Augustine of Hippo : RESPONSE BY BATHUËL TO ELIEZER. — Behold, Rebecca is before you, take her and run away, and let her be a wife to the son of your lord, as the Lord has said . At what moment did the Lord say that? Rebecca's parents saw in Abraham's person a prophet, and they accepted what he had said as a prophetic word inspired by God: or what they understood to be God's word was the sign given to the servant by the patriarch and reported by him: this last interpretation applies better to Rebecca. What Abraham had said did not really have Rebecca as his object, but any woman of his tribe or kinship. And in either case the servant should be relieved of his oath if he did not obtain what he asked. But we do not speak thus when we prophesy something. For certainty is a condition of prophecy. [ — QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 66 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)