Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“The servant took ten of his master’s camels, and departed, having a variety of good things of his master’s with him. He arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water. He said, “Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring of water. The daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let it happen, that the young lady to whom I will say, ‘Please let down your pitcher, that I may drink,’ then she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink,’—let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.””
(Genesis 24:10-14)

He didn’t wait. The servant made arrangements and went off right away. He did not delay his obedience.

The servant picked the place where the most women would come and he would be able to interact with them without crossing any lines of propriety or decency. He wouldn’t be putting himself or anyone else in any compromising positions. But he also chose a spot where he would be at a disadvantage. He chose to rely on Abraham’s God to solve this issue for Abraham. He didn’t pick a spot where he would be able to judge their character. He picked a spot where they would all be able to act the same, do the same, and interact with him the same. He picked a spot where God would have to move.

Watering camels was not a small job. And doing it by bucket at a well would be even more work. This test would show someone’s character. They would have to be willing to do hard work when needed. They would need to be hospitable. They would need to be kind and generous. It was a simple test that would allow God to move someone’s heart to do this thing, or to move their heart not to (if they were the wrong choice). This was a wise test that totally opened the field for God to work and for God to prove His goodness. This test took the servant and all his opinions out of the judging.

The Torah: A Women’s Commentary writes: ‘“יהוה, God of my master Abraham, please bring me luck today.” The turn of events is even better than the servant has reason to expect. The developments appear to be the result of chance, but actually the reader has enough signs to understand that they are directed by God.’

The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘V. 10. As the departure on the journey is told, ויקם וילך, only in the second half of the verse, the וילך in the first half can not mean that he actually went away, but must belong to the preparations for it. The camels were not laden, they were meant for the bride and her attendants. They were riding camels, recognisable as such by their saddles and trappings. וילך but he went afoot and carried the presents. From Ecclesiastes 10,7 it seems that slaves never rode, one could recognise them as such by their always going on foot. On the return journey, too, he only walked and led Rebecca’s camel. Our ladies seem to have been no experienced riders but had to have their animals led, we find the same thing recorded of the Shunamite (II Kings, IV,24). So Eliezer travelled, not as a rich merchant with ten laden camels but completely as a servant, as a laden servant who had to take riding camels somewhere. For only so would the test which he had in mind to make of the character of the girl be a real one. The behaviour towards a tired over-laden slave that would show real humane feelings might have proved something entirely different if shown to a rich cavalier. V. 14. Our sages (Tanith 4a) by no means recommend Eliezer’s procedure as an exemplary method for choosing a wife. Only an Eliezer, sent on such a mission by the confidence of an Abraham that God would send His angel already beforehand to lead him to the right girl, may act with such confidence. That his behaviour, which the Gemora (Chulin 95b) gives as an example of the formula for prohibited ניחוש, does not really come under that heading, is already explained by the ניחוש .ר״ן is making a decision, depending on happenings which have no rational connection with the matter concerned (e.g. deciding to undertake something because a black cat met you etc. etc. I.L.). But the sign by which Eliezer wanted to know the girl who was the destined wife for Isaac was one which belongs to the special traits of character, which, still today, are the most characteristic signs of the descendants of Isaac and Rebecca, and which we summarise under the heading of גמילות חסד. Of this love of fellowman, regardless of class distinction, everywhere and always ready to jump to help — which only slowly broke its way into the non-Jewish world through the direct and indirect influence and spreading of the teaching of the tenets of the Abrahamides — Eliezer had learnt in the house of Abraham, it was the most characteristic feature of his tent, and Eliezer felt that it must be prominently present in the right wife for Isaac and that such a tendency might be found in the family of Abraham, and it was on that, that he founded his procedure. But it must nevertheless have been rare, otherwise he could not have used it as a sure sign. — לעבדן ליצחק, with great delicacy he refers to Isaac as לעבדך not as לאדוני or לבן אדוני. Just the fact that Isaac himself, for whom he is seeking a wife, is עבד ה׳ makes him choose such a sign, and to hope that God will lead him to the right one. For it is for one who is dedicated to God’s service that he is seeking a wife, and the furthering of God’s Own purposes is dependent on the right choice.’