Literary Devices – Bereshit 23/0

Literary Devices – Bereshit 23

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Structure of Chapter 23

Chapter 23 splits into an introduction (verses 1-2) which announces Sarah's death, a main body (3-16) which details Avraham's negotiations and purchase of a burial plot, and a conclusion (17-20) which describes Avraham's assumption of ownership. The main body further subdivides into accounts of Avraham's preliminary negotiations with each of the Hittites (3-9) and Efron (10-13) and the final stage of the bargaining and purchase (14-16).

Parallels & Contrasts

An examination of the parallels between the various sections of the chapter highlights several points:

Dual Negotiations

• Repeat – The parallel structure of the two sets of negotiations highlights a troubling issue in the story. Why were negotiations with both parties necessary at all? If Avraham was looking to buy a plot from Efron, why not speak to him directly? What role did the preliminary discussion with the Hittites play?¹
• Status – The use of the same root, "ישב", to describe both Avraham and Efron's status, serves to highlight what is actually a contrast between the two men. While Avraham is a foreigner, with no legal standing, Efron is a full citizen. The fact that Avraham is no more than a "תוֹשָׁב" with no land to call his own is what makes the whole story necessary.

Price and Payment

Taking Possession

Inclusio

Keywords²

קבר and מות

Since Sarah's death and burial are the main subjects of the chapter, it is not surprising that these two roots appear multiple times. קבר in its various forms repeats 13 times,³ while the root מות occurs 9 times. The fuller phrase "אֲחֻזָּה קֶבֶר", connoting a burial site which might serve as family plot in perpetuity, appears 3 times.

נתן

The story revolves around a transaction, but it is the root נתן rather than "מכר" or "קנה" which repeats in the chapter, appearing 7 times in total.⁴ This points to one of the tensions in the story, the argument between the Hittites and Avraham regarding whether the burial plot was to be given as a gift or paid for in money. Perhaps out of politeness and a desire not to outright contradict the other side, both parties use the more ambiguous verb, "נתן", which can uphold both meanings. The Hoil MosheBereshit 23:4About R. Moshe Yitzchak Ashkenazi goes further and suggests that, according to Hittite law, sale to non-citizens was prohibited, and thus a legal fiction needed to be employed. Efron offered the land gratis, while Avraham gave him a monetary gift in turn.

Listen to Me!

• The root שמע appears six times in the story, once in each response of the various characters.⁵ The first five represent a polite refusal of the request or offer proffered by the other side, while the final occurrence marks Avraham's acquiescence to Efron's price. In three of the cases, the word is accompanied by the title mister, "שמע אדון".⁶ The word thus serves to track the back and forth of the negotiations.
• Articles – For discussion of the irony in the use of this keyword, see Professor Yonatan Grossman's Leitwort.The language underscores that each side ostensibly engages in dialogue, but in fact puts subtle pressure on the other rather than really hearing each other.⁷

Eyes and Ears

Variations of the phrase "בְּאׇזְנֵי/לְעֵינֵי בְנֵי חֵת" occur 5 times in the second half of the story.⁸ Though one might have expected that the other Hittites would disappear from the narrative after Avraham meets Efron, this refrain highlights that they remained an integral part of the process until the end. Why, though, could Efron not have conducted a private sale with Avraham?

Character Titles

Chapter 23 refers to each of Sarah, Efron, and the Hittites by various names. In some instances, these variations reflect a fundamental difference of meaning, while in others they serve a literary function.

Sarah

Sarah is referred to in three ways in the chapter:

• שָׂרָה (Sarah) – This is the term used when announcing Sarah's death in the opening of the story (verses 1-2). It is the default and expected appellation.
• מֵתִי/ מֵתֶךָ (my or your deceased) – Throughout the negotiations (verses 3-15), Sarah is never referred to by name because her personal identity is irrelevant to the transaction. Only her role as "the deceased" is important.
• שָׂרָה אִשְׁתּוֹ (Sarah, his wife) – Upon her burial, Sarah is referred to as Avraham's wife, perhaps to connect the two in the moment of their separation.

Efron

Efron is also referred to in three ways in the chapter:

• עֶפְרוֹן בֶּן צֹחַר (Efron b. Zochar) – Efron is first mentioned, not by the narrator, but by Avraham (verse 8). It is possible that his full name is used because Avraham needed to identify and distinguish him from other Efrons of the community.
• עֶפְרוֹן הַחִתִּי (Efron the Hittite) – When the narrator first introduces Efron in verse 10, he fills in his ethnicity to let the reader know that Efron is not an outsider, but also a member of the Hittite nation, with full legal standing.
• עֶפְרוֹן (Efron) – In the rest of the negotiations (verses 13, 14, 16, and 17), no special title is needed.

