{"id":2413,"date":"2004-11-09T09:49:17","date_gmt":"2004-11-09T14:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kith.org\/journals\/vardibidian\/2004\/11\/09\/2413.html"},"modified":"2018-03-12T16:47:25","modified_gmt":"2018-03-12T21:47:25","slug":"parshah-chaye-sarah-wrapup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/2004\/11\/09\/parshah-chaye-sarah-wrapup\/","title":{"rendered":"Parshah Chaye Sarah wrap-up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>We discussed Chaye Sarah (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/kjv\/Gen\/Gen023.html\">23:1<\/a>-25:18) at synagogue, and it was interesting and fun, even if (or perhaps because) we went in a different direction than I had expected. We wound up talking a good deal about Eliezer, and the way that he acts independently of Abraham. The idea of autonomy came up, Eliezer&#8217;s and Rebecca&#8217;s.\n<p>The other line of thinking was the way the story-telling focused us on certain things. One lad (not yet bar-mitzvah, but close) suggested that the purpose of the scene was not so much to point out Rebecca to Eliezer as to us; Eliezer would have found her anyway, of course, but we might not be convinced that she&#8217;s the best woman for the job. Another woman pointed out that there are two qualifications: lineage (Abraham&#8217;s criterion) and kindness (Eliezer&#8217;s). Because of the scene at the well, the kindness comes first; expressions of kindness after the betrothal or marriage would give a different emphasis.\n<p>Finally, I wound up spontaneously making the comparison with Saul offering his daughter in marriage to whoever kills Goliath (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/kjv\/1Sa\/1Sa017.html#25\">1 Samuel 17:25<\/a>); I&#8217;d rather my Perfect Reader, when of marryin&#8217; age, marry a camel-waterer than a giant-killer. I should note, I suppose, that Saul doesn&#8217;t make that vow himself, or is only rumored to make it. Also, that David does not marry the daughter in question, but a different daughter, much later, and that was the whole fleeing out the window story, so that whole vow isn't completed, if it even took place. Also, in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/kjv\/Jos\/Jos015.html#16\">Joshua 15:16<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/kjv\/Jdg\/Jdg001.html#12\">Judges 1:12<\/a> Caleb offers his daughter Achsah&#8217;s hand to whoever takes the town of Kir'iath-se'pher, and that turns out rather well, particularly for Achsah. Jephthah&#8217;s vow <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/kjv\/Jdg\/Jdg011.html#30\">(Judges 11:31-32)<\/a>, though, turns out rather badly. The four are compared in Leviticus Rabbah; there is a general tone of disapproval, although clearly Jephthah comes in for the worst of it (as well he should). Anyway, of the four vows, Eliezer&#8217;s comes out the best, and is the one made in the spirit of kindness.\n<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;,<br>-Vardibidian.\n<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We discussed Chaye Sarah (23:1-25:18) at synagogue, and it was interesting and fun, even if (or perhaps because) we went in a different direction than I had expected. We wound up talking a good deal about Eliezer, and the way&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[207],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scripture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2413"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17190,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413\/revisions\/17190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}