Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 24:14/אבן עזרא על בראשית כ״ד:י״ד

אאותה הוכחת. נסמך העבד על תפלת הנביא שהשם ענהו, והוכיח בחלום על יד המלאך שהוא שליח השם לעזרו, והעבד חשב בלבו כי אין עם נדיב כמו משפחת אדוניו ורבים יתמהו באמרם שלא שאל כהוגן, ולא ידעתי למה, כי אילו היתה נערה אחרת שתשקהו ותשקה לגמליו, ומצאה שהיא ממשפחה אחרת היה עוזב אותה ולא הפסיד כלום, כי ויאמר בת מי את, פירושו וכבר אמר לה קודם שיתן לה כלום, וכן אמר ואשאל אותה, ואשים הנזם וכלל הדבר שהתפלל לשם שיוכיח אחת ממשפחת אדוניו, וההוכחה שתעשה דרך מוסר, כמו בת נדיב והשם שמע תפלתו ודרך יהונתן אחרת:

1SHE THAT THOU HAST APPOINTED. The servant relied on the efficacy of the prophet’s²¹ prayer.²² implies that God had already chosen a bride for Isaac. How did the servant know this? I.E. suggests that the servant believed that God had accepted Abraham’s prayer (Krinsky). Or I.E.’s point is that the servant did not set up a test to see if the Lord set aside a damsel for Isaac. He trusted that God had because he relied on Abraham’s prayer (Filwarg). Throughout this section I.E. refers to the servant as “the servant.” He apparently was uncertain as to whether to identify him with Eliezer, as the Midrash and other medieval commentators did. He was certain that God accepted it and sent an angel, the latter being God’s very own messenger, to help him by appointing a damsel in a dream.²³ The servant reasoned that there was no family as charitable as his master’s.²⁴ would most probably be of Abraham’s family (Krinsky). Many are perplexed ²⁵ 4a. because they say that the servant expressed his request improperly.²⁶ 4a)? I, however, do not see anything wrong in what he said, for had it been another damsel, one not of Abraham’s family, who offered to give him drink and water his camels, he would have left her and nothing would have been lost, for the verse and said; Whose daughter art thou means he had previously said, before he gave the ring and bracelets to Rebekah, whose daughter art thou ?²⁷ ? This implies that he took Rebekah for Isaac before he knew who she was. This contradicts what I.E. has just said, hence his interpretation. Scripture similarly states, And I asked her, and said: Whose daughter art thou? And she said: The daughter of Bethuel…And I put the ring upon her nose, and the bracelets upon her hands (v. 47). The sum of the matter is the servant prayed that God would appoint for Isaac a young lady from the family of his master, the sign of God’s choice being that the damsel would act graciously as a woman of noble character should.²⁸). God heard his prayer. However, the case of Jonathan is totally different.²⁹ (I Sam. 14:9, 10).