Let's Go Back to the Bible

A most solemn decision in finding a spouse

The account of Abraham searching for a bride for his son, Isaac, ought to impress upon us the serious nature of choosing the right person to marry.  Abraham chose his oldest and most trusted servant to find a wife for Isaac.  Before going on his search, the servant was required to make the most solemn of oaths, “Please, put your hand under my thigh” (Gen. 24:2).  Then, he was instructed specifically who not to choose and who to choose for Isaac.

“And I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that:

(1)  you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites…; but

(2)  you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac” (24:3-4).

Isaac was not to marry a foreigner, who would not share his love and devotion to the God of heaven.  But, he was to marry one who shared a common relation and common blood.  Does it matter who we marry?  It did then (cf. Gen. 27:46) and it does today (cf. 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1).