Genesis 24:39

Genesis 24:39, in plain English

The servant asked Abraham a reasonable question: What if the woman won't come back with me? What then? That's a practical concern that deserves an answer.

Why it's here

The servant is faithful, but he's also realistic. He knows that getting someone to leave their home and family to marry a stranger in a far-off land isn't guaranteed. He asked the hard question: what happens if this doesn't work out? It's the question of someone who's thinking through the actual logistics of the mission.

Who's speaking

Abraham's servant (telling what happened)

Where it sits in the story

The servant's question reveals his honesty and his practical wisdom. He's not blindly optimistic. He's thinking ahead and asking his master to address the possibility of failure. That's the mark of a faithful servant who wants to do the job right.

The scholarly reading

The servant recounts that he asked Abraham what would happen if the woman he found refused to return with him to Canaan.

Language and setting

The servant's narration of his question to Abraham—'What if the woman will not be willing to come back with me?' (וְאוּלַי לֹא תֹאבֶה הַשִּׁשָּׁה לָלֶכֶת אַחֲרַי—'and perhaps the woman will not be willing to walk after me')—reveals prudent skepticism about the feasibility of the mission. The conditional structure 'what if' (וְאוּלַי) indicates the servant's awareness that a woman might not readily abandon her family and homeland to marry a stranger in a distant country. This question is not merely practical but also reveals the servant's recognition that the mission's success depends on the woman's free consent—a remarkable concession to female agency in a patriarchal context. The servant's willingness to voice this concern to Abraham, and Abraham's receptiveness to it (as verse 40 reveals), suggests a relationship of mutual respect and honest communication.

Voice

The servant, recounting the dialogue he had with Abraham

Significance

The servant's question introduces the problem of consent and free choice into the narrative, preparing the reader for Rebekah's own later choice in verse 58. The ancient Near Eastern marriage custom typically involved familial negotiation with minimal input from the bride; the narrative's focus on the woman's willingness to leave and travel suggests an exceptional emphasis on her agency. This detail foreshadows Christian and modern readings of the text that emphasize Rebekah's autonomy and choice. The question also raises theological tension: Can human obstacles prevent the fulfillment of divine will? Abraham's response (verse 40) will address this tension by subordinating practical obstacles to divine providence.

37My master made me swear an oath and said, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell,

38but you shall go to my father’s house and to my kindred to take a wife for my son.’

39Then I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not come back with me?’

40And he told me, ‘The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you may take a wife for my son from my kindred and from my father’s house.

41And when you go to my kindred, if they refuse to give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.’

Read all of Genesis 24 — A servant, a prayer, a woman at a well. One of the Bible's most beautiful stories of providence unfolds in the smallest details.