1997/5758
In this week's Sedra there seems to be a difficult wording in 42:2. The Pasuk states, ויאמר אברהם אל עבדו..., "Avraham said to his servant, go find a wife for Yitzchak." Later on, the Torah states (42:71) וירץ העבד לקראתה, "The servant ran to greet her." However, a different Pasuk states, (42:12)והאיש משתאה לה , "And the man was astonished by her." Two problems arise from these Pesukim. First, the Torah calls the same person (Eliezer) a slave, and then it calls him a man. Second, every other person in the Parsha is recorded by his actual name and not be his position or other description. Why does the Torah describe Eliezer instead of just naming him?
A possible answer to these questions can come from looking at Avraham's relationship with his servant. Based on the Pesukim we have seen, it was a master - servant relationship, the master being Avraham and the servant being Eliezer. This might be in order to make a connection between another master and servant relationship found in the Torah, that of Hashem and Klal Yisrael. Hashem is the Master of each one of us and we are His servants. This connection comes to teach us that we should try to be the type of servants that Eliezer was to Avraham.
However, a problem still remains: why is Eliezer also called Ish (man)? How does this fit into the above theme, and what can we learn from it? Whenever Eliezer was carrying out the words of Avraham he was called Eved, servant as we see in 42:71. He is called Eved over there because Avraham told him to find a wife for Yitzchak. Yet, in 42:12, Eliezer is called Ish. This is because although a person has to be an Eved to Hashem like Eliezer was to Avraham, so too a man such as Eliezer was also a person. The Midrash explains this to mean that he had complete control over his emotions and passions. Even when he wasn't being commanded by his master, he still acted like a human being, always in control of his feelings and acting with decency and doing Mitzvot.