How a Close Reading of the Torah Helps Us Understand Human Nature
Reading from a Torah scroll in accordance with Sephardi tradition. Photo: Sagie Maoz via Wikimedia Commons.
Narratives are subjective. We say things that often don’t tell the whole story, and even disguise our true intentions. Sometimes, the discrepancy is intentional. Sometimes it is accidental.
There are two examples this week of such cases in our Torah reading.
The narrative of the Torah can be understood on different levels. On the surface, it is just telling a story like any other. Except that this a very special one, overlaid with ethical “dos” and “don’ts.” It is replete with important insights into human nature.
After Sarah dies, Abraham goes looking for a burial site. In Hittite and other Middle East Bronze age cultures, the bodies of poor people who died were buried, burnt, or left for vultures to strip them and would just decompose. The wealthy or royals would be buried in caves, catacombs, or magnificent pyramids and monuments.
Abraham wants to buy a cave to bury Sarah. He approaches the local Hittite council and asks them if he can get a burial plot. The Hittites respond by describing Abraham as prince, meaning he has the status to acquire a burial cave. Abraham expresses his gratitude and then asks them to entreat Efron to sell his cave. Efron seems eager to sell, and declares that he will give the cave and the whole field with it to Abraham with pleasure, for free. Abraham replies that he insists on paying. Efron replies, “Please, sir, I give it to you, for free.” And again, Abraham expresses his gratitude and says he wants to pay.
But then Efron comes back and says there is no need to pay, after all. “What is a piece of land worth four hundred silver shekels between friends?” Why did Efron have to mention the exact price if he genuinely wanted to give it as present? The text says the Abraham listened to the words of Efron (he realized Efron did not mean it), and so he weighed out the full price at the highest rate of exchange.
Efron was not being honest when he said he would give it for free, otherwise he would not have mentioned the exact valuation of the property. Or perhaps he was playing the effusive social game and showing off. But Abraham understood from his words that money was precisely what he wanted.
The next episode is when Eliezer, Abraham’s estate manager, is sent to find a wife for Yitzhak. Abraham tells him specifically to go back to his homeland and birthplace to look for a wife, but he says nothing about going back to the family. And when Eliezer reached the well and asked God’s help in finding a wife, he said nothing about her having to come from Abraham’s family either. Only after he met Rebecca did he ask what family she was from.
Later, as they are negotiating the match with Betuel and Lavan, Eliezer says to her family, “My master made me swear that I should not take a wife from the local tribes amongst whom I live but to go back to my father’s house and to my family to take a wife for my son.” Did Eliezer accurately report what Abraham had said, or was he adding his own words?
Perhaps this illustrates how significant the art of choosing words carefully is. We often have to read between the lines, and listen to the words carefully to understand what is actually being said.
The Torah provides guidance. It is not just a book of laws and customs, but also one that helps us understand human nature better.
These episodes are examples of the delights of a close reading of the Biblical text. It is much more complex than at first sight. There are so many nuances and details that are often overlooked, which make it so worthwhile and such a delight.
The author is a writer and rabbi, currently based in New York.
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