Genesis 24:6

Gen 24:6 And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again.

Ver. 6. That thou bring not my son thither again.] Where yet he had never been, but in his father’s loins. He would not his son should part with the Promised Land for any outward accommodations. "Let us fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into God’s rest, any of us should seem to come short, to fail back, or be left behind". {υστερηκεναι, Heb 4:1} Take we all heed lest, for our lingering and hankering after the flesh pots of Egypt, God carry us back again into Egypt, which was the last and greatest curse threatened against the people of Israel, and is the greatest misery that can come upon this nation. {Deu 28:68}

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.

24:6-8 Under no circumstances was the servant to take Isaac from the Promised Land to seek a wife. Abraham ensured Isaac’s safety and secured God’s promises in the land of blessing.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Lest he should lose the inheritance promised.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

6. Beware that thou bring not my son thither again. If the woman should not be found willing, Abraham, commending the event to God, firmly adheres to the principal point, that his son Isaac should not return to his country, because in this manner he would have deprived himself of the promised inheritance. He therefore chooses rather to live by hope, as a stranger, in the land of Canaan, than to rest among his relatives in his native soil: and thus we see that, in perplexed and confused affairs, the mind of the holy man was not drawn aside from the command of God by any agitating cares; and we are taught, by his example, to follow God through every obstacle. However, he afterwards declares that he looks for better things. By such words he confirms the confidence of his servant, so that he, anticipating with greater alacrity a prosperous issue, might prepare for the journey.

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.

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 Isaac to go into a family, where, though there was some knowledge of the true God, yet there was much superstition and idolatry in it, as appears by various hints in the sequel of this history, lest he should be corrupted, and degenerate from the true religion.

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

In case she will not come hither, do not thou engage that he shall go thither. Why so?

1. Because there was more danger of infection from his wife and her kindred, because of their friendly, and familiar, and constant converse with him, than from the Canaanites, who were strangers to him, and lived separately from him, and had but little conversation with him.

2. Because the command of God to Abraham to come out of Chaldea, and into Canaan, did extend to his posterity also, whom God would oblige to dwell there as long as they could, that they might live in constant faith and expectation of the performance of God’s promise in giving this land unto them.

Quest. How could he bring Isaac thither again, where he never was?

Answ.

1. Isaac might be said to be there before virtually, or in the loins of his father, as Levi is said to pay tithes to Melchziedek by Abraham in whose loins he was.

2. This

again may be referred to the servant, that when he returned again he would not carry Isaac along with them.

3. He might reasonably suppose that Isaac must go once thither to fetch his wife; (for her coming so suddenly to him was an unexpected thing); but he would not have him promise, that when he had done so once, he should go thither again to live there with her.

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

6. Beware — Whatever hinderances come, in no case will Abraham allow his son to go back to the land from which he himself had been called.

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

Vers. 6-8. And Abraham said, Beware thou literally, beware for thyself, the pleonastic pronoun being added by way of emphasis (cf. Gen_12:1 Gen_21:16 Gen_22:5) that thou bring not my son thither again. Literally, lest thou cause my son to, return thither; Abraham speaking of Isaac s going to Mesopotamia as a return, either because he regarded Isaac, though then unborn, as having come out with him from Mesopotamia, cf., (Heb_7:10) (Wordsworth) or because he viewed himself and his descendants as a whole, as in Gen_15:16 (Rosenm The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father"s house, and from the house of my kindred, vide @Gen_15:17, Gen_15:18; the covenant transaction therein recordedhaving all the force of an oath (cf. Gen_22:16) saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land. Here was a second consideration that negatived the idea of Isaac"s return, he was the God-appointed heir of the soil, and from this, in conjunction with the former, he argued that the Divine promise was certain of fulfillment, and that accordingly the mission for a bride would be successful. He shall send his angel before thee,i.e. to lead and protect, as was afterwards promised to Israel, (Exo_23:20) and to the Christian Church (Heb_1:14) and thou shalt take a wife unto my Ben from thence (meaning, thy mission shall be successful). And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then shalt thou be clear of this my oath (i.e. at liberty to bold thyself as no longer under obligation in the matter; thy responsibility will at that point cease and determine): only bring not my son thither again or, observing the order of the Hebrew words, only my son bring not again to that place; with almost feverish entreaty harping on the solemn refrain that on no account must Isaac leave the promised land, since in that would be the culmination of unbelief and disobedience.

HOMILIES BY J.F. MONTGOMERY

Ver. 6.

No turning back.

And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again." Abraham"s care to prevent the leaven of idolatry entering his family (cf. Exo_34:16; 1Co_15:33; Jam_1:27) Worldly wisdom would have led him to seek a wife for his son among the families of Canaan, so as to give him a firmer footing in the land; but he solemnly charged his steward, in sending him on a marriage embassy, not to do this (cf. 1Ki_11:3; 2Co_6:14) A wife was to be sought from his brother"s family. Out of the earnestness of this godly desire came the trial of his faith. An obvious difficulty; what if the damsel should not be willing to follow a stranger? There had been little intercourse between the families. The news is Gen_22:20 was plainly the first for many years. Must Isaac go in person to take a wife from her father"s house? Much might be urged in favor of this. If the presence of Isaac were of importance, might he not return for a little, though Canaan was his appointed home? Was it not hindering the very thing Abraham desired, to refuse to do so? Was it not unreasonable to look for a blessing and yet to neglect obvious means for obtaining it? Not for a moment would Abraham listen to the suggestion. At God"s call he had left Mesopotamia forever. To send his son back would he contrary to the principle of his whole life. It would be to put expediency above faith, to distrust God"s promise, to think his will changeable (cf. 1Ki_13:19) Contrast the faithlessness of the Israelites in their wilderness journeys. Abraham would not allow even a temporary return. They "in their hearts turned back again into Egypt" (cf. Luk_9:62)

I IN A GODLY LIFE THERE IS OFTEN A TEMPTATION TO TURN BACK FOR A LITTLE. With a laudable aim, some step which seems likely to lead to it is not quite what in itself we know to be right. To gain the means of doing good, some little departure from truth may seem almost necessary. In the eagerness of some plan of usefulness the time for prayer can hardly be found, or the ordinary daily duties of life seem to interrupt the greater and higher work; or, to gain an influence over the gay and worldly, it may seem the course of wisdom to go, a little way at least, with them. And is not a Christian, under the law of liberty, freed from strict observance of the letter? Does not that savor of the spirit of bondage? Nay, "to obey is better than sacrifice." Always danger when men seek to be wiser than God. (Pro_14:12) We cannot foresee the difficulties of returning.

II TRUE FAITH POINTS TO IMPLICIT OBEDIENCE. Can we not trust God to order all not only the ends towards which he would have us strive, but the means to be used? We are to live by every word of God, not by some special saying only. Promise and precept, instruction and direction, are alike his words, by which every step should be guided. It is want of faith which leads to departure from obedience; want of full trust in God which leads to ways of fancied wisdom. We have to do -with efforts, not with results; these are in God"s hand. Where obedience is not in question we rightly use our judgment; reason was given us to be our guide, but not to take the guidance out of God"s hands. M.

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

ויאמר...השמר לך, for Avraham did not want the claim on the land of Israel which G’d had promised him and which had been established through his physical presence in that land, to become subject to doubt through an even temporary migration of Yitzchok.

פן תשיב, so that you do not bring back. We find a similar formulation in Genesis 3,3 פן תמותון, “so that you will not die,” and in Genesis 31,24 פן תדבר עם יעקב, “so that you will not speak with Yaakov, etc.”

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.