Комментарий к Берешит 24:21

משתאה WAS WONDERING — The word really has the idea of being waste and desolate, as (Isaiah 6:11) “Until cities be waste (שאו) and the land become utterly desolate תשאה.

והאיש משתאה, the word is derived from Isaiah 6,11 תשאה שממה, and the letter ת is similar to the letter ת in the word ישתבח which is derived from שבח, or the ת in the word וישתמר in the phrase וישתמר חוקות עמדי, which is derived from the root שמר, (compare Micah 6,16). Here the word משתאה means the same as משתומם, being amazed at this girl volunteering that she would also draw water for his camels. From these words of her he understood that G’d had heard his prayer. Commentators who understand the word משתאה as being related to שתייה, drink, are in error. Such an interpretation is impossible, seeing that the letter א in that word cannot be related to שתייה at all. Furthermore, Rivkah had not mentioned anything about watering the camels until after he himself had finished drinking already. At that point Eliezer began to wonder.

Wondering at her. He was amazed at her zeal.

והאיש משתאה לה מחריש, And the man was amazed at her, remaining silent, etc. The Torah explains here that though Eliezer had no longer any reason to await Rebeccah's completing her task of watering the camels seeing she had already done much more than he had stipulated in his prayer, he kept his peace. One of the reasons he waited before enquiring from her about who she was may have been that he wanted to test whether she would indeed complete the onerous task of drawing water for all the ten camels as she had promised to do, or if she would tire in the process and carry out less than she had promised. As soon as she completed watering all the camels he gave her the jewelry intended for Isaac's bride.

והאיש משתאה לה, he was amazed at her, i.e. at the speed with which she went about her work. However, he still kept silent, not wanting to ask her who she was until she would have completed providing the camels with water.

Because the verb “drink” does not take an א. Rashi is saying: [If it means “drinking”] why is there an א? It is plausible according to Onkelos, who said it means שהייה (waiting), for the verb root is שהי or שהה. Thus, the א replaces the third letter of the root, which is י or ה. But if it means שתייה (drinking) whose root is שתה, then all three letters of the root are found in משתאה. [Why is there an א?].

שאה ,משתאה, Grundbedeutung: öde, davon: die Unklarheit der Vorstellung, השתאה ל־: sich im Anstaunen halten. Die Erfüllung überragte alle seine Vorstellungen und Erwartungen, er wollte immer sprechen, hielt sich jedoch immer zurück, um schließlich zu erfahren, ob das so sehr seinen Voraussetzungen entsprechende Mädchen denn auch hinsichtlich ihrer Abstammung Abrahams Bedingungen entspreche. — משתאֵה, stat. const. er war ein sie Anstaunender, staunte sie fortwährend an. —

משתאה לה, although literally “at her,” the word לה here is to be understood as if the Torah had written: עליה, “about her.” We find a similar formulation in Numbers 23,23: כעת יאמר ליעקב ולישראל, “at that time it is reported about Israel, etc.”

משתאה means he was astonished and perplexed, because he saw that what he had said was nearly successful only that he did not know whether she belonged to Abraham’s family or not. Do not be puzzled by the ת in the word משתאה for you will find no word (verb) whose first root letter is ש where, when it is used in the Hithpael, the ת of the Hithpael-prefix does not come between the first two letters of the root, as e.g. משתאה (here) and (Isaiah 59:15) משתולל of the same root as שולל, and (Isaiah 59:16) וישתומם of the same root as שממה and (Micha 6:16) “For the statutes of Omri are kept (וישתמר )” from the same root as וישמר —so, also, here משתאה is of the same root as תשאה. Now, just as you find the expression שמם (which really means waste and desolate) applied to a person who is perplexed and speechless (with amazement) and sunk in deep thought (about what is happening) — e. g., (Job 18:20) “They that come after shall be astonished (נשמו) at his day”, and (Jeremiah 2:12) “Be astonished (שומו) ye heavens”, and (Daniel 4:16) “He was appalled אשתומם for a time” — so too you may explain the expression שאה (which also really means waste and desolate) in all its verbal or noun forms as referring to a person who is perplexed and sunk deep in thought. Onkelos translates it in the sense of lingering — “the man lingered” — i. e. he wailed, standing on one spot, to see “whether God had made his journey prosperous”. But one should not read in the Targum שתי in place of שהי, as the Targum of משתאה, (as evidently some versions of the Targum read), for the word משתאה certainly does not mean drinking, for א has no place in the Hebrew words which mean drinking root (שתה).

Remained silent. He did not try to dissuade her from troubling herself. Waiting to determine. The way she performed her good deeds was to be the test.

ההצליח, if she were also a member of a good family, and one related to Avraham.

הצליח, von צלה, verwandt mit שלה, etwas einem Ziele zu in Bewegung setzen. Der צ-Laut bringt die Nuance des Überwindens von Hindernissen und צלח heißt daher: mit Überwindung aller entgegenstehenden Hindernisse zu einem Ziele gelangen. So vom durch nichts zu hemmenden Fortschritt des Feuers: פן יצלח כאש בית יוסף (Amos 5, 6). הצליח: etwas glücklich zum Ziele gelangen lassen. Vielleicht ist auch סלח damit verwandt. Der schuldbelastete Mensch verdient in seinem Lebenslauf gehemmt zu werden. Ihm gleichwohl noch ein Fortschreiten zu einer neuen Zukunft gestatten, ihn diesem Fortschreiten wieder geben heißt: סלח, verzeihen.

משתאה לה means he was wondering about her, just as the ל has the meaning “about” in (20:13) “Say of me (לי), he is my brother”, and (26:7) “And the men of the place asked about his wife.

Whether Ad-noy had made. If she acted out of pure kindness he would know that his mission was successful.

Or not. If she expected payment she was not the right one