창세기 24:28의 인용 해설

Because her mother had died... Regarding Rivkah it is written (24:28), “The girl told her mother’s household.” [Why here did Rochel tell her father?] Thus Rashi explains that Rochel’s mother had died.

WHO WAS BORN TO BETHUEL THE SON OF MILCAH THE WIFE OF NAHOR, ABRAHAM’s BROTHER. Because Nahor also had children from his concubine Reumah,¹¹³Above, 22:24. they always described the lineage of Bethuel by saying that he was the son of Milcah who was the mistress of the household. And because the girl mentioned her father’s mother first, as it says, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah¹¹⁴Further, Verse 24. — for such was customary among the girls, analogous to the verse, And she told her mother’s house¹¹⁵Verse 28 here. — therefore Scripture mentions in the verse before us that he [Bethuel] was the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor. But the servant later said, And she said, The daughter of Bethuel Nahor’s son,¹¹⁶Verse 47 here. for he corrected the matter as is ethically proper. However, he did say, whom Milcah bore unto him,¹¹⁶Verse 47 here. in order to state that Bethuel was the son of the mistress and not the concubine.

AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THE MASTER HEARD. She told him about it at the time of conjugal intimacy. Matters such as these did your servant to me, i.e., matters of intimacy such as these. So says Rashi.
So also did they say in Bereshith Rabbah:²³⁹87:10. “Rabbi Abahu said, ‘She said it to him at the time of conjugal relations.’”
Now I wonder. Joseph’s master was a castrate,²⁴⁰Sotah 13b. who had married his wife during his youth, and the Rabbis expounded, “ ‘Sris’ (a captain of) Pharaoh²⁴¹Above, 37:36. — this teaches us that he bought Joseph for carnal purposes only, but the Holy One, blessed be He, caused Joseph’s master to become castrated.”²⁴²The Hebrew word for castrate is saris, the same word mentioned in the verse above. Moreover, how would she dare discredit herself and become loathsome in the eyes of her husband by telling him that she had committed adultery, whether by force or with acquiescence, which would have merited mortal punishment, for why did she not cry out at the outset, so that he should run away, as she did at the end? Now to the men of her house she said, He came unto me to lie with me,²⁴³Verse 14 here. but not that he lay with her, only that he came to do so, but she cried out and he fled. And surely she would hide the matter from her husband. And should you say that she told him so in order that his anger be kindled against him and that he should kill him, [it would have been sufficient for this purpose that she say that he attempted to violate her, for] any servant that attempts to violate his master’s wife deserves the death penalty!
It is possible that they intended to explain the expression, Matters such as these, as meaning matters of intimacy, meaning, exposing and caressing but not actual intimacy, as his master had become physically castrate, having been visited by a disease which resulted in a lack of desire for conjugal relations, as is the case with a shachuf.²⁴⁴One whose genitals are atrophied.
In line with the literal interpretation of Scripture there is no need for all this, for the Hebrew letter kaph, in the word kadvarim, is not for the purpose of expressing comparison to other matters. Instead its meaning is “these things.”²⁴⁵I.e., only to indicate approximation, and here meaning: “matters as these, more or less.” A similar usage [of the letter kaph is found in these verses]: And she told her mother’s house ‘kadvarim ha’eileh’ (according to these words);²⁴⁶Above, 24:28. And when he had spoken unto me ‘kadvarim ha’eileh’ (according to these words) I set my face toward the ground.²⁴⁷Daniel 10:15. There are many similar verses. It may be that the verse is saying that when his master heard his wife’s words which she told him — “Your servant did unto me such matters as these which I had immediately related to the men of the house” — then his anger was kindled.
It is possible that the kaph is here used for exaggeration, similar to its use in the verses: Why speaketh my lord ‘kadvarim ha’eileh’ (such words as these)?²⁴⁸Further 44:7. And there have befallen me such things as these (‘ka’eileh’)?²⁴⁹Leviticus 10:19.
Now due to his master’s love for Joseph he did not kill him, or it was a miracle of G-d, or knowing Joseph’s righteousness, he doubted her words. Similarly the Rabbis said in Bereshith Rabbah:²⁵⁰Bereshith Rabbah 87:10. “The master said to Joseph, ‘I know this charge against you is false, but lest a stigma fall on my children,²⁵¹Lest people say; “Just as she was free with you, so she was with others, and the children she had are not his.” [I will put you in prison].’”