Genesis 24:9

Gen 24:9 And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.

Ver. 9. And the servant put his hand., &c.] That, and the lifting up of the hand to heaven, {Gen 14:22} was the ceremony of old, as now it is, laying the hand upon the book. Let it be what it will, if not wicked, we need not scruple it. Henry III of England, undertaking the crusade, in taking his oath laid his right hand on his breast (according i to the manner of a priest, saith the history); {a} and after on the book, and kissed it as a layman. The Moors, when they swear to be faithful to any, put their swords to their own throats. {b} At the siege of Norwich by Ket and his complices in Edward VI’s time, the Earl of Warwick, general for the king, drew his sword, and caused others to do the like; and (according to a soldierly custom in cases of extremity) by interchange of a kiss by everyone of them upon the swords of others, they bound themselves, as by an oath, to maintain the place? {c}

{a} Daniel’s Chro.

{b} Turk. Hist., fol. 747.

{c} Life of Edward VI., by Sir Jo. Heywood, p. 75.

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 9. Put his hand under the thigh of Abraham] This form of swearing has greatly puzzled the commentators; but it is useless to detail opinions which I neither believe myself, nor would wish my readers to credit. I believe the true sense is given in the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, and that called the Jerusalem Targum. In the former it is said, Put now thy hand בגזית מהולתי bigzirath mehulathi, in sectione circumcisionis meoe; in the latter תחות ירך קימי techoth yerech keyami, sub femore foederis mei. When we put the circumstances mentioned in this and the third verse together, we shall find that they fully express the ancient method of binding by oath in such transactions as had a religious tendency. 1. The rite or ceremony used on the occasion: the person binding himself put his hand under the thigh of the person to whom he was to be bound; i.e., he put his hand on the part that bore the mark of circumcision, the sign of God's covenant, which is tantamount to our kissing the book, or laying the hand upon the New Testament or covenant of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2. The form of the oath itself: the person swore by Jehovah, the God of heaven and the God of the earth. Three essential attributes of God are here mentioned:

1. His self-existence and eternity in the name Jehovah.

2. His dominion of glory and blessedness in the kingdom of heaven.

3. His providence and bounty in the earth.

The meaning of the oath seems to be this: "As God is unchangeable in his nature and purposes, so shall I be in this engagement, under the penalty of forfeiting all expectation of temporal prosperity, the benefits of the mystical covenant, and future glory." An oath of this kind, taken at such a time, and on such an occasion, can never be deemed irreligious or profane. Thou shalt swear by his name - shalt acknowledge and bind thyself unto the true God, as the just Judge of thy motives and actions, is a command of the Most High; and such an oath as the above is at once (on such an occasion) both proper and rational. The person binding himself proposes for a pattern the unchangeable and just God; and as HE is the avenger of wrong and the punisher of falsehood, and has all power in the heavens and in the earth, so he can punish perjury by privation of spiritual and temporal blessings, by the loss of life, and by inflicting the perdition due to ungodly men, among whom liars and perjured persons occupy the most distinguished rank. Our ideas of delicacy may revolt from the rite used on this occasion; but, when the nature of the covenant is considered, of which circumcision was the sign, we shall at once perceive that this rite could not be used without producing sentiments of reverence and godly fear, as the contracting party must know that the God of this covenant was a consuming fire.

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

9. concerning this matter] Lit. “according to this word.”

It has been supposed that the account of Abraham’s death, according to J, followed at this point, and, if so, it was omitted by the compiler, who inserted by preference the account from P, in Gen_25:7-11. It is pointed out that (1) the oath is administered to the servant, instead of a simple order, in expectation of immediate death, cf. Gen_47:31; (2) the difficulties in Gen_24:67 suggest that some alteration of the text has there been made, in order to harmonize the narrative with the subsequent mention of Abraham’s death in chap. 25.

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 put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master,.... Or "then" or "therefore the servant", &c. (n) being satisfied of the nature and extent of his oath, and thoroughly understanding how he was to act upon it, readily took it by using this rite; see Gill on Gen 24:2,

and sware to him concerning that matter; of taking a wife to his son, engaging to do everything he had directed and enjoined him relative to it.

(n) "posuit ergo", V. L. "igitur", Tigurine version; "itaque", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "ita", Drusius; "tum", Schmidt.

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

And the servant (understanding the nature of his mission, and feeling satisfied on the points that impinged upon his conscience) put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter to be true to his master and his mission, and to the hope and promise of the covenant.

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

וישם, the meaning is clear. (verse 2)

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.