Philistines (xxi. 34), or at any other place without the promised land; but yet this land belonged still to the Canaanites; no part of it was in the possession of the Hebrews.

3, 4. In securing a grave for his wife, Abraham directed his mind to the distant epoch of national greatness vouchsafed to his descendants. Though openly confessing that he was a stranger among the idolatrous children of Heth, he knew that Canaan alone could offer him a desirable resting-place; and he wished to be buried in the land to be hallowed by its future history. This sentiment was the result of the most exalted faith. For it is well known with what extreme degree of sacredness the graves of relatives were regarded; it is unnecessary to refer to the extraordinary precautions taken in this respect by the Egyptians, who, in order to secure to their dead undisturbed rest, erected gigantic edifices intended to defy the destruction of endless ages; who abhorred the idea of invading the abodes of the departed, and who scarcely knew a more disastrous misfortune than an interruption of the eternal rest of the dead. And though the Hebrews were far from sharing the superstition, that the existence of the soul is dependent on the preservation of the body; though, on the contrary, they were clearly conscious, that the former returns to God, while the latter is dissolved: they attached a sacred importance to the place of interment; they wished to be entombed in their native soil and among their own race; Jacob's corpse was, with pomp and solemnity, brought to the Holy Land; and Joseph enjoined on his brothers the same request; it was a part of the punishment which Moses suffered for his disobedience, that he was not buried

in the land of his ancestors; and it was Joshua's reward to find his last repose among the children of his tribe. Regarded from this point of view, the earnestness with which Abraham sought a tomb for his family in the territory of Canaan, assumes a new significance. He had during his life severed every link which connected him with father, friends, or country; and he intended to make this separation eternal by being interred far from his birth-place and his countrymen. Though deeply anxious to see his son allied to no wife but one of his own family, which resided in Mesopotamia, he was as firmly resolved to be buried in no other country but that where he sojourned; for though he might hope that his kinsmen would adopt his religious convictions, he was certain that Canaan alone was selected as the land of salvation.―These remarks will, at the same time, show the fallacy of the opinion, that the purchase of the tomb was intended to establish a claim of the Israelites to the land of Canaan. The transaction here recorded has a civil, not a political character; and the tendency of the narrative is religious, not temporal (see pp. 236-238). The purchase is, indeed, based on the very fact, that Abraham had no legal right whatever to the soil of Canaan; he asked for an inconsiderable piece of ground, and paid for it a more than adequate sum. How could his descendants claim, upon such fact, the possession of the whole land from Dan to Beer-sheba!

5, 6. So little did the Hittites expect that Abraham, the stranger and pilgrim, should wish for an hereditary landed property, that they not even gave a direct answer to his request; instead of granting "the possession of a burying-place," they permitted

him to inter Sarah in any of their own family tombs; they even gave him unrestricted liberty to select the most convenient, the most desirable grave; there was not one among them who would not consider it an honour rather than an intrusion or burthen to be in death associated with his house. For Abraham had long since found in Hebron faithful friends; he was there allied with Eshcol and Mamre (xiv. 13); and had from there marched out on his expedition against the victorious eastern kings; but the respect which the Hebronites entertained for him, must have more and more deepened into awe when his later history was spread. Abimelech had publicly acknowledged, that the patriarch's every step was attended with manifest and supernatural blessing (xxi. 22); and God Himself had called him a prophet, and proclaimed the efficiency of his prayers to avert the sufferings of others (xx. 7). The Hittites designated him, therefore, "a prince of God"; and it is not impossible, that they regarded his residing amongst them as a protection and safeguard against Divine inflictions; that they were, therefore, eager to retain him in their town; and that the ready permission offered to him with regard to the burial, was not dictated by motives quite unselfish. Abraham's declaration: "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you," is distinctly opposed by them with the assertion: "Thou art a prince of God among us." Hence, they add with an emphatical force: "none of us will withhold from thee his sepulchre, there to bury thy dead"; for, in general, the ancient nations watched with extreme jealousy, that no stranger should be received in the tombs of their families; on the chiefs of the houses devolved the

