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 burial place amongst you.
9. the cave of Machpelah ] Machpelah is not the name of the cave, but of the locality; cf. 17, Gen 49:30, Gen 50:12. The old explanation that the cave was so called, because it was “a double cave,” has therefore been questioned; but the LXX and the Lat. both render Machpelah as if it were the equivalent of “double,” LXX , Vulg. speluncam duplicem. The name in the Hebrew always has the article, as an appellative or descriptive noun. The tradition of the cave being a double one is continuously maintained. Its correctness is indisputable.
in the end of his field ] Abraham here only asks for the cave at one end of the field of Machpelah.
for the full price ] Lit. “for full silver”; cf. 1Ch 21:22. The payment was to be full value and in good money. See note on Gen 23:16. The expression is one which was also current in the Assyrian language.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Machpelah, which seems to be the proper name of the place, Gen 23:17,19, so called from its duplicity, because the cave was double, either one for men, and another for women; or the one served only for an entrance into the other, which was the burying-place.
For as much money as it is worth; Heb. for full money, 1Ch 21:22,24; i.e. for money of full weight, answerable to its worth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. Machpelahthe “doublecave.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
That he may, give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath,
which [is] in the end of his field,…. The Targum of Jonathan renders it, “the double cave”, and so do the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; and, according to Aben Ezra and Ben Melech, it was so called because there was a cave within a cave in it; and, as Jarchi thinks, because it was a house and chamber over it y or, as he adds, because it was fit for couples, for two corpses to be laid in it; and the Jews say z, here Adam and Eve were buried, which made Abraham so desirous of having it for a buryingplace: but it seems rather to be the proper name of a place, and indeed of a tract of land, in which the field and the cave in the corner of it lay, and which all belonged to Ephron; for both the field and the cave in it are distinguished from Machpelah, in which they were, and that from them, Ge 23:17; and it is highly probable, that this cave was never made use of before for such a purpose as it was now sought for, since Abraham did not think fit to accept of the offer made him of any of their sepulchres; and chose rather that his dead should not lie with them, but in a separate place, though among them, they being Heathens and idolaters, and unacquainted with the resurrection of the dead, and would have no part in the first resurrection, which Abraham believed and hoped for;
for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me, for a possession of a buryingplace amongst you; or, “for full money” a, that which is full weight, for money was paid by weight in those times, as appears from Ge 23:16; or for the full price and value of it: for, as Abraham did not desire to have it as a free gift, so neither at an under price; he was very willing to give the full worth of it; he did not ask it with any covetous view, or to encroach upon them.
y So in T. Bab. Erubin, fol. 53. 1. z Pirke Eliezer, c. 20. & 36. a “in vel pro argento pieno”, Pagninus, Montanus, Schmidt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(9) The cave of Machpelah.That is, the double cave, consisting probably of an outer and an inner compartment. As the land around is also called the field of Machpelah (Gen. 49:30; Gen. 1:13), some imagine that it was the valley that was double; but more probablyit took its name from the cavern. For a description of the Haram, within which the bones of Abraham and Sarah probably still lie, see Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, p. 397; Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 101; and also the Appendix to his Sermons in the East.
For as much money as it is worth.Heb., for full silver, rendered the full price in 1Ch. 21:22.
A buryingplace amongst you.This translation is quite wrong. Abraham had no wish that Sarah should be buried amongst the Hittites, but required that the sale should be duly attested. The Heb. is. Let him give it me in the midst of you (that is, in a general assembly of the people), for a possession and a buryingplace.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Machpelah This is to be regarded as a proper name applied both to the cave and to the field in which it was located . Comp . Gen 23:17; Gen 23:19. The Septuagint and Vulgate render it as an adjective the double cave; and perhaps two compartments or two entrances into the cave may have occasioned the name Machpelah, which is derived from , caphal, to double. Gesenius, however, gives this root the sense of to divide, and to Machpelah the sense of portion, part, lot. There is little or no doubt that this important cave is now covered by the Mosque of Hebron, of which a cut is given herewith. It has been kept hermetically sealed for ages and since the Mohammedans possesed it, no Christian has been permitted inside the mosque except the Prince of Wales and his attendants, who in 1862, after much effort and diplomacy, were allowed to go in and look upon the cenotaphs which are supposed to stand above the several tombs. Into the cave, of course, they could not enter, and it is believed that no one has entered it for more than a thousand years. See the account of the prince’s visit, and a plan of the interior of the mosque, in Stanley’s History of the Jewish Church, vol. i, Appendix 2.
For as much money as it is worth Hebrews, for full money. Abraham will have a complete bargain; no gift, no half-price, no misunderstanding, from which any after strife might come.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 23:9. Cave of Machpelah Machpelah, in the Hebrew, signifies double; and possibly the cave might be so called, either from having a double entrance, or from being double, one cave within another, as was common: or might it not be called double afterwards, from Abraham and Sarah’s being both buried there? This cave, observe, was at the end of the field: the ancients were wiser than to have their burying-places in the midst of cities, much less in the midst of temples! This was left for more modern and refined vanity and absurdity. The same custom of burying in the fields, gardens, &c. prevailed in our Saviour’s time. See Joh 11:30-31; Joh 11:38. Mat 27:7; Mat 27:66.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 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.
Ver. 9. For a possession of a burying place. ] It is remarkable that the first purchase of possession mentioned in Scripture, was a place to bury in, not to build in. The Jews also had their sepulchres hewn out long before their deaths, to mind them of their mortality. Joseph of Arimathea had his tomb in his garden, to season his delights with the meditation of his end. The Egyptians had a death’s head carried about the table at their feasts. The emperors of Constantinople had a mason who came to them on their Coronation Day with choice of tomb stones, and these verses in his mouth –
“ Elige ab his saxis ex quo (invictissime Caesar)
Ipse tibi tumulum me fabricare velis .”
Our first parents, saith one, a
a Dr Playfair.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
money. Hebrew silver.
buryingplace. What Jacob bought (Gen 33:19, Gen 33:20) was for an altar.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
much money: Heb. full money, Rom 12:17, Rom 13:8
Reciprocal: Gen 25:9 – in the cave