Commento su Genesi 23:13

אך אם אתה לו שמעני BUT IF THOU WOULDST ONLY HEAR ME — You tell me to listen to you (verse 11) and to accept it without payment.

‘LU’ (IF) THOU WILT HEAR ME. This is equivalent to saying, “If you, if you will hear me,” and the purport thereof is like, “if you, if you would hear me,” the redundancy being for the purpose of emphasizing the matter. Similar cases are found in these verses: Turn in, my lord, turn in to me;³⁴Judges 4:18. Art thou any better, better than Balak?³⁵Ibid., 11:25. And to speak against him, saying;³⁶II Chronicles 32:17. And as for me, whither shall I go?;³⁷Further, 37:30. And I turned myself;³⁸Ecclesiastes 2:12. And I saw myself;³⁹Ibid., Verse 13. Seeing all the congregation are all holy.⁴⁰Numbers 16:3. All these are examples of expressions of synonimity. In my opinion, this is also the case in the verse, If from a thread even to a sandal tie, if I take (anything that is thine),⁴¹Above, 14:23. Here too, there is a redundant “if.” which is equivalent to saying, “If, from a thread even to a sandal tie, I take anything that is yours.” It may be that [in the verse here before us the meaning is], “If you are as you have said.” that is, if you are speaking what is in your heart concerning the matter, and if you will listen to me and consummate the sale. A similar usage of a missing word is found in the verse, And their brethren said unto them, What are ye?⁴²Judges 18:8. [which means, “What are you saying?”] In my opinion, a similar case of such usage is the verse, Wherefore am I?⁴³Further, 25:2. See also Ramban there. [meaning, “Wherefore am I in the world?”] Perhaps this is the opinion of Onkelos who translated here, “if you will do me a favor,” meaning, “if you will do my will as you have said.”

אך אם ...נתתי בסף השדה, I will comply with what you said, namely to bury my dead there only if I can hand over the money for the field. I will not bury Sarah there as a result of any other kind of arrangement.