Eliezer: A notch below Avraham Avinu

 Eliezer is presented in the Parsha of Chayei Sarah as a man of uncanny foresight, diplomacy, and true devotion to his master. 

It would seem, though, in my humble opinion, that a contradistinction is being made between Avraham, whose son, Yitzhak, would be the forbearer of the Jewish people, and Eliezer who Avraham avers could never succeed him. When Avraham turns to Hashem in his old age, yet childless, he states, "And all I have is Eliezer to inherit me." 

In this week's parsha, I think, through this contradistinction we see what Avraham exemplifies in this world, and why Eliezer - though the text never in fact states that the servant is indeed Eliezer - fell short. 

Eliezer needed to give God a test, not at a time of great duress - he could have waited for "women's hours" at the well to be over - but rather, that was a normative means of operating for him. Few are the incidences in the Tanach where we see our leaders give God a test, or seek to learn the unknown before its time. Shaul, famously sought assurance before the battle that would end his life; the assurance he received was anything but. 

Secondly, on multiple occasions, Eliezer, when he shares over the narrative leading up to Rivka's invitation to her homes, feels compelled to hide information, or change the sequence in which they actually occurred. A true leader has little to hide, doesn't feel compelled to rewrite history by denying part of the past. It would seem that the message is that someone who lives in the present, does not find himself, in the future, having to rewrite the past. 

I humbly think that a higher level on Eliezer's part would have been to wait and see, or to pray, as he camped at the periphery of the grounds of the well. The fact that the text says that Eliezer hadn't finished concocting his trial, and already, the young maiden had left, pitcher on her shoulder in the direction of the well, comes to show that the trial wasn't needed; it wasn't Eliezer's test that was needed but God's initial design. A friend did share with me that the way he reads it is that Eliezer's prayers are what brought Rivka out of her home, but I humbly beg to differ from my reading of the text. Please kindly share any insight you may have.