A bride for the heir.-1. Abraham and Eliezer, or the mission for the bride.
I. THE TRUSTY MESSENGER.
1. His designation.
2. His qualification.
II. THE IMPORTANT COMMISSION.
1. The purport of it. "To take a wife for Isaac." A step of greatest moment for the happiness of Isaac, the fulfillment of the promise, and the onward development of the Church.
2. The reason of it.
III. THE SOLEMN ADJURATION.
1. The motto of the oath. "Put, I pray thee, thy band under my thigh." For the significance of this ancient ceremony consult Exposition.
2. The power of the oath. This was derived from the character of the Divine Being—the Lord God of heaven and of earth—in whose presence it was taken, to whose witness it appealed, and whose wrath it invoked in case of failure to perform what was vowed.
3. The tenor of the oath.
IV. THE REASONABLE APPREHENSION.
1. Natural. A priori there was little probability that a modest girl would consent on the invitation of a stranger to leave her home and kindred, accompany him into a distant land, and wed a man (even though a relative) whom she had never seen; and in a similar way reason can make out a case against almost every step in the distinctly Christian life as being unlikely, improbable, imprudent.
2. Unbelieving. The aged ambassador's anxiety was not shared in by the patriarch, whose faith had already reasoned out the successful termination of the contemplated expedition. And so again in the Christian life, difficulties which to sagacious reason appear insurmountable, to simple-minded faith cease to exist.
3. Unnecessary. When discovered and interrogated, the maiden was quite willing to become Isaac's bride. Many of the saint's fears are of his own making, like this of Abraham's servant, and in the end are found to have been superfluous.
V. THE RESOLUTE PROHIBITION. "Beware that thou bring not my son thither again." To do so would be—
1. To reverse the Divine call which had brought the patriarch from Mesopotamia.
2. To endanger the inheritance by exposing Isaac to the temptation of remaining in Mesopotamia, should his wife prove unwilling to return.
Learn—
1. The interest which should be taken by pious parents in the marriage of their children.
2. The care which should be exercised by those who marry to secure pious partners.
3. The lawfulness of imposing and taking oaths on important occasions, and for sufficient reasons.
4. The clearer sight which belongs to faith than to sense and reason.
5. The folly of anticipating difficulties that may never arise.
6. The danger of taking any step in life without Divine guidance or instruction.
7. The sin of renouncing one's religion for the sake of a wife.
HOMILIES BY J.F. MONTGOMERY