ELIEZER. This is the same name as Eleazar whence came the abbreviated Lazar or Lazarus of the N. T. It is proper to note this here, because the parable which describes Lazarus in Abraham's bosom (Luke xvi. 23) has been supposed to con tain a latent allusion to the name of Eliczer, whom, before the birth of Ishmael and Isaac, Abraham regarded as his heir. The passage of Scripture in which the name of Eliezer occurs is one of some difficulty. Abraham, being promised a son, says : --` I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus Behold, to me thou hast given no seed : and, lo, one born in mine house is mine heir' (Gen. xv. 2, 3). Part of the difficulty is caused by the translation, and part by the prevalence of notions gathered from external sources, and not warranted by the original text. The common notion is that Eliezer was Abraham's house-born slave, adopted as his heir, and mean while his chief and confidential servant, and the same who was afterwards sent into Mesopotamia to seek a wife for Isaac. This last point we may dis miss with the remark, that there is not the least evidence that the elder servant of his house' (Gen. xxiv. 2), whom Abraham charged with this mission, was the same as Eliezer : and our atten tion may therefore be confined to the verses which have been quoted.
It is obvious that the third verse is not properly a sequel to the second, but a repetition of the state ment contained in the second ; and, being thus regarded as parallel passages, the two may be used to explain each other.
Eliezer of Damascus,' or Damascene-Eliezer,' is the subject of both verses. The obvious mean ing is, that Eliezer was born in Damascus : and how is this compatible with the notion of his being Abraham's house-born slave, seeing that Abra ham's household never was at Damascus ? It is true that there is a tradition, quoted by Joscphus from Nicolaus of Damascus (Antiq. i. 7. 4), that Abraham reigned in Damascus ;' but the tradi tion was probably founded on this very passage, and has no claim on our belief.
The expression, the steward of mine house,' in ver. 2, will explain the sense of one born in mine house is mine heir,' in ver. 3. The first phrase,
literally translated, is `the son of possession of my house,' i.e., one who shall possess my house, my property, after my death ; and is therefore exactly the same as the phrase in the next verse, the son of my house (paraphrased by one born in mine house') is mine heir.' This removes every objec tion to Eliezer's being of Damascus, and enables us to dispense with the tradition ; for it is no longer necessary to suppose that Eliezer was a house-born slave, or a servant at all ; and leaves it more pro bable that he was some near relative whom Abra ham regarded as his heir-at-law. In this case Abraham obviously means to say, • Behold, to me thou hast given no children, and not the son of my loins, but the son of my house (i.e., of my family —the son whom my house gives me—the heir-at law) is mine heir.' It is by no means certain that this Eliezer' was present in Abraham's camp at all : and we, of course, cannot know in what de gree he stood related to Abraham, or under what circumstances he was born at, or belonged to, Damascus. It is possible that he lived there at the very time when Abraham thus spoke of him, and that he is hence called Eliezer of Damascus.' This view, that Eliezer was actually Abraham's near relative and heir-at-law, removes another diffi culty, which has always occasioned some embar rassment, and which arises from the fact, that while he speaks of Eliezer as his heir, his nephew Lot was in his neighbourhood, and had been, until lately, the companion of his wanderings. If Eliezer was Abraham's servant, it might well occasion sur prise that he should speak of him and not of Lot as his heir : but this surprise ceases when we re gard Eliezer as also a relative, and if so, a nearer relative than Lot, although not, like Lot, the com panion of his journeys. Some have supposed that Lot and Eliezer were, in fact, the same person ; and this would be an excellent explanation if the Scriptures afforded sufficient grounds for it.
2. The second of the two sons born to Moses while an exile in the land of Midian (Exod. xviii. 4). Eliezer had a son called Rebadiah (t Chron. xxiii. 7).—J. K.