ואברהם זקן, this is either past tense of the verb, or an adjective;

בא בימים, the years when man thinks about his departure from this earth and is concerned to make sure that his son or children are safely married while he is still around.

וה' ברך את אברהם בכל, he lacked nothing, and did not need anything in this life except to see his son well married.

ויאמר...זקן ביתו, the word zekan is a genitive (adjective) of the word zaken just as the word kevod is a genitive of the word kavod. Its meaning here is that this servant had grown up in Avraham’s household until he himself had become elderly. Or, its meaning could be that this servant was older (in the sense of senior) to all Avraham’s other servants. מושל בכל אשר לו, he deserved to be entrusted with this task.

שים נא ידך תחת ירכי, it was customary to make a person reinforce the promise that he would carry out an assignment by his placing his hand within the control of his master. This was a symbolic gesture meaning that just as his hand was under the control of his master so his personality would be under the control of his master to carry out his assignment. This was such a firmly established custom that the gesture itself was equivalent to swearing an oath. We find that in Genesis 47,29 when Yaakov wants an assurance from his son Joseph that he would not bury him in Egypt but in the land of Canaan, that he requests the same symbolic gesture from Joseph. There are commentators who understand this verse as Avraham requesting an oath from Eliezer. If that were correct, the Torah should have used the familiar formula of ואשביעך בה' אלוקי השמים, “I want you to swear in the name of the Lord of the Heavens to carry out this specific task.” [we must understand the author to mean that the oath and the symbol should have been part of the same verse if indeed placing his hand within the control of his master had been part of the oath. Ed.]

ואשביעך..ואלוקי הארץ, meaning that the same G’d Who is ruler in the heavens also exercises His control down here on earth. Do not think that if you do not honour an oath made to the G’d in heaven that failure to honour it would not have negative consequences for you here on earth. When Avraham speaks of his own self, as opposed to the need to make someone else take an oath, he only needs to refer to the “G’d of the heavens” (compare verse 7) Avraham was well aware of G’d being also the G’d on earth. In Bereshit Rabbah 59,8 Rabbi Pinchas is quoted as saying that until He revealed Himself to His creatures G’d was known only as the “G’d of the heavens,” whereas after He revealed Himself to His creatures [or to an individual creature by performing a miracle for such a person Ed.] He also became known as the ”G’d of the earth.”

מבנות הכנעני, for the entire Canaanite tribe is cursed since the days of Noach, and Avraham’s seed is not to be merged with that of a cursed tribe.

יושב בקרבו, compare the verses 36 in our chapter as well as Genesis 48,16 where one or the other of these words is used to describe the environment in which our patriarchs lived.

כי אם אל ארצי, he referred to Aram Naharyim.

ואל מולדתי, the town in which I was born, i.e. Ur Kasdim. Avraham meant to say that there Eliezer would find his family; he hinted at Rivkah, seeing that he had been informed of her birth. According to Rabbi Yitzchok in Bereshit Rabbah 59,8 the words “to my land” reflect a well known proverb according to which people prefer to plant seed originating in their own backyard even though the strain is known to be inferior to those available elsewhere.

?ויאמר...ההשב אשיב, supposing that by the time I return from my mission you will no longer be alive, tell me if I should bring your son back there in the event that the girl I select refuses to move here? Even though Yitzchok was not present during this discussion, Eliezer calls his potential migration to Aram Naharayim a השבה, “return,” as he refers to Avraham who had left that region, not to Yitzchok who had never been there in the first place.

ויאמר...השמר לך, for Avraham did not want the claim on the land of Israel which G’d had promised him and which had been established through his physical presence in that land, to become subject to doubt through an even temporary migration of Yitzchok.

פן תשיב, so that you do not bring back. We find a similar formulation in Genesis 3,3 פן תמותון, “so that you will not die,” and in Genesis 31,24 פן תדבר עם יעקב, “so that you will not speak with Yaakov, etc.”

אשר לקחני, since He took me out from there to give this land to my offspring, He would surely not want me to bring my son back there.

הוא ישלח מלאכו, to ensure the success of your errand to take a wife for my son from there.

ואשר דבר לי, both before I left that country and afterwards.

ואשר נשבע לי, at the time when I had bound Yitzchok.

ואם לא, the meaning is clear.

