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As a general rule, "chance" is applied by the Torah to every situation befalling man not directly brought about by deliberate intervention and effort. Nevertheless all is ultimately prompted by Divine Providence which mysteriously works in accordance with His hidden purposes. However, that which our moderns term "pure coincidence"-- an occurrence which has no cause whatever cannot be found at all in the Bible since such a thing has no existence but in our imagination as a result of our ignorance of the real causes.
Solomon Dubnow, a supra commentary on Ibn Ezra
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They tell me that in Rabbinical school they teach the public speaking "rule of three": say what you're going to say, then say it, then say what you said. The longest chapter of the book of Genesis found in this week's parasha, does just that. It has Avraham and his servant say what he's going to do, then the Torah tells us what he does, then the servant repeats what he did to Rebecca's family. Rather than repetitive, careful analysis of the very slight and subtle differences in these three narratives (a word here, a change in order there) adds nuanced meaning to this romantic tale. (The word 'love' appears for the first time to describe the relationship between Isaac and Rebecca; it doesn't appear with Abraham and Sarah, or Adam and Eve. This is the first love story).
The parasha focuses on two life cycle events: death and marriage. It begins with the death of Sarah (ironically, the name of the parasha, Chaye Sarah means 'The life of Sarah') and Avraham arranges her burial. Avraham sends an unnamed servant off to his former birthplace to find a wife for Isaac. (Although traditionally understood as Eliezer, Avraham's main servant, he is surprising not named in this week's parasha.) This servant sets off, and when he arrives at his destination he makes his way to the main 'watering hole'. Wells were the meeting place where one would not only restock one's water supplies, but gather information and network. Several biblical characters (Jacob and Rachel, Moses and Tziporah) meet at wells. But how will the servant determine the right girl for Isaac? (I guess this was before the days of J-Date.) So the servant prays for good luck, or good fortune, that a suitable girl come along, and he then proposes a character test to determine if the girl is a good fit, and if his prayer in fact was effective. He scarcely had finished uttering these words, when he sees Rebecca, runs to her, sees her pass the test with flying colours, and when he learns that she is from Abraham's extended family*, he then knows that God guided him to find her. And the rest, as we say, is history.
*Her grandfather was Avraham's brother, making her Isaac's niece. In those days, marriage within families was common- and sometimes even preferred.
The servant was quite astute. His little 'test' was to ask for a bit of water and see her reaction. If she only complied with his request, it would not be remarkable. Who wouldn't offer water to a thirsty, dusty wayfarer? The test was if she would spontaneously provide water for the camels, which certainly would be beyond the call of duty. This would demonstrate hesed, the quality of kindness, compassion and generosity. The tale is quite suspenseful.
The servant ran toward her. 'If you would, let me sip a little water from your jug,' he said.
'Drink, Sir,' she replied. She quickly lowered her jug to her hand and gave him a drink.
When he had finished drinking, she said, 'Let me draw water for your camels, so they can [also] drink their fill.'
Notice how the Torah describes in detail how she (quickly) provides the water for him to drink and makes us wait until he has finished drinking (while we sit on the edge of our chairs holding our breath) before Rebecca announces that she will provide water for the camels (and then for bonus marks) adds, 'until they have finished drinking.' If you know anything about camels after a long journey (and there were ten of them!) that's an impressive offer (especially if, according to the midrash, Rebecca is only three years old!)
At first glance, it seems that the servant is simply stating the criteria he will use to determine a young woman's suitability. The servant's test was quite reasonable. Perhaps intuitively, the servant realized what qualities Isaac would desire in a spouse. But the servant is asking for more than accurate results in his home-made personality inventory test. Daunted by his task of choosing the right woman for Isaac, the servant is asking God for some help. The servant's prayer is translated as: "Make it happen" or, "Grant me good luck." So which is it? Is he is praying for God to make it happen, (and some Sages criticize the servant for this chutzpah), or is praying for 'good luck' (ie. a coincidence)?' Or, according to the Torah are these the same things? In the Torah, and certainly in the servant's mind, everything works according to plan because God's invisible hand is at work. The Torah is asking rhetorically, 'what are the chances that the first girl that he sees and asks for water would
a) pass the test for hesed and
b) be from Avraham's family, thereby proving to be a suitable suitor?' The servant in fact says that explicitly: "Let her [ie. the one who passes the test] be the one whom You have decreed for Your servant Isaac. Thereby shall I know that You have dealt graciously with my master" (Gen. 24:14)
The biblical view is that God controls everyday human affairs, and there is a plan (ie. God is in control). If we're religious we credit God when highly improbable good things happen. This is highly problematic, unless God is responsible for the bad things too. (This contradicts the notion of free will, among other things). But still, many religious individuals claim that there are no such thing as 'coincidences.'
Lessons for Today
We are often fooled by 'after-the-fact' coincidences, and put a lot of stock in what is really a form of superstition. Coincidences are often incorrectly seen as deeply significant. When I was in high school, statistics was a pretty boring course, and from what I hear, things haven't changed much. And that's too bad, because most of us actually have a very poor understanding of the laws of chance or probability. When someone wins the lottery, it's a one in a million chance. That's true. If it's us, our reaction is, "Wow, that's amazing!" But think about it; since a million (or more) people bought lottery tickets, it's a sure bet that someone will win. Yes, for the one in a million person, it's an amazing coincidence that they won; but there are 999,999 losers that don't make the news that night about the [not] amazing coincidence that they lost! Since there are billions of us, something improbable is going to happen to one of us every day! (It would be improbable for that not to happen!) It's just when it happens to us, or someone we know, we are astounded by the 'coincidence.' I'm sure the servant was quite impressed with this 'coincidence' as was the Torah.
Such 'coincidences' are considered by many to be miracles. Not the kind of miracle that violate natural order, like the burning bush of Moses, or the splitting of the Red Sea. Modern science discourages us from believing that God can intervene and change the physical laws of the natural world. The second kind of 'miracles' God does not violate any law of nature, but the coincidence is such as to seemingly betray God's hand. It is easy to imagine these kinds of coincidences as being miraculous. R.F. Holland gives the example of a child on a railroad track who is playing around the bend from an approaching train, so that neither the child nor the train's engineer know of the other's location.
The child's poor mother is up the hill from this developing tragedy, and can see both her son and the train, but because of distance, is unable to do anything. Suddenly, the train slows, and comes to a halt, only a few feet from her child. The mother thanks God for the miracle, which she never ceases to think of as such although, as she in due course learns, there was nothing supernatural about the manner in which the brakes of the train came to be applied. The driver had fainted, for a reason that had nothing to do with the presence of the child on the line, and the brakes were applied automatically as his hand ceased to exert pressure on the control lever. [R.F. Holland, "The Miraculous," American Philosophical Quarterly (1965), pp. 43-51.]
Such a story shows an amazing coincidence. In this second kind of miracle, Robin Nettlehorst of Quartz Hill School of Theology writes in the online course of Apologetics:
However, probability theory is sufficient to explain such "coincidences", and in fact we might even say we should expect them. Furthermore, while many "coincidences" can be listed which resulted in amazing rescues and last minute salvations, in like manner, one can list amazing coincidences where horrible disaster was the result. Therefore, it can be argued that so long as both the good and the bad coincidences are explainable individually by ordinary chance, there is no need to suspect supernatural involvement.
We can pray to God for good fortune, for inner strength, for patience, for wisdom. But to pray to win the lottery- that would be asking for a miracle.
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