Genesis 23:18

18 became Abraham's property. The town council of Hittites witnessed the transaction.

Genesis 23:18 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 23:18

Unto Abraham for a possession
To be enjoyed by him and his for ever, as his own property, being purchased by his money: in the presence of the children of Heth;
they being witnesses of the bargain, and of the payment of the money by Abraham, and of the surrender of the field unto him, for his own use: before all that went in at the gates of his city;
not of Abraham's city, for he had none, but of Ephron's city, which was Hebron, see ( Genesis 23:10 ) ; these are either the same with the children of Heth, and so the clause is added by way of explanation, and including all the inhabitants of the place; or else different from them, they intending the princes of the people that composed the assembly Abraham addressed, and these the common people, the inhabitants of the place. Aben Ezra takes them to be the travellers that passed and repassed through the gates of the city: however, the design of the expression is to show in what a public manner this affair was transacted, and that the field was made as firm and as sure to Abraham as it could well be, no writings on such occasion being used so early.

Genesis 23:18 In-Context

16 Abraham accepted Ephron's offer and paid out the sum that Ephron had named before the town council of Hittites - four hundred silver shekels at the current exchange rate.

17 That's how Ephron's field next to Mamre - the field, its cave, and all the trees within its borders -

18 became Abraham's property. The town council of Hittites witnessed the transaction.

19 Abraham then proceeded to bury his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah that is next to Mamre, present-day Hebron, in the land of Canaan

20 The field and its cave went from the Hittites into Abraham's possession as a burial plot.