Finding a Proper Shidukh for Yitzhak - Not So Easy!

(3) and I will make you swear by יהוה, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell, (4) but will go to the land of my birth and get a wife for my son Isaac.”

(6) Abraham answered him, “On no account must you take my son back there! (7) יהוה, the God of heaven—who took me from my father’s house and from my native land, who promised me on oath, saying, ‘I will assign this land to your offspring’—will send a messenger before you, and you will get a wife for my son from there.

(34) “I am Abraham’s servant,” he began. (35) “יהוה has greatly blessed my master, who has become rich.... (36) And Sarah, my master’s wife, bore my master a son in her old age, and he has assigned to him everything he owns. (37) Now my master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell; (38) but you shall go to my father’s house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.’ (39) And I said to my master, ‘What if the woman does not follow me?’ (40) He replied to me, ‘יהוה, whose ways I have followed, will send a messenger with you and make your errand successful; and you will get a wife for my son from my kindred, from my father’s house. (41) Thus only shall you be freed from my adjuration: if, when you come to my kindred, they refuse you—only then shall you be freed from my adjuration.’

(27) and said, “Blessed be יהוה, the God of my master Abraham’s [house], who has not withheld steadfast faithfulness from my master. For I have been guided on my errand by יהוה, to the house of my master’s kin.”

Lockshin comments: "This declaration sounds like that of a man who was not planning to find a girl that was his master's relative, and is in awe of divine providence."

(13) Here I stand by the spring as the daughters of the townspeople come out to draw water; (14) let the maiden to whom I say, ‘Please, lower your jar that I may drink,’ and who replies, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels’—let her be the one whom You have decreed for Your servant Isaac. Thereby shall I know that You have dealt graciously with my master.” (15) He had scarcely finished speaking, when Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, the son of Milcah the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder.... (19) When she had let him drink his fill, she said, “I will also draw for your camels, until they finish drinking.” (20) Quickly emptying her jar into the trough, she ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. (21) The man, meanwhile, stood gazing at her, silently wondering whether יהוה had made his errand successful or not. (22) When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold nose-ring weighing a half-shekel, and two gold bands for her arms, ten shekels in weight. (23) “Pray tell me,” he said, “whose daughter are you? Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”

(47) I inquired of her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ And I put the ring on her nose and the bands on her arms.

(1) ויאמר בת מי את AND HE SAID, WHOSE DAUGHTER ART THOU? — He asked her this after he had given her these presents, for he was confident that, on account of the merit of Abraham, the Holy One blessed be He, had made his journey successful.

(1) ואשאל...ואשם AND I ASKED HER ... AND I PUT THE RING —He changed the order of proceedings for in fact he had first given the presents and afterwards questioned her. But he did this in order that they should not catch him by his own words and say, "How could you give her anything when you did not yet know who she was!"

Lockshin remarks: "Rashi admits that the servant changed the order...but attributes a pragmatic reason for the change.... Though the servant "knew" through faith that the young woman was from the right family, he did not expect the Mesopotamians to understand certainty that was based on faith. So he changed the order of events when retelling so they would not doubt the credibility of his report."

(1) ויקח האיש נזם זהב, one is entitled to assume that Eliezer first had asked her about whose family she belonged to (verse 23) The reason why things were not written in this order is in order not to interrupt the sequence of the story by questions and answers. This is why the Torah reported first about Eliezer giving Rivkah the jewelry.

(1) AND THE MAN TOOK A GOLDEN RING… AND TWO BRACELETS UPON HER HANDS. This verse omits the deed for it should have said: “And the man took a golden ring and put it upon her nose and two bracelets upon her hands.”

Therefore I say that the interpretation of the verse is as follows: And the man took a golden ring and two bracelets which would be upon her hands, and he said to her, Whose daughter art thou? And after she had told him, I am the daughter of Bethuel, he put the ring upon her nose and the bracelets upon her hands, as he told them. Here, however, Scripture omits the actual giving, and similarly in many places.

(3) and I will make you swear by יהוה, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell, (4) but will go to the land of my birth and get a wife for my son Isaac.”

Lockshin then considers that "artzi" and "moladeti" might be a hendiadys, where two words are combined to express a common meaning or idea: i.e., my birthplace or native land, implying a special cultural affinity with the land and its people. This could indicate the special connection Avraham had with some of the people in the land, which was surely fulfilled by his own family members. Thus, this hendiadys could be a hint to the agent that if his own family could be located, a wife from such folk would be preferred.