In Genesis 24:3:
And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell.
Abraham realized that the Canaanite women were morally unsuitable for his son and sent his servant Eliezer to find the perfect match from among his own family and of his father's house. Abraham's clear instructions to his servant let us know that this was not a calling out for "salvation," because the Canaanites are a picture of the world (and those of the world).
So, why did Abraham make him swear to not take a wife from among the Canaanites? The Canaanites represent spiritual idolatry.
When God gave the
Torah to the children of Jacob at Mount Sinai , he instructed them to totally destroy the Canaanite culture, to not serve their gods, and to not make marriages with them. If they did, he warned His judgment would come upon them. Deuteronomy 7:1 says:
Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods; so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.
In the same way, God will not marry a bride who lives according to the world and follows after other gods. Of course, as we see in Judges 3, they did exactly opposite of this-a picture of the modern church today.
Notice that the bridegroom (or bridegroom's father/servant) selected the bride, not vice-versa-just as Yeshua initiates the love relationship and selects us. Scripture tells us, "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).
The Bride of Christ will be taken out from His body of believers from among those who are saved. Scriptures tell us we are among Abraham's kindred.
Just as Abraham instructed his servant to take a wife for Isaac from among his kindred, all true believers in the Messiah are the spiritual seed of Abraham. Romans 4:16 reminds us Abraham is the father of our faith.
Galatians 3:16, 29 says:
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ... And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
In verse 3, the servant is attempting to discern what is more important to Abraham, the land of inheritance or the non-Canaanite wife. Abraham's reply in verse 6 is "both." Abraham insists Isaac have both a non-Canaanite wife and the inheritance plot.
Genesis 24:6 tells us, "And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again."
Again? When did Isaac go to the homeland? Is this not a reference to Yeshua, who came in human form and said it is finished?
"Beware lest you take my son back there," Abraham replies. Here we see the Heavenly Father wants the Holy Spirit to find a bride, rather than the Son having to go back to his former life. Yeshua has already come in human form: He has fulfilled that part of His mission.
The sages tell us if Isaac left the land, he would have lost his inheritance. Isaac was instructed by Elohim to not leave the land of Israel , which is significant as his role as an "offering" to God, just as the
Olah sacrifice ("burnt offering") becomes invalid if it leaves the temple courtyard. In doing so, Isaac would lose his status if he left the land. This plays directly into the battle over the land in Israel today, which will not be resolved until Yeshua's return.
Genesis 24:7 reads:
The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spoke unto me, and that swore unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.
Abraham informs the servant this is no ordinary task he has been assigned, but rather a divinely-inspired one.
Genesis 24:8 says, "And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again."
The servant wants to know what to do in the case if the woman is not willing to come, even though the Lord has prepared the way. Eliezer does not want to go so far as to remove the woman's free agency and therefore subject her to his will. She still has her own free will, and this is what the servant is concerned about. Consent was important to Abraham-just as God has given man a free will to chose whether he will follow God's leading.
Genesis 24:9 tells us, "And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning that matter."
Abraham had come to realize that God's promise to make his family a great nation was at stake. Imagine, the great nation of Israel is at stake without the Bride of Messiah!
Abraham required Eliezer to go to the homeland where he could find a bride for Isaac, acting as a son of Abraham keeping his sworn oath.
The Hebrew word for "oath" is
Shebw'ah, which means "something sworn." It comes from the root word word
Shaba , which means "to be complete, to seven oneself, swear (as if by repeating a declaration seven times)." The servant's life depended on it.
How to be Chosen for Greatness
What the Holy Spirit must find in this woman for his master's son:
She must not be a Canaanite. He did not want a daughter of a Canaanite, people that were pagans and kept pagan practices. He wanted a wife for his son that would not lead their future children away from the one true Elohim. The Bride of Christ must not keep pagan practices or follow after the world.
She had to be from Abraham's own family-just as the bride must come from God's family of believers.
She had to be willing to follow Eliezer the five hundred miles back to the land of Isaac and Abraham. The Bride of Christ must be a woman of faith, willing to forsake everything for the future God has ordained.
For more information about how to be the bride of Christ, please visit Rebecca's website at
http://RATW.org.
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