Isaac and Rebekah (Gen 24)
1 And Abraham was old, “come into the days,” and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way. [בַּכֹּל, the gematria of בֵּן (a son). Since he had a son, he had to find him a wife.]
Had blessed Abraham in every way—The numerical value of the word בַּכֹּל is equal to that of בֵּן (a son)—suggesting that God had blessed Abraham with a son and since he had a son he had to find him a wife.
2 And Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. [One who takes an oath must hold a sacred object in his hand. Circumcision, being Abraham’s first commandment, and having been attended by pain, and being beloved by him, Abraham bade him take hold there.]
Rashi’s Commentary
The elder of his household—Because the word זְקַן is in the construct state, it is vowelized זְקַן.
Under my thigh—Because whoever takes an oath must take in his hand some sacred object. such as a scroll of the Law or tefillin (Shevuot 38b). As circumcision was the first commandment given to him and became his only through much pain it was consequently dear to him and therefore he selected this as the object upon which to take the oath (Genesis Rabbah 59:8).
Shevuot 38b:22
Rav Ashi said to him: You may even say it is in accordance with the opinion of the Rabbis, who say that one is merely required to take an oath using an appellation of God. And the practical ramification of Rav’s statement is that just as in the aforementioned verse, Abraham said: “Please put your hand under my thigh. And I will make you swear” (Gen 24:2-3), instructing his servant to grasp his circumcised penis, which is considered sacred to some degree, so too, in oaths administered by the court, one must grasp a sacred item in his hand while taking the oath.
3 And I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell,
Shevuot 38b:20
GEMARA: How does the court administer an oath to someone who is liable to take an oath? Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: The court administers to him the oath stated in the Law, as it is written in Abraham’s instruction to his servant: “And I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven” (Gen 24:3).
2Co 6:14-17
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and wickedness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What harmony has Christ with Belial? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said:
“I will live in them
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”
Heb 6:16
For people swear by someone greater than themselves, and with them the oath given as confirmation is an end of every argument.
4 but will go to my country and to my relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.”
5 The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the country from where you came?”
6 Then Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there.
7 “The Lord, the God of heaven [whereas above [3] we have: “the God of heaven and the God of earth,” Abraham having taught men to regard him as such], who brought me out of my father’s household [Haran] and from the land of my birth [Ur of the Chaldees] and who spoke to me [i.e., in my behalf] and who swore to me [at the covenant between the pieces (15:18)], ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you, and you will get a wife for my son from there.
Rashi’s Commentary
The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household—Here he did not say, “and the God of earth,” whereas above (v. 3) he said, “And I will make make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth.” But, in effect, Abraham said to him: Now he is the God of heaven and the God of earth, because I have made him (i. e. his name) a familiar one in peoples’ mouths: but at the time when he brought me out of my father’s household, he was God of heaven only and not God of earth for people did not acknowledge him and his name was not commonly known on earth (Genesis Rabbah 59:7).
Out of my father’s household—From Haran.
And from the land of my birth—From Ur of the Chaldees.
And who spoke to me—The word לִי means “in my interest,” like אֲשֶׁר דִבֵּר,“who spoke concerning me.” In the same way, in every case where לִי, לוֹ, and לָהֶם follow after the verb דבר they must be explained in the sense of עַל, “concerning”—and in the Targum they should be rendered by עִלֵי, עִלוֹהִי, עִלֵיהוֹן regarding me etc.—for with this verb דבר in the sense of speaking to a person, the expressions לִי, לוֹ, and לָהֶם are not the appropriate ones, but אֵלַי, אֵלָיו and אִלֵיהֶם, and their renderings in the Targum should be עִמִּי, עִמֵּיהּ, עִמְּהוֹן i. e., to speak with me or him or them. In the case of the verb אִמִירה, however, the expressions לִי, לוֹ, and לָהֶם are the appropriate ones.
And who swore to me at the covenant between the pieces (Genesis Rabbah 59:10).
