פרשת חיי שרה תשכ"ב - קבורת שרה

And afterwards, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre, which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. The explanation of "And afterwards, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah,etc., which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan." is that the Torah returns to describe the field the place and land, for the whole section refers to the 'the children of Chet and Efron the Chiti; therefore the Torah mentions at the end that its "in the land of Canaan" which is Israel. Likewise, in the beginning it says "in Kiriat Arba, -dwhich is Chevron in the land of Canaan" And all this is to make it clear Sarah died in Israel and buried there fort the Chitim were one of the Canaanite families. In my opinion the reason for these passukim is only to note that this was the land of Canaan and not the land of Pelishtim. For the Torah says "Avram dwelt in the land of the Pelishtim many years" and all of his sojourning's were in that land- in Gerar, the Gerar valley, and Be'er Sheva, and from there to Chevron and from Chevron to there; therefore the Torah mentions that Chevron is in the land of "the Canaanites who dwells in the mountain" and not in the land of the Pelishtim which is [often] mentioned [in connection] with Avram. Then in the end The Torah adds [a description of where the cave was] to tell us that the cave which was in the field of Machpelah was "facing Mamre" for this name (i.e. Mamre) was better known at that time. This section was written to tell us of the many acts of kindness that G-d did for Avram. For ha became "a prince of G-d" in the land despite that he had come only to sojourn and he was a lone individual [without a following]. Also, everyone called him "my lord" though he didnt refer to himself this way [for he never said] to them he was a prince or important person. Also in his lifetime G-d fulfilled for him "I will make your name great and you shall be a blessing" [Another kindness G-d did for him] was that when his wife died she was buried in the "heritage land of G-d." Also the Torah wanted to tell us of the place of our forefathers burial., being that we are obliged to honor the site of our saintly forefathers burial. Our Rabbis say this too was one of Avram's tests, that he sought a place in which to bury Sarah, and didnt find until he bought it. I don't know any explanation for the words of Ibn Ezra, who says "[this section was written] to tell us of the eminence of Israel for the living and dead, and also to show the fulfilment of G-d's word to Avram that Israel would be his heritage land." For what eminence do we see here? For Avram wasn't going to transport her body to another place to bury her! Also G-d's promise is on the WHOLE land [not a single burial cave and its field like in tis case] so [its clear] the promise was fulfilled only for his future offspring.

So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the border thereof round about, were made sure

And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying-place by the children of Heth.

And Abraham rose up from before his dead, and spoke unto the children of Heth, saying:

’I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.’

גר ותושב אנכי עמכם I AM A STRANGER AND A SETTLER WITH YOU — A stranger having come from another land, but I have settled down amongst you. A Midrashic explanation is: if you agree to sell me the land then I will regard myself as a stranger and will pay for it, but if not, I shall claim it as a settler and will take it as my legal right, because the Holy One, blessed be He, said to me, (12:7) “Unto thy seed I give this land" (Genesis Rabbah 58:6).