This week. Sarah dies at age 127 and is buried in the Machpeilah Cave in Hebron, which Abraham purchases from Ephron the Hittite for 400 shekels of silver. Abraham’s servant then travels to Aram to find a wife for Isaac. Isaac marries Rebecca and is comforted over the loss of his mother. Abraham takes a new wife, Keturah and fathers six additional sons, but Isaac is designated as his only heir. Abraham dies at age 175 and is buried beside Sarah by his two eldest sons, Isaac and Ishmael. Abraham dies.
Please stand with me as I read from this week’s parsha:
The context of this passage is that Eliezer has arrived in Mesopotamia to find a wife for Isaac. He has encountered Rebecca. So, he is considering whether or not she is the one.
Gen 24:21 The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the LORD had prospered his journey or not.
Gen 24:22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels,
Gen 24:23 and said, “Please tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”
Gen 24:24 She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.”
Gen 24:25 She added, “We have plenty of both straw and fodder, and room to spend the night.”
Gen 24:26 The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD
Gen 24:27 and said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the LORD has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.”
The following is from the FFOZ Torah Club Volume 5.
Eliezer decided that this girl was the one chosen for Isaac even before he learned that she was Abraham’s grand niece. When he realized who she was, he saw how the powerful hand of God had orchestrated the events of the day. If he had been an English speaking Christian born in our time, he might have said, “Hallelujah! Praise the LORD!”
Eliezer prostrated himself before God and offered a blessing or in Hebrew a bra’cha. This classic Hebrew blessing follows a standard formula. It begins with a declaration of the blessedness of God, “Blessed be the LORD.” Then God is identified further, “the God of my master Abraham.” Finally, it describes some act on the part of God that includes the inspiration for the blessing, “who has not forsaken his love and faithfulness toward my master.”
Blessings following this pattern appear frequently in the Bible and in Jewish liturgy where they constitute the basic units of the prayers. In short, these types of prayer boasts about God by speaking of His acts and deeds. It declares God’s blessedness while adding a boast regarding who He is and what He has done.
Now, when God blesses something, He makes a declaration of His goodness upon it. God blessed animals and human beings and told them to be fruitful and multiply. He blessed the Sabbath day. In the Torah, fathers bless their children and when they do they speak words of hope, encouragement, and prophesy. They speak of goodness and benefit for their children.
We understand how God might bless us and give a blessing to a human being, but in what way can human beings give Him a blessing? He doesn’t need anything from us; but He needs our blessing in that He desires to have fellowship with us. Two people can’t enjoy relationship without mutual respect and goodwill between them. The same is true in our relationship with God.
Our blessing of God amounts mostly to a simple acknowledgement. We can’t add to the blessedness of God. We have nothing to add to the One who made us, but when we bless Him we align our souls back to their maker. Man’s wayward heart defies God. When a person blesses God, he forces his wayward heart to acknowledge the truth that God is blessed, good, and worthy of blessing and goodwill.
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