Commentaire sur La Genèse 24:23

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.

מקום לנו ללין. Is there room in your father’s house to stay the night so that we do not have to spend the night in an inn?

היש בית אביך מקום, are they prepared to welcome strangers as guests as was customary in that time?

בת מי את, הגידי, "Whose daughter are you? Tell me, etc." The Torah lumps both these questions together to show that Eliezer did not entertain any doubts that the girl must belong to Abraham's family. Had he entertained such doubts he could not have enquired immediately about the chance of lodging in her parents' home until he had clarified who her parents were. He merely wanted to know her father's name. He added his enquiry about staying at her parents' overnight to emphasise that this had nothing to do with her father's name, that he was convinced G'd had guided him to the right family.

ויאמר, he now asked about her family, and whether in the home of such a family there was room to accommodate him and his entourage.

מקום לנו ללין,”we have enough room to offer guests to stay overnight.” He meant “enough room to accommodate animals overnight?” She replied מקום לנו ללון, We have enough room to accommodate visiting strangers overnight. (including their beasts).” Although Eliezer had not enquired about fodder for his camels, she volunteered that all this was included in the invitation. He was not to think that he had to pay for it. She made it plain that her father would be offended if he offered to pay for the accommodation or the fodder.

ויאמר בת מי את, “he said: ’whose daughter are you?‘“ The true meaning of this verse is that the servant had asked this question already before he gave Rivkah the jewelry. It is quite inconceivable that Eliezer should have been handing out such expensive jewelry to a stranger he knew nothing about. This is not the only time that you find in this story that the Torah did not report it in the exact sequence in which the events occurred. You find proof that when Eliezer recounted in Bethuel’s house what had occurred, (24,47) he related that he gave her the jewelry after having ascertained who she was. In Leviticus 9,22 the Torah writes that Aaron raised his hands and they (Moses and Aaron) blessed the people, after which he (Aaron) descended from having performed the sin-offering.” The meaning there is clearly that Moses and Aaron blessed the people after Aaron had descended from the altar. Nonetheless, the Torah saw fit to describe this in a manner which could lead us to receive the wrong impression.

He asked her this after giving her... Although in Eliezer’s recount to Lavan (v. 47) it is written that he first asked and then he gave, Rashi explained there that Eliezer changed the story so they would not catch [something incongruous] in his words. Eliezer’s recount to Lavan cannot be the primary version, while here [we apply the rule that] Torah narratives are not always in chronological order, because within one topic the Torah observes chronological order. (Re’m) A question on the Re’m: In the beginning of Parshas Vayeira, Rashi explains on, “He said, My Master...” (18:3), that the Torah is not following chronological order. Yet there, it is within one topic! And Rashi there brings proof from, “My spirit will not continue to judge man forever” (6:3).

הגידי נא, er erwartet nicht, dass das Mädchen dies ohne weiteres einem fremden Manne sagen würde und wiederholt daher die Bitte dringender.

ויאמר, בת מי את, he said: “whose daughter are you?” He had asked this question before giving her anything, as is clear from when he repeats what took place before sharing any food with her family in verse 47 of this chapter. An alternate interpretation: the line: “the man took out a golden nose ring,” is to be understood literally; he did something completely appropriate as a reward for the girl’s having let him and his camels to drink, a task which had consumed time and effort. He also meant to show that he was a servant of a wealthy man. When telling her family at the dinner table what had transpired at the well, he added that he had first enquired from her about her family status; he did so in order to flatter the family, suggesting that he would not have given her such gifts before knowing that she was a member of Avraham’s family. נזם זהב, the translation of this word by the Targum here is different from the same word in Exodus 35,22. This word sometimes means a ring worn in the ear, other times a ring worn in the nose.

ללין TO LODGE IN — the word means one night’s lodging. The word לין is a noun (of the same form as גיל ,שיר). She however said (Genesis 24:25) ללון (a verb, “to lodge” generally) meaning many nights’ lodging (Genesis Rabbah 60:6).

