Keys to the Promise. Gen 24
The original example of biblical matchmaking is when Abraham sends his servant 500 miles to Haran to find a wife for his son Isaac. It's not exactly "dating" and neither Abraham or Isaac writes a "bio".
Instead Abraham gives his servant three keys.
Think about his predicament. All he really cared about in life was his calling to be that "father of a great nation". He had obtained wealth, power, and a wife who was still a fetching beauty in her 90’s, but now on his deathbed, Abraham only cared about God’s calling on his life which extends through generations only possible through his unmarried son: to be "a blessing to the whole earth". So for us who also care about God’s calling for our next chapter and want to be even a small part of God’s project for this Genesis 12:1-3 blessing for the whole earth, Abraham’s strategy is so important. It was one he had very little control over. Find a woman who would be able to support God’s project into the future. He tells his servant to swear to it. Gen 24:2
The first key:
Go to my country, Haran
Don’t take a wife from among the locals Gen 24.3
Go to Haran and find her from among my people v 4
The second key: Find a woman whose heart is willing. V5
The third key: Do not take my son to Haran v6
The first condition: Go to my Country.
Abraham’s father was from Ur, in southeast Iran. He migrated to Haran, in south-central modern Turkey, a fertile valley and stayed there. They clearly loved it, Abramahs father, Terah, named the place after he deceased brother, Haran, or vice versa. They were nomadic shepherds, maybe they had made the trek so many times, the brother was named for the place. Who knows. What we do know is that it may have taken a season to walk it, camping, and tending the flocks in very poor ground along the way. We do know this: in a straight line, Beersheba to Haran was easily a month’s camel ride away. (from our the “Abraham Hears God” study)
Does this also tell us to hew close to our calling in the Lord? Of course. Find someone who is born again (of course!) and part of your calling. Mine is Messianic Judaism.
- Maybe that person is already part of it.
- Maybe that person is new to Messianic Judaism but has a heart to hear the message of living out their faith in the Messiah in the way He himself lived it.
- Maybe they are among the "my people: of 2 Chron 7:14 who are "called by My name, who humble themselves and pray, seek My face and turn from their wickedness".
The second condition: Search out Empathy
The second condition is hidden in the original Hebrew, modern translations scrub the meaning, I think. Abraham says: not to look for a wife “among these C’na'anim among whom I live'' That word כנענים K’na’anim gets translated as “Canaanites”. But the word C’na'an was not a place at that time, but it’s original meaning is “traders” or “dealmakers”.
Though it isn’t spelled the same, scholars say it has the same root word as קונה koneh: “to buy”. It certainly sounds the same. Abraham wanted a woman whose life was defined by caring… caring for flocks in this case. Giving care. A woman raised in empathy and the hard work it takes to make that work (Rebekkah is watering flocks when we meet her later in this chapter, heavy hard work she seems happy in). Abraham didn’t want people that made “deals” to be a wife for his son. He wanted a wife from his people who had the heart of a shepherd tending a flock.
For me, I lost my wife who was a giant of both faith and action and I am willing to take action and “send out” on the awkward first dates and emails in search of the pearl of great price, which was what she left behind for me, the need for that woman of faith in my life. It is right to do what it takes to find the one “whom my soul loves” Song of Songs 3:4.
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