Messianic Education Trust
		Khayiy Sarah   (Gen 23:1 - 25:18)

B'resheet/Genesis 24:21   And the man was astonished at her, keeping silent to know if the L-rd had made his journey successful or not.

View whole verse and interlinear translation ...

This narrative verse comes in the middle of the scene at the well in "Aram-naharaim, the city of Nahor" (B'resheet 24:10, NJPS). Avraham's servant has come back to the place where his master used to live - until called by HaShem to "Go forth from your native land and from your father's house to the land that I will show you" (12:1, NJPS) - in order to locate Avraham's family and choose a wife for Yitz'khak. Upon arrival, the servant prayed to The Name ...

HaShem: literally, Hebrew for 'The Name' - an allusion used to avoid pronouncing the Tetragrammaton, the so-called 'ineffable' name of G–d
HaShem and set up a scenario whereby he can recognise the girl that he is to take back home to his master for Yitz'khak to marry. In the immediately preceding verses (B'resheet 13-20) Rivkah has come out to the well to get water for her family and appears to be fulfilling exactly what the servant had requested, while "the words were barely out of his mouth" (B'resheet 24: 15). Our text then forms a short bridge while servant watches to see if she will finish the job completely - camels are, after all, very thirsty - and then turn out to be from Avraham's extended family as well.

The second word, , is the Hitpa'el ms participle from the root , "to be confused or astonished" (Davidson), as an extension from the root meaning of "to be at a loss, to be desolate". As is common with weak verbs with as the first letter, the tav of the Hitpa'el voice has slipped inside the root letters rather than appearing before them. This is known as metathesis, because hish-t- or mish-t- is easier to pronounce than hit-sh- or mit-sh- and can sometimes need care in working out the verb root. In this context, the root , to drink, might at first appear more likely as it has been a significant word in the narrative scene so far, but the servant has already had a drink from Rivkah's water jar and the camels are drinking the water she has poured into the trough. The letter at the end of verb, the last of the three root letters, has no other explanation, so helps determine that is the correct root in this case. Pointing to the way the root is used in the verse "Until cities lie waste ... and the land is a desolate waste" (Isaiah 6:11, ESV), Who Is ...

Rashi: Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040-1105 CE), French rabbi who wrote commentaries on the Torah, the Prophets and the Talmud, lived in Troyes where he founded a yeshiva in 1067; focuses on the plain meaning (p'shat) of the text, although sometimes quite cryptic in his brevity
Rashi comments that "this is an expression of bewilderment"; the servant is at a loss, his mind is temporarily laid waste! "He was amazed and taken aback over seeing his matter (mission, way) nearing success, but he did not yet know if she was of Avraham's family or not."

The second verb, - the Hif'il ms participle from the root , meaning "to be or keep silent or quiet" (Davidson) - tells us what the servant did: in effect, nothing. He just waited without speaking to see what would happen next. The Who Is ...

The Radak: Rabbi David Kimchi (1160-1235 CE), rabbi, biblical commentator, philosopher and grammarian; born in Narbonne, France; best known for his commentaries on the Prophets, he also wrote a philosphical commentary on Bresheet that makes extensive use of the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel; influenced by a strong supporter of Ibn Ezra and Maimonides
Radak explains that "he held his peace until the camels had finished drinking." Gordon Wenham points out "just what a lengthy job it was to water ten camels and the energy of the girl who did it."¹ As Rabbi Who Is ...

Hirsch: Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888 CE), German rabbi, author and educator; staunch opponent of the Reform movement in Germany and one of the fathers of Orthodox Judaism
Hirsch surmises, "the immediate fulfillment of his prayer surpassed all his expectations. He wanted to say more, but restrained himself until he had finally ascertained whether the girl who had so marvellously fitted in with all previous ideas would also conform to Avraham's conditions as to her parentage." Who Is ...

Nechama Leibowitz: (1905-1997 CE), born in Riga, graduate of the University of Berlin, made aliyah in 1931; professor at Tel Aviv University; taught Torah for over 50 years
Nechama Leibowitz suggests that "at the sight of all this the man stood 'wondering at her' and 'held his peace'. He and the men that were with him looked on at the way Rivkah discharged her self-appointed task, industriously and without murmur." This is supported by What Is ...

Targum Onkelos: An early (1^st-2^nd Century CE) translation/paraphrase of the Torah into Aramaic; attributed to a Roman convert to Judaism, Onkelos; used in Babylonian synagogues during the Talmudic era
Targum Onkelos who changes the Hebrew to Aramaic , "gazing silently" adding the 'gaze' verb which the Bible text itself only implies.

Who Is ...

Abraham Ibn Ezra: (1089-1167 CE), born in Tudela, Spain; died in the South of France after wandering all around the shores of the Mediterranean and England; a philosopher, astronomer, doctor, poet and linguist; wrote a Hebrew grammar and a commentary on the Bible
Ibn Ezra wants to be stronger. He prefers to render the verb as "he was shocked on account of her" and explains that "this is the idiom of one's mind being 'devastated' to describe being mentally in suspense." Noticing that the servant - as a man - did not obey the social etiquette of the time by stopping Rivkah from doing all this heavy work, the Sforno observes that, "He wondered at the alacrity with which she hastened to do this kindness. He did not urge her to desist from exerting herself, as would have been proper ... to determine and judge from her act of kindness and haste to perform it, whether she was motivated by natural kindness or by the hope of a reward." Was Rivkah for real? Was the offer of generosity genuine for its own sake? Who Is ...