The Hittites

It is not clear if the various terms given to the Hittites refer to the same group of people or to various subsets.

• בְּנֵי חֵת (lit. the sons of Chet) – This appears to be the default term used in the majority of verses (3, 5, 7, 10, 16, 17 and 20).⁹
• עַם הָאָרֶץ (lit. the nation of the land) – See verses 7, 12 and 13. This term has been understood to refer either to the masses,¹⁰ or to the heads of the town¹¹. Either way it might refer to a different group (either larger or smaller) than "בְּנֵי חֵת". If the men were the city's leaders, then Avraham's singling them out (in verses 7 and 12) to bow in front of them is understandable. Similarly, he might makes his monetary offer (verse 13) specifically within their earshot to ensure that the transaction is witnessed by the elders.
• כֹל בָּאֵי שַׁעַר עִירוֹ (all those who come through the city's gates) – See verses 10 and 18. This term is also ambiguous. According to RadakBereshit 23:10About R. David Kimchi, it refers to all the inhabitants of the city (and might be more expansive than the phrase "בְנֵי חֵת"). It is not clear, though, how this can account for their mention in these verses specifically.
• בְּנֵי עַמִּי (the members of my nation) – This term appears only verse 11, when Efron begins his negotiations with Avraham. He refers to the inhabitants in first rather than third person, because he is one of them.

Formal Repetition

There are many forms of Biblical repetition. In the case of recording Sarah’s lifespan, forms of the word “שנה” appear four times in Bereshit 23:1. The same usage appears in the record of Avraham’s lifespan in 25:7 and of Yishmael’s lifespan in 25:17, and appears to be a Biblical convention for recording the years of a person’s life in a formal manner.

¹ See R. Avraham b. HaRambamBereshit 23:10About R. Avraham b. HaRambam and RambanBereshit 23:8About R. Moshe Nachmanides who suggests that Avraham, in a show of deference to Efron, asked the people of the city to be middlemen in the process. RashbamBereshit 23:4About R. Shemuel b. Meir and R. Yosef Bekhor ShorBereshit 23:7About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor, in contrast, asserts that they played a more crucial role. Purchase of a burial plot needed the consent of the entire city and not just the owner of the particular area being bought. Thus, even the negotiations with Efron take place in sight and hearing of the Hittites, and after the sale the verse says, "וַיָּקׇם הַשָּׂדֶה וְהַמְּעָרָה אֲשֶׁר בּוֹ לְאַבְרָהָם לַאֲחֻזַּת קָבֶר מֵאֵת בְּנֵי חֵת".

² For an overview of the use of key words in the Biblical text, see Martin Buber’s דרכו של מקרא: עיונים בדפוסי-סגנון בתנ”ך. For some online resources with discussion of the various functions and characteristics of key words and many examples, see <a href="The Multi-Purpose ‘Leading Word’ and the Problems of Its Usage">The Multi-Purpose ‘Leading Word’ and the Problems of Its Usage</a>, by Yairah Amit and Jeffrey M. Green, and Leitwort by Professor Yonatan Grossman.

³ See verses 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 19, and 20. [In verse 3 it occurs twice and in verse 6 it appears four times.]

⁴ See verses 4, 9, 11, and 13. [It appears twice in verse 9 and three times in verse 11.]

⁵ See verses 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, and 16.

⁶ Tanakh Lab points out that, relative to the rest of Tanakh, this word pair is the most frequent in this chapter.

⁷ Efron presents himself as courteous and solicitous but then seeks a high price for his land, while Avraham initially presents himself as merely seeking use of a burial plot but subsequently reveals that he wants ownership of a specific plot of land as an eternal legacy for his family.

⁸ See verses 10, 11, 13, 16, and 17.

⁹ In verse 7 the phrase is combined "לְעַם הָאָרֶץ לִבְנֵי חֵת" and in verses 10 and 18 it is accompanied by the appellation, "כֹל בָּאֵי שַׁעַר עִירוֹ".

¹⁰ See R. Yosef Bekhor ShorBereshit 23:7About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor and Netziv

¹¹ See SfornoBereshit 23:7About R. Ovadyah Sforno