Komentarz do Rodzaju 24:33

עד אם דברתי UNTIL THAT I HAVE SPOKEN — This is the same as עד אשר, so that you see that אם has the meaning of both אשר and כי, an example of the latter usage being (49:10) “Until that (עד כי) men come to Shiloh” (where עד כי is equivalent to עד אם in our verse). That is what our Sages, of blessed memory, have said (Rosh Hashanah 3a): The word כי is used in four meanings. One of these they say, is אי which is the Aramaic for the Hebrew word "im".

עד אם דברתי דברי. Having noted that G’d had indicated that He approved of the way he had been handling his assignment, Eliezer concluded that he must not eat and drink until he had concluded his mission.

ויושם, the word is spelled ויישם, “he placed,” although it is read as vayussam, “it was placed.” We find a similar anomaly in Genesis 50,26 when placing Joseph’s remains in a coffin is reported. The root of the verb is ישם.

ויושם לפניו לאכול, “food was placed before him.” There is a difference between the spelling and the reading of the word ויישם, which is read as if it had been spelled ויושם. According to ancient sources, including Yonathan ben Uziel, some poison had been placed in Eliezer’s food so that he would die and Bethuel and Lavan would appropriate to themselves all the riches he had brought with him. The attempt ended in failure, as a mistake was made and the plate with the poisoned food was placed in front of Bethuel. This is why the word was spelled with two letters י, the equivalent of the name of G-d. [When you combine the two letters י which are part of the written text, and you add the letter ו, which is read, you obtain the number 26, the same as the numerical value of the four-lettered ineffable name י-ה-ו-ה. Ed.] According to Psalms 124,2 [the psalmist reputedly had this incident in mind when he composed that hymn, Ed.] this was a hint that had it not been for the merit of Avraham Eliezer would have eaten the poisoned food. While he waited with eating until he had spelled out why he had come there, this afforded the angel the opportunity to switch plates. When the Torah says at the end of that paragraph ויאכלו וישתו הוא והאנשים אשר עמו, “they ate and they drank, he and the men who were with him,” this is to draw our attention to the fact that the members of Bethuel’s household did not eat as they were mourning the sudden death of Bethuel caused by his eating the poison he had prepared for Eliezer. This also accounts for the fact that in verse 55 only Rivkah’s brother and mother are mentioned as requesting a delay in her departure. Her father had died and thus could not offer an opinion.

Here אם is used as a term for אשר as well as כי... Rashi is answering the question: אם [in its usual sense of “if”] implies uncertainty whether Eliezer spoke. Yet, he surely spoke! Rashi answers: אם [also] means “that,” [as seen from the] כי in עד כי יבא שילה (49:10), where כי means “that.” [And since כי means אם, as Rashi explains here, it follows that] אם means “that.”

ויישם, “it was placed before him;” although this word is spelled here with two letters י, it is meant to be read and understood as if it had been written: ויושם. (Compare also Rashi).

ויאמר דבר, either Lavan or Betuel is the subject

This is what is meant when our Sages said... Rashi is answering the question: [אם means “that”] because אם is like כי, [and כי means “that”]. But כי has only four meanings, אלא דילמא אי דהא, and אם is not one of them! If so, how do we know that אם means “that”? Rashi answers: “This is what is meant when our Sages said... and one is אי which means אם.” Thus we see that כי means אם. Here too, אם is like כי, and means “that.”