Gersonides: Rabbi Levi ben Gershom, Gersonides or Ralbag (1288-1344 CE); famous rabbi, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer/astrologer; born at Bagnols in Languedock, France; wrote a commentary on the Torah and a parallel to Maimonides' Guide For The Perplexed
Gersonides agrees: "He did not want to say anything; he wanted to see whether she would fulfill the conditions of the test on her own." The servant is aware, Avivah Zornberg claims, of the darkness in the life of Avraham's family following Sarah's death; Rivkah can "re-evoke the hopeful involvement of an Avraham, connecting, integrating, generating life." Twice in his prayer before Rivkah appears, the servant used the word , loving-kindness or grace: "show steadfast love to my master Abraham" (B'resheet 24:12, ESV) and "let her be the one ... by this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master" (v. 14, ESV). Now, as he gazes upon Rivkah, he needs "to see a manifest indication of G-d's to Avraham ... that he will sense in her the that has been lacking."²

Taking that a step further, the Who Is ...

The Rashbam: Rabbi Samuel ben Asher (1085-1174 CE), a grandson of Rashi; lived in Northern France; worked from the plain meaning of the Hebrew text even when this contradicted established rabbinic interpretaton
Rashbam adds that, "[the servant] understood from this that the Holy One had set up precisely what he had requested." As "the servant enjoys looking at the lovely woman and assessing the wealth of her family" he wonders about success: has his journey prospered? "The humour of this scene," Walter Brueggemann suggests, "is that Yahweh's prosperity is quite an earthy matter: (a) proper genealogy, (b) good looks, (c) many camels, (d) virgin. The blessings of heaven come packaged for earth."³ Rivkah is all of these and more, although the servant does not yet know. Now, however, although he sees HaShem's answer to his and Avraham's prayers on a plate before him, he hesitates and wonders. Is this the answer or not? Can this girl really be the one?

Now step forward to the first century CE. A man dressed in camel skins and goats' hair had been making a stir out in the Judean wilderness, baptising people and calling for repentance, announcing that "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:2). Luke records that, "The people were in a state of great expectancy, and everyone was wondering whether perhaps Yochanan himself might be the Messiah" (Luke 3:15, CJB), but he was very clear: "I am immersing you in water, but he who is coming is more powerful than I - I'm not worthy to untie his sandals! He will immerse you in the Ruach HaKodesh and in fire. He has with him his winnowing fork to clear out his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the straw with unquenchable fire!" (vv. 16-17, CJB). John knew who he was and who he wasn't. But a little later, another question of identity comes up. John has been put in prison for criticising Herod, the tetrarch and while there he keeps on hearing about what Yeshua - who he himself had baptised in the Jordan not more than a few months before - is doing and saying. He too is preaching about repentance and announcing that "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17).

Matthew records what happens next: "Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, 'Are You the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?'" (Matthew 11:2, ESV). I don't think, even in prison, John was doubting. He had seen the sign of the Spirit descending upon Yeshua like a dove when He was baptised. I think he was trying to arrange hand-over - that his disciples would leave him and follow Yeshua. This is a fulfillment of John's own words - "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30, ESV) - and an awareness of his own impending death. Yeshua answered the question by telling John's disciples to look around themselves and see what was happening: "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them" (Matthew 11:4-5, ESV). The evidence is right here in front of you, Yeshua says: believe what you see with your own eyes, "and blessed is the one who is not offended by Me" (v. 6, ESV). This is the real deal, this is the kingdom of G-d; Scripture (in this case Isaiah 61) is being fulfilled as the power and presence of G-d break through into this world in the person and works of Yeshua!

But what did John's disciples think? Not all of them switched to following Yeshua because Matthew later tells us that when John was executed, "his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Yeshua" (Matthew 14:2, ESV). Hadn't they seen? Didn't they believe?

So here's the question for us, today. How often do we look the L-rd's provision in the face and fail to recognise it for what it is: Him! Are you praying about situations in your life and not seeing an answer? Are you looking straight past, over or through what G-d is doing right in front of you? Do we miss what G-d is doing because it doesn't look like what we expect or want? Are we like Avraham's servant, just staring in wonderment and waiting for one more little bit of the sign before rejoicing and accepting what G-d is doing for us, in plain sight?

1. - Gordon Wenham, Genesis 16-50 Word Biblical Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1994), page 144.

2. - Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, The Beginning of Desire (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1995), page 140.

3. - Walter Brueggemann, Genesis Interpretation, (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1982), page 198.

Further Study: Psalm 23:4-6; Isaiah 6:9-10; Acts 26:16-18

Application: Is the solution to your problem right there in front of you already? Has G-d already given you His answer? Pray for clarity and humility, then look carefully and you may be surprised.

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© Jonathan Allen, 2019

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