Who Is Eliezer of Damascus at Genesis 15: 2?

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Jim Stinehart
Posts: 352
Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 11:33 am

Who Is Eliezer of Damascus at Genesis 15: 2?

Post by Jim Stinehart »

Who Is Eliezer of Damascus at Genesis 15: 2?

It is unlikely that Abraham ever had a servant from Damascus. And if Abraham did have a faithful servant from Damascus, it is unlikely that righteous Abraham would ridicule such faithful servant at Genesis 15: 2. But then who is Eliezer of Damascus at Genesis 15: 2?

In the Patriarchal narratives, the name “Eliezer” : ’L –Y-‘ZR only appears at Genesis 15: 2. The conventional assumption is, in my opinion, in error in holding that this is the name of Abraham’s chief servant at Genesis 24: 2, who plays a critical role throughout chapter 24 of Genesis in faithfully going all the long way out east to eastern Syria/Naharim and bringing back Rebekah as Isaac’s ideal bride. Abraham’s eldest servant is clearly viewed very positively. That does not fit the context of Genesis 15: 2 at all, where nothing is positive, and Abraham is wracked with despair over his lack of a son by Sarah. Abraham may in fact be making a sardonic, sarcastic comment, in the depths of his despair.

Is Abraham saying, completely sarcastically, that if Abraham cannot sire a son by Sarah, then Abraham’s goods might just as well pass to a no-good princeling from Amurru in northern Lebanon who, historically, was oddly at Damascus at that time [shortly after the “Year 13” that is expressly referenced in the preceding chapter at Genesis 14: 4], and who was one of the most disreputable persons of that era? If we give the Hebrew phrase BN M$Q BYTY a more literal and accurate translation than usual, namely “heir/‘son’/possessor of my house” [in the sense of a “son” being heir], and if we take off the theophoric in the name “Eliezer” : ’L –Y-‘ZR, so that the remaining name [with the theophoric being implied but not express] is now simply ‘ZR, which could be transliterated as “Aziru” [since the historical name “Aziru” is but a shortened version of the Biblical full-form name “El-i-ezer”], then this is what results:

“And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir/‘son’/possessor of my house [BN M$Q BYTY] -- Aziru/‘ZR of Damascus?”

The sentence is deliberately outrageous, being totally sarcastic, in order to make Abraham’s heartfelt point that as a righteous man he should have a son by Sarah to be his rightful heir. Abraham is not casting aspersions on his best, most faithful and oldest servant. Not. Rather, Abraham is saying, in despair, that if he cannot sire a son by Sarah, then there’s no point in God giving Abraham more material goods, and in fact, the goods of his house might then just as well go to the notorious scoundrel who historically was [in or about Year 13] currently, and suspiciously, in Damascus: Aziru/‘ZR.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
Isaac Fried
Posts: 1783
Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 8:32 pm

Re: Who Is Eliezer of Damascus at Genesis 15: 2?

Post by Isaac Fried »

It is not obvious from Gen. 15:2
ובן-משק ביתי הוא דמשק אליעזר
that ELIYEZER is a name and not a job description.

Isaac Fried, Boston University
Jim Stinehart
Posts: 352
Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 11:33 am

Re: Who Is Eliezer of Damascus at Genesis 15: 2?

Post by Jim Stinehart »

Isaac Fried:

You wrote: “It is not obvious from Gen. 15:2
ובן-משק ביתי הוא דמשק אליעזר
that ELIYEZER is a name and not a job description.”

1. Before we get into the precise Hebrew words, I wonder if you agree with me that the person being referenced by Abraham in somewhat disparaging fashion at Genesis 15: 2 is not the same person as Abraham’s wonderful, faithful, old servant who, in chapter 24 of Genesis, goes all the long way out east to Naharim east of the Upper Euphrates River, and does a terrific job in bringing Rebekah back to Canaan to be Isaac’s ideal bride? My point there is that Abraham’s trustworthy servant in chapter 24 of Genesis is viewed extremely positively, so it just wouldn’t make sense if that same person were being referenced at Genesis 15: 2. I see the reference at Genesis 15: 2 to be disparaging, whereas Abraham’s faithful servant in chapter 24 of Genesis is, by stark contrast, portrayed in glowingly positive terms.

