out further parleying weighed out the silver which Ephron had named in "current money with the merchant." At the city gate, where all public transactions were consummated, the scale bearer, who was a regular public official, was always within call. This incident of the purchase of the field by Abraham must be understood as having taken place as part of the regular business of the day, and when it was finished the elders probably took up some other matter that came before them. The exchange of compliments and the several offers and refusals may have been mere courtesies, but they have the air of being something more than that. They may have been a regular formality which, in those days of strict adher ence to formality was deemed an essential pre liminary to the consummation of the bargain. Then follows the recital of the convey ance in formal words, such as a scrivener might have written down at the time if a written record had been kept. In words exact and particular, careful to include all that had been sold, and repeating the essen tial points, the record states : " So the field
of Ephron, which was in Makhpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was therein and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders thereof round about, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city," and the chapter closes with the repetition, " And the field and the cave that is therein were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying place by the children of Heth." The formal terms of this record must delight a modern conveyancer who appre ciates the necessity for the formal and tech nical methods which to the average layman appear intolerably prolix. It will be noticed that the field is first "made sure" unto Abraham " in the presence of the children of Heth," and in the last verse it is " made sure " unto him " by the children of Heth." It required the consent of the people to the transfer which was made by one of them, and it was this consent thus publicly given which gave validity to the act of conveyance.
