how did eliezer become abraham's servant

How to exactly find shift beween two functions? Higger, chap. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Higger, chap. We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. When Rebekah said good, she hinted that they would be good both for Jacob and for his offspring: good for Jacob, for by them he would take the blessings, and good for his offspring, for by these kids atonement would be made for them on[jwa_encyclopedia_glossary:433]Yom Kippur [when two goats are taken, one offered as a sacrifice and the other sent to AzazelseeLev. Of all the Servants spoken of in Scripture, if one were called upon to say which most nearly comes up to the idea one forms to oneself of a good and faithful servant, it would be that eldest servant of Abrahams house, whom Abraham sent into Padan Aram to take a wife for his son Isaac. Rebekah wins the midrashs praise for her ability to distinguish between the wicked Esau and the righteous Jacob. Eliezer, as Abraham's devoted servant for many decades, had become a reflection of Abraham. The single exception was the mitzvah of circumcision, whose commandment by G-d constituted an empowerment to sanctify the physical. Eliezer was likewise a man of faith. . 1. Rebekahs relatives realized that they could not prevent her from going with the servant, and said: Since this has come forth from on high, we cannot stop this. The Rabbis comment that Rebekah was the first woman to be married to a man who had been circumcised at the age of eight days. 3. Also called the "Festival of Mazzot"; the "Festival of Spring"; Pesah.Passover. The striking differential emphasizes the righteousness of Abraham and the members of his household, with even his servant acting with greater integrity and decency than Bethuel and Laban. cit.). Just as the dwarfs mother thinks he is of perfect dimensions, so, too, was Esau theirgadol[i.e., great] son for Isaac and Rebekah. At these services a number of domestic servants were present. New Living Translation One day Abraham said to his oldest servant, the man in charge of his household, "Take an oath by putting your hand under my thigh. Because servants we are, everyone of us, and a trust is committed to us all. We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Eliezer is not related to Abraham by birth, but in the words of Isaiah, he is a faithful "foreign son . The LORD had blessed Abraham in every way. There can be no faithful service except there be love. Click to enable/disable _gat_* - Google Analytics Cookie. R. Joshua entered the city and found a young girl standing and drawing water from a spring. Nothing was kept from him. They understood the name given him by his parents as an abbreviation:Eisavha shav, literally, this is worthlesshe and his religion are worthless(Gen. Rabbah63:8). Make tasty dishes for me, that I may bless you before I die, while the spirit of divine inspiration proclaimed [against Esau](Prov. Rather, his soul lovingly clings to his wife (Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer,ed. "the written Torah." All the days of Sarahs life the gates of the tent were wide open, but once she died, that opening ceased; when Rebekah came, that opening returned. The Rabbis appreciated the courage exhibited by Rebekah when she agreed to leave her family and her birthplace and go to an unknown land, in order to marry a man whom she had never met. cit.). I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my masters brethren., 2. Dew fell on him from Heaven, his bones were invigorated, and he became mighty and powerful (Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer, ed. Vol. All servants have had, or are to have commissions trusts of importance to fulfil; and it is for those who read to consider with themselves secretly whether, in the discharge of such trusts, they resemble Abrahams servant or not. These subjects, especially the latter, are covered with painstaking detail. At the close of it (and it was a rehearsal of all that had happened, and of a vast deal more than is set down, as I could easily prove), at the close of it And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me: and if not, tell me: that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left. Another tradition argues that the act of sending away was a wedding ceremony. The Lord encouraged him. I shall invite you to attend specially to the feature of character which this narrative discloses viz. Isaac said to God: Master of the Universe! This article is taken from the December 1973 edition of theBanner of Truthmagazine. (1-4) Abraham sends out a servant to seek out a bride for his son. According to the midrash, Rebekah is buried in Kiriath-Arba, which is so named because of the four [arba] matriarchs buried there: Eve, Sarah, Rebekah and Leah(Gen. Rabbah58:4). See Genesis 15:1. When Abraham thought that his only son and heir was about to die, God had brought his future wife into the world, and the people of Israel would be built from their offspring. Isaac gave Jacob ten blessings, corresponding to the ten Utterances with which the world was created. While he is not specifically named, many scholars believe that Eliezer is the same servant sent by Abraham to look for a wife for his son Isaac in Genesis 24. Rebekah called to Jacob and informed him(Gen. 27:42): Your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. In the midrashic retelling, Rebekah said to him: Your brother keens over you as a dead person, he receives consolation for you, and already is drinking the cup of consolation for you. She sent Jacob to her brother Laban in Haran until Esaus anger would be assuaged, telling him (v. 44): Stay with him a while. The midrash explains that she told him to remain there for seven years. 