World's first land deed?
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This week's reading talks about Sarah's life, her death and Abraham's desire to bury her in a cave at Kiryat Arba (which is Hebron, according to Genesis 23:2). Of all the places in Israel, this spot, in terms of sanctity, is second only to the Temple Mount (i.e., the site of the first and second temples built by the Jews at the request of God). It is a curiosity (for some people) as to why the radical Muslims don't want to allow Jews to live in peace, as good neighbors, in Hebron (and elsewhere in Israel) until one studies the history of this land and its people in a book like "From Time Immemorial" by Joan Peters (available through WND's online store).
Abraham, in speaking with the children of Seth, claimed to be a stranger and a sojourner with them in that land (the Hebrew phrase is "geyr toshav," "resident alien") – meaning that he had no rights to abscond with the cave of his wishes, since he didn't yet own (or possess) the land of Canaan. This is the very first place where the term "geyr toshav" is used in the biblical text. It describes one whose origin is foreign to the locale and whose period of residence is uncertain. In this regard, Abraham is serving as a role model for his descendants (and really for all people of good will) to purchase lands which belong to another people-group rather than making demands of them (which the Jews did in modern day Israel).
Later in history, the term "geyr toshav" was used of non-Israelites (non-Jews) living in the land of Israel who were at least observant of the moral code given by God to all mankind, also called the Laws of Noah.
Our father Abraham goes through a negotiation with the children of Seth, who actually want to give him the Cave of Machpelah outright, rather than have Abraham purchase it. Abraham, however, is very wise, since if he does not have a deed to the property, someone might later accuse him of stealing it. This account in the Bible of the transaction between Abraham and the children of Seth has come down to us as the first recorded land transaction (or deed) in the world. (See the full account in Genesis 23:1-20).
There's perhaps another reason Abraham makes such a fuss when the owner of the cave wants to give it to him instead of selling it to him. According to Rabbi Michael Bernstein, M.D., who is a child psychologist (taken from his book "Windows on the Soul," published by Mesorah):
It would seem that Abraham saw two benefits in purchasing the Cave for a ridiculously high price. One, he created a hubhub (kol) about the sale, i.e. people would be telling their neighbors, 'Did you hear what Ephron got for his field.' By doing this, Abraham achieved the largest possible public awareness that the Cave and the field belonged to him and his descendants. The second benefit was that a high price was a testimonial to Sarah's greatness. Abraham did not wish to have it appear that he bought her plot at bargain basement prices. The price of 400 silver shekels was a public expression of his highest regard for Sarah, his beloved, departed wife.
Do you think it's possible that Abraham prophetically saw that this land in Hebron would be disputed someday (as to ownership) between Abraham's descendants through Isaac (and later Jacob) and the descendants of Ishmael (his son through the Egyptian concubine Hagar)?
There's been a lot of violence from radical Muslims who want to Islamicize all the Jewish and Christian holy sites, so as to make them exclusively their own and restrict or eliminate access to them by people of the other major faith traditions. Just like what was done several months ago to the Tomb of Joseph … being made immediately into a mosque, wherein Jews are now prohibited from going to pray. Even the "alleged" reason for the intifada (uprising) started last fall doesn't make any sense, because, according to British, Jordanian and Israeli law, all religious sites are to be kept open to the general public, and Ariel Sharon went to the mount as an Israeli citizen, not a politician.
There's a movement again, and voices that are calling for a Palestinian State within Gaza and the so-called West Bank (biblical Samaria and Judea). But the teaching of hate in the Palestinian schools and incitement to violence is still going on! What is driving the radical Muslims is the canard that the Jews have a plot to take over the world (written up as minutes of a meeting and called "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion"). This is what also drove the Nazis to attempt to commit genocide (in taking their clue from Henry Ford, who published this fake document in his newspaper in Dearborn, Mich., in the early '30s). When is the world going to learn what real Jewish beliefs are all about (from the Torah) rather than to make such outlandish accusations and paranoid assertions that are not at all provable through hard evidence? When is this "longest hatred" (a.k.a. anti-Semitism) going to end?
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