Глава 23

Gen.23:2. “And Sarah died in the city of Arbok, which is located in the valley. This is Hebron in the land of Canaan." What is written here: “which is located in the valley” is not found in the original books. Also, the name Arbok [over time] was gradually spoiled by writers and readers. Because we will not think that the Seventy Interpreters conveyed the name of the Jewish city incorrectly, in a barbaric way, and not as it actually sounds. After all, “arbok” does not mean anything at all, but this word is pronounced as arbee ( אַרְבַּ ֛ ע), that is, “four,” due to the fact that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the head of the human race Adam himself were buried there, as will be more clearly shown in the Book of Joshua (see: Joshua 14, 15 according to the Vulgate. - Transl.). Gen.23:6. “Listen to us, sir. You are our king from God. Bury your deceased in the best of our burial places." Instead of the word "king" in the Hebrew text there is "prince" or "leader". Because nasi (נְשִׂ ֨ יא) does not mean “king”, but “leader”. Gen.23:16. “And Abraham listened to Ephron. And Abraham weighed out the silver to Ephran, according to what he had said in the presence of the sons of Heth.” The Hebrew text says first "Ephron" ( עֶפְרוֹן ֒) and then "Ephran" ( עֶפְרֹ ֔ ן) 42. In these two spellings I put this name here. The fact is that after he was flattered by the reward to sell the burial place for money, although under duress on the part of Abraham, the letter vau, which is used by Jews instead of “o”, was removed from his name, and he began to be called Ephran instead of Ephron. This means in Scripture that anyone who can sell the memory of the dead does not have complete and perfect virtue. Therefore, let the sellers of burial places, whom no one forces to take payment, but they themselves snatch it from those who give it with reluctance, know that they change their name, and therefore a certain part of the good name they have earned perishes, since even the one who accepted the money with reluctance is implicitly condemned. As you can see, the letter composition of the two spellings of this name in the Masoretic text actually differs, but the vowel is somewhat different than what Blessed Jerome indicates.