וישם, the meaning is clear. (verse 2)

ויקח...וכל טוב, not literally “all the good,” but most of the good things. The exaggeration here is similar to when the Torah describes כל הארץ, “the whole earth” as going to Egypt to buy grain. (Genesis 41,57) What is meant is: “most people from all over.” There are many such “exaggerations.” What the Torah meant was that Eliezer took with him samples of most of the precious possessions in Avraham’s household in order to show the family of the potential bride that she would be marrying into a wealthy family. Our sages (quoted by Rashi) explain the term וכל טוב as referring to a document in which Avraham had appointed Yitzchok as his sole heir. Eliezer brought this document with him, i.e. בידו, “in his hand.”

אל ארם נהרים, so called because it was the confluence of two rivers.

עיר נחור, this refers to Ur Kasdim where Nachor had remained behind after his father Terach had moved to Charan together with his other son Avraham.

ויברך הגמלים, he made them go down on their knees in order that the jugs of water could be presented to them for them to drink. While all this was happening he prayed to G’d to arrange for the right kind of girl to put in an appearance.

אל באר המים, near the well.

ויאמר...הקרה נא לפני, “arrange for me,” as had been predicted by Avraham. This is what he meant when he added ועשית חסד עם אדני אברהם, “perform an act of loving kindness for my master Avraham.”

והיה הנערה, seeing that the subject matter had already been introduced, the definitive article ה is in place, as opposed to Deuteronomy 22,23 כי יהיה נערה, where the subject had not been referred to previously.

אשר אמר אליה, by this qualification Eliezer freed himself from the obligation to address a blind or lame girl. However, he still did not free himself from the obligation of speaking to a slave-girl. or someone born from an incestuous relationship, etc., seeing that such girls have no exterior marks by which one can immediately identify their status. Seeing that this was so, he prayed that G’d would do a kindness to his master and arrange that the girl whom he would approach to offer water would be a girl suitable as a potential wife for Yitzchok.

אותה הוכחת, after passing this test, I will know that she is the one which You, G’d, have selected for Yitzchok, and I will take her as a wife for him.

ובה אדע, if she will be good, and the daughter of good people I will know that You have indeed performed a kindness for my master.

ויהי הוא, and here indeed he was gratified that the first girl whom he addressed met all the qualifications he had stipulated. Not only was she a member of Avraham’s family, but she was also physically attractive, revealed a number of character virtues immediately on acquaintance, and she was a virgin.

טרם כלה לדבר, while he was still formulating his prayer, G’d was already setting in motion the answer to his prayer as soon or even before he had articulated all of it. (compare Isaiah 65,24).

והנערה...ואיש לא ידעה, not even in an unconventional sexual embrace. [these words were added as additional to the statement that she was a virgin. Ed.]

ותמלא כדה, which she had drawn from the well, and which was filled with water. Seeing that the water from this well was only marginally below the surface of the earth the” well” is referred to as עין, “fountain,” although one did have to go down some steps to get at the water. Some scholars derive from allusions in the text that the water actually rose toward Rivkah, seeing that the text speaks only of ותמלא כדה, “she filled her jug,” instead of saying “she went down and drew water and filled her jug.” A similar formulation, without using the word “she drew water,” is used in 21,19 where Hagar was filling the hose with the newly discovered well. [one would have to say that when giving water to camels Rivkah did not enjoy this heavenly assist as in verse 20 she did have to “draw water.” Ed.]

וירץ, seeing that he saw her beauty, plus the fact that his request seemed to have been answered so promptly, he ran towards her, relying on the fact that he had enjoyed a heavenly assist.

הגמיאני נא, the word has a similar meaning to השקיני, “give me to drink!”

ותאמר שתה אדוני, the Torah records this detail in order to tell us of Rivkah’s good manners; although she did not know of the stranger’s social status she addressed him as “my lord.” She was very prompt and actually let him drink directly from her hand.

ותכל...עד אם כלו לשתות, she meant that she would continue drawing water for the camels until she could ascertain that they would stop drinking. Alternately, the word אם is a substitute for the word אשר.

ותמהר ותער כדה, she poured the water in the jug into a trough from which the beasts were in the habit of drinking.

והאיש משתאה לה, he was amazed at her, i.e. at the speed with which she went about her work. However, he still kept silent, not wanting to ask her who she was until she would have completed providing the camels with water.

ההצליח, if she were also a member of a good family, and one related to Avraham.

ויהי...ויקח, “he took out the jewelry planning to give it to her after he had asked her the relevant questions. This is also how he describes the sequence of what occurred at the well when he relates the nature of his mission in Betuel’s home before eating the first course of the meal served (verse 46)

בקע, a half shekel. He placed it on her nose as mentioned in verse 46. Similarly, in sequence, he placed the other pieces of jewelry on her hands, bracelets

weighing ten pieces of gold (ten סלעים in weight according to Onkelos).

