And he said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham.
12. O Lord, the God of my master ] Referring to Gen 24:7. The servant, though possibly (Gen 15:2) a native of Damascus, worships the God of Abraham; cf. Gen 24:26.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 12. And he said, O Lord God, c.] “The conduct of this servant,” says Dr. Dodd, “appears no less pious than rational. By supplicating for a sign, he acknowledges God to be the great superintendent and director of the universe, and of that event in particular and at the same time, by asking a natural sign, such as betokened humanity, condescension, and other qualities which promised a discreet and virtuous wife, he puts his prayer upon such a discreet, rational footing, as to be a proper example for all to imitate who would not tempt the providence of God, by expecting extraordinary signs to be given them for the determination of cases which they are capable of deciding by a proper use of their rational faculties.” This is all very good; but certainly the case referred to here is such a one as required especial direction from God; a case which no use of the rational faculties, without Divine influence, could be sufficient to determine. It is easy to run into extremes, and it is very natural so to do. In all things the assistance and blessing of God are necessary, even where human strength and wisdom have the fullest and freest sphere of action; but there are numberless cases, of infinite consequence to man, where his strength and prudence can be of little or no avail, and where the God of all grace must work all things according to the counsel of his own will. To expect the accomplishment of any good end, without a proper use of the means, is the most reprehensible enthusiasm; and to suppose that any good can be done or procured without the blessing and mercy of God, merely because proper means are used, is not less reprehensible. Plan, scheme, and labour like Eliezer, and then, by earnest faith and prayer, commit the whole to the direction and blessing of God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Or, mercy. He makes no mention of himself, nor of the merits of his master, but he ascribes even temporal blessings, and much more eternal salvation, merely to Gods mercy.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. And he said, O Lord God of mymasterThe servant appears worthy of the master he served. Heresolves to follow the leading of Providence; and while he shows goodsense in the tokens he fixes upon of ascertaining the temper andcharacter of the future bride, he never doubts but that in such acase God will direct him.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he said, O Lord God of my master Abraham,…. He does not call the Lord his God, though no doubt he was, since he appears throughout the whole to be a good man; but the God of Abraham, because God had often manifested and renewed his covenant with Abraham in an eminent manner, and had bestowed many favours upon him, and admitted him to much nearness and communion with him; and it was not on his own account, but on his master’s business he now was:
I pray thee, send me good speed this day; or “cause [something] to happen before me this day” u; some extraordinary event, which depends not upon the will, or skill, or contrivance of men, but upon the pleasure of God; and which, with respect to second causes, men call hap or chance, but with respect to God, is according to his determinate counsel and will. The Targum of Jonathan is,
“prepare now a decent wife before me this day.”
But the servant’s meaning is, that something might turn up in providence that would lead on to such an event:
and shew kindness unto my master Abraham; which he would be ready to acknowledge as a favour, an instance of kindness and mercy, and not merit.
u “occurere fae nune coram me”, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus; so Junius & Tremellius, Schmidt, Ainsworth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
12. O lord God of my master Abraham. The servant, being destitute of counsel, retakes himself to prayers. Yet he does not simply ask counsel of the Lord; but he also prays that the maid appointed to be the wife of Isaac should be brought to him with a certain sign, from which he might gather that she was divinely presented to him. It is an evidence of his piety and faith, that in a matter of such perplexity he is not bewildered, as one astonished; but breaks forth into prayer with a collected mind. But the method which he uses (4) seems scarcely consistent with the true rule of prayer. For, first, we know that no one prays aright unless he subjects his own wishes to God. Wherefore there is nothing more unsuitable than to prescribe anything, at our own will, to God. Where, then, it may be asked, is the religion of the servant, who, according to his own pleasure, imposes a law upon God? Secondly, there ought to be nothing ambiguous in our prayers; and absolute certainty is to be sought for only in the Word of God. Now, since the servant prescribes to God what answer shall be given, he appears culpably to depart from the suitable modesty of prayer; for although no promise had been given him, he nevertheless desires to be made fully certain respecting the whole affair. God, however, (5) in hearkening to his wish, proves, by the event, that it was acceptable to himself. Therefore we must know, that although a special promise had not been made at the moment, yet the servant was not praying rashly, nor according to the lust of the flesh, but by the secret impulse of the Spirit. Moreover, the general law, by which all the pious are bound, does not prevent the Lord, when he determines to give something extraordinary, from directing the minds of his servants towards it; not that he would lead them away from his word, but only that he makes some peculiar concession to them in their mode of praying. The sum of the prayer before us is this: “O Lord, if a damsel shall present herself who, being asked to give me drink, shall also kindly and courteously offer it to my camels, I will seek after her as a wife for my master Isaac, just as if she were delivered into my hand by thee.” He seems, indeed, to be laying hold on some dubious conjecture; but since he reposes on the Providence of God, he is certainly persuaded that this token shall be to him equivalent to an oracle; because God, who is the guardian of his enterprise, will not suffer him to err. Meanwhile this is worthy of remark, that he does not fetch the sign of recognition from afar, but takes it from something present; for she who shall be thus humane to an unknown guest, will, by that very act, give proof of an excellent disposition. This observation may be of use to prevent inquisitive men from adducing this example as a precedent for vain prognostications. In the words themselves the following particulars are to be noticed: first, that he addresses himself to the God of his master Abraham; not as being himself a stranger to the worship of God, but because the affair in question depends upon the promise given to Abraham. And truly he had no confidence in prayer, from any other source than from the covenant into which God had entered with the house of Abraham. The expression “cause to meet me this day,” (6) Jerome renders, “meet me, I pray, this day.” But the verb is transitive, and the servant of Abraham intimates by the use of it, that the affairs of men were so ordered by the counsel and the hand of God, that the issue of them was not fortuitous; as if he would say, O Lord, in vain shall I look on this side and on that; in vain shall I catch at success by my own labor, industry and various contrivances, unless thou direct the work. And when he immediately afterwards subjoins, show kindness to my master, he implies that in this undertaking he rests upon nothing but the grace which God had promised to Abraham.
