Possible that Egypt was practicing priesthood circumcision prior to the sign given to Abram which is still cool because it shows God re-purposing human's existing culture for his purposes
Egypt presumably circumcised priests as a sign of priesthood
Yahweh circumsises all males - indicative of God's redemptive plan that finds its culmination in Jesus, wherein all people who are redeemed are priests (kingdom of priests from Peter)
Genesis 24 and 26
Isaac needs a wife
Observations
Hand under the thigh is an idiom to the groin, and the oath is sworn by holding the sign of the covenant (this is obviously nothing sexual, it's a cultural way to make an oath)
Abram wants to find a wife for Isaac from Nahor or about where he's from, not from the Canaanites
To water a camel takes 10-20 trips into a cistern, so Eliazer's request is that a woman offers to make ~100 trips into the cistern just to water his camels - he's asking God to provide something ridiculous
Wondering if this is Eliazer looking for his freedom by requesting something that will never happen so that he can just be done?
Isaac repeats the sin of Abraham wherein he tells Egypt that Rebekah is his sister and not his wife
Remember this happened twice in Abraham's life: first to Egypt and second to a king by the name of Abimelech
MIGHT be, but probably a son, of the same guy who Isaac lies to
Isaac's life is starting, in the Bible, with right about where Abraham's life leaves the story in Genesis 20
Another parallel to Abraham in Egypt is that Isaac becomes very wealthy in Gerar
Another retelling of Abraham happens in verse 20 where herders fight over land (Abraham and Lot)
Looks like Isaac retells, in reverse, Abraham's story and is redeeming parts of it
Genesis 26 is the reverse story of Abraham
Story for Us
Over the course of 2 generations, the mission of God to bless all nations starts working....
Isaac builds wells multiple times over that the nations take from him, and he just submits and moves on
How often in our world do we not trust in forgiveness and just submitting to the world but persevering in godliness