Abraham’s Purchase of Ephron’s Land in Anthropological Perspective
Despite considerable and illuminating work on the ancient Near Eastern legal background of the story of Abraham’s purchase of Ephron’s land in Genesis 23, several narrative peculiarities have not been satisfactorily explained. The theme of Sarah’s burial receives a curiously uneven treatment in the...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2013
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| In: |
Biblical interpretation
Year: 2013, Volume: 21, Issue: 2, Pages: 153-170 |
| Further subjects: | B
Genesis 23
Abraham
Ephron
Bnei Heth
land tenure
burial rights
Max Gluckman
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | Despite considerable and illuminating work on the ancient Near Eastern legal background of the story of Abraham’s purchase of Ephron’s land in Genesis 23, several narrative peculiarities have not been satisfactorily explained. The theme of Sarah’s burial receives a curiously uneven treatment in the chapter. It is mentioned seven times by the characters during their discussions about the land, but the narrator almost completely glosses the act of burial itself. Does this jarring repetition, so integral to the negotiations, serve some legal purpose? Although exchange of consideration—400 shekels of silver—takes place between Ephron and Abraham only, Abraham is said to have acquired the land from Ephron and from the Bnei Heth. How are the rights of the Bnei Heth in the transferred land best understood? The characters pay great attention to status and its accompanying formalities. Is their performance mere politeness, or does status have some inherent connection to the validity of the transaction? I sketch here a generalized model for land tenure put forward by anthropologist Max Gluckman. Citing several ancient Near Eastern land transfer texts, I show how Gluckman’s model clarifies the system of land rights assumed by Genesis 23 and sheds light on these three puzzling features of the narrative.
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| ISSN: | 1568-5152 |
| Contains: | In: Biblical interpretation
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685152-0015A0001 |