The Promise and the Oath

GEN 23

17 So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over

Rashi

The field of Ephron . . . was made over (literally, it rose)—It received a rise in importance because it passed from the possession of an ordinary person into the possession of a king (Bereshit Rabbah 58:8). The real meaning of the verse is: And the field with the cave that was within it, and all the trees . . . were made over to Abraham as a possession etc.

Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre . . . GEN 25:9

Rashi

Isaac and Ishmael—From this we gather that Ishmael repented (cf. Bava Batra 16b) and yielded the precedence to Isaac. This is what is meant by “a good old age” mentioned in connection with Abraham (above 15:15; Bereshit Rabbah 38:12).

. . . and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. ACT 7:16

18 to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city.

Rashi

Before all who went in at the gate of his city—In the midst of all them, and before all he sold it to him.

19 After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown

Abraham buried Sarah—Thus he got possession of Machpelah and deposited the remains of his lamented partner in a family vault which was the only spot of ground he owned.

If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. ECC 6:3

Rashi

If a man fathers a hundred—Children.

So that the days of his years are many (and much wealth and all goodness the days of his life).

And his soul is not satisfied—From that goodness, for he is not happy with his portion, to be satisfied with what is his.

And he also has no burial—Sometimes he is slain, and dogs devour him. All these happened to Ahab, he begot many children, and he had great wealth, but he coveted the property of others and was not satisfied with his wealth, and dogs devoured him.

A stillborn child is better off than he—The stillborn of a woman, for a stillborn came in vanity and went, he neither saw good nor desired it; so he does not need to be distressed.

20 The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.

GEN 24

Isaac and Rebekah

1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.

Rashi

Had blessed Abraham in all things—Since he had a son, he had to find him a wife.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. MAT 6:33

The People’s New Testament, B.W. Johnson

Seek first the kingdom of God—The promise is made that if we seek it first, and its righteousness, all earthly wants will be supplied. The condition demands, 1. That we seek the kingdom first in point of time. Some propose to secure a competence, and after they have gained it, they will serve God. 2. We must make it first in importance. Everything else must give way before its demands. 3. It must be first in our affections, have our whole hearts. We must “love the Lord our God with the whole heart” (Mat 22:37).

His righteousness—The righteousness that God bestows upon those who are in the kingdom, Christ’s righteousness, the forgiveness of sins in his name.

And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. GEN 12:2

Rashi

And I will make of you a great nation—Since traveling is the cause of three things—it diminishes family life, it reduces one’s wealth and lessens one’s renown, he therefore needed these three blessings: that God should promise him children, wealth and a great name (Bereshit Rabbah 39:11).

And I will bless you—With wealth (Bereshit Rabbah 39:11).

So that you will be a blessing—Blessings are entrusted to you; hitherto they were in my power—I blessed Adam and Noah—but from now on you shall bless whomsoever you wish (Bereshit Rabbah 39:11). Another explanation: And I will make of you a great nation, this alludes to the fact that we say in our prayer “God of Abraham”; And I will bless you—that we say, “God of Isaac”; And make your name great—that we say, “God of Jacob.” One might think that we should conclude the benediction in which these invocations are recited by mentioning again the names of all the patriarchs—the text therefore states “so that you will be a blessing”: with you they will conclude, and not with them (Pesachim 117b).

7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.

14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. GAL 3:7, 14

2 And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, "Put your hand under my thigh,

Rashi

Under my thigh—Since one who swears must take with his hand an article related to a commandment such as a Book of the Law or Tefillin (Shevuot 38b), and circumcision was his first commandment, and he had fulfilled it with pain, it was dear to him; so he took it (Bereshit Rabbah 59:8).

Shevuot 38b:22

Rav Ashi said to him: You may even say it is in accordance with the opinion of the Rabbis, who say that one is merely required to take an oath using an appellation of God. And the practical ramification of Rav’s statement is that just as in the aforementioned verse, Abraham said: “Please put your hand under my thigh, that I may make you swear” (Gen 23:2-3), instructing his servant to grasp his circumcised penis, which is considered sacred to some degree, so too, in oaths administered by the court, one must grasp a sacred item in his hand while taking the oath

3 that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell,

2 . . . the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.

Rashi

The sons of God—The sons of princes and rulers (Bereshit Rabbah 26:5). Another explanation: the princely angels who came as messengers from God: they, too, intermingled with them.

Were attractive—When they were being made to appear “good” by being decked out to be taken beneath the marriage canopy one of the lords would come and carry her off first (Bereshit Rabbah 26:5).

Any they chose—Even if it were a married woman or a man or an animal (Bereshit Rabbah 26:5).

For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. HEB 6:16

4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. GEN 6:2, 4

Rashi

The Nephilim—They fell and caused the downfall of the world (Bereshit Rabbah 26:7).

In Hebrew it means giants. In those days—In the days of the generations of Enosh and the sons of Cain (Bereshit Rabbah 26:7).

And also afterward—Although they witnessed the destruction of the generation of Enosh when the ocean rose and flooded a third of the world, the generation of the flood did not humble itself and take a lesson from them (Bereshit Rabbah 26).

When . . . came in, they the women would bear giants like them the fathers (Bereshit Rabbah 26:7).

Mighty men—To rebel against God.

The men of renown—Men who bore distinctive names: Irad, Mehujael, Methushael, who were so named because of their destruction, for they were wiped out and uprooted. Another explanation is that they were men of devastation—who devastated the world (Bereshit Rabbah 26:7).

4 but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac."

5 The servant said to him, "Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?"

Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsh

Before taking the oath, the servant asks whether, in case no woman of their kindred would follow him to Canaan, Isaac was 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.

6 Abraham said to him, "See to it that you do not take my son back there.

7 The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, 'To your offspring I will give this land,' he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.

Rashi

The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house—But he did not say “and the God of the earth,” whereas above (v. 3) he said, “that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth.” Abraham said to him: Now he is the God of heaven and God of the earth, because I have made him a familiar one in peoples’ mouths: but when he took me from my father’s house he was the God of heaven only and not God of the earth for people did not acknowledge him and his name was not commonly known on the earth (Bereshit Rabbah 59:7).

From my father's house—From Haran.

And from the land of my kindred—From Ur of the Chaldeans.

And swore to me at the covenant between the pieces (Bereshit Rabbah 59:10).

Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. ACT 7:5

8 But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there."

Rashi

You will be free from this oath of mine—And take him a wife from the daughters of Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre.

Only . . . my son—"Only" narrows and limits the sense: it is only my son who may not go back there, but Jacob, my son's son, in the end will go back there to find a wife (Bereishit Rabbah 59:10).

9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.