6:18), and therefore lived to the age of 133. Lit. About nine o'clock you might have seen those four men"Abraham, Isaac and //christianbookshelf.org/moody/men of the bible/i abrahams four surrenders.htm, Chapter xvi Then, also, if we consider the chief servant, Eliezer, and the excellent faith he two vast nations, the Jews and the Ishmaelites, are descended from Abraham. The Rabbis observe that the Israelites would leave Egypt by merit of Rebekahs willingness to leave her parents house. She said: The Hittite women squabble with one another(Gen. Rabbah67:11). Abraham feared retaliation by the armies of the kings who had been defeated. 12:15: But the wise man accepts advice(Gen. Rabbah67:12). Abraham sought a wife for his son Isaac. These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features. The Rabbis are puzzled by this mishnah, since Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah (seeGen. 25:20), and when the twins were born, he was sixty (seeGen. 25:26). . How to properly align two numbered equations? Genesis 24:2. "Rebekah: Midrash and Aggadah." Hist. She said: He must certainly be a great man. She bent over and fell off the camel(Gen. Rabbah60:15). Eliezer, Abraham's chief servant is mentioned explicitly only once, in chapter 15 of Genesis. Click to enable/disable _gid - Google Analytics Cookie. , Zeph. Matt. Laban (the brother of Rebekah), and Rebekahs mother, requested delay; the interval of at least the third of a month. Then is he the very pattern of disinterestedness: a servant who deserved to reign in the world as a king. (As in "yad hekdesh al ha'elyona"). Since G-d had not commanded him to do them, they remained human deeds, subject to the natural law that separated the spiritual from the material; while they had a profound effect on his own soul, the souls of his descendants, and the spiritual essence of creation, they had no impact on the material substance of the universe. Mandelbaum],Roni, akarah20:1). I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my masters brethren (Gen. 24:10-27). A third answer is that God longed to hear the speech (i.e., prayer) of the Matriarchs, of which He said inCant. 16). all the children that You give me shall be from this righteous man. Although both prayed, God responded to Isaac, as it is said: va-yeetar lo (literally, He answered him), since the prayer of a righteous one the son of a righteous one [Isaac the son of Abraham] is not like that of a righteous one the son [i.e., child] of a wicked one [Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel] (BTYevamotloc. Yet the hands are the hands of Esau [v. 22]for all bloodshed, and for every bad death. Another tradition gives her age as three years and three days when she left her fathers house (TractateSoferim,Hosafah[addition] 1, 1:4). Although nowhere so mentioned specifically in the narrative, Eliezer is identified by the rabbis with the anonymous servant sent by Abraham to find a wife for Isaac (Gen. 24). The second understanding portrays the Matriarchs as meant to provide their husbands pleasure and meet their needs. Rebekahs blessing to Jacob was taken fromPs. The most distinguished person who bore it was Abraham's steward and confidential servant. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Like any library, Mi Yodeya offers tons of great information, but, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. He asked her: Give me water to drink. She told him: I will give to you and to your ass. After he drank and was about to go on his way, he said to her: My daughter, you have done as did Rebekah! She replied: I have done as did Rebekah [for I gave both you and your ass to drink], but you did not act as did Eliezer [for you did not give me a gold nose-ring and arm bands]. At that time R. Joshua said: I never was bested by anyone, except for one widow, one young girl and several children (Lam. Eliezer must go back to Abraham's family living in Haran and find a woman from Abraham's own kin. Kadari, Tamar. He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, "Put your hand under my thigh. Verily, he who took upon himself the form of a servant for our sakes, hath sanctified the relation I speak of, and sublimed it, and perfected it likewise. The girl appeared immediately after Eliezer finished his prayer, and she was also from Avraham's family, something that Eliezer did not even ask for. Ishmael is Sent Away Art by Sefira Lightstone Shortly after Isaac's birth, people began referring to Ishmael as Hagar's boy. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. The servant told Rebekahs family of his mission, and he said to them: Give Rebekah to Isaac, otherwise [v. 49] that I may turn right or left. Laban and Bethuel exclaimed (v. 50): The matter was decreed by the Lord. Then the servant took out silver and gold vessels and clothing, which he gave to Rebekah, and he gave her brother and mother vessels of pearl and, some say, roasted ears of corn and nuts(Gen. Rabbah60:11). It would therefore seem that he had no shortage of "sacred objects" available to him. He assures the church that the Lord had not yet come, and would not come, unless the rebellion comes first and the [], In the last few months, the church I serve has been working through the updated version of Eshcol, John Owens little treatment on church life now entitled Duties of Christian Fellowship: A Manual for Church Members. You can also change some of your preferences. She aided in the execution of Gods plan, by causing Jacob to receive Isaacs blessing. Rebekahs death is not mentioned in theTorah, nor does it specify how many years she lived. It only takes a minute to sign up. One is that God desired to shorten the years of the Egyptian servitude (which were counted from the time of Isaacs birth, and not from the Israelites actual stay in the