Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

2 3 : 1-2 5 : 18 GENESIS
daughter’s course naturally tends to the mother when such
startling news is to be communicated; besides, the women
had their separate compartments, as we gather also from
31:33f.--a separate tent” (EG, 672). (Such notions as
that this was a relic of a matriarchy, or that the father
was dead, are entirely gratuitous.)
(6) The Servant’s Narrative, vy. 28-49.
Laban now
apparently takes over the formalities of hospitality, “inspired
by the selfish greed for which that worthy was noted
in tradition.” “Laban was better known through his
g,randfather (Nahor) than through his father Bethuel.
It may also be that Bethuel was of little account, a5 we
find Laban answering before him, cf. 24:fO” (SC, 168).
When Laban saw the presents which the steward had given
his sister, he recognized that the envoy was from some man
of wealth and position and became almost obsequious in
his attentions. He invited the servant (whom we believe
to have been Eliezer) into his house, unmuzzled the camels,
gave “straw and provender” for them, and then washed
the feet of the servant and the feet of the men who were
with him. The crowning act of hospitality in an Eastern
household was the presentation of food to the visitors.
In this case, however, the faithful servant insists that he
must deliver his message before partaking of the friendly
meal with his host. It should be noted that Laban addressed
Eliezer with the words, Tome in, thou blessed of Jehovah,”
etc. Evidently the name of Jehovah was not entirely unfamiliar
to Laban’s ears: “the knowledge and worship of
the living God, the God of truth and mercy, was still retained
in the family of Nahor” (MG, 355), or at least it
would seem so. Or, it is possible that Laban addressed
Eliezer as the blessed of Jehovah, as a ,result of hearing the
words of the latter, who hqd called Abraham’s God Jehovah.
The servant now di
arges his commission before
partaking of the food set re him. Beginning with the
account of his master’s possessions and family affairs, he
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