duty of watching over this sacred custom, though the spirit of hospitality characteristic of primitive tribes, generally prompted an exception in favour of guests, who possessed no ancestral graves in the country. 7-9. But Abraham abhorred the thought of allowing Sarah or himself to be buried in the vault of a heathen family. He, therefore, repeated his request, that he desired to have the hereditary and exclusive "possession of a burial-place"; his mind had evidently long since been occupied with this important matter; he had silently selected the spot where he wished to repose; he pointed out the place, and named its proprietor; he argued, that if they consented to suffer the bodies of his family in their own sepulchres, they might have the less objection to their being interred in a cave,consecrated by no association, situated in a retired part "at the end of a field," and, to whatever use it might be turned, not likely in any way to interfere with their general rights of property. But Abraham, in order to show in every possible manner that he wished to regard the burial-place as his absolute possession, and to avoid the least appearance of an obligation, insisted upon acquiring it by legal and public purchase, and upon buying it for a sum fully equivalent to its utmost value. Whenever Abraham refused presents, he was induced to do so by a great principle of right or religion: such was the case with the booty of the Sodomites; and such was the case with the burial-place desired for his family. It is well known, that caves were, in ancient times, with predilection adopted for graves. The massive rocks in which they were either naturally found, or into which they were worked by art, guaranteed in an eminent

degree that durability which was a principal requirement. Syria, Palestine, and Egypt abound in caverns peculiarly suitable for the purpose referred to. The mysterious darkness is but partially dispelled by the light admitted either by an opening at the top or on one side; for the vaults were hewn out either vertically or horizontally; they were generally, when capacious, divided along the sides into compartments, each of them large enough to receive one sarcophagus, of about six or seven feet in length; and some deeper than the rest, and subdivided into other chambers, or extended into passages. In some cases, the coffins rested merely on stone slabs arranged along the sides. Not unfrequently stairs were necessary to lead down into the caverns, and this was always the case when they were vertically excavated. In order to protect the graves, especially against the inroads of beasts of prey, a huge stone closed the entrance, which frequently, in the course of time, became perfectly indiscoverable. Graves, except those of distinguished persons, as kings and prophets, were never suffered within the precincts of the town; they were generally in open fields, as in the instance of our text, or in shady groves and gardens, and sometimes on hills and mountains.

10-16. Ephron shared the respect universally entertained by his tribe for Abraham. He eagerly offered him, not only the cave, but the whole field of

11. No, my

cave that is

which it formed a part; he declined every compensation, and called on his countrymen to be witnesses of his sincerity. Abraham, however, though acting throughout with extreme courtesy, the result of his meekness, unconditionally refused the proposal. His mind was filled with one great idea; and as the permanent possession of a burial-place aptly served to advance its realisation, he repeated that he was determined to acquire it by a legal and binding purchase, and he again offered the full equivalent in silver for the cave and the field. Ephron, unable longer to withstand the temptation, but reluctant openly to exhibit his avarice, with adroit cunning preserved the appearance of disinterestedness, whilst he was exacting a considerable sum from the rich emir: “What is,” said he, “ a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver between me and thee?" He seemed even impatiently to solicit the honour of furnishing the desired ground. But Abraham understood well his stratagem and its motives; and he at once paid the amount hinted at in current silver, such as merchants give and receive. "He weighed to Ephron the silver"; for coined money was unknown to the Hebrews before the captivity, when first Persian, and then Greek or Syriac currency was employed, till Simon Maccabæus (about B.C.140) struck Jewish coins, especially shekels and halfshekels, specimens of which have been

