Komentarz do Rodzaju 23:3

מעל פני מתו, From before his dead one. It is assumed that the "dead one" was aware of what went on around her as long as the lid had not been put on the casket or equivalent (compare Shabbat 152). This also teaches that the dead is to lie on his back (Baba Batra 74).

ויקם אברהם מעל פני מתו, in order to attend to the funeral arrangements for the body of Sarah. The reason why the Torah added the word מתו, “his dead,” seeing we all know that Sarah had been his wife, i.e. “his dead,” is that this is an apt description for the body of the deceased person, such as מתי, “my dead,” in verse 4, or מתך, “your dead,” in verse 6.

מעל פני מתו, וידבר אל בני חת. As long as he had not buried Sarah he was not yet a mourner in the technical meaning of the word. He was therefore able to leave his house and assemble the people of the town.

ויקם ויאמר, er trennt sich nur von seinem Toten, um in dessen Angelegenheit zu verhandeln; daher die Lehre der Weisen: das natürliche Verhältnis zu dem hin gestorbenen Toten bedingt, dass, so lange der Tote daliegt, der Verwandte an gar nichts denken soll, als dem Toten gerecht zu werden. Dieser soll ihm so lange immer gegenwärtig sein, wie es im folgenden Vers heißt: ואקברה מתי מלפני.

וידבר אל בני חת, the בני חת were the inhabitants of the town, whereas חת was a son of Canaan. (compare 10,15). Avraham assembled all of them to one location in order to address them.

וידבר אל בני חת לאמור. He spoke to the Hittites, to say. The word לאמור is to counteract the impression that Abraham asked for something gratis when he said: תנו לי, "give me permanent possession, etc!" Abraham would not be satisfied with just any gift the Hittites were willing to give him, but this was only an introduction to negotiations leading to the acquisition of the cave of Machpelah.

Furthermore, the Torah wanted to explain why Abraham needed to speak to the Hittites, when the land in question belonged to one man only, and the whole transaction should have been simple and uncomplicated. A cave, unlike a field, could not be worked like a field, was not useful to its owner to build on, etc.; therefore normal proof of ownership might be difficult to establish by his heirs in the future. This is why Abraham wanted everybody present as witnesses. The purchase would be fully valid and would not ever be contested after all these preconditions had been met.

Abraham also wanted to refute any suggestion that he wanted something for nothing. By saying לאמור, he indicated that he would negotiate (establish a price) for this acquisiton.