בראשית, פרק כ״ד, פסוק ל״ז

Eliezer's address to Rebekah's family is a masterclass in diplomacy and persuasion. As he recounts the oath imposed upon him by Abraham, he makes subtle, calculated adjustments to the original command, aiming to win over his listeners and successfully complete his mission. He begins by clarifying why he traveled such a great distance. Abraham could have easily found a wife for his son among the prominent people of his own region. He did not seek a wife afar due to a lack of local women, but rather because he rejected the local inhabitants and specifically chose his family [רד"ק, ספורנו]. This restriction against taking a local wife applied not only to native-born Canaanites but to anyone living in the area [העמק דבר].

When explaining the exact nature of this restriction, commentators offer different perspectives. One approach understands the oath as an absolute prohibition: even if Eliezer failed to find a wife from Abraham's family, he was completely forbidden from taking a Canaanite woman [ביאור יש"ר]. However, the primary approach among commentators is that Eliezer presented the oath as conditional. He was forbidden from taking a Canaanite wife only if he had not first gone to Abraham's family. If he made the initial effort and the woman refused to return with him, he would be released from the oath and permitted to find a wife elsewhere. Without making that first journey to the family, he had no permission to marry a local woman [רש"י, מזרחי, שפתי חכמים, גור אריה].

Another notable change in Eliezer's retelling involves how he describes Abraham's dwelling place. While Abraham originally spoke of living in the midst of the people, Eliezer adjusts his account to emphasize that Abraham lives in the land of the Canaanites. There are two main reasons for this adjustment. First, Eliezer wanted to maintain his credibility. Abraham used his original phrasing because God had promised him the territory, and Abraham viewed it as his future inheritance. However, Eliezer was speaking to people who lacked this faith. He knew that if he claimed the territory belonged to Abraham while the Canaanites were actively ruling it, his audience would think he was lying. Therefore, he chose to refer to it as the land of the Canaanites [הכתב והקבלה, ריב"א, הדר זקנים].

Second, the change reflects deep psychological insight. Abraham strictly avoided Canaanite women because of the corrupt character of the local people. Eliezer understood that sharing this detail would alienate the family, as they would find it hard to believe that not a single good woman could be found in the entire region. To avoid this, Eliezer framed the situation differently, making it seem as though Abraham did not despise the Canaanites at all. By referring to the territory as their land, he implied that the locals naturally had priority. He presented Abraham's decision not as a rejection of his neighbors, but simply as a natural, respectful preference for his own relatives out of family love. This tactfully hid Abraham's specific disdain for his neighbors and framed the oath as an honorable devotion to family [מלבי"ם, העמק דבר].