פרשת חיי שרה תשכ"ה - קניית מערת המכפלה

’Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us; in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.’

’Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us; in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.’

אל עמק שוה "To the Valley of Shaveh": Rabbi Berachia and Rabbi Chanina said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman: [It was called that] because all of the idolaters became unanimous [השוו], cut down cedars and built a great stage, and brought [Avraham] there to rise him up, and they said praises before him, saying [Bereishit 23:6]: "Hear us, my lord, [you are a prince of God in our midst,]" etc. They said to him, "You are our king! You are our prince! You are our god!" He said to them: "The world does not lack its King, nor does it lack its God."

that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for the full price let him give it to me in the midst of you for a possession of a burying-place.’

that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for the full price let him give it to me in the midst of you for a possession of a burying-place.’

’Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee; bury thy dead.’

(2) AND THE CAVE THAT IS IN IT. You are asking only for the cave that is at the end of the field, and by sale; I am giving you as a gift the whole field and the cave.

LET HIM GRANT ME THE CAVE OF MACHPELAH... LET HIM GRANT IT TO ME. The explanation of "let him grant [lit. give] me" and "let him grant it to me" is: "I shall consider it a gift, [even] if I buy it full price." That's why he didnt use the word "selling". likewise we find "Food you shall sell me and you will 'give' me water for money" [He meant] that "even for water which is [usually] given as a gift I will pay you" Alternatively, its normal in Hebrew to use ["giving"] in sales. THE CAVE OF MACHPELAH. A quote from Rashi. A lower flor with an upper floor above it. Also, for its doubled with couples. But its not satisfactory. For the Torah says, "Efron's field which was in Machpelah" so its the name of the place oft he field, and there's no name to look for reasons of names of places. Breishit Rabbah says: "because G-d folded over (כפל) the full length of Adam and buried him inside that field" According to their opinion, the whole area was always called this but people didnt know the reason. For Efron sold it all to him for the price of a field for he assumed there's no grave there. Now Avram asked only to buy the cave for it was at the edge of the field and the [rest] would stay Efron's. But Efron said to Avram as courtesy or deceit that he would give him the field along with the cave, for its impossible that a distinguished man like Avram should own a grave for burial while the field belong to someone else. Avram in fact was happy about this and so he bought the whole lot for the price Efron mentioned to him.

לא אדוני, "No my lord." The word "no" means that Abraham could not merely acquire the cave but had to buy the field it was situated on. Efron indicated that the reason he had decided to give the whole field to Abraham was that once it served as a cemetry it could not longer serve its original purpose. He implied all this by using the word שמעני, "listen to me carefully."

Now Ephron was sitting in the midst of the children of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying:

נתתי לך I HAVE GIVEN IT TO THEE (a perfect tense) — See, it is as though I have already given it to you.

נתתי לך I HAVE GIVEN IT TO THEE (a perfect tense) — See, it is as though I have already given it to you.

ביני ובינך BETWEEN ME AND THEE — Between two such friends as we are, of what importance is that? Nothing at all! Leave business alone and bury your dead!