זוהר בראשית — דף קלא ע”ב

The Zohar explains why Abraham forbade taking a wife for his son from the daughters of Canaan: according to the text, one who brings the holy covenant into a woman from idol-worshiping peoples causes defilement. Abraham therefore made his servant swear and prayed that the Lord would send His angel, the angel of the covenant. He knew that no one in his whole surroundings recognized the Holy One, blessed be He, and he did not want Isaac to dwell among them. Rabbi Elazar opens with “Open my eyes, that I may behold”: the Torah is life and freedom, and the nations do not rule over one who devotes himself to it. Had Israel not forsaken the tree of life, they would not have brought death into the world. The passage then turns to the question of why Moses died.