ללין, the word לין is a noun, just as the word ריב in Deuteronomy 25,1כי יהיה ריב בין אנשים , “when there is a quarrel between men, etc.” is a noun. It is a derivative of Genesis 31,36 וירב בלבן, he “(Yaakov) quarreled with Lavan.” The word דין is a similar noun derived from דן אנכי in Genesis 15,14. לין is in a similar relationship to Genesis 32,14 וילן שם בלילה הוא, “he spent that night there.” (the night of the wrestling match with the angel on the far side of the river Yabbok) Rivkah’s answer גם מקום ללון (as opposed to the word ללין in Eliezer’s enquiry) meant that there is room for you and your men’s bodies to spend the night with us. The formulation ללון is a verbal formulation just as in Genesis 31,35 לקום, where Rachel excuses herself for not rising in the presence of her father. It is also similar to the formulation (verbal infinitive) לשוב מצרימה “to return to Egypt” in Exodus 4,21. If Rivkah had said: גם מקום לכם, she would have had to continue with the word ללין instead of the word ללון. Whereas the word לנו used by Eliezer meant that he and his men would be prepared to spend the night where the camels spent it, the word ללון after the word עמנו, “with us,” which clearly refers to Rivkah and her family, i.e. accommodation designed for human beings. She therefore meant to say: “why would you need to spend the night at an inn? This is the correct meaning as understood by people who understand the nuances of the Holy Tongue, i.e. Hebrew as written in the Torah.

ללין, so that both we and our camels can stay the night there?

?היש בית אביך מקום ללין, The meaning of the word ללין is a verbal mode meaning the same as להלין, “to provide lodging.” The letter י indicates the transitive conjugation hiphil. The word ללון by comparison which is in the simple conjugation (intransitive) kal, describes what the person enjoying the lodging does, i.e. spend the night. Both the enquiry and the response are the same, i.e. Rivkah answered the question asked, she did not answer obliquely, seeing that she used the verb “to lodge” in a different conjugation. After all, Eliezer had asked her both about lodging for the camels and lodging for himself and his men. It is possible to understand the exchange between Eliezer and Rivkah as meaning: “is there room in your father’s house to provide lodging,” a reference to the camels only, whereas Rivkah responds “not only is there room for the camels but there is also room for the men.” The author quotes Job 24,7 to show that the verb לון when used in the transitive mode ערום ילינו מבלי לבוש, “they will have to spend the night without clothing” also means the same as the intransitive conjugation ילונו.

ללין, ”for an overnight stay.” The word is a noun, as opposed to ללון which would be the verb from the same root. The meaning is that there is accommodation for a single night’s lodging. This is the way our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 60,6 interpret this word. Rivkah had changed the word and had said ללון, implying that Eliezer would be welcome for a more extended stay although he had inquired only if he could stay for a single night. She used the word in its infinitive which does not carry any connotation of a limited time.
The correct interpretation is that the word ללין is a transitive form of the verb, i.e. Eliezer asked whether lodging overnight could be provided in her father’s house. Whereas Eliezer had asked whether he and his entourage could be assigned a place in her father’s house to spend the night, Rivkah replied that he did not need to be assigned such a place but that he could choose where in her father’s house he wished to spend the night. By saying ללון, i.e. using the intransitive form of the word, Rivkah indicated that Eliezer would have the choice of a number of accommodations in her father’s house.

One night’s lodging. Otherwise, why does it not say the same in both places: either ללין or ללון?

ושני צמידים על ידיה, “and two bracelets on her hands.” The word: שם , “he placed,” has been omitted in this verse.

לין is a noun. This noun is similar to שיר and ניר. But ללון is an infinitive that can mean many lodgings or one lodging.

ללין, this is a noun meaning: “a place that serves as shelter for the night.” He asked whether there was nearby an inn for travelers. (He did not ask for accommodation for his ten men and camels as a favour). The formulation ללין is parallel to the formulation לדין, and the noun ריב “quarrel,” from the root רוב, “to fight.” When used as a verb we find the formulation: וילן, “he stayed overnight.”