Servant and son as ascending levels

במדרש יפה שיחתן של עבדי אבות כו' כי יש בחי' עבד ובן.

In the Midrash: "Beautiful is the conversation (sichah) of the servants of the Avos, etc." — for there is the aspect of a servant (eved) and the aspect of a son (ben).

The Sefas Emes opens with the Midrash praising the "conversation" of the servants of the Avos (alluding to Eliezer), and frames it through two relationships with Hashem: that of an eved (servant) and that of a ben (son).

תורה ותפלה.

Torah and tefillah (prayer).

These two relationships correspond to two modes of avodah: Torah, the way of the son, and tefillah, the way of the servant.

ובני ישראל נקראו בנים שניתן להם התורה לחפש בגנזי דמלכא כבן.

And Bnei Yisrael are called "sons (banim)," for the Torah was given to them to search in the treasuries of the King, like a son.

Through Torah, Bnei Yisrael relate to Hashem as children: a son has free access to delve into his father's hidden treasures, just as Israel may search the depths of the King's Torah.

ותפלה היא עבודה ונקרא שיחה כמ"ש רז"ל לשוח בשדה.

And tefillah is avodah (service), and it is called "sichah (conversation)," as Chazal said regarding "to converse (lasuach) in the field" (Bereishis 24:63).

Prayer is the avodah of the servant, and it is termed "sichah"; Chazal derive tefillah from Yitzchak's going out "lasuach" — to pour out his conversation — in the field.

שהוא מעסקי האדם הצריך לו בעוה"ז ונקרא בגמ' חיי שעה והתורה חיי עולם.

For it (tefillah) pertains to a person's affairs that he needs in this world, and it is called in the Gemara "the life of the hour (chayei shaah)," whereas Torah is "eternal life (chayei olam)."

Tefillah largely concerns one's worldly needs and so is termed "chayei shaah," the temporal life of the moment; Torah, by contrast, is "chayei olam," eternal life — reflecting the difference between the servant's request and the son's study.

אכן ב' אלו המדריגות יש בהם כמה בחי'.

However, within these two levels there are several aspects.

The relationship is not static: each of the two levels — servant and son — itself contains gradations.

ויש עבד ובן.

And there is (a level of) servant and (a level of) son.

At first a person stands as a servant, and then rises to the level of a son.

אח"כ זוכין למעלת עבד בעולם העליון יותר.

Afterward one merits the rank of a servant in a yet higher world.

But the ascent does not end there: even after reaching "son," one can attain the level of "servant" again on a still loftier plane — a higher form of bittul and service in a more elevated world.

ואח"כ בן.

And afterward (the level of) son (again, on that higher plane).

From that higher servanthood one rises once more to a higher sonship, and so the cycle continues upward.

וכן הוא תמיד.

And so it is always.

This alternation of "servant" and "son," each at an ever-higher level, is a continual ladder of spiritual ascent without end.

ובאופן זה אמרו כי יפה שיחתן של עבדי אבות שבחי' העבדות שלהם הי' גבוה מבחי' בן של דורות האחרונים שהרי משיחתן ותפלתן נעשה פרשיות בתורה:

And in this way they said that "the conversation of the servants of the Avos is beautiful" — for their aspect of servanthood was higher than the aspect of "son" of the later generations, since from their conversation and prayer entire portions of the Torah were made.

This resolves the Midrash: the "servanthood" of a servant of the Avos, such as Eliezer, stood on so exalted a plane that it surpassed the "sonship" of later generations — proof being that his very conversation and tefillah became parashiyos of the eternal Torah, "chayei olam" itself.

Summary: There are two modes of relating to Hashem — the "son," who studies Torah and searches the King's treasuries (eternal life), and the "servant," whose tefillah is avodah concerned with worldly needs (the life of the hour). Yet each level contains many gradations, ascending in a continual cycle: servant, then son, then a higher servanthood, then a higher sonship, forever upward. This is why the Midrash praises the conversation of the servants of the Avos — their servanthood stood higher than the sonship of later generations, as shown by the fact that their very prayer became enduring portions of the Torah.