Some Insight Into Why Eliezer Was So Reluctant to Eat
ויישם לפניו לאכל ויאמר לא אכל עד אם דברתי דברי ויאמר דבר “They placed in front of him food, and he said, ‘I am unable to eat until I have finished speaking’, and he spoke.” (Bereishis 24:33)
After Rivkah passed Eliezer’s test by drawing water for him and his camels to drink, he presented her with jewelry and requested lodging in her house. Rivkah hurried home to tell her brother Lavan what happened, and he in turn ran to Eliezer to offer him hospitality, yet when Eliezer came inside and they placed food before him, he insisted that he would not eat anything until he first spoke his piece. As shared meals are commonly used to conduct business, why was Eliezer so opposed to eating while discussing the purpose of his visit?
The Targum Yonason ben Uziel explains that Eliezer was suspicious that Rivkah’s father Besuel had poisoned his food. Why would Besuel want to kill him? The Chasam Sofer cites the ruling of the Gemara (Nazir 12a) that if a person appoints a shaliach [agent] to be mekadesh [betroth] a woman on his behalf without specifying who and the agent dies, the one who sent him is forbidden to every woman in the world due to the possibility that she may be a prohibited relative of the woman the shaliach carried out kiddushin with on his behalf before his death.
Besuel therefore sought to kill Eliezer, who had been sent as Yitzchak’s agent to find him a wife, which would prevent Yitzchak from ever getting married and having children.
However, if the shaliach was instructed to choose a wife in a specific town, even if he dies, the person who sent him is not doomed, as he can simply marry a woman from a different place with no relatives in that town. Thus, Eliezer realized that Besuel wanted to kill him, but he also knew that Besuel’s rationale was not applicable, as Eliezer had not been given unlimited freedom to select any woman in the world as Yitzchak’s wife. Avraham specified (Bereishis 24:4) that he could only pick from Avraham’s relatives in his homeland, in which case Yitzchak’s ability to marry would not be thwarted even if his agent died. Eliezer therefore insisted on speaking before he ate so that he could explain this point (24:38) and make it clear to Besuel that there was nothing to be gained by poisoning him. (R’ Ozer Alport)
