In this week’s parshah we read about Avraham’s purchase of Me’aras HaMachpelah. Prior to any negotiations Avraham said to the bnei Cheis, “Ger v’soshav anochi…” – I am a stranger and a resident… (Bereishis 23:4). Rashi quotes a Midrash that explains the apparent paradox in Avraham’s words as follows: Avraham was telling the bnei Cheis to treat him like a stranger and sell the property to him, and, if not, he will be forced to act as a resident and take what is rightfully his – for Hashem had already promised Avraham that this land will belong to his children.
The meforshim are bothered by this interpretation and ask the following question: In Parshas Lech Lecha we learned about the dispute between Avraham and Lot’s shepherds. The pasuk does not inform us regarding the details of the dispute – but Rashi does. Rashi says that Lot’s shepherds were resha’im, and would allow their animals to graze in private property. Avraham’s shepherds chastised them for this, as these were acts of stealing. In defense Lot’s shepherds responded that what they were doing was not stealing, since Hashem had given this land to Avraham and Lot was his only inheritor (at the time). Rashi concludes by quoting the end of that pasuk, …veha’Canna’ani veHa’prizi az yoshev ba’aretz – and the Canna’ani and the Prizi were still occupying the land, indicating that Avraham had not yet acquired the land and therefore allowing the animals to graze in private property was indeed stealing.
The two explanations from Rashi seem to contradict one another. In this week’s parshah he says that Avraham could take the land as its rightful owner, and in Parshas Lech Lecha he said that Avraham had not yet acquired the land.
The Chizkuni and the Sifsei Chachamim both suggest the following answer: Hashem promised Avraham that his children would inherit the land of Eretz Yisrael. In Parshas Lech Lecha, Avraham had not yet had any offspring; therefore Hashem’s promise did not come into effect. In Parshas Chayei Sarah, Yitzchak had already been born. Thus Hashem’s promise was applicable, and Avraham could demand the land as its rightful owner.
The Re’aim suggests that the answer lies in a Tosafos in Rosh Hashanah (13a d”h v’lo). The Gemara there says that when Bnei Yisrael entered Eretz Yisrael for the first time after wandering in the desert for forty years it was right before Pesach. On the second day of Pesach a korban Omer is brought. The Gemara inquires as to how the Bnei Yisrael were able to bring this korban, since it could not be brought from grain belonging to a non-Jew. Tosafos there asks why the Gemara assumed that all of the grain belonged to the non-Jewish residents, when the land was promised to belong to the Bnei Yisrael. The grain should have been considered theirs.
Tosafos answers that the Bnei Yisrael owned only the actual land. The fruits and grain that the non-Jews had planted and toiled on belonged to them. Therefore the grain needed for the korban Omer could not have been the existing grain in the field planted by the non-Jewish residents.
The Re’aim says that Avraham’s shepherds were correct in not allowing the animals to graze in the fields because although the land belonged to Avraham, the produce that was growing did not. However, in Parshas Chayei Sarah Avraham was looking to burry Sarah. Concerning this the land belonged to Avraham. Therefore he rightfully told the bnei Cheis that if they do not sell him the land he will take it as its rightful owner.
However, this explanation is problematic. The Gemara in Keddushin 2a says that the source in the Torah that we know that one can perform keddushin by means of kinyan kesef – a monetary acquisition – is from a gezairta shava between the pesukim where Avraham bought Me’aras Hamachpela and the pasuk describing marrying a woman. The Gemara says that since Avraham bought the field from Ephron with money so too a man can use money to perform keddushin on his wife to be. However, based on Tosafos in Rosh Hashanah mentioned above, Avraham had already owned the land. How can we draw a proof top the fact that kinyan kesef will work to bind a keddushin from a scenario where Avraham was performing a mere formality, but not an actual transaction?