We need to stop equating the greatness of a person, their message, or their talents to the reason God uses them.
For example, rabbinic literature and scholars make more of Eliezer, Abraham's servant, than what the Bible says. I think they do so to justify his role in the miracle of Isaac and Rebekah, demonstrating what I mean by this trap of thinking the greatness of the person equates to the reason God chose to use them.
Some rabbinic literature, for example, claims Eliezer is Nimrod's son, grandson, or servant (or all three), later given to Abraham. Jewish writings and scholars hold him in high esteem because he’s one of three people in the Jewish Torah for whom God answers their prayers immediately. In their mind, this sets all three people apart in some kind of rarefied air. I find it interesting that they feel a need to justify why God answers Eliezer’s prayer immediately.
Similarly, rabbinic scholars also elevate Abraham—unnecessarily, in my opinion—by claiming he was a “celebrity of the time” because he had been thrown into a fiery furnace and not consumed, long before God called him to leave Ur. Even if this were true, it’s erroneous to elevate the person because God protected him. We’d do better to simply make sure we worship the God who performed the miracle. When we read the Bible, we see that God performs miracles because it’s his nature to do so, not because of the nature of the person!
Knowing that it's simply a part of God's nature, it would be ludicrous to think that there were only three people in the history of mankind for whom God answered prayers immediately. Considering God’s character and His desire for relationship, to think that God is not speaking to or moving on behalf of the thousands who are following his ways under the leadership of Abraham seems unlikely.
Similarly, it seems preposterous to think God isn’t meeting with at least some of the Israelites in the Tent of Meeting when he’s not meeting with Moses and Moses is off doing his leadership stuff. (Indeed, it’s not until Numbers 18:21 that God restricts the access to the Tent of Meeting, indicating it either wasn’t restricted previously or was less restricted.) What good is a God who dwells with us but doesn’t interact with more people than just the one or two key players per generation?
The Bible clearly doesn’t take the time to record every time God spoke and moved on behalf of one of the people who lived. So there’s no need to elevate the people that it does record—it just means that their story is an integral part of the redemption story. Each one is called to play his or her role faithfully.
I’m not sure why the scholars feel the need to bolster Eliezer into a higher birth or more...whatever. But this need to put people on a pedestal is common to many Christians (and non-Christians) as well. I’m always wary of the need to put someone on a pedestal to justify why God is using them, speaking to them, or speaking through them. It makes me wonder if it’s done to justify the fact that God isn’t hearing or responding to their own prayers?
I believe that the main reason Eliezer’s name is not even given during the story of Isaac and Rebekah—he is mostly referred to as “the servant”—is because his identity doesn’t matter. We presume it is Eliezer because he is mentioned by Abraham as his servant who is set to inherit until God fulfilled his promise to Abraham (Genesis 15:2). It's really meant to be more simple: God raised up a man for whom Abraham trusted enough to send, Abraham promised the angel of the Lord would go before him to make a way, the man trusted God, and God fulfilled the mission. The man doesn’t matter…but the manner of man does—he was trustworthy.
His birth, his birthplace, his family—none of it matters. I think this gives us hope because most of us are not key players in history. We’re not Abrahams. We’re not Isaacs. We’re not Jacobs. We’re not Josephs. We’re not Esthers. We’re not Rahabs or Ruths. None of us are Mary or Josephs. We’re not key players in this redemptive story, but our character and mission still matter to God.
Whoever this man was, he was trustworthy enough for Abraham to send him on this mission. He must have proven himself over and over again. He must have had some intelligence and integrity since he was in charge of all of Abraham's belongings and people in the small country that Abraham was building in the middle of nowhere. If it was Eliezer, as most scholars think it was, he was at Abraham's side when God proved himself over and over again to Abraham. He was at Abraham's side when Abraham fought wars to rescue Lot. He was also at Abraham’s side when Abraham failed! He also saw the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah from a few hills away. Somewhere along the way, I think it becomes obvious that he has his own relationship with the God of Abraham.
When Eliezar gets where he’s going, he prays a very specific, impossible prayer. And God immediately answers it.
As a result, he knows that God has indeed been with him and enabled him to fulfill his mission.
He must have recognized that he was a part of something much bigger than himself because when Rebekah’s brother asks who he is, his humble response is simply that he was Abraham's servant. That kind of humility comes either through a lifetime of gracious interaction with the God of heaven or from a miraculous encounter with the God of heaven. Or more often, both.
The greatest evidence of a deep relationship with God is that Eliezar knew to ask in a very specific way for a very specific sign that only the God of heaven could fulfill. He had to have known God could and would hear his prayers—his specific prayers.
When we are new babes in Christ we do not know to ask specifically. At the early stages, we are still working out the fear that maybe we’re not worthy of salvation or this relationship with the God of the Universe. We pray general prayers like “bless the whole world.” This is because we haven’t wrestled with the important questions to deeply know:
First, that God answers prayers still.
Second, that God answers our prayers. Specifically.
When people do not have faith, they pray in a way that lets God off the hook...just in case… hedging their bets…that maybe God doesn’t exist, doesn’t hear and answer prayers, or maybe he doesn’t hear and answer their prayers.
It appears that this servant wrestled those questions and knew the correct answers. I think he also knew the impossibility of his task and that it required the God who performs miracles on his behalf. So he asked for one.
And God gave it.
What does Eliezar’s story mean to us? I think it means that who we are and where we come from doesn’t matter. I think it’s clear that even though we may not be the main character or play one of the main roles, our stories can still reveal who Christ is and who God is. And that God still hears our prayers, still equips us for impossible missions, giving us a place in the story of the revelation of God to his creation.
In this case, the main character, Abraham, was too old to make the trek to choose a wife for his son, so he trusted someone in his stead. That character brought the right woman for Isaac, ensuring that Jacob would be born. From Jacob, we have the twelve tribes of Israel. From them we eventually have Jesus.
It was an anonymous role, but it was one for which God prepared him.
Grace prepares us.
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