preserved to us (see note on Exod. xxi.32) It is natural that almost all the ancient nations, which did not barter, or had ceased to barter, in corn, cattle, or other natural productions, animal or vegetable, but which used the metals as money, should for a long period have circulated them in solid pieces, till they arrived at the skill of working them into coins; an art which the Hindoos, Phoenicians, and Lydians, seem to have practised among the first; but even then the metal was estimated by its real, not a conventional value. For daily commerce rendered it, in very early times, necessary to provide pieces of a certain weight, as ready means of exchange; thus the Hebrews had whole, half, and quarter-shekels, kesitahs, and other coins, probably not controlled or sanctioned by the government; these pieces were perhaps provided with a mark to stamp them as genuine and as being the full weight, or to note them as 66 'current money among the mer. chants": nevertheless, they were constantly weighed when employed in commerce, for which purpose the Israelites had scales attached to their girdles; and that custom was preserved even after the introduction of regular coinage, and is, in fact, extensively exercised by eastern merchants of the present day; whereas, on the other hand, in many parts of China and Abyssinia, the gold and silver circulates still in bars and ingots, the value of which is

fixed by first estimating the quality, and then ascertaining the weight. If we consider that in the patriarchal ages the value of money was at least fifteen or twenty times greater than at present; that, for instance, it was not considered derogatory to the dignity of Samuel, or any 66 man of God," to accept a quarter of a shekel (or about 8d.) as a present; that, in the time of the Judges, the services of a householdpriest were secured for the yearly salary of ten shekels, besides his food and garments; that the price of a slave was thirty shekels; that, even in the time of Nehemiah, a yearly tax of forty shekels was considered a heavy and tyrannical impost; that David bought from Araunah a threshing-floor and an ox for fifty shekels; and that Solomon paid 150 shekels for an Egyptian horse: we shall understand that Ephron scarcely brought a sacrifice in fixing the price of his field at four hundred shekels (or nearly fifty guineas), although the estimation would naturally depend on the extent and quality of the property; and although, in Solomon's time, Egyptian chariots were sold for 600, and vineyards yielded a produce of at least 1,000 shekels' worth.

17-20. A certain breadth and copiousness are manifest in the narrative; the chief points are repeatedly stated without any addition, either qualifying the sense, or rendering it more forcible. Abraham wishes "the possession of a burying-place;

he reiterates the same words in his first reply to the Hittites; it occurs a third time when the purchase is concluded; and a synonym is introduced when the whole transaction is once more comprehensively stated. Further, it appears as if the text cannot, with sufficient emphasis, enjoin the fact, that all the Hittites were witnesses of the sale; Ephron is in their midst when Abraham publicly made the request; he negociates with the patriarch "before the ears of the children of Heth, in the presence of all the citizens"; and he grants the field "before the eyes of his countrymen"; Abraham takes care to give his reply in the same explicit manner; and to pay the money in the presence of the people, that every doubt and uncertainty may be removed. Lastly, the historian exhibits an extreme anxiety to enforce the fact that the field was bought by Abraham; it was acquired by full payment and current silver; and it was purchased for the amount demanded by the owner, without the least deduction. All this careful detail shows, on the one hand, the high importance which was attached to the trans

action; and which was, on the other hand, almost necessary in a verbal purchase without a written contract. It is interesting to compare herewith the simple but expressive mode of transfer in the period of the Judges, when the proprietor, in the presence of ten elders of the people, took off his shoe and gave it as a symbol to the purchaser (Ruth iv. 1-9); or, in the times of Jeremiah, when the contract was written and the money weighed before witnesses, and the former was deposited in an earthen vessel "that it might last many days" (Jer. xxxii. 7-14). But it was always regarded as a want of true piety to offer to God what had been obtained without cost or sacrifice; and hence not only Jacob, though fugitive and wandering, bought the place in Shechem where he intended to erect an altar to God (xxxiii. 19), but even the mighty King David, for a similar purpose, purchased the spot from Araunah, the Jebusite, disdaining to "offer burnt offer ings to the Lord his God of that which cost him nothing" (2 Sam. xxiv. 24; comp. 1 Chron. xxi. 24).