Abraham wanted to get a wife for his son Isaac, but for some odd reason he would not let Isaac get his own wife; so he sent his best servant to Isaac's cousins hoping to snag some girl into marrying Isaac sight unseen. The servant was concerned because he was not sure that he could get anybody to agree to such a huge request, but Abraham knew how to jump the hurdles.
First of all he sent the servant with a lot of money / gold / jewelry and stuff to divert the attention away from the marriage to an unknown man. Secondly, Abraham told the servant that God would send his angel ahead of him to prepare his way.
There was no angel that appeared in this episode, but Genesis leaves us believing that there may very well have been one that went ahead - not in human form, but in spirit.
Now back to the dowry - I believe that Abraham was working the typical magic trick - diverting the audience's attention away from the slight of hand. In Genesis the servant used the diversion of wealth and power. Not only did he have camels loaded with treasure, he had stories of Abraham's greatness and Sarah's legendary pregnancy.
The question remains, why the slight of hand? Was Abraham hiding something?
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