ויאמר, he now asked about her family, and whether in the home of such a family there was room to accommodate him and his entourage.

?היש בית אביך מקום ללין, The meaning of the word ללין is a verbal mode meaning the same as להלין, “to provide lodging.” The letter י indicates the transitive conjugation hiphil. The word ללון by comparison which is in the simple conjugation (intransitive) kal, describes what the person enjoying the lodging does, i.e. spend the night. Both the enquiry and the response are the same, i.e. Rivkah answered the question asked, she did not answer obliquely, seeing that she used the verb “to lodge” in a different conjugation. After all, Eliezer had asked her both about lodging for the camels and lodging for himself and his men. It is possible to understand the exchange between Eliezer and Rivkah as meaning: “is there room in your father’s house to provide lodging,” a reference to the camels only, whereas Rivkah responds “not only is there room for the camels but there is also room for the men.” The author quotes Job 24,7 to show that the verb לון when used in the transitive mode ערום ילינו מבלי לבוש, “they will have to spend the night without clothing” also means the same as the intransitive conjugation ילונו.

ותאמר , she answered him on his first question; seeing that Milkah and Betuel were well known she told him all this.

ותאמר, she answered his second question, volunteering more information than Eliezer had requested. She wanted to portray the generous nature of her family by mentioning that they would also provide straw and fodder. She volunteered all this before Eliezer had given her anything. (until after she had answered his questions.)

ומספוא, a general term describing any fodder other than straw. It is some kind of barley and oats.

גם גם, the reason why Rivkah used the word גם, “also,” twice is that it was a customary way of speaking, just as we are in the habit of repeating the word אנחנו. An example of this repetition elsewhere is found in 43,8 גם אנחנו, אם אתה, גם טפינו. Each word גם is intended to reinforce the one mentioned previously.

ויקוד, a bow somewhat more perfunctory than the one known as השתחויה. According to our sages the former means touching one’s face to the ground, whereas the latter involves prostrating one’s body and stretching out with the arms and legs. At any rate, the procedure was to symbolise his gratitude to G’d for having heard his prayer.

חסדו ואמתו, if someone constantly endeavours to do what is good and pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, and he succeeds in his personal endeavours, this is no more than just, he deserves to do so. We describe this as G’d’s אמת, “truth.” חסד on the other hand, is the recognition that G’d has granted one loving kindness over and beyond what one could have expected based on one’s general conduct. In this instance G’d’s חסד was that not only did He make Eliezer meet a girl who was suitable for marriage to Yitzchok on the basis of her personal virtues, but beyond that she was also qualified through being a member of Avraham’s family. Eliezer attributed these favourable developments to the merits of his master, not to his own.

אנכי בדרך, and I had no idea where to spend the night and G’d guided me to בית אחי אדוני, for Nachor was Avraham’s brother and Milkah was his brother’s daughter. This is why he used the plural formulation saying: achey adoni instead of the singular mode as he did when he recounted these events in verse 48 when he said bat achi adoni. Both formulations were accurate with a slight shift of emphasis. The author quotes Genesis 46,21 echi varosh (names of Binyamin’s sons) as a tool to help one remember these two constructions of the words achi and achey. After Eliezer had thanked the Lord for making his mission successful, he produced the jewelry and gave them to Rivkah.

ותרץ, she ran home full of joy and told what happened in her mother’s house. She did not tell anything in her father’s house for a daughter shares her experiences with her mother and not with her father.

כדברים האלה, the general outline of what had transpired without going into each detail.

ולרבקה אח, it is mentioned here seeing that in the report of Nachor’s family he has not been mentioned.

ויהי כראות, this is reported in order to inform us that Lavan was envious of anyone getting something he did not have, even including his sister. He was the opposite of his sister who had displayed such generous traits. Lavan ran in order to bring these precious items into his own house.

וכשמעו, when he heard that the stranger had spoken to his sister concerning selecting a wife for the son of his master. This is what is meant by

כה דבר אלי האיש. עמד על הגמלים. The words על הגמלים mean the same as עם הגמלים, next to the camels. We have a parallel construction in Exodus 35,22 ויבאו האנשים על הנשים, “the men came in addition to the women.” The meaning here is that Eliezer was seen by Lavan as standing as if waiting for Rivkah to return accompanied by a senior member of the family to invite him and escort him to their home.

