Genesis 23:17

_AND THE FIELD OF EPHRON, WHICH WAS IN MACHPELAH, WHICH WAS BEFORE MAMRE, THE FIELD, AND THE CAVE WHICH WAS THEREIN, AND ALL THE TREES THAT WERE IN THE FIELD, THAT WERE IN ALL THE BORDERS ROUND ABOUT, WERE MADE SURE_ No JFB commentary on this verse....

14-20 Prudence, as well as justice, directs us to be fair and open in our dealings; cheating bargains will not bear the light. Abraham, without fraud or delay, pays the money. He pays it at once in full, without keeping any part back; and by weight, current money with the merchant, without deceit. See how anciently money was used for the help of trade, and how honestly it should be paid when it is due. Though all the land of Canaan was Abraham by promise, yet the time of his possessing it not being come, what he had occasion for he bought and paid for. Dominion is not founded in grace. The saints' title to an eternal inheritance does not entitle them to the possessions of this world, nor justify them in doing wrong. Ephron honestly and fairly makes a good title to the land. As that which is bought, must be honestly paid for, so that which is sold, must be honestly delivered and secured....

Verse Genesis 23:17. _ALL THE TREES THAT WERE IN THE FIELD_] It is possible that all these were specified in the agreement....

- 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....

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 observes, as to render the words, "the field of Ephron, which was in the double cave,'' whereas, on the contrary, the cave was in that field; and so the Vulgate version, to better sense, though not agreeably to the Hebrew text, "the field of Ephron, in which was the double cave:'' WHICH [WAS] BEFORE MAMRE; or over against it, the place where Abraham dwelt, which was in Hebron, Genesis 13:18; the field, and the cave which [was] therein, and all the trees that [were] in the field, that [were] in all the borders round about, were

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

_So the field of Ephron_ This and the following verses contain, in language of legal minuteness, the description of the purchase. The sentence probably represents the form of a deed of sale, such as was included in Hebrew contracts. Similar minute details are found in Babylonian legal deeds of sale. Notice the particular mention of "the field," "the cave," "all the trees," "all the border," "made sure," "in the presence of," "all that went in at the gate of his city." _before Mamre_ i.e. "in front of" = "to the east of," as in Genesis 23:19, cf. Genesis 16:12; Genesis 25:18; Numbers 21:11;...

DISCOURSE: 38 ABRAHAM PURCHASING A BURYING-PLACE IN CANAAN Genesis 23:17. _And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the care which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession, in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city._ THERE is something in a holy life which wonderfully conciliates the minds of men. At first indeed, like a strong influx of light, it offends their eyes; and the beholders, unable to bear the effulgence of its beams, turn away from it, or perhaps desire its utter extinction. But when it has shone for a long time before them, and they have had sufficient opportunity to contemplate its worth, they are constrained to acknowledge, that “the righteous is more excellent