land of Egypt; the longer the births of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph were postponed, the more years that passed without subjugation). Abraham's Servant Finds a Wife for Isaac - By that time Abraham was very old. I may be mistaken in my opinion. From now on your Creator will help you(Gen. Rabbah65:17). What I admire so much in all this is the beautiful admixture of piety, and obedience, and trust in God; the walking in faith, as seeing him who is invisible; the confident and trustful walking, which the narrative displays. Furthermore there is no indication in the text that the mitzvah of milah was more beloved to Avraham than, say, the mitzvah of welcoming guest. Various details in her life were perceived by the Rabbis as representative of what would later befall the people of Israel: the well water rose up to her, just as it would rise up in the future to the people of Israel; the gifts that Abrahams servant gave her are a paradigm for those that Israel would receive from God: the two Tablets of the Covenant and the Ten Commandments. An oath is taken while holding a sacred object such as a Torah scroll or tefillin; here Abraham is telling Eliezer to swear on the part of his own body sanctified by the mitzvah of circumcision. The first answer given is that the gemara later says that for a talmid chacham tefillin are lechatchilah (" the dimyon between tefillin and the milah). Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Of whom is one so much reminded as of him who at the well of Samaria declared that he had meat to eat which his disciples knew not of: for that his meat was to do the will of the Father who had sent him, and to finish his work? . The regimen of rituals, songs and textual readings performed in a specific order on the first two nights (in Israel, on the first night) of Passover.Seder Olam Rabbah1). God told Abraham that Eliezer would not be his heir, but that his heir would come from his own . Rabbah23:1). According to Eduard Knig ("Syntax," 306h) here, as frequently, has the force of an adjective or participle, and the phrase "ben meshe" (steward; comp. cit. Jacob was(Gen. 25:27) a mild man, who stayed in camp [ohalim, literally, tents]. The Rabbis learn from the pluralohalimthat Jacob would sit in two tents: in the academy of Shem, and in the academy of Eber(Gen. Rabbah63:10). These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience. Rebekah, however, replied (v. 25): [] and also room to spend the nightyou can spend many nights in our house. We may request cookies to be set on your device. 2, a passage which presents some difficulties. This exegesis portrays the actualization of Isaacs blessings to Jacob (v. 28): May God give you of the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth, as soon as they were given. The volume is divided into two main sections. Isaac sought in a wife the specific traits that would remind him of his mother and her righteousness. 4 Go inste. In this exposition Sarah and Rebekah are compared to the sun that warms and spreads light throughout the world, since these women illuminated the world with their righteousness. The pregnancy expressed an inner struggle between the two, and also a spiritual gap, with each one pulling in a different direction (see(Gen. Rabbah63:6). TheTorahinforms us(Gen. 27:15) that Esau had best clothes that were in Rebekahs house, which she gave to Jacob, so that he could deceive Isaac and receive his blessing. This teaches that until a person takes a wife, his love is directed to his parents; once he marries, his love is channeled to his wife. When Rebekahs mother and brother saw that the servant had not been persuaded by their words, they said to him (v. 57): Let us call the girl and ask for her reply. Themidrashexplains that they called Rebekah and asked her (v. 58): Will you go with this man? thereby hinting to her not to go with this man until Isaac himself came to her. But his example may seem, as it is, above us: not so, at least, the example of the Syrian servant, or rather slave, of Abraham. Faced with fulfilling such a solemn oath, Abraham's servant, likely Eliezer of Damascus ( Genesis 15:2 ), takes great care to choose a suitable mate for Isaac, placing his trust in God to lead him to the right woman. English Standard Version Theoretically can the Ackermann function be optimized? There was set meat before Abrahams servant to eat. When Isaac sends Esau to bring him game, the Rabbis say that Esau thought to himself: If I find, it will be well, and if not, I will bring what was obtained from robberies and extortion. Rebekah told Jacob: Go forth and act for the nation. Go to the flock (v. 9)which is the people of Israel, of which it is said(Ezek. Sign up to receive a regular digest of fresh Banner of Truth resources and blog articles. . This narrative indirectly teaches that Rebekahs act of kindness at the well became a model for emulation by Jewish women, even many generations later. When the servant heard Rebekahs words and learned that she was from Abrahams family, he bowed low to God and gave thanks to Him (v. 26), from which the Rabbis learned God is to be thanked for good tidings (Gen. Rabbahloc. declval<_Xp(&)()>()() - what does this mean in the below context? Another midrash adds that, in addition to Isaacs blessing, his mother Rebekah blessed him, as well. When God heard Isaacs prayer, He shaped a womb for her, since she did not have one(Gen. Rabbah63:5). In the A type of non-halakhic literary activitiy of the Rabbis for interpreting non-legal material according to special principles of interpretation (hermeneutical rules).midrashic telling, Rebekah was born at the same time that Isaac, who was then twenty-six years old, was bound on the altar (Lit.

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