'ויאמר בא ברוך ה, he meant that he could see that G’d had blessed Eliezer with wealth and therefore

פניתי הבית, for you and your men, מקום לגמלים, and I have also cleared space to accommodate the camels.

ויבא....ויפתח, Laban released the various straps, etc., of Eliezer’s camels, something that is done when beasts of burden arrive at their destination. According to an aggadic interpretation quoted by Rashi the expression ויפתח applies to the muzzles which Eliezer had placed around the camels’ mouths to prevent them from eating grass or stalks belonging to private individuals along the route they had been traveling. According to our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 60,8) on

ויתן תבן ומספוא, Rabbi Acha concludes that mundane conversation of men such as Avraham’s servant Eliezer is esteemed more highly by G’d (the Torah) than the learned discussion of Torah by the children of the patriarchs; he derives this from the inordinate amount of detail provided by the Torah to the minutiae of the story of Eliezer at the well. On the other hand, basic legislation in the Torah concerning ritual impurity is often only hinted at by a letter here or an extra word elsewhere in the text. The same scholar continues: the washing of the feet of the servants of our patriarchs ranks as more worth reporting than details of the impurities of certain creepers and if the blood of such creepers confers ritual impurity similar to their bodies. This goes so far that the greatest scholars were not able to resolve their understanding of these rules by reference to what is actually written in the text of the Torah.

ויושם, the word is spelled ויישם, “he placed,” although it is read as vayussam, “it was placed.” We find a similar anomaly in Genesis 50,26 when placing Joseph’s remains in a coffin is reported. The root of the verb is ישם.

ויאמר דבר, either Lavan or Betuel is the subject

ויאמר עבד אברהם אנכי, our sages (Baba Kama 92) consider this as an example of a popular proverb that one should mention any personal deficiency before commencing to carry out whatever mission has been assigned to him. [according to this interpretation Eliezer, instead of considering it a privilege to be the servant of a man like Avraham, considered it a stigma that he was a slave. Ed.]

וה' ברך את אדוני, to such an extent that I, his slave, am received with such honour.

ותלד, even though he had a son from another woman. Seeing that he loved Sarah so much, and she was such an intimate soul-mate of his, and seeing that he loved Yitzchok the son of his old age, ונתן לו את כל אשר לו, so that Yitzchok is wealthy and greatly honoured in his own right.

וישביעני, if you were to ask that if all this is true, why is that I come all this way to find a wife for this man, the reason is that my master made me swear to find a suitable wife for his son from among members of his own family.

ואמר... אלי, the word veulai is spelled with the letter ו missing, something which gave rise to an interesting aggadic interpretation mentioned already by Rashi. Accordingly, Eliezer himself had hoped to have his daughter marry Yitzchok in the event that the woman he found in Aram Naharyim would be unwilling to relocate in the land of Canaan. This is why he had referred to this possibility with the words אלי, לא תלך האשה אחרי, “to me (if) the woman will not follow me (to the land of Canaan).” The truth is that Eliezer related all the events exactly as they had occurred. We are not able to provide conclusive reasons why the Torah sometimes chose to write certain words defectively, (with a letter missing) or by adding a letter which could have been omitted. There are too many such instances for us to find satisfactory explanations for all of them. Eliezer related the events that had occurred to him in his conversation with his master as well as how G’d had arranged things after he had set out on his mission. His sole purpose was to demonstrate from the course of events that G’d loved Avraham so much that He had made his mission so spectacularly successful up to this point. G’d had responded even to his own prayer in exactly the manner in which he had hoped he would. As a result, the very idea of denying his request would appear out of the question, seeing that it was so clear that the entire sequence of events must have been engineered by G’d, personally. If we find some different nuances here and there in the events as reported by the Torah and as related by Eliezer, this is meaningless, just as different nuances in the wording of the Ten Commandments in the Book of Exodus and the Book of Deuteronomy are not meant to raise concerns as to their authenticity of either version. Everything until the word ועתה in verse 49 is quite clear.

ועתה...חסד ואמת, emet is the honour and respect that you owe members of your family. You owe even more respect to Araham the most illustrious member of your family. If he requested the hand of your daughter in marriage for his son, you are duty-bound to honour his wish. If you agree to this even though it entails her leaving her homeland and moving far away, this may be considered an act of loving kindness, חסד, on your part.

