ויהיו חיי שרה, “The years of Sarah’s life amounted to etc.” People fond of dabbling in the allusions found through the numerical value of words or whole sentences, will note that the numerical value of the word ויהיו equals the “life of Sarah,” in other words, Sarah’s real life commenced with the birth of Yitzchok, at which time she was 90 years old, whereas she died on the day of the binding of Yitzchok 37 years later. This is the numerical value of the word: ויהיו. As long as a person has no child he or she is considered as dead. (Talmud Nedarim, 64)

מאה שנה, “one hundred years;” Rashi comments on the reason why the word: שנה, “year,” is repeated here three times, when the Torah could have simply written: מאה עשרים ושבע שנה, “one hundred and twenty seven years.” He suggests that the Torah wished us to know that Sarah was as free from sin at a hundred as she had been at twenty, and that she was as beautiful at twenty as she had been at seven. This, of course, raises the question why the Torah, in reporting the death of Yishmael at 137 years (Genesis, 25,32) used exactly the same formulation? We can answer this by pointing out that when reporting Sarah’s age, each group of years is reported separately, as an individual unit, whereas when reporting Yishmael’s age at death, the groups of years are introduced in the construct mode, i.e. מאת, not מאה, i.e. all the years had the same common factor. Not only that, but the Torah sums up her years once more with the words: שני חיי שרה, “the years of Sarah’s life,” i.e. all her years were earmarked by a common denominator. If, when Avraham’s death is reported our sages have seen fit to read something into the way his years are reported, although there too just as at the death of Yishmael we find the word מאת in the construct form, this can be accounted for by the word: ימי, “days of,” which are superfluous and therefore available for interpretation. (Genesis 25,7) Rashi also adds that Sarah was free from sin at twenty as if this was something exceptional; this sounds strange as at that time everyone was free from sin, i.e. not held accountable until the age of twenty? We must understand Rashi as if he had written: ”just as she was free from sin at 20, she remained free from sin until the end of her life. Accountability for sins at the age of 12 or 13 for females and males respectively, commenced only after the Torah had been given. [Our midrashim describe Yishmael as “innocent” when expelled by Sarah, as he was below 20 years of age. Ed.] Sarah had not required cosmetics at twenty anymore than she had required it at the age of seven. We know from Rivkah, who accepted jewelry at the age of three in order to enhance her appearance, that girls in those days felt the need to enhance their natural charms at an early age. (Compare Genesis 24,22) There is a Midrash in pessikta zutrata according to which the reference to her being one hundred as meaning that she was as beautiful at a hundred as she had been at twenty, whereas she was as free from sin at twenty as she had been at seven.

שני חיי שרה, “the years of the life of Sarah.” According to Rashi, the apparently superfluous words: “the years of,” mean that she retained all her virtues in equal measure throughout her life. The wording used by the Torah when reporting Yishmael’s life does not lend itself to such an interpretation, seeing that up until his death we had never heard anything about his age, as distinct from Sarah. It is clear therefore that the words underlined earlier were meant to relay an additional message to the reader.

ותמת שרה, “Sarah died;” it is most unusual for the Torah to report the fact that a woman died. (Miriam, Moses’ sister’s death are exceptions, Numbers 20,1 as are Rachel’s premature death in Genesis 35,18, and Deborah, Rivkah’s nursemaid in Genesis 35,8.) When such a death is reported it is not only a compliment to the virtuous lives these women had lived, but is always associated with a remarkable event. Sarah’s death is associated with the enormous amount of money paid by her husband for acquiring the land for burying her. Rachel’s premature death is reported so that we should know where she has been buried. Deborah’s death is reported so that we should know why the place where this occurred became known subsequently as אלון בכות, “oak of mourning.” [Also in order to draw our attention to the fact that her mistress, Rivkah’s death has not been reported. Ed.] Miriam’s death was the reason that the well that had accompanied the Israelites throughout their long march in the desert ceased flowing.

