Chasidut su Genesi 14:14

Abraham’s insistence on this oath is disturbing. Would he not trust Eliezer’s solemn commitment? Eliezer had been Abraham’s most loyal student.³⁰See Gen. 15:2 and the commentary of Rashi, s.v. u-vein meshek beisi and Dammesek. The two had fought together and depended on one another in battle.³¹See Gen.14:14 and Rashi’s commentary on that verse. Abraham had trusted Eliezer’s loyalty to defend his life; why would he not trust Eliezer’s word? One might posit that Eliezer’s word was not trustworthy in the absence of an oath since he was not a member of Abraham’s family. This solution would not apply to a different circumstance of oath-taking in the Torah.

‎Genesis 14,14. “when Avram heard that his brother (nephew) had ‎been taken captive, etc.” When the Torah continues and speaks ‎about Avram taking with him 318 men in his pursuit of ‎Kedorleomer and his armies as far north as the tribal territory of ‎Dan (in the future), the number 318 is not accidental, but ‎represents the numerical value of the word ‎שיח‎, another word for ‎דבור‎, suggesting that Avram defeated these armies by means of ‎uttering the holy name of G’d. [The reader is referred to when ‎Moses killed the Egyptian in Exodus 2,13, an act referred to in ‎Exodus 2,14 as having been accomplished by a word, i.e. ‎אומר‎. Ed.] ‎The word ‎דבור ‏‎ also means ‎הנהגה‎, leadership; the word ‎שיח=318‏‎ ‎also occurs in the sense of ‎השפלה‎, humiliation, i.e. Avram ‎humiliated these boastful kings. The word occurs in Proverbs ‎‎23,27 in that sense, i.e. ‎שוחה עמוקה זונה‎, “a harlot is a deep pit.” ‎‎[The author is at pains to understand the number of men Avram ‎took with him as also having profound symbolical meaning. Ed.]‎