Comentário sobre Gênesis 23:7

וישתחו לעם הארץ לבני חת. He bowed to the notables present, seeing they represented the whole population.

ויקם…וישתחו… He arose and bowed down. Abraham explained to them that the reality was the exact opposite of what the Hittites thought. He did not consider himself as a prince amongst them; on the contrary, he considered them as deserving more honour than himself.

ויקם אברהם וישתחו, he rose on his legs and folded them in a manner signifying gratitude for the positive response he had received from the בני חת, informing them next of precisely what it was that he was requesting.

HE PROSTRATED - according to Ibn Ezra prostration is bowing the head, and this is an expression of giving honor to another person, and so Yitro does it for Moshe. However, Rashi (parashat Miketz, Genesis 42:6; Genesis 43:26) sees prostrating as extending oneself on the earth, with hands and feet extended. And it seems that the difference between a simple prostration and the prostration on the earth is that if it is on the earth obviously implies the extending of hands and feet.

לעם הארץ steht hier wahrscheinlich in der Bedeutung wie ואם העלם יעלימו עם הארץ wo es nicht das Landvolk, sondern die Landgemeine ,(B. M. 20. 4 .3), die Vertretung des Volkes bedeutet, die Landesversammlung, die zur Bestrafung des Verbrechens verpflichtet und befugt ist, so hier: die Landesvertretung, die einem Fremden das Recht des Gütererwerbs zu erteilen ermächtigt ist. Dann heißt auch das לבני חת: für die Söhne Chet, die Versammlung, welche die Gesamtheit der Bevölkerung vertritt.

“Avraham stood up and prostrated himself;” Avraham was dependent on the goodwill of everyone in that town; even if Efron had been willing to sell his field or plot Avraham would have needed all the townspeople’s permission to convert it into a burial site. Avraham had to first arise in order to prostrate himself in the appropriate manner to all of them, even to the one sitting behind him. But for a single individual such as Efron he was not required to rise, he just prostrated himself before him.