ויהיו חיי שרה מאה שנה ועשרים שנה ושבע שנים .The Torah repeats the word “year” or “years” three times, even though this verse could have been written using the word שנה only once. We encounter a similar “waste” of the word “year” and “years” in Genesis 6,9 in connection with Noach, as well as in connection with בני ישראל, “the Children of Israel” in Numbers 8,19 where that word occurs no fewer than five times We also find such a repetitive use of the word “year” when we are told about Avraham’s death in Genesis 25,7. Even when reporting the death of Ishmael in Genesis 25,17 the word שנה is repeated three times. Some commentators claim that this is a feature of the Holy Tongue, which endeavours to be clear and unambiguous. When a large number of years (unit) is mentioned the word שנה, “year” appears in the singular mode, whereas when less than ten years are mentioned the years appear in the plural mode, i.e. שנים. There is an aggadic approach to these seemingly superfluous words, especially in our verse here (mentioned by Rashi) which sees in the wording an allusion to the fact that Sarah at her death was as pure and beautiful as at 7 or at 20 years respectively. Seeing that the word שנה did not occur at the beginning of the verse, the verse concludes with the summary שני חיי שרה. When reporting the death of Avraham and Ishmael, seeing that the verses commenced with the words ימי שני, these words are not again repeated at the end of the respective verses. It is possible that in all of these instances the word שני at the end is a hint that the persons concerned lived until the completion of that particular year.

ותמת שרה בקרית ארבע, this is where Avraham and Sarah resided after they had left Beer Sheva.

בקרית ארבע, Arba was the name of a man whose was known by this “nickname” as he had three sons, and they, just as he himself were giants, so that there were four giants. Compare Joshua 21,11. His three sons were called ששי,חימן, תלמי.

ויבא אברהם, he came from outside the house as he had not been present when Sarah died.. Alternately, he had been out of town at the time when Sarah died.

לספד, to eulogise her with words and elegies.

ולבכותה, and to weep for her. These two verbs are used on occasion without the prepositions אל and על as for instance in Psalms 69,11 ואבכה בצום נפשי, “when I wept and fasted;” the meaning of the prefix ב in front of צום is equivalent to the preposition על, “I fasted on account of the threat to my soul.” Compare also Genesis 36,35 ויבך אותו אביו, “his father wept for him.”

ויקם אברהם מעל פני מתו, in order to attend to the funeral arrangements for the body of Sarah. The reason why the Torah added the word מתו, “his dead,” seeing we all know that Sarah had been his wife, i.e. “his dead,” is that this is an apt description for the body of the deceased person, such as מתי, “my dead,” in verse 4, or מתך, “your dead,” in verse 6.

וידבר אל בני חת, the בני חת were the inhabitants of the town, whereas חת was a son of Canaan. (compare 10,15). Avraham assembled all of them to one location in order to address them.

גר ותושב, I describe myself first and foremost as a stranger, seeing that I have come from another country. Yet I also describe myself as a resident, seeing that I have lived among you for many years and I intend to continue to remain among you. This is why I am asking you to give me some place within your country as an inalienable place to be mine and my son’s after me. At the moment I ask for only enough to bury my dead.

ואקברה מתי מלפני, so that I can remove my wife’s body and bury it.

ויענו, they agreed by telling him so.

שמענו אדני, this was said by their spokesman speaking on behalf of all of them. This is why he addressed Avraham as adoni in the singular mode, whereas the words following are all in the plural mode.

נשיא אלוהים, G’d has given you an elevated position, and we consider your status as such among us.

במבחר קברנו, they possessed many caves within which to bury the dead, and each family had such a cave reserved for interring its dead. Every corpse was buried in an individual coffin, the overall description of such a place being the word קבר, tomb. This is why the spokesman spoke of איש ממנו את קברו, he considered not the individual grave but the family’s burial grounds. They intended that Avraham should ask one of them to share their family plots with him.

The words לא יכלה in verse 6 mean that no one would withhold his burial plots from Avraham if the latter chose to use it. We come across this verb in a similar usage in Samuel I 25,33 אשר כליתני היום הזה מבא בדמים, ”for preventing me from seeking redress in blood.”

ויקם אברהם וישתחו, he rose on his legs and folded them in a manner signifying gratitude for the positive response he had received from the בני חת, informing them next of precisely what it was that he was requesting.

