And Sarah was a hundred and twenty-seven years old; these were the years of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba (Gen. 23:1-2).

And he (Abraham) stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, even the Children of Chet, and communed with them saying, if it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; and entreat for me to Ephron (the Hittite), the son of Zohar, that he may give me the Cave of Machpelah… (Gen. 23:8-9).

And Ephron answered saying unto him, My Lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver (Gen. 23:14-15).

The purchase of the Cave of Machpelah as a tomb for Sarah was an extraordinary vision of the future on the part of Abraham. The lengthy description of the process of the purchase of Sarah’s burial place more than of that of any other personage in the Torah. In all other passages concerning the death of the patriarchs and the matriarchs, including the deaths of Moses and Aaron, the expression of death is short and quick … ‘and he died …’; ‘and he was buried…’. What is so special about this case?

The word Machpelah, מכפלה spelled mem-caph-peh-lamed-heh, is derived from the word caphul, כפלspelled caph-peh-lamed, which means ‘double’. Hence, ‘the Cave of Machpelah’ means ‘the Cave of the Doubling’. The ‘doubling’ foreshadows the events to come, whereby the cave becomes not only a tomb for Sarah, but later a mausoleum for the three patriarchs and three of the matriarchs (excepting Rachel, who was buried on the road to Bethlehem after giving birth to Benjamin (Gen. 35:19)). Later Abraham is buried together with Sarah, Isaac with Rebekah and Jacob with Leah. In accord with The Zohar Adam and Eve were also buried in this cave, hence making the total 8 persons or 4 couples buried in the mausoleum. 

The cave was in the land of the Children of the Hittites or Beni Chet בני חת. In Hebrew, Hittite is Chet, חת  spelled chet-taf  and is actually the spelling of the letter ח chet, the eighth letter of the alphabet with the value of 8. The significance of 8 is associated with a covenant with God. Astrologically, eight is associated with the eighth house, which is associated with death and Scorpio, with its tail curling around towards its head, with the concept of death and rebirth. The number 8 is also associated with 50 because just as 7+1=8, so 7x7+1= 50. Fifty means renewal, return and beginning of a new cycle beyond this world. Moreover, the spelling of chet has a gematrical sequence 8-400, and 400, as we know, is the highest level of spirituality that man can reach on the earthly plane before going on to the next world.

More specifically the cave was purchased from Ephron the Hittite. Ephron עפרון is spelled ayin-peh-resh-vav-nun where the root letters of Ephron are aphar עפר meaning ‘dust’. It is related to the phrase: from dust you were made and to dust you shall return, (Gen. 3:19). Hence ‘Ephron the Hittite’ actually means ‘dust of the eight’ which could be interpreted as the ‘dust of return’ or ‘dust of the covenant with God’^[1]. Aphar עפר has a value of 70+80+200=350. It is half of 700, the spiritual Sabbath, and the same value as oref ערפ meaning neck, which is the connecting link between the heavenly soul neshama נשמה and the bodily soul, nefeshנפש .

In the text, the name Ephron is spelled in two ways, with the vav (Gen. 23: 8-17) i.e. עפרון ayin-peh-resh-vav-nun, and without the vav:  עפרן ayin-peh-resh-nun = 70+80+200+50 =400 (Gen. 25:9).

As we know, the symbol of vav is a hook, and nun has a value of 50. So here the sequence of the letters in the word Ephron ayin-peh-resh-vav-nun, links aphar, (dust), with the 50 meaning return and renewal. So, this spelling of Ephron represents the dust that we become after death to 50 which means renewal or the beginning of a new cycle. Thus, it can be said that the dust of Sarah goes through the process of death and rebirth.

In the latter spelling of Ephron the gematrical value is 400 which is  the amount in shekels that Abraham pays to purchase the Cave of Machpelah. Moreover, shekel, שקל spelled shin-koof-lamed, (300+100+30) has a value of 430, which is the same value as that for nefesh נפש spelled nun-peh-shin (50+80+300=430) meaning ‘bodily soul’.

So, if we look at the gematrical connotations of the purchase of the Cave of Machpelah, it goes far beyond simply finding a place to bury the beloved wife of Abraham. The ultimate intention was that it would be the burial place for the three patriarchs and their wives in order that their souls could reach the highest level of spiritual development (400), and that upon death, the bodily soul, the nefesh (430) would return to dust aphar (350) and the heavenly soul neshama would pass through the 8 to the next world. 

Not only this, but in each reference to the Cave of Machpelah both during the purchase of the tomb and the subsequent burials of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, it is always noted that it was ‘before Mamre,’ which was the place where Abraham lived (See Gen. 23:17; Gen. 23:19; Gen. 25:9; Gen. 35:27; Gen. 49:30; Gen. 50:13).

And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders around, were made over (Gen. 23:17)

Mamre, ממרא spelled mem-mem-resh-aleph = 40+40+200+5 =281

The gematrical value 281 is the same as for apharאפר  meaning ash and spelled aleph-peh-resh = 1+80+200. Hence again the association of the burial place and a location for the finite particles that become the remnant of the bodily soul, the nefesh.

In Hebrew, the phrase ‘dust to dust, ashes to ashes’ is aphar l’aphar, aphar l’aphar עפר לעפר, אפר לאפר where the only difference between the word for dust and ash is that an ayin ע is used instead of an aleph   אand in many cases in the Bible the word dust is also spelled with an ayin instead of an aleph.

In summary, although the Cave of Machpelah was ostensibly a burial place for the beloved wife of Abraham, its purchase was in fact intended as the burial of the patriarchs and the matriarchs in the Promised Land, several hundred years before the promise of God was realized 40 years after the exodus from Egypt. The purchase of the Cave of Machpelah was therefore critical in determining the future location of the core roots of the genesis of Judaism and the Children of Israel.

[1] For this reason, Hindus and in particular, followers of Shiva, paint ash upon their forehead to remind them that their bodies and the finite form of the phenomenal world is nothing but ash