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ויענו בני חת…<underline>לאמור לו</underline>. The Hittites answered, …<underline>to say to him.</underline> This means they appointed a single spokesman to speak on their behalf.

ויענו, they agreed by telling him so.

In the choicest of our grave sites. Because you are so respected you may have the best grave in the public cemetery, or else you may request the private plot of anyone in town. But it is against our custom to allow a sojourner to acquire a plot of his own.

(5-6) Die B׳ne Chet beraten und lassen Abraham ihre Antwort wissen: Obgleich Fremdling, habe er durch sein langjähriges, Gott zugewandtes und von Gott getragenes Wirken und Walten unter ihnen einen so "gehobenen" Charakter unter ihnen erworben, נשיא אלקי׳, dass er wahrlich kein Grab zu kaufen brauche, um ein bleibendes Grab für sein Weib zu finden. Er sollte sich das beste Grab aussuchen. Jeder wird es sich für eine solche זכיה anrechnen, eine Sara, das Weib Abrahams, in seinem Eigentum begraben zu wissen, dass er sich nicht nur nicht weigern wird, Sara dort begraben zu lassen, sondern dass dieses Grab auch für ewig unangetastet bleiben wird. Dieses scheint in dem לא יכלֶה zu liegen. לא יכְלָא würde heißen: er wird dir sein Grab nicht verschließen, sich nicht weigern, deinen Toten dort zu begraben. כלה aber heißt, sich nach etwas sehnen, und dürfte es daher wohl vielleicht heißen: Keiner von uns wird sich nach seinem Grabe von dir sehnen, dass du dort deinen Toten nicht begrabest, d. h. keiner von uns wird wünschen, dass du sein Grab nicht zum Begräbnis deines Weibes wählen mögest, vielmehr jeder wird wünschen, dass sein Grab das erwählte werden möge.

ויענו בני חת, “the members of the tribe of the Hittites, replied;” on these words Rabbi Elazar commented that untold numbers of pens have been broken and untold amounts of ink have been used up for the Torah to repeat the expression בני חת, “the members of the tribe of the Hittites, in this paragraph no fewer than ten times. Our sages say that we learn from here that anyone who assists a righteous person to receive his due share is viewed as if he had observed the commandments in all the Five Books of Moses. We find in Kings II 4,42, as similar –apparently unnecessary repetition- when told: ואיש בא מבעל שלשה ויבא לאיש האלוקים לחם, בכורים, עשרים לחם שעורים וכרמל בצקלו ויאמר: תן לעם ויאכלו. “A man came from Baal-shalisha and he brought the man of G–d some bread from the first reaping- twenty loaves of barley bread and some fresh grain, in his sack; and Elisha said: give it to the people to eat.” (The prophet in this paragraph was Elisha) Anyone reading this paragraph must wonder was Elisha then a priest that the bikkurim would be brought to him? The answer given is that when someone brings a Torah scholar a gift it is considered by our sages as if that person had personally erected the Temple and had offered the first fruit, bikkurim, therein (Talmud tractate Ketuvot folio 105). We find a third occasion when unnecessary repetition seems to occur in the Bible in the Book of Joshua (Joshua 7,10) in connection with Achan who had stolen from the loot of Jericho; in that report the word גם is repeated five times, though it could easily been avoided. On that occasion our sages interpret the constant repetition of the word גם by saying that it teaches that if someone steals property belonging to the Temple treasure it is considered as if he had transgressed all the commandments of the Five Books of Moses. Another way of looking at this particular example: If you take the respective first and last letters in the last letter of each of the five Books of Moses, i.e. the letters ב-ם from the last word in the Book of Genesis במצרים, plus the letters מ-ם in the word מסעיהם at the end of the Book of Exodus, plus the letters ס-י from the word סיני at the end of the Book of Leviticus, plus the two letters י-ר of the word יריחו at the end of the Book of Numbers, i.e. ס-י from the word סיני at the end of the Book of Numbers, plus the letters י-ל from the word ישראל at the end of the Book of Deuteronomy you will have the numerical value of the word חרם=248. The sin of Achan was stealing from חרם, from what belongs to G–d. (Attributed to Sefer Chassidim page 106, (in the edition with Rabbi Price’s commentary)

It also means that they were not unanimous in their approach to the matter of the sale. As a result they delegated someone to "speak to him" i.e. without making an immediate and final commitment. The eventual outcome already indicates that it was their original intention to exact a very substantial price.