Isaac Fried, you have a much better feel for the “tone” of a Biblical Hebrew sentence than I do. Don’t you see Genesis 15: 2 as having a bitter, negative, despairing tone?

2. As to the precise Hebrew wording, how do you view the Hebrew phrase BN M$Q BYTY? I see it as meaning “heir/‘son’/possessor of my house” [in the sense of a “son” being heir]. The literal reference is to a “son”/BN, but Abraham obviously has no son at that point who is fit to be Abraham’s proper heir. The implied meaning of BN in this particular context is “heir” [in the sense of a “son” being heir]. In my opinion, the KJV is remiss here in translating that phrase as “steward of my house”. Abraham is not talking about a “steward” of his house, for heaven’s sake. No, Abraham is bewailing Abraham’s lack of a proper “heir”, that is, the manifest lack of a “son”/BN who would be Abraham’s proper heir.

So far so good?

3. That gets us to ’L –Y-‘ZR : אל י עזר, which is usually translated as being the proper name “Eliezer”. ‘ZR : עזר means “to help”, as at Genesis 49: 25. As a personal name, I would see the meaning of the entire name, ’L –Y-‘ZR : אל י עזר, as being: “God Helps”.

I myself see the interior yod/Y, which both connects and separates the two substantive elements of this name, as being a xireq compaginis, as such having the identical function as a modern dash/--.

Of critical importance to my own theory of the case, I think that a shortened form of this same name, having the identical implied meaning, would be simply: ‘ZR : עזר. That name [“Aziru” in the Amarna Letters] would mean “[God] Helps”, with the theophoric simply being implied.

Note the following alternative version of this same basic name later in the Bible: Azar-El : ‘ZR-’L : אל עזר at I Chronicles 12: 6; 25: 18; 27: 22; Ezrah 10: 41: Nehemiah 11: 13; 12: 36. Doesn’t that name have the same meaning, “God Helps”, but with the two elements simply being in reverse order (and with no interior yod/Y as a xireq compaginis)?

4. I’m afraid I don’t see the basis for your view that this may be a “job description”. How could “God/’L” be part of a “job description”?

After Abraham says to God that he’s childless, Abraham says in the second half of the sentence: “the heir/possessor of my house, that is, El-i-‘zr”. And if “Eliezer” and “Aziru” are the same name with the identical meaning, differing only in that the latter is an abbreviated form of the former, then Genesis 15: 2 effectively says the following:

“And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir/‘son’/possessor of my house [BN M$Q BYTY] -- Aziru/‘ZR of Damascus?”

If Abraham is saying that sentence in Year 13, which year is explicitly referenced a little earlier at Genesis 14: 4, then in that time period, Aziru of Damascus was well known historically as being, arguably, the greatest scoundrel of his day. What Abraham is saying is that if Abraham has no son as a proper heir, then all of Abraham’s material possessions might just as well pass to the greatest scoundrel of the day: Aziru, the Amorite princeling who was supposed to be minding his own business in northern Lebanon [Amurru], but who instead was, as usual, up to mischief at Damascus.

Isaac Fried, how could a phrase that literally means “God helps” be a “job description”? Even if interpreted as meaning “God’s helper”, that still does not sound like a “job description” to me. And remember, the tone of this sentence is dark and bitter, in which circumstance we would not expect righteous Abraham to be making a sarcastic reference to his potential heir as being “God’s helper”, would we?

I myself continue to see “Eliezer” as being a proper name, which is a long-form version of the name of the most notorious scoundrel in western Asia in Year 13: Aziru.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
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