Genesis 23:15 - Printer Friendly

ESV: “My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”

NIV: Listen to me, my lord; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.'

NASB: My lord, listen to me: a plot of land worth four hundred shekels of silver—what is that between me and you? So bury your dead.'

CSB: "My lord, listen to me. Land worth four hundred shekels of silver--what is that between you and me? Bury your dead."

NLT: My lord, please listen to me. The land is worth 400 pieces of silver, but what is that between friends? Go ahead and bury your dead.'

KJV: My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.

NKJV: “My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead.”

Middle Eastern business transactions of Abraham's era included generous offers and respectful language. Those offers were understood to come with an unspoken price. Abraham's offer to buy Ephron's cave as a burial site for Sarah (Genesis 23:2) was countered by Ephron. He offered to "give" Abraham the cave and the field attached to it. Abraham replied by insisting on buying both the cave and the field, not accepting them as a gift, though he did not need the field.

Ephron responds using a phrase uttered by several parties in this back-and-forth conversation: "Listen to me" or "hear me." It could be taken to mean, "Seriously, I mean this." Ephron names a price for the field in the most casual and non-committal way he can. His offer suggests that, since he had previously offered to give the field Abraham, how insignificant is 400 shekels of silver between two friends? In other words, he is agreeing to Abraham's terms of full ownership, but for the price of 400 shekels of silver.

Again, Ephron ends his offer with "bury your dead," implying that he is being generous in helping Abraham to get past this unpleasant negotiating and back to the business of burying his wife Sarah. This is also a shrewd business tactic: reminding the buyer of what they stand to gain when they "seal the deal."

Abraham will respond to Ephron's terms in the following verse.

Genesis 23:1–20 begins with the death of Abraham's wife Sarah at 127 years of age. That makes Abraham 137 years old and Isaac around 37. Abraham mourns for his wife and then approaches the Hittites settled in the region of Hebron about purchasing a permanent family burial place near Mamre. Once that transaction is completed, Abraham buries Sarah in the tomb where he himself and their son and one grandson will later be buried.

At the age of 127 years old, Abraham's wife Sarah dies. Now living in the region of Hebron, near Mamre, Abraham approaches the local people, the Hittites, about purchasing a specific cave he wants to use as a permanent family burial place. Abraham asks for a cave owned by Ephron the Hittite. After an odd negotiation, Abraham agrees to buy the cave and a field attached to it for 400 shekels of silver. Finally, Abraham buries Sarah in this cave at Machpelah in the land of Canaan. The permanent occupation of the land of Canaan by God's people has begun.

In the previous chapters, Isaac was born, Ishmael was sent away, and Abraham prepared to offer Isaac as an offering to God. Genesis 23 jumps forward a couple of decades to the death of Sarah at 127 years old. Abraham mourns for her and then purchases a cave near Mamre as a permanent family burial place in the land of Canaan. In the following chapter, Abraham will set about finding Isaac a wife.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.