Page:A Jewish Interpretation of the Book of Genesis (Morgenstern, 1919, jewishinterpreta00morg).pdf/190

 172

llic

Arba"

(Joshua

(either

four heroes

XIV,

Book

15)

or,

the

[cf.

of Coicsis better,

i)robal)ly

of

"city

names of the three heroes

four"

the

in

Judges

I,

or four quarters).

lOJ

V.

"The children of Ileth";

3.

in

pre-IsraeHte times

early,

the

Hittites overran

northern Babylonia and western Asia as far south as the border of the desert, below Hebron. They were a nonSemitjc, warlike people, whose original home was in the highlands of Asia Minor, where they had established a powerful kingdom.

Excavations have been recently conducted on the site of the ancient and valuable finds have been made. The Hittites were gradually pushed back and eventually driven out of Palestine in the 14th and 13th centuries B. C. E. by the great kings of the powerful nineteenth dynasty of Egypt. In the early period, to which the Hittite capital,

Abraham

story of

is

assigned,

Hebron may have been an important

Hittite settlement.

V.

In

8.

the

Orient a l)argain

is

two

parties to

the transaction directly.

ices

of one or

more mediators

seldom concluded between the

Almost invariably the serv-

are invoked

each

l)y

All then

side.

and chaffering, seeking, on the one hand, reduce the price demanded, and, on the other hand, to induce the

participate in the haggling to

prospective purchaser to increase his offer.

time

able

Einally,

and much excitement, the bargain of

satisfaction

all

concerned.

Thus

Abraham

after

consider-

concluded

is

now

to

the

entreats

the

Hittites to act as his mediators with Ephron.

Ephron is sittmg among the other elders of the city at There the elders were wont to gather, and there business transactions were carried on, court was held, and the public life of the city was administered; cf. note to XIX. 1. V. 16. In the ancient Orient, since the art of coining money was unknown, money was weighed instead of counted (cf. Jeremiah XXXII, 9f; Zechariah XI, 12). In fact the same practice still exists today. The word shekel literally means "weight". Silver was the metal regularly employed for currency. The silver shekel was V.

.

the city gate.

the standard of value in ancient Israel.

periods

(cf.

As has been is

said,

Ephron seems

time.

typically

Oriental.

this

to

was a very large sum of money for

The

Oriental loves a l)argain

else.

In commercial transactions

seller

when

first

•

value varied at different

have made a very good bargain.

thing the

Its

Jezmsli Encyclopedia XI, 257f.).

would-be

asked the price of an

purchaser.

When

this

it

is

still

pressed for the price, he names one greatly

in

is

that

scene

more than any-

customary for the

to offer to give

article,

offer

The

refused

and

it

to

he

is

excess of the real value