midrash session 4

[cellio]

We began this session with a midrash from Sefer HaYashar (chapter 9), a 16th-century Yemenite (?) source (not this one), which we read in English. The midrash picks up with Avraham's lie to Sarah that we covered last time, but suggests that she's on to him:

Sarah took her son Isaac to stay in her tent that night [...] She said to him, "my son, how can my soul separate from yours? Then she kissed and hugged him more, she cried with him, and she instructed Avraham.

Essentially she gives Avraham the "take care of my baby" speech, the sort you might give on the eve of a long journey or going off to college or something like that. That's not how Avraham represented this trip to school.

In the morning Sarah took a beautiful and exquisite garment from those in her house which Avimelech had given her. She dressed Isaac her son and put a turban on his head in which she placed a precious gem.

Avimelech is the king who tried to marry Sarah after Avraham lied about her being his sister instead of his wife. (He was afraid that if he told the truth the king would kill him to take Sarah, but I've never been clear on why this lie was supposed to work, since instead of saying she was married he seemed to be saying she was available.) Rabbi Symons pointed out the significance of the garment from Avimelech: this places a visible reminder of the Avimelech incident in front of Avraham for the journey. Perhaps she is saying "you failed me; don't fail my son".

Now here's an interesting bit:

Sarah also went out with the servants to see them off. They said to her "return to your tent". Sarah listened to her son Isaac's words. She cried a great deal; her husband Avraham also cried with her. Those who went out to send them on their way cried a great deal also.

According to this midrash, everyone -- even the servants! -- seems to know that something big is going on here. Yet Sarah does not try to keep them home, and Isaac seems to be silent through all of this. (There's a reference to his words, but we don't actually get his words. And anyway, he's not bolting.) It's almost as if everyone knows, but is distinctly not talking about, God's command to Avraham. Probably even Isaac. (If so, his question three days later "where is the lamb?" would have to be rhetorical, or perhaps a way to try to get his father to actually speak directly to him about what's coming. I don't have this source's midrash on that part of the story.)

Then we returned to the text we've been working on. Here's the (scanned) Hebrew text:

Paragraph 1: "And he saddled his donkey": love confuses [1] rank. How many man-servants and how many maid-servants did he have (lit: were there to him) [muddle [2]] this tzaddik on his own saddled his donkey, to teach you his zeal [3].

[1] Another four-letter root, quf-lamed-quf-lamed.

[2] It seems to say "were to him to him (l'oto)", which doesn't make sense. I stumbled over it when we studied too, but I didn't record a clarification.

[3] zayin-reish-zayin: lively, quick, zealous (according to the dictionary we consulted; didn't see which one).

Paragraph 2: "And he took his two boys [meaning the servants]" -- these were Yishmael and Eliazer. He said: while I will draw him [4] close [5] they will guard the gear (lit. the vessels). They entered (?) a competition between Yishmael and Eliazer. Yishmael said: now father is sacrificing Yitzchak his son as a burnt offering, and I [am] his first son, and I am he who will inherit from him. Eliazer said to him: already he exiled you and he sent you to the wilderness; however, I his servant, I am serving his house day and night -- and I am the heir. And the holy spirit answered: this one will not inherit and this one will not inherit.

[4] There is an apparent typo: she'akrivenu should be she'akreveno.

[5] The word for offering a sacrifice is the same word as to draw close -- quf-reish-beit.

Eliazer (sometimes spelled Eleazer) is the chief servant whom Avraham later sends to find a wife for Yitzchak, though this turns out to be one of those things we all know but it's not there. I know the servant's name is Eleazer -- but the text doesn't actually say so. So where do I know this from? Anyway, regardless of that, this is the person the midrash is talking about.

There is an apparent problem with chronology. Yitzchak is either 13 or 37 at the time of the akeidah (depending on how you count). Yishmael is 13 years older than he is. Eleazer is described as old when he sets out on his errand. So these two "young boys" (the word is na'ar) are well into adulthood. Midrash doesn't sweat stuff like that; it moves people around in time and space as needed. Paro's advisers include Iyov (Job), Bilaam, and I think Yitro, according to one midrash.

It doesn't surprise me that tradition paints Yishmael in a negative light here, scheming about his inheritance while Yitzchak is on the mountain supposedly being killed. (And, again, everyone seems to have known about this in advance...) It's less clear to me why Eleazer is cast this way. Is Avraham's trust in him misplaced? I don't think so; he seems to choose a good wife for Yitzchak, though now that I think about it, he chooses one who will encourage one of her own sons to steal an inheritance. Hmmm...

Comments

[cellio]

[2]: thanks! (For want of some punctuation the translation was... no, never mind. :-) )

Gayreshcha: interesting. This was one where I had to ask for translation help; I hadn't previously known it (in either form). You're right; it's not galat -- a "divorce" nuance makes more sense in this context. Perhaps "estranged" (if you accept that that verb can be transitive) would be better?

[magid.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about estranged. To me, that would imply that currently, Avraham and Ishmael were not in contact/getting along, whereas the fact that the midrash has him as one of the naarim puts him reasonably in the middle of things. (Though this is problematic if Hagar and Ishmael were sent away when Yitzchak was 3... they returned?) Divorced from his previously-assumed status as son and heir of some sort, perhaps?