The Road That Leaped and the Servant Who Earned His Freedom

"And he said: I am Abraham's servant" (Genesis 24:34) - the thing of which you are ashamed, say it first. "And I came this day to the spring" (Genesis 24:42) - from Kiriath-arba to Haran is a journey of seventeen days, and in three hours the servant came to Haran, and he was astonished in his heart and kept saying: today I set out and today I arrived, as it is said, "And I came this day to the spring." The Holy One, blessed be He, wished to do kindness for Isaac, and He sent an angel before Eliezer, and the road leaped before him; and a king's daughter who had never gone out to draw water in her life went out at that very hour. And the maiden, who did not know what a man was, accepted upon herself to be joined to Isaac, for she was fitted for him from her mother's womb, and it is written, "Behold, Rebecca is before you" (Genesis 24:51). And the servant rose early in the morning and saw the angel standing and waiting for him outside. He said to them, "Do not delay me" (Genesis 24:56). And so that the servant should not be alone with the maiden by night, the earth leaped before him, and in three hours he came to Hebron at the time of the evening prayer; "And Isaac went out" (Genesis 24:63) to pray the evening Minchah prayer. Abraham said to Isaac: this servant is suspect in all the transgressions of the Torah, and deceit is in his hand, as it is said, "a Canaanite, in whose hand are deceitful balances" (Hosea 12:8). Bring the maiden into the tent and bring forth her tokens of virginity by finger; if she is pure in her virginity she is fit for you. And so he did, and he showed them to Abraham, and afterward he took her to wife. And because Eliezer did kindness for Isaac, He brought him out to freedom, and the Holy One, blessed be He, gave him his reward in this world and set him up as a king, and he is Og king of Bashan.