ואפנה על ימין או על שמאל, either more prominent and important members of his family than you, or less prominent family members than you. At any rate, I will take a wife for Avraham’s son for Yitzchok from this country since he does not want a daughter-in-law who grew up in the land of the Canaanites.

ויען לבן ובתואל, Lavan spoke before his father seeing that Betuel was an old man and the affairs of the family were already being conducted by his son Lavan.

מה' יצא הדבר, seeing that matters occurred in the way you have told us, we have no say in the matter. If we were to deny your request the result for us would be רע, bad. If we agree without protest it will turn out to be of benefit to us, seeing it is all in the hands of G’d Who has made your mission so successful thus far.

הנה.. כאשר דבר, for He has arranged everything in accordance with your request.

ויהי..וישתחו ארצה, prostrating himself on the ground with arms and feet extended.

ויוצא, seeing that Rivkah had been given to him, he produced more silver, gold, and clothing.

ומגדנות, this word includes anything of value, including exotic fruit and fancy garments. The word appears also in Chronicles II 32,23 in a similar sense.

לאחיה ולאמה, for they were the mainstay of the household, Betuel being old and frail. According to an aggadic interpretation (Bereshit Rabbah 60,12) based on Lavan speaking instead of his father, he had died suddenly as he intended to raise obstacles to the marriage.

ויאכלו, this has been explained, i.e. now that Eliezer had explained his mission he felt free to eat the meal which had been placed before him.

ויאמר אחיה ואמה , when there are both major and minor characters in a story, the Torah attributes what is happening primarily to the major character. Although Rivkah’s mother was senior to Lavan, he, in his capacity as the manager of this household was mentioned first. We find something similar in Numbers 12,1 where Miriam, who was junior to Aaron is mentioned first since she did the talking and Aaron only listened. This is also why Esther is mentioned first in Esther 9,29, although the position as prime minister occupied by Mordechai was senior to that of the queen. The initiative of what is reported in the verse was Esther’s, hence her name is mentioned first.

ימים או עשור. a year or at least 10 months. The word ימים meaning “a year” also occurs in Leviticus 25,29. Our sages arrived at the conclusion that this verse is the source for giving a bride a period of 12 months during which she may provide for herself economically before moving in with her husband.

ועשור, a general, as opposed to a specific adjective, including any number. This does not apply to such verses where the number is an ordinal number such as בעשור לחודש “on the tenth of the month” in Leviticus 23,27 and other places in the Torah. In those verses the word עשור is an adjective describing the tenth day of the month.

ויאמר אליהם, seeing that it is clear that G’d has made my mission successful, do not cause me any delay of even a single day. אל תאחרו אותי, By delaying her departure you would be delaying my return home. שלחוני, let me depart with the girl, ואלכה לאדוני, and I will go to my master as he has commanded me in order to bring him a wife for his son. How could I possibly return empty-handed?

ויאמרו נקרא לנערה, they suggested to ask Rivkah in Eliezer’s presence, for if they would speak to her only privately Eliezer might interpret a negative response by Rivkah as being the result of family pressure on her to remain for a while.

ונשאלה את פיה, they would ask her if she wanted to go with Eliezer at this time. From verse 51 it is clear that basically it had been settled that Rivkah would marry Yitzchok, and the family would not have said “here Rivkah is before you take her and go,” unless they had first secured Rivkah’s willingness to marry Yitzchok. It is forbidden to force marriage on anyone. According to Kidushin 41, a father may not make use of the right to marry off his daughter, the minor, unless she is old enough to understand the implication of giving her own consent, by saying: “I want to marry so and so.”

את פיה, a reference to her wishes just as in Joshua 9,14 ואת פי ה' לא שאלו, “they had not asked G’d about His wishes in the matter.”

וישלחו, Lavan and his family, this is the meaning of the word אחותם, which, if taken literally would mean “their sister.”

ואת מינקתה, the Torah does not mention the other attendants sent with Rivkah, seeing that the מינקת, nursemaid, is the highest ranking of them all. Eliezer and his men were worth mentioning in their own right as part of the entourage, although regarding who was riding, the women were mentioned. In that context the nursemaid is not accorded any special recognition, seeing that she too was subservient to Rivkah.

ויברכו, when they came to the end of the distance they accompanied her away from Aram Naharayim and wanted to take final leave they blessed her as was customary.

היי, the letter ה has both the vowel patach and the semi-vowel sheva.

לאלפי רבבה, thousands which in due course would increase to become tens of thousands. Seeing that the largest individual number in the Holy Tongue is רבבה, i.e. 10,000, and they did not know a word for “million,” they had to express it in those terms.

