Genesis 24:23

23 and said, "Tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?"

Genesis 24:23 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 24:23

And said
After he had given her the earring and the bracelets, he put the following question, according to Jarchi, and so our version seems to intimate the same; but, as it is related in ( Genesis 24:47 ) ; the question was put before those were given, therefore some render the words, "and he had said", or, "and after he had said" F6, namely, what follows; though, as Schmidt observes, the matter is easily reconciled, and both accounts stand clear and plain, if it be only remarked, that he took out the earring and bracelets before he put the question, but it was after it that he gave her them, or put them upon her: whose daughter [art] thou?
the reason of this question is, because by her answer to it he would know whether she was of the family related to Abraham or not; from whom only, according to his oath, he was to take a wife for Isaac, and which would in a good measure satisfy him as to what he had been musing about, whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not: tell me, I pray thee, is there room [in] thy father's house for us to
lodge in?
by her answer to this he would know whether her family was wealthy, and so fit to be in connection with his master's; and besides, if she appeared to be the person he hoped she was, he was desirous of lodging in her father's house, that he might have the better opportunity of managing the affair he was come about.


FOOTNOTES:

F6 (rmayw) "et dixerat", Drusius; "postquam dixisset", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Genesis 24:23 In-Context

21 The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.
22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold nose-ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels,
23 and said, "Tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?"
24 She said to him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor."
25 She added, "We have plenty of straw and fodder and a place to spend the night."
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.