“Hashem, G-d of the Heavens, Who took me from my father’s house... He shall send his angel before you and you shall take a wife for my son from there.” (Beraishis 24:7)
Avraham’s trusted servant Eliezer was now given a special mission, charged with finding a wife for Yitzchak from Avraham’s family. Eliezer asked what to do if the girl was unwilling to come to Canaan, and Avraham replied that Hashem would help in the quest. By sending His angel along, it would ensure Eliezer was able to convince her to come back to Canaan with him.
Upon arriving in Avraham’s homeland, Eliezer came to the community well, and there he prayed. He asked, “Hashem, G-d of my master Avraham, be present before me today, and do kindness with my master Avraham.” (24:12) Why did Avraham bless Eliezer that an angel should assist him, while Eliezer asked for Hashem, Himself, to assist him in his mission?
It may be that because Avraham was not going on this mission himself, but sending a messenger, he felt he could not ask Hashem to “go” Himself, but only to send a messenger, as Avraham had done. However, Eliezer, as the one who had undertaken the trip, could ask Hashem to act in kind, and appear before him to guide him “in person” (so to speak.)
There is also an explanation given by the Bais HaLevi as to why Hashem saved Yitzchak from the Akeida with an angel instead of doing it Himself, though Avraham had accepted the command to sacrifice his son and was carrying it out personally. Though Avraham deserved it measure-for-measure, Hashem was saving that for the time of Yetzias Mitzrayim, when Hashem took the Jews out Himself, not through an angel.
However, there is yet a third approach that could explain Eliezer’s boldness in not being satisfied with an angel accompanying him. The Gemara in Taanis (2a) says there are three keys Hashem does not entrust to others (at least not all of them, and not forever.) They are the keys to rain/parnasa, to child birth, and to Techias HaMaisim, reviving the dead. These are managed by Hashem, Himself, as it says, “You will know Me when I open your graves,” and similar verses.
Eliezer said, “I am the servant of Avraham. That is my purpose in life. Whether I will be able to accomplish my goal is a matter of life and death! Therefore, Hashem, YOU should be the one to make me successful and not entrust it to a lesser being.”
The lesson for us all is that we are servants of Hashem, and we should view serving Him as a matter of life and death. For then, we will truly be able to live.
