#5 — Parshat Chayei Sarah
G-d’s special care
In Parshat Chayei Sarah, we see G-d’s special care for the continuation of the line of Abraham. The family line through which all the families of the earth will be blessed.
Abraham was called from Ur of the Chaldeans, but now we have a parallel story, not of a patriarch but of somebody who will become a matriarch, Rebekah, the bride of Isaac. It is a love story in the end.
There is something in this story though which we’d like to draw out. Abraham says to his servant who has to look for a wife for Isaac: “The L-RD of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘to your seed I will give this land’, he will send His angel before you…” (Genesis 24:7)
The Angel of the L-RD, the Angel of HASHEM… who is that?
Israel’s Redeeming Angel
It is somebody who intervenes at crucial moments. He was the one that looked after Hagar twice (Genesis 16:7-15, 21:17). We can identify him as the L-RD who appeared to Abraham, who visited him and announced the birth of Isaac (Genesis 18). He is the one, who exactly in the right time stopped the sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22:11).
Later Jacob, calls this special delegate of G-d, the angel who redeems me from all evil and even equates him with the G-d of his fathers. (Genesis 48:15-16) Still later in the book of Exodus, he speaks to Moses from the burning bush (Exodus 3). He is leading Israel and protects it when it crosses the red sea. (Exodus 13:19). In Exodus 23 G-d says about him “My name is in him” (Exodus 23:20).
Now here, it is because this special person is working divine providence behind the scenes that Rebekah becomes Isaac’s wife. Abraham’s family tree keeps growing and it wil truly blossom as Rebecca’s family said: “Your seed will posses the gate of those who hate him” (Genesis 24:60).
Messiah
We’d like to share here something really intriguing. We can’t go too much in depth, but there is good reason to identify the Angel of the L-RD with the Messiah who is God’s ultimate delegate. (You can read about this on other pages of our website. See e.g. here and here) He will be in the end the victorious seed of Israel, reigning over the entire earth.
Think about that. If the Messiah is also the Angel of the L-RD, then he is arranging here a marriage that prepares his own coming into the world.
We love him, working here in the background. He has a special concern for Israel, without his intervention Israel wouldn’t even exist. Because he in the end becomes himself the seed of Abraham there is an amazing future for Israel. He made the most important intervention ever on behalf of Israel. He truly redeems from all evil. Because of Him the relationship between God and Israel will be completely restored.
The Divinely Arranged Marriage
It might be an arranged marriage, but it is a divinely arranged marriage. “And she became his wife, and he loved her” (Genesis 24:67), We read about Isaac and Rebekah. In the end it is an amazing love story. But that is not only true of the story of Isaac and Rebekah, this can actually be said about the story of the entire bible. When all is said and done the words of Isaiah will become completely true: “Your maker is your husband”
About ultimate love, See also: Insearchofshalom when your heart is broken
This all because of the Angel of the L-RD.