(4) “ Divinatio qua utitur.” The word divinatio seems to be too strong for the occasion. The servant certainly sought a sign from heaven; and may seem improperly to have prescribed to God in what way his prayer should be answered. He might, however, be acting under a divine impulse, and the context would lead to such an inference. But if it was a weakness in this good man to be thus minute in his stipulations, it was one which God neither reproved nor condemned; and therefore it seems harsh to give it the name of divination. Calvin’s object, however, is, in thus strongly stating the case, to meet it as an objection, by a conclusive answer. A method which, the reader will have observed, he frequently adopts. — Ed.
(5) Calvin’s answer to the objection above stated begins here. — Ed.
(6) “ Et dixit Iehova Deus domini mei Abraham, occurrere fac nunc coram me hodie, et fac misericordiam cum domino meo Abraham.” Dathe seems to have taken the same view of the passage with Calvin. “ O Iova Deus domini mei Abrahami, fac pro tuo erga dominum meum Abrahamum amore, ut mihi jam quam quoero, occurrat.” “O Lord God of my master Abraham, cause, according to thy love towards my master Abraham, that she whom I seek may meet me.” The English version is simply, “I pray thee, send me good speed this day.” But probably the more specific meaning attached by Calvin and Dathe to the passage is the true one. Calvin properly objects against the translation of the Vulgate as being intransitive, whereas הקרה ( hakreh) is transitive. — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12-14) O Lord God . . . Heb., Jehovah, God of my lord Abraham. The word translated master throughout this chapter is donai, the ordinary word for lord, and it is so rendered in Gen. 24:18. As a circumcised member of Abrahams household, the servant prays to Jehovah, Abrahams God; and though in Gen. 24:5 he had suggested a difficulty, apparently it was from no want of faith, but that he might know whether under any circumstances Isaac might return to Aram-Naharaim. He now leaves the success of his mission to Jehovah; and while he would use his own discernment in selecting from the troop of advancing maidens one whose countenance gave promise of goodness of heart, the fulfilment of the appointed signal which was to mark Gods approval would also show that she was no churlish woman, but one active, generous, and kind.
Send me good speed this day.Heb., cause it to meet me this day.
I stand.This word here, and in Gen. 24:43, is not the same as that used in Gen. 24:30, but one that means I post myself, or I take my station.
Thereby.Rather, by her: by her giving the appointed sign I shall know that thou hast showed kindness to my lord.
The damsel.This word (Heb., Naar) is of the common gender in the Pentateuch, except in Deu. 22:19, where it has the feminine termination. It is used of Abrahams young men in Gen. 14:24; Gen. 18:7, &c., but no less than twenty-two times of women. In the rest of the Bible the gender is always marked, and even here it is read in the feminine in the Jewish synagogues. We have herein another of the many linguistic proofs of the extreme antiquity of the Pentateuch, and it is the more interesting because found in a Jehovistic section. The same word is used again in Gen. 24:16; Gen. 24:28. (See Note on Gen. 43:8.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Lord send me good speed Or, cause it to happen before me today . This prayer is one of remarkable simplicity and directness, but in it note the following: 1) The use of the name Jehovah . 2) The appeal to Abraham’s God . 3) The urging of the case as Abraham’s interest . 4) The implied faith that all his success in this undertaking must come from God .
5) The request for a special sign. 6) The child-like simplicity which designates the very form and language in which the sign shall be given. 7) The consequent knowledge of God’s favour with which he will be blessed.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
And he said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.
Observe the piety of the servant. Reader! set this down as a sure maxim: the soul which begins in prayer, will find cause to end in praise.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 24:12 And he said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.
Ver. 12. And he said, O Lord God. ] Begin we all our enterprizes with prayer. God may give good success without, but it will be nothing so sweet. See therefore that,
“Hoc primum repetas opus, hoc postremus omittas.” – Hor., Eph 6 . l. 48.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
O Lord: Gen 24:27, Gen 15:1, Gen 17:7, Gen 17:8, Gen 26:24, Gen 28:13, Gen 31:42, Gen 32:9, Exo 3:6, Exo 3:15, 1Ki 18:36, 2Ki 2:14, Mat 22:32
I pray: Gen 27:10, Gen 43:14, Neh 1:11, Neh 2:4, Psa 37:5, Psa 90:16, Psa 90:17, Psa 118:25, Psa 122:6, Psa 127:1, Pro 3:6, Phi 4:6, 1Th 3:10, 1Th 3:11
Reciprocal: Gen 24:21 – the Lord Gen 24:42 – O Lord 1Ti 6:1 – count 2Jo 1:10 – neither
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 24:12. Send me good speed What a noble example is here for all servants to imitate their masters in all goodness! Abrahams servant, we find, had not lived in his masters house without profiting by his example; he shows the like faith and dependance upon God as his master manifested; and this being a business of great consequence about which he is sent, he does not rest upon his own prudence and wisdom, but begs the blessing and direction of God in it. And what can be more desirable in our undertakings than to be under the guidance of infinite wisdom? And we have leave to be particular in recommending our affairs to the care of Divine Providence. Those that would have good speed must pray for it this day, in this affair. Thus we must, in all our ways, acknowledge God, and then he will direct our paths.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
24:12 And he said, O {f} LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.
(f) He grounds his prayer on God’s promise made to his master.