woman who is fit for Isaac.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

?ויאמר...ההשב אשיב, supposing that by the time I return from my mission you will no longer be alive, tell me if I should bring your son back there in the event that the girl I select refuses to move here? Even though Yitzchok was not present during this discussion, Eliezer calls his potential migration to Aram Naharayim a השבה, “return,” as he refers to Avraham who had left that region, not to Yitzchok who had never been there in the first place.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.