בקרית ארבע, in Kiryat Arba; there is an opinion that the reason why the location where she died is mentioned, while the locations where the other matriarchs died were not mentioned is that Avraham had sent her there before taking Yitzchok with him to be offered as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. He did not want her to have any knowledge of this. Avraham and Sarah at that time had been residents of B’er Sheva. Another commentator claims that Sarah had moved from B’er Sheva for health reasons as the climate in Chevron (mountainous instead of desert) was more likely to cure her. When she heard why Avraham had taken Yitzchok to Mount Moriah she died. This is why Avraham had to come all the way from B’er Sheva to mourn and bury her. Had she died in B’er Sheva, Avraham could have buried her there without problems as he was at home there.

בקרית ארבע, this was a town that had been built already by Adam, as we know from Joshua 14,15: קרית ארבע שם חברון לפנים, האדם הגדול בענקים, “the name of Chevron in former times was Kiryat Arba, the greatest of all the giants.”A different version found in midrashim, is that the name of that town is due to it changing ownership four times one after another. First it belonged to the tribe of Yehudah; then it became the private property of Calev of that tribe; subsequently it became a city of priests, and eventually one of the cities of refuge. (Compare Bereshit Rabbah 58,4) This is why only its outskirts were given to Calev as is apparent from the wording in Joshua 21,12. Compare also in Baba Batra 122. ויבא אברהם, “Avraham arrived.” Some scholars claim that the term: ויבא, need not imply that the subject came from afar, even if he only came from the outside of the house this term is used as we know from Joseph’s entering Potiphar’s house where the Torah wrote: ויבא הביתה לעשות מלאכתו, “he entered the house in order to perform his tasks.” (Genesis 39,11)

לספוד לשרה ולבכותה, “to eulogize Sarah and to weep over her loss.” He had not secured a suitable plot where to bury her.

גר ותושב אנכי עמכם, “I am a stranger as well as a resident amongst you.” A stranger because I came from a foreign land – and a resident because I intend to settle amongst you. Rashi suggests that Avraham also implied that if he were to be denied his request he would insist on his legal rights in the matter (by simply becoming a permanent resident). If you were to point out that according to what Rashi had explained on Genesis 13,7 where the Canaanites are described as the then residents of that land, that had been before he had become a father of children. (Such people cannot claim permanent resident status.) After all, G-d had not promised Avraham that he would inherit this land. He had only promised it to Avraham’s descendants. Now that Yitzchok had been born, he was entitled to inherit part of the Land.

תנו לי אחוזת קבר, “give me a burial plot that will have the status of ancestral ownership.” Avraham meant that it would not be satisfactory to bury Sarah in a piece of land that was privately owned at that time, as the present owner or his heir could demand at any time in the future to plough over her remains and scatter her bones. However, if he would let me acquire a plot of land for a burial site I would not worry that he would plough it.

נשיא אלוהים, “a prince of G-d;” they answered his first statement first when he had described his status as either that of a stranger or resident, by saying that he was much more than that. They considered him as if G-d Himself had sent him. As far as his second request was concerned that he needed to acquire ancestral rights to any burial plot so as to safeguard it to being ploughed over in the future by its previous owner, every one of them would be willing to deed to him the plot that he had already chosen for himself his own future burial plot. He should meanwhile proceed to bury his dead and they would it consider an honour to have Sarah buried in a plot that had once belonged to one of them. איש את קברו, even if Avraham, by chance would select a plot that one of them had already earmarked as his own future burial ground.

“Avraham stood up and prostrated himself;” Avraham was dependent on the goodwill of everyone in that town; even if Efron had been willing to sell his field or plot Avraham would have needed all the townspeople’s permission to convert it into a burial site. Avraham had to first arise in order to prostrate himself in the appropriate manner to all of them, even to the one sitting behind him. But for a single individual such as Efron he was not required to rise, he just prostrated himself before him.

ופגעו לי בעפרון, “and entreat Efron on my behalf;” if you were to ask why all this was necessary after he had been offered the choice of many grave sites by the assembled people, the reason could be that Efron was himself not a member of the Hittites, as were the townspeople, so that they could not have spoken in his name also. He had come from afar and settled in Kiryat Arba and after having dwelled there they elected him as their president.

