Chayei Sarah - significant servant

The character in the book of Bereishis (Genesis) that deserves a serious second look is Eliezer, the faithful servant of Abraham. What do we know about Eliezer? We know, from the two previous week’s Torah readings, that Eliezer was apparently a formidable warrior¹, a skilled student and teacher of monotheism², and one of the people that accompanied Abraham and Isaac to the Akeidah (the near-sacrifice of Isaac)³. In this week’s Torah reading we observe that, in his travels to secure a suitable wife for Isaac, Eliezer demonstrates remarkable diplomatic skills as he carefully describes his master, his mission, and his experiences on the way to Rebecca’s family⁴. I find it particularly noteworthy that, taking into account his very active role throughout the chapter (24) that outlines this mission, the Torah devotes more text to describing the conversations and actions of Eliezer than it does to the conversations or actions of Sarah or Ishmael (59 vs. 35 and 13, respectively). What are we to make of all this attention devoted to Abraham’s faithful servant?

I wonder if – in the example of Eliezer - the Torah is providing us with a role model for a ‘regular’ person of faith, to which we can more readily relate than some of the other characters. Abraham was the prophet of God, while Eliezer ‘merely’ received the teachings of God’s values from Abraham and shared them with others. Most of us are not learned rabbis or seasoned Torah teachers, with a refined sense of God’s will in the world. Instead, we attach ourselves to rabbis and teachers who speak to our religious sensibilities and then we become ‘servants’ of their teachings and worldview.  And like Eliezer, we can marshal our skills and experiences in the service of God, under the direction of those ‘masters’ of God’s perspective. While Abraham, Sarah, and the other patriarchs and matriarchs are vital role models, it may be Eliezer that speaks most clearly to the regular Jew.   

1 = 14:14

2 = see Rashi, on 15:2

3 = see Rashi, on 22:3

4 = see Nehama Leibowitz, New Studies in Bereshit/Genesis, “Table-talk of Patriarch’s Servants,” p. 230 – 236.