ויהיו חיי שרה, even though the Torah never revealed the ages of other women, in Sarah’s case it became necessary to inform us of this, as her death was directly related to the purchase of the cave of Machpelah. The Torah therefore told us for how many years Sarah lived after having become a mother at the advanced age of 90.

בקרית ארבע, the name of the person who founded or owned this town was Arba. We know this from Joshua 15,13 where he is described as the father of a giant. The reference to a town by mentioning an outstanding citizen is familiar to us from Numbers 21,27-29 where the capital of the Emorites is described as קרית סיחון, the city of Sichon.

ויבא אברהם, even if he did not arrive from out of town it is perfectly in order to describe his arrival in order to mourn Sarah by the words ויבא אברהם. [Clearly, the author considers Avraham as having lived uninterruptedly in Beer Sheva ever since were told this in 22,19. Ed.]

גר ותושב אנכי, I have come from a distant land to sojourn here, but in the meantime I have made myself at home amongst you. Since I did not have parents here, I also have no ancestral burial plots.

תנו לי אחוזת קבר, allocate to me a burial plot which will be mine in all future, deeded. He wanted to buy a plot of land for the express purpose of burying his dead. Such a piece of land deeded in perpetuity, i.e. אחוזה, required the approval of all the local populace. This matter becomes even clearer when Avraham tenders the money for the field and cave to Efron, the former owner, and the Torah goes on to laboriously describe the bureaucratic procedure that had to be followed until Avraham could lay Sarah to rest. (17-19)

(3) MIL'FANAI [FROM BEFORE ME]. I will take it out from before me to bury it.

נשיא אלוהים, “a prince of G’d,” neither stranger or resident stranger as Avraham had described himself.

(2) IN THE CHOICEST OF OUR BURIAL PLACES. In the place where we bury the chiefs of the land, and here is a grave already prepared.

מערת המכפלה, any depression in the surface of the earth is called מכפלה, as the ככר הירדן, refers to the entire Jordan valley (13,10). This is substantiated by the Torah describing Efron’s field as being located in מכפלה in verse 18 of our chapter.

(2) AND THE CAVE THAT IS IN IT. You are asking only for the cave that is at the end of the field, and by sale; I am giving you as a gift the whole field and the cave.

וישתחו אברהם, to Efron before the assembled people.

ארץ..ארבע מאות שקל, “a land which is not worth more than 400 shekel silver, what is this worth talking about?

Take it and bury your dead for free if you so desire.”

וישמע אברהם, he understood what Efron was hinting at and did not want to spell out.

עובר לסוחר, silver minted into coins, refined silver acceptable without question anywhere. The expression עובר in that sense occurs also in Kings II 12,5 in connection with Yehoyakim, i.e. כסף עובר, as well as in Song of Songs 5,5 ואצבעותי מור עובר, “ a reference to the best quality of myrrh.

לאברהם למקנה, “it arose” after Avraham had paid the money, a normal procedure which we are familiar with from the (misquote) in Erchin 33 ונתן הבסף וקם לו. The purchase was concluded in verse 18, i.e. the field became a מקנה for Avraham. It became an ancestral piece of property only after Sarah had actually been buried there, i.e. after the purpose of the transaction had been carried out (verse 20)