But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.
Instead, you must go to my homeland and to my relatives, and find a wife for my son Isaac.
Abraham is instructing his servant to find Isaac a wife from among Abraham's own people and homeland rather than from the local Canaanite women.
📚 Historical Context
In the biblical narrative of Genesis, Abraham is an elderly patriarch who has been promised by God that his descendants will become a great nation, and he is now arranging for a wife for his son Isaac to ensure the continuation of that covenant. Abraham specifically instructs his servant to travel back to his own relatives in Mesopotamia, rather than allowing Isaac to marry a local Canaanite woman, because he wants to preserve the family's faith and avoid intermarriage with idol-worshipping peoples. This reflects the ancient Near Eastern custom of arranged marriages within one's clan to maintain cultural and religious purity.
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