8 And if the woman does not want to go after you, then you will be released from this oath of mine [and take a wife for him from the daughters of Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre]. Only do not return my son back there.” [But Jacob, the son of my son, is destined to return there.]
You will be released from this oath of mine etc.—And take a wife for him from the daughters of Aner or Eshkol or Mamre.
Only . . . my son—The word “only” narrows and limits the sense: it is only my son who may not go back there, but Jacob, my son’s son, in the end will go back there to find a wife (Genesis Rabbah 59:10).
9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.
10 Then the servant took ten camels of his master’s camels [distinctively his master’s in being muzzled against grazing in the fields of others], and left with a variety of good things of his master’s in his hand [i.e., a deed of gift to Isaac of all that he owned, so that they “jump” at sending their daughter]. And he arose and he went to Aram Naharaim [lit., “Aram of the two rivers,” it being situated between two rivers], to the town of Nahor.
Rashi’s Commentary
Of his master’s camels—These were distinguished from other camels by going out muzzled to avoid robbery—i.e. that they should not graze in other peoples’ fields (Genesis Rabbah 59:11).
A variety of good things of his master’s in his hand—He wrote a deed of gift of all his possessions in favour of Isaac so that they would be eager to send him their daughter (Genesis Rabbah 59:11).
Aram Naharaim (literally, Aram of the two rivers)—It was situated between two rivers.
11 He made the camels kneel down outside the town beside the well of water, at evening time, at the time the women go out to draw water.
Rashi’s Commentary
He made the camels kneel—He made them lie down (Genesis Rabbah 59:11).
12 He prayed, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
Mat 22:32
I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living.
Php 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
1Th 3:10-11
as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?
Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you.
13 See, I am standing by the spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.
14 Now may it be that the maiden to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels too’—may she be the one whom you have chosen for your servant Isaac, and, let me know [I pray you], through her [by her being of his family and fit for him], that you have shown kindness to my master.”
Rashi’s Commentary
May she be the one whom you have chosen—She is fit for him since she will be charitable and will therefore be worthy of admission into the house of Abraham. The word הֹכַחְתָּ means selected; old French esprover.
And, let me know, through her—This is a petition: “Let me know through her.”
That you have shown loving-kindness—If she is of his family and a fit companion for him, I will know that you have shown loving-kindness.
Rom 1:10
always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by God’s will I may succeed in coming to you.
15 Before he had finished praying, behold, Rebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of Milkah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder.
16 The woman was very beautiful, a virgin, and no man had known her [pederastically], and she went down to the spring, and she filled her jar and came up.
Rashi’s Commentary
A virgin—From the place of her hymen.
And no man had known her—Not in its way (meaning, anally). Because the daughters of the nations would guard the place of their hymens, but abandon themselves from another place. It testifies about this one that she was clean from all of this (Genesis Rabbah 60:5).
17 And the servant hurried to meet her [having seen the waters rising towards her] and said, “Please let me sip a little water from your jar.”
Rashi’s Commentary
And the servant hurried to meet her—Because he saw that the waters rose in the well when she approached it (Genesis Rabbah 60:5).
Please let me sip—The word means swallowing; old French humer.
Joh 4:7, 9
There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
18 She said, “Drink, my lord,” and she quickly lowered her jar [from her shoulder] to her hand and gave him a drink.
Rashi’s Commentary
And . . . lowered her jar—From off her shoulder.
1Pe 3:8; 4:8-9
Finally, all of you, be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, compassionate, and humble in spirit.
Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
19 Now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.”
Rashi’s Commentary
Until they have finished drinking— Here the word אִם is used in the sense of אִשֶׁר “that.” The words they have finished the Targum renders by “until they have done enough drinking,” because this is the end of their drinking when they have drunk as much as they wanted (cf. Rashi on Gen 43:2).
20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels.
Gen 15:18
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the Wadi of Egypt until the great river, the Euphrates [called the “great river” because of its being mentioned in conjunction with the Land of Israel]—
This work, "Isaac and Rebekah," is a derivative of "The Rashi Chumash" and "The Rashi Ketuvim" by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein used under CC BY 3.0