INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 23 This chapter treats of the age, death, and funeral of Sarah, and the place of her interment: of her age, Genesis 23:1; of her death, Genesis 23:2; of the motion Abraham made to the sons of Heth, to obtain a burial place among them, Genesis 23:3; of the answer of them to... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SARAH WAS AN HUNDRED AND SEVEN AND TWENTY YEARS OLD,.... This following immediately upon the account of the offering up of Isaac, led many of the Jewish writers to conclude, that Isaac was when thirty seven years of age, as he must be when Sarah his mother was one hundred and twenty seven, for h... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SARAH DIED IN KIRJATHARBA,.... Which was so called, either, as Jarchi says, from the four Anakims or giants that dwelt here, Joshua 15:13; or else, as the same writer observes, from the four couple buried here, Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah; but then it must... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ABRAHAM STOOD UP FROM BEFORE HIS DEAD,.... The corpse of Sarah, by which he sat pensive and mourning, perhaps upon the ground, as was the custom of mourners, Job 1:13; where having sat awhile, he rose up and went out of the tent, to provide for the funeral of his wife as became him: AND SPAKE U... [ Continue Reading ]
I [AM] A STRANGER AND A SOJOURNER WITH YOU,.... Not a native of the place, only dwelt as a sojourner among them for a time; but had not so much as a foot of ground he could call his own, and consequently had no place to inter his dead: GIVE ME A POSSESSION OF A BURYINGPLACE WITH YOU; not that he de... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE CHILDREN OF HETH ANSWERED ABRAHAM,.... In a very civil and respectful manner: SAYING UNTO HIM, as follows:... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAR US, MY LORD,.... One of them spake in the name of the rest, who calls Abraham not "our lord", but "my lord"; addressing him very honourably, and desires he would hear what he had to say on the behalf of others with himself; "hear us", representing not the body of the common people, but the prin... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ABRAHAM STOOD UP,.... For, having made his speech to the children of Heth, he sat down waiting for an answer; or rather perhaps they obliged him to sit down, out of reverence to so great a personage; and when they had done speaking, he rose up: AND BOWED HIMSELF TO THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND; the p... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE COMMUNED WITH THEM,.... Entered into a discourse and conversation with them upon the above subject: SAYING, IF IT BE YOUR MIND THAT I SHOULD BURY MY DEAD OUT OF MY SIGHT; that is, in some place belonging to them, otherwise they could have no objection to the burying of his wife anywhere else... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT HE MAY, GIVE ME THE CAVE OF MACHPELAH, WHICH HE HATH, WHICH [IS] IN THE END OF HIS FIELD,.... The Targum of Jonathan renders it, "the double cave", and so do the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; and, according to Aben Ezra and Ben Melech, it was so called because there was a cave within... [ Continue Reading ]
AND EPHRON DWELT AMONG THE CHILDREN OF HETH,.... Or "sat" b among them, in the present assembly of them; and, according to Jarchi, as their president for the time on this occasion; but if so, Abraham would have directed his speech to him: however, he was upon the spot, as appears from what follows,... [ Continue Reading ]
NAY, MY LORD, HEAR ME,.... Or not so, my lord, as Aben Ezra paraphrases it; not that he denied his request entirely, or refused him the cave at any rate, but that he should not buy it of him, he would give it to him, and therefore he desires he would hear what he had to say further: THE FIELD GIVE... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ABRAHAM BOWED DOWN HIMSELF BEFORE THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND. Showing hereby great respect, and giving much honour both to them and Ephron; and signifying that he had something to say, and desired audience of them, and humbly submitted to them what he should say.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SPAKE UNTO EPHRON IN THE AUDIENCE OF THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND,.... He addressed himself to Ephron who spoke last, with an audible voice, so that all could hear him: SAYING, BUT IF THOU [WILT GIVE IT], I PRAY THEE, HEAR ME; the words are very concise, and in the original text are only "if thou... [ Continue Reading ]
AND EPHRON ANSWERED ABRAHAM, SAYING UNTO HIM. The following words:... [ Continue Reading ]
MY LORD, HEARKEN UNTO ME,.... Since it is your mind to buy the field, and not receive it as a gift, then hear what I have to say as to the value of it: THE LAND [IS WORTH] FOUR HUNDRED SHEKELS OF SILVER; which, reckoning a shekel at two shillings and sixpence, comes to fifty pounds of our money; W... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ABRAHAM HEARKENED UNTO EPHRON,.... He agreed at once to give him the sum proposed, judging it to be a moderate price between man and man, and he was satisfied with it, and well content to pay him the money: AND ABRAHAM WEIGHED TO EPHRON THE SILVER: for in those times money had no mark or stamp... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE FIELD OF EPHRON, WHICH [WAS] IN MACHPELAH,.... This clearly shows that Machpelah is the proper name of a place or tract of ground, and not an appellative, or to be rendered the double cave, since a field could never be said to be in a cave: and yet some have been so stupid, as Vatablus obser... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO ABRAHAM FOR A POSSESSION,.... To be enjoyed by him and his for ever, as his own property, being purchased by his money: IN THE PRESENCE OF THE CHILDREN OF HETH; they being witnesses of the bargain, and of the payment of the money by Abraham, and of the surrender of the field unto him, for his... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AFTER THIS,.... After this affair was over, the bargain struck, the money paid, and possession secured: ABRAHAM BURIED SARAH HIS WIFE IN THE CAVE OF THE FIELD OF MACHPELAH, BEFORE MAMRE; and here he himself was buried, and also Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah, Genesis 25:9. Benjamin of T... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE FIELD, AND THE CAVE THAT IS THEREIN, WAS MADE SURE TO ABRAHAM FOR A POSSESSION OF A BURYINGPLACE, BY THE SONS OF HETH. Who were witnesses of the transaction between Abraham and Ephron; and this was further made sure by Sarah's being buried in it, which was taking possession of it, for the us... [ Continue Reading ]