Abraham buys the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. He could have taken if for free since he was promised the land of Israel by God, but he wanted that there would be no question of ownership of the land.

Parshat Chayei Sarah: Abraham’s Purchase of the Cave of Machpelah

A Dvar Torah on Honesty, Integrity, and the Land of Israel

This week’s parsha, Chayei Sarah, begins with the death of Sarah. Abraham realizes that he must find a proper burial place for his wife.

Sarah died in Kiryat Arba, which is Hebron, and Abraham decides to purchase the Ma’arat HaMachpelah, the Cave of the Patriarchs.

Now, why did Abraham choose this particular place?

According to the Midrash, Adam and Eve were already buried there. Abraham recognized the holiness of the location and wanted Sarah to be buried there as well. Eventually, Abraham himself, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah would also be buried there.

But what makes this story particularly interesting is the way Abraham purchases the property.

The owner is Ephron the Hittite. When Abraham approaches him, Ephron makes a very generous-sounding offer.

“Abraham, you’ve lost your wife. You’re grieving. I’ll give you the property. It’s yours. Take it as a gift.”

Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?

But then Ephron adds something very interesting.

“After all, what’s 400 silver shekels between friends?”

Hint, hint!

In other words, Ephron is saying, “I’ll give it to you for free, but if you happen to give me 400 silver shekels, that would be very nice.”

And 400 silver shekels was an enormous amount of money!

But Abraham doesn’t argue. He doesn’t negotiate. He simply pays the full amount.

And he does something else that is extremely important. He makes sure the transaction takes place publicly, in front of witnesses, at the city gate.

There will be no question about who owns this property.

But here’s the big question: Why did Abraham have to buy the land at all?

Remember, God had already promised Abraham the Land of Israel.

If God promised him the land, why should Abraham have to pay for something that was already going to belong to him?

To understand this, let’s go back to an earlier parsha.

Remember the dispute between Abraham’s shepherds and Lot’s shepherds?

Lot’s shepherds allowed their sheep to graze on land belonging to other people. Their reasoning was simple: God had promised the land to Abraham. Abraham had no children at that time, so Lot would presumably inherit everything. Therefore, they reasoned, the land already belonged to them.

But Abraham’s shepherds refused to accept that argument.

God might have promised Abraham the land, but that didn’t mean he could take property belonging to somebody else.

Until the land legally belonged to Abraham, grazing his sheep on someone else’s property would be stealing.

And that disagreement was one of the reasons Abraham and Lot separated.

Now we see that same principle in this week’s parsha.

Abraham knows that God promised him the land. But he also knows that a divine promise does not give him permission to ignore the rights of the people who currently own it.

So he pays for the Cave of Machpelah.

And notice the difference between Abraham and Ephron.

Ephron talks big. He makes grand gestures. He offers to give away the property. But when it comes down to it, what does he really want?

Show me the money!

Abraham, on the other hand, doesn’t make grand speeches. He simply does what is right.

Ephron is a man of words. Abraham is a man of action.

And that is one of the great lessons of this parsha.

Now, I want to share something personal.

When I served in the IDF, one of my assignments was guarding the Ma’arat HaMachpelah in Hebron.

Yes, I actually guarded the Cave of the Patriarchs!

And because of my military duties, I had access to places that ordinary tourists don’t get to see.

What most visitors see today is the monumental structure above the actual caves. The burial chambers themselves are underneath.

I also knew an Israeli archaeologist who told me a fascinating story.

Back in 1967, when he was a young soldier, he and several others managed to sneak into the underground area.

He told me that they discovered old inscriptions in Latin, dating, according to his account, to the Roman period, indicating directions to the burial places of Abraham and Sarah and the other patriarchs and matriarchs.

Now, I have to emphasize that this was his personal account to me, not something I can independently verify. There were no photographs that he showed me.

But it was a fascinating story, and it reinforced for me just how much history and tradition are associated with this extraordinary place.

There is another interesting aspect of Hebron.

The Chabad community has a long history of property ownership in the city, and own half of downtown Hebront that that community have been held through private ownership rather than the usual Israeli state-land arrangements.

That brings us back to Abraham.

He wasn’t satisfied with simply saying, “God promised me this land.”

He wanted a proper transaction. He wanted witnesses. He wanted the purchase to be recognized publicly.

He paid the money, and the Torah records the transaction in detail.

Of course, the legal and political questions surrounding land ownership in Hebron today are much more complicated. But the lesson of Abraham’s purchase remains important.

A promise about the future does not excuse dishonesty in the present.

Abraham teaches us that even when we believe something rightfully belongs to us, we must act with integrity, respect the rights of others, and do things properly.

And there’s one more lesson.

It’s easy to make promises. It’s easy to talk about generosity, honesty, and righteousness.

But what really matters is what we do.

Ephron talked about generosity.

Abraham demonstrated integrity.

And that’s the difference between words and deeds.

Something to think about, isn’t it?