Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“The servant said to him, “What if the woman isn’t willing to follow me to this land? Must I bring your son again to the land you came from?” Abraham said to him, “Beware that you don’t bring my son there again. Yahweh, the God of heaven—who took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, ‘I will give this land to your offspring—he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. If the woman isn’t willing to follow you, then you shall be clear from this oath to me. Only you shall not bring my son there again.” The servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.”
(Genesis 24:5-9)

The servant was willing to go. To take the journey. To find the right woman. To not take Isaac to that land. To not find a bride in Canaan. His only question was what to do if the woman didn’t want to come. Abraham’s answer was clear: the woman had a choice. She was NOT to be forced in ANY way.

Whether the woman agreed or didn’t agree, Isaac was not to be allowed back to Abraham’s homeland. God had called them to Canaan and they were to live there, focus there, and remain there. There would be no going back. There would be no temptation to give up and return. They would inhabit the promises of God whether they had physically arrived yet or not. Period. This is how you hold to a promise. You remove the opportunities to choose to let go. Not seeing the traditional family holdings would make sure that Isaac could not be tempted by them.

Abraham was one hundred percent positive that God would send His angels to show the servant to the right woman. He believed in the ministry of angels. Abraham also absolved the servant of ALL responsibility if Abraham’s kin wouldn’t provide a wife or refused to let the chosen woman return with him. The servant’s task was to go and find her, not to force her home. There would be no penalty if other people didn’t accept the situation or prevented his mission.

The servant, his one concern having been answered, agreed. He accepted his mission.

The Torah: A Women’s Commentary writes: ‘“Suppose the woman does not care to.” Literally, “perhaps the woman will be unwilling.” The servant’s question implies that the woman can legally choose to refuse. A woman cannot simply be “taken.” 6–8. Abraham’s response introduces a key biblical concept: the special bond between the family of the patriarchs and the land of Israel.’

The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘V. 6. שמר .השמר לך פן, original meaning: to fend off. שמיר, the protecting thorn, which wards off. The שומר is to be a wall around that which is entrusted to him. השמר places the person under his own guard, guard yourself against something. But as, generally it refers to a care which has to be kept against oneself; although it is not to protect oneself against danger but to protect something else against danger arising through oneself, as the danger to the other thing, is, in the first place really endangering oneself, this deeper nuance is, as a rule, stressed by the addition of פן — .לכם ,לך (from פנה to turn): a direction, a possibility, literally, the way something might turn; hence “take care of yourself against the possibility that you might allow my son to return thither”. Guard yourself against such a possibility. V. 8. But if, nevertheless, — for God forces nobody to act against their free will — the girl to whom you have been led is not willing to go with you, then you are freed from this, my oath, only do you nothing contrary to the Will of God. It is more important not to do wrong (and everything that we recognise as being against His will, is wrong) than to try and force right to be done through us. God sees to the means for right to be accomplished, only let us be careful not to do any wrong. This is implied in the ואם לא וגו׳, then you are free, you can do nothing more. Only do not think that then you are bound to do anything at all, and then perhaps something which would be even the reverse of God’s Will. Only do not take my son back there. A return of Isaac to the family in Aram would be giving up the whole of the Abrahamitic mission, which could only be accomplished in isolation. When Jacob returned there, the family home was still established in isolation in Canaan, and he returned to it at once after his children were born.’