Genesis 24:63: What Was Isaac Doing?

G.W. Wenham (WBC on Genesis): שׂוּחַ

―to meditate‖ is of uncertain meaning, and here we simply follow the consensus of the early versions. More modern suggestions do not seem obviously superior. ―Looked up and noticed.‖ To look up and see always indicates that what is about to be seen is of great significance (see Comment on 22:4). Here the phrase describes Isaac‘s first glimpse of his future wife; in v 64, it describes Rebekah‘s first sight of Isaac.

Kenneth Matthews (NAC on Genesis): Verse 63 contributes to the book's picture of Isaac as a man of contemplation or prayer (25:21). “Meditate” is the traditional translation of the obscure term [lashuah] 748 (e.g., LXX, Vg.; also NIV, AV, NASB), believed derived from the well-attested root [siah] (“to meditate, talk, complain”). The targums (Onq., Neof., Ps-J.) and rabbinic tradition (e.g., Gen. Rab. 60:14) interpreted the term similarly, translating it “prayer.” An alternative meaning, “complain, lament,” has support from Isaac's consolation (“was comforted”749 ) over his mother's death (v. 67; cf. 23:1-2). In this case Isaac was distressed, lamenting the loss of his mother (although it had been three years). Others on the basis of Syriac and Arabic roots suggest “walking about, roving” (NRSV, NJB, NJPS, HCSB).750 The passage can support this latter understanding where Rebekah describes his demeanor as someone “walking” [haholek] in the field (v. 65). Yet that Isaac was meditating at the moment of Rebekah's appearance also fits well with the providence-prayer motif of the chapter; the servant's prayer is answered at the exact moment, confirming to all that the discovery is of the Lord (24:15,45,50). The same sense of timely oversight is in Abraham's sight of the caught ram (22:13) and Hagar's discovery of the well at the right moment (21:19), both using similar language as here.

Victor Hamilton (NICOT on Genesis): The hapax legomenon sûaḥ defies explanation (see NAB, which does not even try to translate it). If it is a form of the verb śȋaḥ, then its meaning is “pray,” “meditate” (Ps. 119:15, 23, 27). Most of the ancient versions so understood it: LXX adoleschḗsai; Vulg. ad meditandum; Targ. Onqelos: lṣl‘h (so also AV, RSV, NIV, NASB). Because of “walk” (hālaḵ) in v. 65 I suggest “roam” as a parallel here (cf. Pesh. “walk about,” from šûṭ). Westermann (Genesis, 2:390) and H. P. Müller (“Die hebräische Wurzel ” VT 19 [1969] 368) agree that this is the most likely interpretation (so also JB). Scholars have made at least three other suggestions as to the meaning of śûaḥ. One connects it with an Arabic root meaning “to fling one’s arms” (J. Blau, “Etymologisch Untersuchungen auf Grund des palastinischen Arabisch,” VT 5 [1955] 343-44); a second connects it with a root found in the Dead Sea Scroll Manual of Discipline (1QS 7.15), repoint the ś to ś, read as šûaḥ, and translate “Isaac went out in order to lie down outside” (P. Wernberg-Moller, “A note on lāṣûaḥ baśśāḏeh in Genesis 24:63,” VT7 [1957] 414-16); a third suggestion, which I find most attractive next to “roam,” is that the verb means “to dig a hole” and is a euphemism for relieving oneself. This is reflected in NEB’s translation “hoping to meet them,” to which it adds the footnote indicating that the verb may actually refer to relieving oneself. For this interpretation see G. R. Driver, “Problems of Interpretation in the Heptateuch,” in Mélanges bibliques, rédigés en/’honneur de André Robert, Travaux de l’Institut Catholique de Paris 4 (Paris: Bloud et Gay, 1957), pp. 66-76, esp. 66-68; J. Ellington, “What did Isaac go out to do? (Gen. 24:63-65),” BT 38 (1987) 446-47; and Coote and Ord, Bible’s First History, p. 135, “to urinate”; G. A. Rendsburg, “The Mock of Baal in 1 K. 18:27,” CBQ 50 (1988) 417 n. 15; idem, “Hebrew św/yḥ and Arabic šḫḫ, in FUCUS: A Semitic/Afrasian Gathering in Remembrance of Albert Ehrmann, ed. Y. L. Arbeitman, Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 58 (Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1988), pp. 419-30. For a summary of these various interpretations, see Frederick E. Greenspahn, Hapax Legomena in Biblical Hebrew. SBLDS 74 (Chico, CA: Scholars, 1984), p. 160; and HALAT. 4:1223.

Nahum Sarna (JPS):