Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 23:9/אבן עזרא על בראשית כ״ג:ט׳
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.