Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city.
18. all that went in at ] See note on Gen 23:10. The necessary witnesses of the transaction. There is no document to be attested.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Unto Abraham for a possession,…. To be enjoyed by him and his for ever, as his own property, being purchased by his money:
in the presence of the children of Heth; they being witnesses of the bargain, and of the payment of the money by Abraham, and of the surrender of the field unto him, for his own use:
before all that went in at the gates of his city; not of Abraham’s city, for he had none, but of Ephron’s city, which was Hebron, see
Ge 23:10; these are either the same with the children of Heth, and so the clause is added by way of explanation, and including all the inhabitants of the place; or else different from them, they intending the princes of the people that composed the assembly Abraham addressed, and these the common people, the inhabitants of the place. Aben Ezra takes them to be the travellers that passed and repassed through the gates of the city: however, the design of the expression is to show in what a public manner this affair was transacted, and that the field was made as firm and as sure to Abraham as it could well be, no writings on such occasion being used so early.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Gen 23:18. Before all that went in at the gate See Gen 23:10 and ch. Gen 19:1. The authors of the Universal History observe, that gates of cities in those days, and for many centuries after, were the places of judicature and common resort. Here the Governors, or elders of the city, met to hear complaints, administer justice, make conveyances of titles and estates, and to transact all the affairs of the place; whence that verse in the Psalms, they shall not be ashamed, when they speak with their enemies in the gate, i.e.. when they are accused by them before the court of magistrates. It is probable, that the room or hall where the magistrates sat, was over the gates. How considerable they became in time for largeness and sumptuousness, appears by the two kings of Israel and Judah being present at one of them in all their royal splendor, and convening thither four hundred priests of Baal, besides their own guards and officers. It seems as if these places had been at first chosen for the conveniency of the inhabitants, who being all husbandmen, and forced to pass and repass morning and night as they went and came from their labour, might be more easily called as they went by, whenever they were wanted to appear in any business. These gates were likewise markets for provisions like those of the Romans, as appears by the prophet Elisha’s foretelling an incredible plenty to happen next day in the midst of a famine, at the gate of Samaria. What the number of magistrates was, how far their power extended, and how many orders of them there were, is not to be gathered from Scripture; only it is plain there could be but few of the latter, since in the time of Joshua, we can find but four sorts of them, viz. the elders, the heads of the people, the judges, and the officers. Abraham therefore could not make his purchase from Ephron the Hittite, without having recourse to the city-gates.
REFLECTIONS.Abraham preferring the purchase, Ephron accepts the money, and conveys to him the field where the cave stood, with all its appurtenances. Abraham is put in possession, and the children of Heth witness the bargain; and there Sarah’s corpse is deposited. Learn hence, 1. Fair reckonings make fast friends. 2. Fidelity in our agreements and bargains is to be scrupulously observed. 3. The decent care of a burial may be considered as a profession of our hope of the resurrection of the body. 4. While we are so solicitous in general for a burying-place for our bodies in the earth, let it quicken us to greater solicitude, to secure a resting-place for our souls in heaven.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 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.
Ver. 18. Unto Abraham for a possession. ] Thus Abraham, as a purchaser, had some land in Canaan; but not as possessed of it by God’s gift, which is St Stephen’s sense. Act 7:5
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Abraham. This is not the purchase referred to in Gen 33:19 and Act 7:16. Act 7:80 years between this purchase and Jacob’s. See note on Act 7:16.
before all. Some Codices with Samaritan Pentateuch have “even before all”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
all: Gen 34:20, Rth 4:1, Jer 32:12
Reciprocal: Gen 23:10 – all that Gen 23:11 – in the Gen 34:24 – went out Rth 4:4 – before the inhabitants