וירש זרעך, it so happened that the wording of their blessing coincided with the wording used by the angel at the time of the binding of Yitzchok (22,17)

את שער שונאיו, we already explained this term in Genesis 22,16.

ותקם, after they had departed from accompanying her on foot, Rivkah mounted the camel and rode. It is not good manners for the departing person to ride while those accompanying her are walking on foot. This part of the story teaches us this basic point of good manners, something that Rivkah was aware of.

אחרי האיש, for he knew the way so that he had to be in the lead and Rivkah and her entourage behind him.

ויקח העבד את רבקה, he took her to be by his side so that she would not be apart from him, a sign of his high regard for her.

ויצחק, now the Torah tells us that Yitzchok encountered them as if by coincidence. The fact is, of course, that G’d arranges matters for the benefit of those whom He loves without their even being aware of it at the time.

בא מבוא, Yitzchok “happened” to come from that direction on that very day.

באר לחי רואי, he did not reside there, for he resided in Chevron with his father. This is the part known as ארץ הנגב, the southern part of the land. Yitzchok had either some herds or some other business which required him to travel to this place known as באר לחי רואי, from time to time. On the day that Eliezer was about to return to Chevron, he too was on the way there. The meaning of the word מבוא is “a place which one travels to from time to time.” Upon leaving באר לחי רואי on the way to Chevron, he would spend the night in one of the inns on the way from there to Chevron.

ויצא יצחק, he left the town where he had spent the night. He went without knowing it, on the same route that Rivkah his wife to be was traveling on the way to meet him. He had gone out

לשוח בשדה, to walk among the bushes,

לפנות ערב, at the time when the sun turns down towards the horizon. This is the time of day when many people go for a walk among the shrubs and bushes. While he was thus walking, he raised his eyes looking further along the route he was walking on and he saw גמלים באים, and he veered off his path to walk toward them to check if this was Avraham’s servant Eliezer who was walking at the head. This is what Rivkah meant when she referred to the man who was walking לקראתנו, (verse 65). ותשא, she thought that possibly the man approaching might be Yitzchok; this is why she asked the servant, to find out if her assumption was correct.

ותפול מעל הגמל, when she saw him and Eliezer told her that this was Yitzchok, she lowered herself from the camel, fell on the ground, covered her face with her veil and remounted and rode on. This story teaches us that when a woman has achieved the status of being betrothed it befits her to cover her face until such time as she is a properly married woman.

ותאמר, she had asked Eliezer who the man was before she alighted from the camel. She did so only after having been informed that the man was her husband to be, Yitzchok. She had not enquired about every person that they met on the journey, but in the case of Yitzchok, the fact that he approached sideways had made her wonder if, by chance, this was Yitzchok or someone from his household. This is why she added the words: ההולך בשדה לקראתנו, she had observed that this man was busy in the field and only after he had seen them did he come walking in their direction.

ויספר, Eliezer told Yitzchok all that happened to him since he had commenced his mission. He did so during the time it took to reach Avraham’s house after Yitzchok had met them. It is possible that they arrived in Chevron on that same day, or the day following.

ויביאה, when they arrived in Chevron he brought her to the tent of his mother Sarah. It was customary in those times for the man and his wife to have totally separate living quarters. When they would sleep together the man would go to his wife’s tent, as for instance when Leah said to Yaakov אלי תבא, “come to me,” i.e. “come to my tent” (Genesis 30,16) We also find that when Lavan searched for his teraphim that he is reported as conducting separate searches in Yaakov’s, tent as well as in Rachel’s tent and in Leah’s tent. (Genesis 31,33).

האהלה שרה, a construction similar to Numbers 34,2 הארץ כנען, or in Joshua 3,14 הארון הברית.

ויקח את רבקה, he took her to complete the marriage ceremonies as people do, i.e. they get married under a wedding canopy, a ceremony followed by a banquet.

ותהי לו לאשה ויאהבה, he discovered her many virtuous qualities including her chastity, qualities he had admired in his mother Sarah. Seeing that most husbands love their wives, the statement “he loved her,” here, must have an additional significance. The Torah writes this to tell us that Yitzchok loved the outstanding qualities of Rivkah. This is why the statement is followed by the line

וינחם יצחק אחרי אמו, after having mourned his mother for a suitable period. He was still mourning his mother after 3 years had elapsed since her death. Now that he recognised his mother’s qualities personified in his wife he was able to console himself over his mother’s death.