ויתן לי, “so that he will give me, etc.” Avraham never suggested that he wanted the cave of Machpelah as a gift; on the contrary, he considered that even after having paid a substantial amount of money for it, he would still view this as a gift bestowed upon him by Efron.

בקצה שדהו, “at the edge of his field;” in other words, using of that corner as a burial ground will not interfere with his having continued full use of his field for agricultural purposes.

ועפרון יושב בתוך בני חת, “Efron was sitting among the Hittites (as if he were also a Hittite), like the Shunammite in II Kings 4.13.”

השדה נתתי לך, “I have given you the field;” Efron pointed out that unless he gave Avraham not only the cave of Machpelah but also his adjoining field, Avraham would have no access to the cave. (without asking permission to visit there each time).

נתתי כסף השדה קח ממני, The word נתתי on earlier it stands, that Ephron said "השדה נתתי לך" And Abhraham answered him "שמעני נתתי?" with wonder. [i.e.,] You said "נתתי לך" but you the money of the field take from me because as a gift I will not accept it. And the cantillation that is with נתתי proves because there is in it a geresh to separate it from מכסף השדה.

וישמע אברהם אל עפרון, “Avraham listened to Efron (accepted his conditions), i.e. he accepted Efron’s evaluation of the value of the field, i.e. that to him it was worth 400 shekel of pure silver;

וישקול אברהם לעפרן, “Avraham weighed the amount of silver;” you will note that in this verse the name “Efron” is spelled without the letter ו. The reason the sages spelled it thus is so that the numerical value of the letters in his name should add up to 400, i.e. the amount of silver pieces he had charged Avraham for burying Sarah in that cave.(Compare Baal Haturim)

כסף עובר לסוחר, “silver,” i.e. pure silver acceptable by any merchant. The word: עובר means “passable;”

ויקם, literally: “it stood up;” the subject is the field, and the Torah means that by becoming the property of Avraham this field now had “risen” in spiritual value. שדה עפרון, one side of that field extended along the whole length of that town. Here it is described in precise detail, i.e. ממרא היא חברון, whereas previously it had been described as קרית ארבע, “the city of the four;” later on during the lifetime of Yaakov it has been described as ממרא קרית הארבע היא חברון, (Genesis 35,27) a location where both Avraham and Yitzchok had been residents at one time or another. Earlier. in connection with Avraham, (12,18) he had been described as having settled in Kiryat Arba which is described there as “part of Chevron.” This was meant to tell us that Mamre was the original founder who had built himself a town adjacent to Chevron which had previously been inhabited by Hittites. He called that new town “Mamre,” thus memorializing himself. The “groves” of Mamre, i.e. אלוני ממרא, were situated at the entrance to that town. The cave of Machpelah, in another direction, at that time had belonged to the Hittites. After Mamre’s death, a giant by the name of Arba became very powerful and claimed the entire area, naming it Arba after himself. Several centuries later, when the Israelites had defeated most of Canaanite tribes they called that town Chevron.

אל מערת המכפלה, “literally: “to” the cave of Machpelah; actually the word: אל here appears in lieu of the prefix ב. We find similar instances of the word אל being used in lieu of the prefix ב, in Exodus 25,16, and Numbers 19,6, as well as in Numbers 19,17.

ויקם השדה, “this formulation uses the verb קום in the sense of being stable, remaining firmly established. Examples are Numbers 30,10 where it refers to the validity until honoured, of a vow made by a woman of age and not married. In this instance, the Torah records that the transfer of the cave and field adjoining Machpelah from Efron to Avraham remains valid forever. Avraham himself, of course, also acquired the legal right to be buried alongside his beloved wife Sarah.

מאת בני חת “from the Hittites.” Avraham had taken the town seal and attached it to the document registering this sale. He did so in order to prevent the townspeople claiming in the future that Efron had not had the legal right to sell the property to be used as a burial site. [It occurs to this editor that if Yaakov, Avraham’s grandson, had not relied on Lavan’s word when he agreed to work seven years for the hand of Rachel in marriage, but had insisted on a written document, he might have saved himself an untold amount of grief.]