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THE CAVE OF MACHPELA:
THE EARLIEST LAND PURCHASE IN ERETZ YISRAEL
The Cave of Machpela was the first land purchase by a Jew in Eretz Yisrael. For this reason it is a unique site in the annals of Jewish history.
The great sages of the Jewish People teach that Abraham purchased the Cave of Machpela for the full market price rather than receive it as a gift, so that the nations of that world would never be able to dispute the eternal ownership by the People of Israel. Later, for the very same reason, Jacob and King David purchased the city of Shechem and the city of Jerusalem respectively. This idea is expressed in the following Midrash (Biblical commentary). (Gen./Beresheet Rabba 79:7):
Said Rabbi Yuden the son of Simon: ” This is one of the three places that the nations (of the world) can never castigate the Jewish people and say “you are occupying stolen territory”. These are the three places: The Cave of the Machpela, the Holy Temple Mount and Joseph’s burial site. The Cave of the Machpela because it is said: ”And Abraham counted out to Ephron the money he had spoken of to the sons of Het--four hundred shekels of valid currency” (Gen. 23:16).
The three places: The Cave of Machpela-the earliest land purchase site, together with Shechem and Jerusalem, are the genuine of continued Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel. These are the very locations where the nations of the world have attempted to claim: ”You are occupying stolen property.”
A special significance is attributed by Jewish scholars, to the purchase of the Cave of the Machpela as they compare it to the Ten Commandments:
“Said Rabbi Eliezer: How much ink is spilled and how many quills are worn out in the writing of the words: ‘The sons of Het’, (who sold the site to Abraham) [for these words, ‘the sons of Het’ are mentioned] ten times-corresponding to the same number of the Ten Commandments”. (Gen. Rabba 58:8).
The very detailed description of the purchase of the Cave of the Machpela by Abraham, the cornerstone of the Jewish People’s affiliation to Eretz Yisrael, is equated to the Ten Commandments - the very basis of the Torah given to the people of Israel.
The purchase of the Cave of the Machpela prior to any other place in the Land of Israel--even before Jerusalem-the site of the Holy Temple--is not perceived by our sages as a mere coincidence. On the contrary, they tell us that Abraham, knowingly and willingly relinquished his right to conquer or purchase Jerusalem as a condition to buying the Cave of the Machpela. This action postponed the acquisition of Jerusalem by more than eight centuries. The following Midrashic illustration from “Pirkei Derabi Eliezer”(Chap. 36) serves as a basis for this teaching:
Abraham advised the Jebusites of his wish to buy the Cave of the Machpela, at a good price, for gold and a legal deed to the place that would be a burial site.
Were they Jebusites? Weren’t they Hittites?--but they were named Jebusites because of their proximity to Jebusite city.
They did not agree. He (Abraham) began kneeling and bowing to them, as it is said: ”And Abraham bowed in front of the people of the land”. They said to him: We know that the All-Mighty will give all of these lands to you and your descendants; enter into an oath with us that the sons of Israel will inherit the city of Jebus only with the consent of the Jebusite people.
Later he purchased the Cave of the Machpela with gold and an everlasting deed. When the people of Israel came into the Land of Israel, they wanted to enter into the Jebusite city. However, they were unable to do so because of Abraham’s oath and covenant with the Jebusites, as it is said: ”And the Jebusite-the settlers of Jerusalem, they (The people of Israel) did not inherit it. (Judges 1:21)
This Midrash comes to teach us, not that Avraham really relinquished Jerusalem, but that he saw Hebron as the foundation of the Jewish People in Israel, without which, we would never reach the holiness of Jerusalem.
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