Commentary
Skeptic's Annotated Bible
23:1 And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah.
Got that? An hundred and seven and twenty. Not an hundred and twenty and seven. Or an hundred and twenty-seven. No real point here, it just sounded odd. Oh that, and the claim that she's 127.
23:2 And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.
23:3 And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying,
23:4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
23:5 And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him,
23:6 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.
23:7 And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth.
23:8 And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,
23:9 That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace amongst you.
23:10 And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying,
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.
23:12 And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land.
23:13 And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me: I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there.
23:14 And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him,
23:15 My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.
23:16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.
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
23:18 Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city.
23:19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.
23:20 And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.
The first burial described in the Bible, as well as the first business transaction (unless you count Abraham's digging a well to claim Abimelech's land a transaction).
So I was left wondering after reading this: why go into this kind of detail here? What's the objective? How does this move the story of creation (genesis) along? It seems to me that the purpose of this chapter is to lay claim to the cave as a Jewish holy site. It turns out that there is a cave, a series of subterranean chambers, in the heart of the old city of Hebron in what today is the West Bank. This is considered a holy site by Jews, Christians and Muslims. Currently the location is under the control of a muslim waqf (since the 1996 Wye River Accords). The structure over and controlling access to the caves is a mosque. It is known as the Cave of the Patriarchs, the Cave of Machpela, the Sanctuary of Abraham, or the Ibrahimi Mosque.
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