Genesis 23:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 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.
broadness. i.e. (concrete) the ear (from its form in ma… · preposition + noun, common feminine dual construct
people
עַם'am-
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular construct
land
הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
saying
לֵאמֹ֔רle.Mor
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
thee
ל֖וּlu
H3863
a conditional particle · conjunction
hear
שְׁמָעֵ֑נִיshe.ma.'E.ni
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
give
נָתַ֜תִּיna.Ta.ti
H5414
to give · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
money
כֶּ֤סֶףKe.sef
H3701
silver (from its pale color) · noun, common masculine singular construct
field
הַשָּׂדֶה֙ha.sa.Deh
H7704
a field (as flat) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
take
קַ֣חkach
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
bury
וְאֶקְבְּרָ֥הve.'ek.be.Rah
H6912
to inter · conjunction + verb, qal infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
dead
מֵתִ֖יme.Ti
H4191
to die (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Genesis 14:22-23 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
2 Samuel 24:24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God…
Acts 20:35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said,…
Philippians 4:5-8 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
Colossians 4:5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor fo…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 23:3-15
Here is, I. The humble request which Abraham made to his neighbours, the Hittites, for a burying-place among them, Gen 23:3, Gen 23:4. It was strange he had this to do now; but we are to impute it rather to God's providence than to his improvidence, as appears Act 7:5, where it is said, God gave him no inheritance in Canaan. It were well if all those who take care to provide burying-places for their bodies after death were as careful to provide a resting-place for their souls. Observe here, 1. The convenient diversion which this affair gave, for the present, to Abraham's grief: He stood up from before his dead. Those that find themselves in danger of over-grieving for their dead relations, a…
Ephron answered, Nay, my lord, &c.--Here is a great show of generosity, but it was only a show; 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, without which, he would not have been satisfied. The patriarch, knowing this, wished to make a purchase and asked the terms.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 23:13
If thou wilt give it - Instead of, if thou wilt give it, we should read, But if thou wilt sell it, I will give thee money for the field; כסף keseph, silver, not coined money, for it is not probable that any such was then in use.
John Gill on Genesis 23:13
And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land,.... He addressed himself to Ephron who spoke last, with an audible voice, so that all could hear him:
saying, but if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me; the words are very concise, and in the original text are only "if thou", and differently supplied; by some, "if thou art he" (c), Ephron, whom it is supposed Abraham knew not by face, or that he was present; which is not likely, since Abraham had lived in those parts now so as to be well known himself, and must know his neighbours; and had lived formerly here, and could not but know so great a prince as Ephron, whose city he dwelt in. The Targum of Jonathan is,"if thou…
The Church Fathers
Notice, however, how the good man instructs even those people with his characteristic common sense, through his very actions, by forbearing to take possession of it before paying a just price. "Even if you for your part … have proved so kindly disposed toward me, I still cannot bring myself to take the tomb from you unless first I pay the proper price." He gave them money, the text says, took possession of the tomb "and buried his wife Sarah in the double cave of the field overlooking Mamre." The man who was so famous and respected, who enjoyed such confidence with God and was the object of such attention from everyone, so to say, in that place that even the Hittites called him king—he owned not even one foot of land. Hence blessed Paul also celebrated this good man's virtue in writing these words: "By faith Abraham dwelt in the land of promise, like a foreigner living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise." Then to teach us how it was through faith that he dwelt there, he added, "He looked forward, you see, to the city built on foundations of which the builder and creator was God." In the hope of things to come, he is saying, he overlooked present realities, and, in the expectation of greater things, he set less store by those of this life—and this before the law and the age of grace.So what excuse will we have, tell me, who despite such wonderful promises and guarantees of ineffable blessings hanker for present realities, buying up property, ever concerned for our image, amassing all these possessions out of greed and avarice and fulfilling in practice what the blessed prophet said in his lament, "Woe to those who pile house on house and add property to property for the purpose of robbing their neighbor of something." Do we not see this happening each day—widows being robbed, orphans despoiled and the weak oppressed by the strong? This good man, on the contrary, did not behave in that fashion; instead, he insisted on buying the tomb, and, when he saw those from whom he sought it ready and willing to hand it over, he could not bring himself to accept it before he paid the right price.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Abraham — Father of a multitude, son of Terah, named (Gen. 11:27) before his older brothers Nahor and Haran, because he was the heir of the promises. Till the age of seventy, Abram sojourned among his kindred…
Burial — The first burial we have an account of is that of Sarah (Gen. 23). The first commercial transaction recorded is that of the purchase of a burial-place, for which Abraham weighed to Ephron “four…
Ephron — Fawn-like. (1.) The son of Zohar a Hittite, the owner of the field and cave of Machpelah (q.v.), which Abraham bought for 400 shekels of silver (Gen. 23:8-17; 25:9; 49:29, 30). (2.) A mountain range…
Field — (Heb. sadeh), a cultivated field, but unenclosed. It is applied to any cultivated ground or pasture (Gen. 29:2; 31:4; 34:7), or tillage (Gen. 37:7; 47:24). It is also applied to woodland (Ps. 132:6)…
Hebron — A community; alliance. (1.) A city in the south end of the valley of Eshcol, about midway between Jerusalem and Beersheba, from which it is distant about 20 miles in a straight line. It was built…
Machpelah — Portion; double cave, the cave which Abraham bought, together with the field in which it stood, from Ephron the Hittite, for a family burying-place (Gen. 23). It is one of those Bible localities…
Burial · Antiquity of purchasing places for — Antiquity of purchasing places for
Cave · Burial place — Burial place
Commerce · Articles of: Land — Articles of: Land
Ephron · .Sells to Abraham the field containing the — .Sells to Abraham the field containing the
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…
He then went to the Hittites, the lords and possessors of the city and its vicinity at that time, to procure from them "a possession of a burying-place." The negotiations were carried on in the most formal style, in a public assembly "of the people of the land," i.e., of natives (Gen 23:7), in the gate of the city (Gen 23:10). As a foreigner and sojourner, Abraham presented his request in the most courteous manner to all the citizens ("all that went in at the gate," Gen 23:10, Gen 23:18; a phrase interchangeable with "all that went out at the gate," Gen 34:24, and those who "go out and in," Jer 17:19). The citizens with the greatest readiness and respect offered "the prince of God," i.e., th…
Abraham didn’t want the whole field, but he was willing to take it to get the cave.
Rashi on Genesis 23:13
אך אם אתה לו שמעני BUT IF THOU WOULDST ONLY HEAR ME — You tell me to listen to you (verse 11) and to accept it without payment. I do not desire this:
BUT IF THOU WOULDST ONLY HEAR ME!—i.e. I only wish that you would listen to me and do as I ask.
נתתי I GIVE (perfect with present sense) old French donne; English I give. I have the money ready and I only wish that I had already given it to you.
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
