Genesis 23:1
_Sara. She is the only woman whose age the Scripture specifies; a distinction which her exalted dignity and faith deserved. (Galatians iv. 23; Hebrews xi. 11.) She was a figure of the Christian Church. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sara. She is the only woman whose age the Scripture specifies; a distinction which her exalted dignity and faith deserved. (Galatians iv. 23; Hebrews xi. 11.) She was a figure of the Christian Church. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_City. Hebrew, Cariath arbah, Josue xiv. 15. --- Which is Hebron. Serarius thinks it took its name from the society (cherber) between Abraham and the princes of the city. Hebron the son of Caleb possessed it afterwards. --- Came from Bersabee, (chap. xxii. 19.) or to the place where the corpse lay,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Obsequies, or solemn mourning, accompanied with prayer. (Acts viii. 2; Matthew xii.) The Jews are still accustomed to say, when they bury their dead, "Ye fathers, who sleep in Hebron, open to him the gates of Eden;" herein agreeing with the Catholic doctrine, as they did in the days of Judas the Ma... [ Continue Reading ]
_Prince of God, powerful and holy, and worthy of respect. (Haydock) --- A great prince. See Acts vii. 5, where St. Stephen says, that God did not give Abraham a foot of land, meaning as an inheritance; and that Abraham bought this double cave, for a sepulchre, of the sons of Hemor, the son of Sichem... [ Continue Reading ]
_Bowed down to the people. Adoravit, literally, adored. But this word here, as well as in many other places in the Latin Scriptures, is used to signify only an inferior honour and reverence paid to men, expressed by a bowing down of the body._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sicles. About \'a350. (Haydock) --- It was no simony to buy land for a sepulchre, as it was not blessed. (Menochius) --- Current money, was such as passed among merchants, though probably not yet coined in any part of the world; and therefore we find, that Abraham and others weigh the pieces of sil... [ Continue Reading ]