Commentaire sur La Genèse 24:53

ומגדנות PRECIOUS THINGS — it has the same meaning as מגדים (cf. Song 7:14) “precious fruits״, for he had brought with him various kinds of fruit from the land of Israel (Genesis Rabbah 60:11).

כלי כסף וכלי זהב, women’s jewelry made of either silver or gold similar to what is described in Numbers 31,50 איש אשר מצא כלי זהב אצעדה וגו', “if someone found golden jewelry such as, etc.” A similar verse appears in Exodus 3,22 where G’d promises that at the Exodus the Jewish women will request from their neighbours and will receive כלי כלי כסף וכלי זהב ושמלות, “silver and golden jewelry and fine garments and they will dress their children in these.”

ויוצא, seeing that Rivkah had been given to him, he produced more silver, gold, and clothing.

ויוצא העבד כלי כסף וכלי זהב ובגדים ויתן לרבקה . “The servant unpacked silver and golden trinkets and garments, and gave all of them to Rivkah.” These she was to take with them back to the home of Yitzchok. To Rivkah’s brother and mother he only gave exotic fruit and other condiments. If he had handed the silver and golden trinkets to her family, they surely would have remained in their possession.

מגדנות. Man ist durch nichts berechtigt, hier an etwas anderes, als an köstliche Früchte und nicht an wertvolle Kostbarkeiten zu denken. מגד, wovon offenbar das Wort gebildet ist, kommt nur in diesem Sinne vor, und מגדנות steht, wo es mit noch anderen Dingen, wie Esra 1, 6 und Chron. II. 21, 3 vorkommt, immer zuletzt, war somit wohl nicht das Wertvollste. Geschenke von Wert gab er der jungen Braut. Confitüres, Artigkeiten, der Mutter und dem Bruder; dem Vater — gar nichts! Es ist dies wohl zu beachten. Was hat man nicht alles in unsere jüdische Vergangenheit hinein und zurück datiert! Erzählungen und Märchen von Reisenden über die jetzigen Gewohnheiten von Orientalen mussten — nach dem Axiom: "Alles ist im Orient stabil und homogen" — die Schablone abgeben, nach welcher man sich das jüdische Altertum zurecht legte. Das מהר ומתן, das man einigemal findet, ward sofort unter der archäologischen Brille zu einem Kaufpreis, den der Bräutigam den Eltern gibt. Hier haben wir doch auch eine "orientalische" Heirat, aber dem Vater gibt Elieser nichts und den anderen Gliedern der Familie nur Aufmerksamkeiten von untergeordnetem Werte. (Beiläufig hatten sich ja auch Rachel und Lea ganz außerordentlich tief verletzt gefühlt, dass Laban sich hatte für sie bezahlen lassen und hatten noch nach zwanzig Jahren nicht vergessen: כי מכרנו!)

ומגדנות, this word includes anything of value, including exotic fruit and fancy garments. The word appears also in Chronicles II 32,23 in a similar sense.

ויוצא העבד כלי כסף, “the servant brought out silver trinkets, etc.” The trinkets mentioned here were intended as gifts accompanying the betrothal, whereas the ones mentioned earlier were gifts for his hosts. Betrothal is viewed as the first step of the wedding. (Kidushin 50) According to the plain meaning of the verse, Eliezer gave the valuable gifts to Rivkah, seeing that he was certain she would take them with her to her new home, whereas he gave relatively inexpensive gifts to various members of her family. Rivkah’s father, Betuel, did not require to be “bribed” by gifts; he was happy that his daughter had been chosen to become the wife of Yitzchok, his cousin. This is reflected in the text when the Torah wrote: “ ויאמר אחיה ואמה וגו', “her brother and her mother said, etc.; (used delaying tactics) Betuel was not in favour of any delay, as he was overjoyed that she married within the family. According to the plain meaning of the text, he allowed his son and wife to speak first, seeing that they had been the recipients of gifts, or because in that household it was Lavan who was the “senior” voice seeing that he was very astute. We have read in an aggadic text that Betuel tried to poison Eliezer’s food in order to prevent the marriage and that due to an angel’s switching plates he ate the poisoned food himself and died. This is supposedly why his name no longer appears in the rest of the story. A third version. The reason that Betuel, בתואל, was known by that name was that seeing that he was the nominal chief in Aram, he had reserved the right for himself to sleep with every virgin before she became married. His peers therefore demanded that he also sleep with Rivkah before she became married, otherwise they threatened to kill him. He agreed, and that it why the angel Gavriel killed him before he could carry out his intention.

לאחיה ולאמה, for they were the mainstay of the household, Betuel being old and frail. According to an aggadic interpretation (Bereshit Rabbah 60,12) based on Lavan speaking instead of his father, he had died suddenly as he intended to raise obstacles to the marriage.