© Charles Chandler

 

Genesis 24

 

6 Abraham said to him, "See to it that you do not take my son back there.

This means something, but I can't quite get a good read on it. In order to secure the covenant for future generations, he wanted Isaac to marry somebody from Mitanni, but he insisted that Isaac not go to Mitanni to hunt for a wife himself. To help seal the deal, an "angel of the Lord" would go with the servant to Mitanni, meaning that the pharaoh would send an envoy. So the pharaoh was OK with this — perhaps this was the pharaoh's stipulation. Was the pharaoh insisting that the border province be maintained, in that he was scared that if Isaac went back to Mitanni, he'd stay there, and not return to Canaan to preserve the covenant?