Ephron

Two distinct biblical entries share the name Ephron: a Hittite landowner from whom Abraham bought the burial cave of Machpelah, and a mountain on the northern boundary of Judah's allotted territory. The personal name dominates the record, anchored in Genesis 23 and revisited at every later patriarchal burial.

Ephron the Son of Zohar

Ephron is introduced as a Hittite, son of Zohar, sitting among the sons of Heth at the gate of his city when Abraham comes to bury Sarah. Abraham, asking the local population to entreat on his behalf, names Ephron specifically: "hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he has, which is in the end of his field" (Gen 23:8-9). Ephron answers in the public audience of the gate, first offering the field and cave outright — "The field I give you, and the cave that is in it, I give it you. In the presence of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead" (Gen 23:11) — and then, when Abraham insists on paying, naming a price: "A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between me and you?" (Gen 23:15).

The Sale of Machpelah

The transaction is recorded with formal precision. Abraham weighs out the silver "in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver [based on the weight that was] current with the merchant" (Gen 23:16), and the field, the cave, and all the trees within its border are "made sure" to him as a possession (Gen 23:17). The text repeatedly identifies the parcel as "the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre" (Gen 23:17), fixing Ephron's name to the deed.

The Patriarchal Burial Ground

Once purchased, the field of Ephron becomes the patriarchal tomb. Sarah is buried first: "Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre (that is Hebron), in the land of Canaan" (Gen 23:19). Abraham himself is laid there next: "Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre" (Gen 25:9). On his deathbed in Egypt, Jacob directs his sons back to the same plot: "bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place" (Gen 49:29-30). The narrator confirms the burial: "his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre" (Gen 50:13). At each stage the title to the ground is restated through Ephron's name.

Mount Ephron

A second Ephron is geographic. In the description of Judah's northern boundary, the line runs "from the top of the mountain to the fountain of the waters of Nephtoah, and went out to Iyyim of mount Ephron; and the border extended to Baalah (the same is Kiriath-jearim)" (Josh 15:9). The mountain marks a waypoint between Nephtoah and Kiriath-jearim on the frontier between Judah and Benjamin and bears no narrative connection to the Hittite of Genesis.