Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 23/אבן עזרא על בראשית כ״ג
אחיי. לשון רבים ולא יתפרדו ומנהג הלשון להקדים המספר הרב על המעט והפך הדבר כמו שני יעקב:
1THE LIFE OF. The word life (chayyim) is always encountered in the plural. We never find it in the singular. [A HUNDRED AND SEVEN AND TWENTY YEARS.] Hebrew usually first lists the larger numbers and then the smaller ones.1. But we also find the opposite, an example being Scripture’s enumeration of Jacob’s years2. Here Scripture lists the smaller numbers first. (Gen. 47:28).
אארבע. שם אדם גדול בענקים ולהיותו אברהם הוא על דרך דרש כי לא היה מהענקים וכאשר מתה שרה היה אברהם במקום אחר ע"כ אמר ויבא אברהם:
1KIRIATH-ARBA. Arba was the name of one of the great men of the Anakim.3 (Josh. 14:15); even Kiriath-arba, which Arba was the father of Anak (Josh. 15:13). The identification of Arba with Abraham is homiletical,4 14:6. as Abraham was not of that race. When Sarah died Abraham was elsewhere; hence Scripture states, and Abraham came.
בולבכותה. לבכות עליה וכן "ובכתה את אביה" (דברים כא יג):
2AND TO WEEP FOR HER. The word livkotah is to be rendered to weep for her. And bewail her father (Deut. 21:13)5 is made up of two words, livkot (to weep) and the object otah (her). This combination of pronoun and object can only be made with a transitive verb. However, livkotah is intransitive. The meaning of livkotah is thus to weep her, an impossible rendering. Hence I.E. comments that the meaning of our word is to weep for her. He points out that the same is true in Deut. 21:13 (Krinsky). is similar.
אפני מתו. רמז לגוף ועוד תמצא פי' לאמר:
1BEFORE HIS DEAD. This alludes to the body.6) is in the masculine. However, Sarah was a woman. Thus Scripture should have used the feminine (metato). I.E. explains that dead refers to the body, guf, which is a masculine word (Cherez). [SAYING.] The explanation of this term is found elsewhere in this commentary.7
אגר. לבדו הוא הלן:
1I AM A STRANGER. When the word stranger (ger) stands by itself, it refers to a transient stranger.
בותושב. הוא הגר היושב בארץ אמר הנה אני תושב עמכם, והמות גזור עלינו. ואין לי מקום שיהיה לי אחוזה כמו נחלה או מקום שאוחז אותו בכסף להיות קבור למת:
2And a sojourner (ve-toshav) means a resident stranger.8) is coupled with stranger (ger) it means a resident stranger (Krinsky). Cherez disagrees. He thinks I.E. is only commenting on the word sojourner (toshav). Abraham said to them, “I am a sojourner among you. We are all mortal, I do not have a possession (achuzah) i.e., an inherited or bought piece of land9 (to hold). One holds on to land by inheritance or acquisition. Achuzah thus means a holding, the idea being a piece of property with a title. for use as a burial plot.”
אאדני. ולא אדונינו, לשון המדבר, ואין מדרך מוסר לשום אחרים שותפים עמו:
1MY LORD. Not our lord.10. Since they apparently all spoke we would expect the use of the term our lord. One man spoke. He employed the term my lord because it is impolite to include others when one is speaking as a subordinate.11 does not mean they all spoke in unison. One man spoke on behalf of all. Had they all spoken, Scripture would have read adonenu. It should be noted that the entire verse, with the exception of adoni, is in the plural.
בנשיא אלהים. דרך גדולה בעבור כי אתה נביא:
2A MIGHTY PRINCE. Because thou art a prophet. The term elohim (mighty) is used in the sense of great.12 (translated by J.P.S. as mighty) usually means God.
