Commentary for Genesis 24:63

לשוח TO MEDITATE — this means “to pray” (Genesis Rabbah 60:14), as we find (Psalms 102:1) “[A prayer of the afflicted …] when he poureth forth his plaint.

ויצא יצחק לשוח בשדה, the word לשוח is basically the same as שיח השדה, “the plants that grow in the field,” (Genesis 2,5). Yitzchok went out to plant useful vegetation, trees, etc., and to check the work of his employees. While he was thus occupied he happened to espy גמלים באים, camels approaching. He came closer to see if per chance they were the camels belonging to his father which the servant Eliezer had been leading.

ויצא יצחק לשוח, he had detoured from his regular path to the field in order to pour out his heart to G’d in prayer. He did not want to be interrupted in his devotion by passing travelers whom he would have to greet. This was in spite of the fact that he had already prayed in Beer lachay Ro-i. His prayer had been answered already, in accordance with Daniel 10,12 מן היום אשר נתת את לבך להבין ולהענות...נשמעו דבריך, “for from the first day you set your mind to get understanding, practicing abstinence before your G’d, your prayer was heard and I have come because of your prayer.”

ויצא יצחק, he left the town where he had spent the night. He went without knowing it, on the same route that Rivkah his wife to be was traveling on the way to meet him. He had gone out

לשוח בשדה, “to pray in the field.” The expression שיח means “prayer.” Although the sages have said that it is bad manners for someone to pray in the outdoors, this case was special seeing the location was Mount Moriah, as our sages are on record that Yitzchok referred to G’d as שדה, “field.” [the field being the source of all nutrition for man and beast on earth. Ed.] Alternately, what the sages disapproved of was prayer in the בקעה an open area frequented by travelers who would be a distraction to the person concentrating on his prayer. A שדה, an open field not frequented by people would not be a source of distraction, and offering one’s prayers there would be approved by the sages.

A term for prayer, as in, “He pours out his prayer.” Question: For the verse ישפוך שיחו (Tehillim 102:1), the Gemara in Avodah Zarah 7b uses the verse over here לשוח בשדה as a source that שיח means prayer [as if our verse was the source]?! Tosafos answer (in Berachos 26b) that this is the way of the Gemara. For we see that the Gemara (Megillah 13a) proves Esther was righteous because it is written about her (Esther 2:7), “He brought up Hadassah,” and it is written (Zechariah 1:7), “And he was standing among the hadassim.” Just as in Zechariah 1:7 it refers to the righteous, so too in Esther 2:7. Yet, in Sanhedrin (93a) the Gemara brings the proof the other way around. But this does not seem right to me. Rather, the answer is: Both verses are needed [to prove that שיח means prayer.] With ישפוך שיחו alone, we would think that שיח means speech, not prayer, since that same verse already said תפלה לעני. But לשוח בשדה [must mean prayer, for] with whom was Yitzchok speaking? Perforce, he established [the afternoon] prayer. And with לשוח בשדה alone, we would think that לשוח means as it does in Demai 1:1: “בנות שוח (white figs).” I.e., Yitzchok went for a walk among the trees in the field. This is why Rashi brings a proof from ישפוך שיחו. (Maharshal)

ויצא יצחק לשוח בשדה לפנות ערב, the שיחה, “conversation,” referred to here is the afternoon prayer, a tradition (the duty to pray at regular intervals) he had learned from his father. The reason why the Torah added the words לפנות ערב, is to teach that this governs the period when the sun has entered the western part of its orbit around the earth. [at that time the earth was presumed to be the center of our galaxy. Ed.]

שוח wovon שיחים Bäume, Pflanzen, bezeichnet das innere Wachsen des Geistes und Gemütes, das Zunehmen der Gedanken und Gefühle (vergl. צוץ — שוש -sein Inneres neu tränken mit den Gedanken und Ge :התפלל Sowie .(צמח — שמח fühlen der Reinheit und Lauterkeit (=התבלל). Die Weisen erklären es hier auch als wirkliches Beten, wie באים — .שפוך שיח, Kamele, die auf seine Wohnung hinzogen.

ויצא יצחק, “Yitzchok went forth;” (he left his house) seeing that the Torah does not specify from where “Yitzchok went out,” our sages have understood it to mean that he left Gan Eden, where he had spent the last three years after undergoing the akeydah on Mount Moriah. (Compare our comments page 164 on Genesis 22,19)

והנה גמלים באים, when he had gone out to pray, the camels were already headed in his direction. This is what Rivkah referred to when she asked about the man walking “toward us?” (verse 65) This is because when Yitzchok returned from Beer lachay Ro-i to his house he was walking from the north to the south. People coming from Charan (Aram Naharaym) headed for Avraham’s house would be traveling from the east to the west. This is why after having deviated from his route which would have taken him from north to south, and walking in an easterly direction instead, Yitzchok would be walking in the direction from which the camels were approaching, from the land known also as ארץ בני קדם the land belonging to the people of the East. He had reason to believe that Rivkah would come from that direction.

לשוח בשדה, to walk among the bushes,

לשוח בשדה, “to the shrubs in the field.” The word is familiar to us from Genesis 2,5: שיח השדה, “vegetation of the field,” it is also familiar to us from Genesis 21,15: תחת אחת השיחים, “under one of the bushes” where Hagar abandoned her son Yishmael who was about to die. An alternate exegesis: it is related to the word: שיחה, “conversation;” it then means that Yitzchok went into the field to converse with G-d (pray).

לפנות ערב, at the time when the sun turns down towards the horizon. This is the time of day when many people go for a walk among the shrubs and bushes. While he was thus walking, he raised his eyes looking further along the route he was walking on and he saw גמלים באים, and he veered off his path to walk toward them to check if this was Avraham’s servant Eliezer who was walking at the head. This is what Rivkah meant when she referred to the man who was walking לקראתנו, (verse 65). ותשא, she thought that possibly the man approaching might be Yitzchok; this is why she asked the servant, to find out if her assumption was correct.