וידבר...את נפשכם, the word את נפשכם means ברצונכם “your pleasure, your goodwill.” We find the word נפש used also in this sense in Psalms 27,12 אל תתנני בנפש צרי, “do not deliver me to the pleasure of my oppressors.”

ופגעו לי, “plead on my behalf.”

ויתן לי את מערת, he did not ask anything from Efron other than the cave, not the field in which it was situated.

המכפלה, the word is a noun describing a subordinate function. If it were an adjective the word מערת should have had the prefix ה. Our sages disagree concerning the meaning of the word מכפלה. Some think that it describes a cave above another cave, (root כפל, double) others claim it means a cave within another cave. Alternately, the word describes this particular location, i.e. that the whole cave was known as the “cave machpelah” on account of the dual cave contained in that field; this is also why the field itself was considered as almost subordinate to the cave in question.

כסף מלא, each coin would be of full weight, like a brand new coin which had not lost some of its original weight through being in circulation. The Torah makes this clear by adding the words עובר לסוחר, acceptable by any merchant.

ועפרון..באזני בני חת, in a loud voice, making sure they could all hear him. In this verse the Torah emphasises the aural aspect of the negotiations, whereas in verse 18, at the conclusion of the transaction the visible aspect, לעיני בני חת is stressed, as at that point eye-witnesses were more important. We find such a sequence of aural perception and visual perception also in Job 29,11 כי אזן שמעה ותאשרני ועין ראתה ותעידני, “for the ear that heard acclaimed me, and the eyes that saw were my witness.”

לכל באי שער עירו, including all the people of his city, prominent or plain people. באי שער, people who enter or leave through the gate. In other words, everybody. Sometimes the Torah refers to באי שער, people entering through the gate, other times יוצאי עירו, people leaving via the gate. (compare Genesis 34,24) It all amounts to the same thing. For the sake of brevity the Torah mentions only either באי or יוצאי. Sometimes it mentions both, as in Jeremiah 17,19.

לא אדוני שמעני, not like you say that you want to pay the full value of the property. Take it for free, as a gift, and not only the cave, but I am also donating the field to you.

נתתי, I have already given it to you as a gift,

לעיני בני עמי, in front of the members of my people who are all witnesses to this transaction between me and you.

וישתחו, Avraham bowed to Efron in everybody’s presence.

וידבר...אך אם אתה לו שמעני, I wish you would have listened to what I said that

נתתי כסף השדה, I have already prepared the money for the field, if you’ll accept it you will be doing me a favour,

ואקברה, and I will proceed to bury, as the matter does not permit further delay.

אדוני...ביני ובינך מה היא?, what difference does such a paltry sum make, whether you want to pay it or do not want to pay it, go ahead and bury your dead.

וישמע...עובר לסוחר. Silver coins acceptable by the most discriminating merchants who weighed each coin to assure themselves that they were not being short-changed.

ויקם, it “arose” for Avraham as a purchase, and acquisition. The unusual sounding word קם here also occurs in this sense in Leviticus 27,19 וקם לו, where it describes the legal procedure of redeeming property from the Temple treasurer by paying a premium. The term is chosen to describe a transaction of a permanent, enduring nature.

אשר לפני ממרא, השדה והמערה, both were outside the actual town limits of Kiryat Arba, the present day Chevron then having been known as Mamre. (compare also verse 19). [The Torah makes certain that all the names by which this location had ever been known is mentioned so that no one in the future could challenge this cave as belonging to the Jewish people. Ed.]

לעיני בני חת. He weighed the money for Efron in the presence of all the assembled people, so that Efron sold the cave and the field to Avraham also in the presence of all his townspeople. He also handed Avraham a document confirming the sale.

בכל באי שער עירו. While all the people of his town were present. The expressions בכל, לכל (compare verse 10) mean basically the same. We find similar formulations in Exodus 27,19 where the two expressions occur in the same verse, i.e. לכל כלי המשכן בכל עבודתו.

ואחרי כן...אל מערת, the preposition אל means the same as the prefix ב, i.e. במערת שדה המכפלה. Compare Exodus 25,21 ואל הארון תתן את העדות instead of בארון.

ויקם...מאת בני חת, All the townspeople had agreed to the sale of Efron’s fields to Avraham. They were quite keen for Avraham to own an ancestral plot in their midst.