גיכלה. ימנע, כי ימצא בה"א גם באל"ף באחרונה,
3SHALL WITHHOLD. Yikhleh means shall withhold.13 means to finish (see Gen. 2:1). The root caf, lamed, alef means to withhold (see Gen. 8:2; Ps. 40:12). Yikhleh is spelled with a heh in our verse. Hence I.E. points out that caf, lamed, heh can also mean to withhold. It can be spelled either with a heh or an alef.14
אודקדוק וישתחו בספר היסוד והאומרים כי השתחיתו היתה לשם, לא אמרו כלום, כי הכתוב אמר שהשתחוה לבני חת, והשתחויה שישוח ראשו וזה משפט הנותן שבח לאחר, וגם משה השתחוה לחותנו:
1[AND BOWED DOWN.] I have given the grammatical explanation of this word in The Book of Foundation.15 Those who say that Abraham bowed down to God speak nonsense.16 Scripture explicitly states that Abraham bowed to the children of Heth. Bowing means a bending of the head.17 It is a way of showing reverence. Moses also bowed before his father-in-law.18
אמערת המכפלה. מערה בתוך מערה:
1THE CAVE OF MACHPELAH. A cave within a cave.
בבכסף מלא. וההפך חסר:
2FOR THE FULL PRICE. The opposite of male (full) is chaser (lacking).19 (the full price). The word male means full. The opposite of full is empty (rek). I.E. points out that in our case this does not apply. One cannot say, kesef rek (empty money). However, one can say, chaser kesef (money is lacking). Hence male in our verse means the full amount and it is the opposite of chaser, rather than of rek (Filwarg). Thus kesef male means the full price.
אלא. כן אדני אך שתשמעני:
1NAY. Not so, my lord, only hear me.20, could conceivably be taken to mean: My lord should not hear me, hence I.E.’s comment (Filwarg).
אלפני עם הארץ. וזאת ההשתחויה היתה לפני עם הארץ לעפרון לתת שבח לו:
1BEFORE THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND. Abraham bowed before Ephron in the presence of the people of the land in order to honor him.
אאך אם אתה לו שמעני. אם אתה תעשה כן לו תשמעני או טעמו אם אתה תעשה כן לו נתתי כסף השדה:
1BUT IF THOU WILT, I PRAY THEE, HEAR ME. If you will do this21 is short for thou wilt do this, i.e., give me the field. The verse should be interpreted as follows: But if thou wilt give me the field, I pray thee, hear me, I will give the price of the field; take it of me. I pray thee, hear me. Or it may mean, if you will do this, I pray thee, when I will give the price of the field, take it of me.22 (lu) is connected to I will give rather than to hear me as it is in the first explanation. The verse should be interpreted as follows: But if thou wilt give me the field, hear me, I pray thee, when I give the price of the field, take it of me (Cherez).
אעובר לסוחר. שלא יקח כי אם כסף נבחר:
1CURRENT MONEY WITH THE MERCHANT. Merchants accept only the best currency.
אויקם. נתקיים ועמד השדה למקנה, והנה זה הפסוק דבק עם הפסוק שהוא למעלה וכן "גר ותושב אנכי" (בראשית כג ד) והעשרה שהזכיר הגאון אינם דבקים, וטעם:
1WERE MADE SURE. The field was made sure and passed permanently into Abraham’s possession. This verse and the one that preceded it are to be read as one verse. Similarly the verse opening with I am a stranger and a sojourner (v. 4) and the verse which precedes it are to be read as one verse. The ten pairs of verses that Saadiah Gaon listed as being in reality one verse are in fact not to be read as one verse.23
אלעיני בני חת. את אנשי המקום, וטעם:
1[IN THE PRESENCE OF THE CHILDREN OF HETH.] The local inhabitants.
בלכל באי שער עירו. כל עובר ושב:
2[BEFORE ALL THAT WENT IN AT THE GATE OF HIS CITY.] Those who happened to be passing by.
אואחרי כן קבר אברהם את שרה. ומאז נתקיים השדה לאחוזת קבר לו ולזרעו ונזכרה זאת הפרשה להודיע מעלת ארץ ישראל על כל הארצות לחיים ולמתים ועוד לקיים דבר ד' לאברהם להיות לו נחלה:
1AND AFTER THIS, ABRAHAM BURIED SARAH HIS WIFE. After the burial of Sarah the field was made sure as a burial ground possession belonging to Abraham and his descendants.24 Scripture tells of the purchase of the field of Machpelah to teach us of the superiority of the land of Israel over all countries, both for the living and the dead. Moreover, it informs us that God’s word to Abraham that he would possess the land as an inheritance was fulfilled.25