Quick Thought- Ephron (interesting)
B”H
Genesis 23:16: Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he spoke of in the hearing of the children of Heth, four hundred silver shekels, negotiable currency.
Ephron knew that Abraham was very wealthy, and gave Abraham’s property Ein Hara (the evil eye).
In the Torah, Ephron is usually spelled with a “Vav”. In this case, however it is written without the “Vav”. This indicates that
Ephron’s stature had been reduced. He had promised much, but had delivered little. When Abraham wanted to pay. He demanded full-sized coins that would be universally negotiable (which is known that only four people in the world had universally accepted coins; and they were: Abraham, Joshua, King David, and Mordechai).
In its abbreviated form, the numerical value of Ephron is 400. [Eyin= 70, Peh= 80, Resh= 200, and Nun= 50.] This is also the numerical value of Eyin Hara. (“Evil Eye.")
This indicates that since he had the audacity to demand such a large sum, he was actually a low class individual. The Torah therefore deletes a letter from his name. Furthermore, he was punished for his jealousy of Abraham and for giving him the Evil Eye.
The Talmud states that whenever the Torah refers to a shekel, it means a coin weighing a sela. Each of Abraham’s shekels, however, weighed a centenar, which is one hundred sela’im. (Brachot 50a)
A sela is the weight of 384 average barleycorns. (Yad Shkeilim 1:2) A dram is the weight of 32 barleycorns. Therefore a sela is 12 derams (aprox. 3/4 of a modern ounce.) each of Abraham’s shekels therefore weighed 1200 drams or 75 ounces. The 400 shekels that Abraham paid were therefore 480,000 drams or 30,000 ounces of pure silver. (In modern currency this would be aprox. $18,000.)
According to another opinion, each shekel here was 100 manin. A mana is 18 3/4 drams or 1.17 ounces. Each shekel was therefore 1875 drams or 117 ounces. Abraham’s four hundred shekels thus came out to be 750,000 drams or 46,875 ounces of pure silver. (In modern currency, this would be aprox. $28,125)
The Torah says that this was “negotiable currency”. These were coins that were universally accepted.
(Some interpret the phrase “over la’socher” here to mean, “passed over merchandise”. Ephron was afraid that some of the coins that Abraham would give him would be deficient or short weighted. He therefore asked Abraham to buy merchandise for the 400 shekels and give it to him. He then knew for certain that he would obtain his full price.
Derived from the Ma’am Loez.
Genesis 23:16: Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he spoke of in the hearing of the children of Heth, four hundred silver shekels, negotiable currency.
Ephron knew that Abraham was very wealthy, and gave Abraham’s property Ein Hara (the evil eye).
In the Torah, Ephron is usually spelled with a “Vav”. In this case, however it is written without the “Vav”. This indicates that
Ephron’s stature had been reduced. He had promised much, but had delivered little. When Abraham wanted to pay. He demanded full-sized coins that would be universally negotiable (which is known that only four people in the world had universally accepted coins; and they were: Abraham, Joshua, King David, and Mordechai).In its abbreviated form, the numerical value of Ephron is 400. [Eyin= 70, Peh= 80, Resh= 200, and Nun= 50.] This is also the numerical value of Eyin Hara. (“Evil Eye.")
This indicates that since he had the audacity to demand such a large sum, he was actually a low class individual. The Torah therefore deletes a letter from his name. Furthermore, he was punished for his jealousy of Abraham and for giving him the Evil Eye.
The Talmud states that whenever the Torah refers to a shekel, it means a coin weighing a sela. Each of Abraham’s shekels, however, weighed a centenar, which is one hundred sela’im. (Brachot 50a)
A sela is the weight of 384 average barleycorns. (Yad Shkeilim 1:2) A dram is the weight of 32 barleycorns. Therefore a sela is 12 derams (aprox. 3/4 of a modern ounce.) each of Abraham’s shekels therefore weighed 1200 drams or 75 ounces. The 400 shekels that Abraham paid were therefore 480,000 drams or 30,000 ounces of pure silver. (In modern currency this would be aprox. $18,000.)
According to another opinion, each shekel here was 100 manin. A mana is 18 3/4 drams or 1.17 ounces. Each shekel was therefore 1875 drams or 117 ounces. Abraham’s four hundred shekels thus came out to be 750,000 drams or 46,875 ounces of pure silver. (In modern currency, this would be aprox. $28,125)
The Torah says that this was “negotiable currency”. These were coins that were universally accepted.
(Some interpret the phrase “over la’socher” here to mean, “passed over merchandise”. Ephron was afraid that some of the coins that Abraham would give him would be deficient or short weighted. He therefore asked Abraham to buy merchandise for the 400 shekels and give it to him. He then knew for certain that he would obtain his full price.
Derived from the Ma’am Loez.
posted by doonlygood at 7:30 PM
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