But you shall go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.
All Commentaries on Genesis 24:4 Go To Genesis 24
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Do you note the patriarch’s command given to the servant? I mean, don’t pass idly by these words; instead, consider the good man’s purpose, and study how in ancient times their concern was not to look for abundance of possessions, not for great wealth, slaves, so many acres of land, not charm of external beauty—rather, they looked for beauty of soul and nobility of manners. You see, since he saw the wickedness of the inhabitants of Canaan and realized how great a good it is to have a partner of similar manners, he directed his servant and put him under oath to procure a wife for Isaac from his relatives. Neither the distance between the places nor the other difficulties caused him to delay the task. Rather, in the realization of the necessity of the business, he showed all haste in dispatching the servant. For his part, the patriarch acted in this from concern for the soul’s virtue and abhorrence of the wickedness of the [land’s] inhabitants.
