Genesis 23:11

_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._ Ephron answered, Nay, my lord, ... Here is a great show of generosity, but it was only a show-a characteristically Oriental scene; for while Abraham wanted only the cave, he joins "the field and the cave;" and though he offered them both as free gifts, he of course expected some costly presents in return, with which he would not have been easily satisfied. The patriarch knowing this, wished to make a purchase, and which he would not have been easily satisfied. The patriarch knowing this, wished to make a purchase, and asked the terms....

11._Hear me_. Although Ephron earnestly insisted upon giving the field freely to Abraham, the holy man adheres to his purpose, and at length compels him, by his entreaties, to sell the field. Ephron, in excusing himself, says that the price was too small for Abraham to insist upon giving; yet he estimates it at four hundred shekels. Now, since Josephus says that the shekel of the sanctuary was worth four Attic drachms, if he is speaking of these, we gather from the computation of Budaeus that the price of the field was about two hundred and fifty pounds of French money; if we understand the common shekel, it will be half that amount. Abraham was not so scrupulous but that he would have received a greater gift, if there had not been a sufficient reason to prevent him. He had been presented with considerable gifts both by the king of Egypt and the king of Gerar, but he observed this rule;...

1-13 The longest life must shortly come to a close. Blessed be God that there is a world where sin, death, vanity, and vexation cannot enter. Blessed be his name, that even death cannot part believers from union with Christ. Those whom we most love, yea, even our own bodies, which we so care for, must soon become loathsome lumps of clays, and be buried out of sight. How loose then should we be to all earthly attachments and adornments! Let us seek rather that our souls be adorned with heavenly graces. Abraham rendered honour and respect to the princes of Heth, although of the ungodly Canaanites. The religion of the Bible enjoins to pay due respect to all in authority, without flattering their persons, or countenancing their crimes if they are unworthy characters. And the noble generosity of these Canaanites shames and condemns the closeness, selfishness, and ill-humour of many that call...

- The Death of Sarah 2. ארבע קרית _qı̂ryat_-_'arba‛_, “Qirjath-arba‘, city of Arba.” ארבע _'arba‛_, “Arba‘, four.” 8. עפרון _‛__eprôn_, “‘Ephron, of the dust, or resembling a calf.” צחר _tshochar_, “Tsochar, whiteness.” 9. מכפלה _makpêlâh_, “Makpelah, doubled.” The death and burial of Sarah are here recorded. This occasions the purchase of the field of Makpelah, in the cave of which is her sepulchre. Genesis 23:1 Sarah is the only woman whose age is reco

EXPOSITION GENESIS 23:1 AND SARAH WAS AN HUNDRED AND SEVEN AND TWENTY YEARS OLD (literally, and _the lives of Sarah were an hundred and twenty and seven years_);_ _so that Isaac must have been thirty-seven, having been born in his mother's ninetieth year. Sarah, as the wife of Abraham and the mother of believers (Isaiah 51:2; 1 Peter 3:6), is the only woman whose age is mentioned in Scripture. THESE WERE THE YEARS OF THE LIFE OF SARAH—an emphatic repetition designed to impress the Israelitish mind with the importance of remembering the age of their ancestress....

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 I THEE, AND THE CAVE THAT [IS] THEREIN I GIVE IT THEE; which was more than Abraham asked to purchase; he only desired to have the cave, which lay in one corner of the field, but Ephron proposes both to give him the cave, and the field also: IN THE PRESENCE OF THE SONS OF MY PEOPLE GIVE I IT THEE; both field and cave; three times he says, "I give it thee", to show that he freely gave it, and that Abraham was welcome to it, and for the confirmation of the grant: BURY THY DEAD; in the cave, at once, immediately, without any more ado....

CHAPTER 23 THE DEATH OF SARAH _ 1. Sarah dies (Genesis 23:1)_ 2. The grave obtained (Genesis 23:3) 3. The burial of Sarah (Genesis 23:19) We call the attention to the typical meaning of the death of Sarah. She is the type of the nation Israel and her death in this chapter signifies the death of Israel, nationally. This must be brought in connection with the previous chapter. There we learned that Isaac was upon the altar and taken from it. This is typical of the death and resurrection of the true Isaac, the Promised One, the Lord Jesus Christ. Immediately after, Sarah dies, the one from whom Isaac came. And so after the Lord Jesus Christ had died and was raised from the dead, the n

GENESIS 23. ABRAHAM PURCHASES THE CAVE OF MACHPELAH AS A BURYING-PLACE OF SARAH. This chapter belongs to P, as is shown by its legal precision and the wordiness of its style, by numerous characteristic expressions, and by the later references in P (Genesis 25:9 f., Genesis 49:29; Genesis 50:13). It shows how Abraham acquired property by purchase in Canaan, an earnest of ultimate _possession of_ the whole, and perhaps inculcates by his example the duty of acquiring a family grave, to which importance was attached. Gunkel thinks that the story is old, and its original form was designed to emphasize that the sanctuary at Machpeiah belonged, not to the Canaanites who claimed it, but to Israel, since Abraham had purchas

GIVE I. Hebrew have. given. Figure of speech _Antimereia_ (of Verb), past for present....

_the field give I thee_, &c. As in Genesis 23:6, we have here the complimentary style of bargaining. Observe the successive stages: Abraham in Genesis 23:9 asks to buy the cave only; Ephron in Genesis 23:11 offers to give the whole field and the cave in it for nothing; Abraham in Genesis 23:13 offers to pay for the field; Ephron in Genesis 23:15 mentions the price for the land; Abraham in Genesis 23:16 duly pays for the field and the cave ...