164 JAMES NEIL, M.A., 
about it.* The conveyance he desired appears to have been 
of land immediately adjacent to a town, and, therefore, as 
now, in individual holding; but, even in this case, though 
it was ground in some sense belonging to Ephron, the son of 
Zohar, yet the patriarch is said to buy it, not alone of this 
particular Hittite, but of “the sons of Heth.”f So again 
when Jacob bought a parcel of ground where he spread his 
tent, situated close to a large town, Shechem, it was not 
from a private owner, but “from the sons of Hamor, the 
father of Shechem.”{ Moreover, Jacob is said to buy not 
the sadeh, but mw nypon, Ahelkath hassadeh, “the field of 
the sadeh,” where his camp had been pitched.§ 
* Genesis xxiii. 3, 5. + Genesis xxiii. 20. 
{ Genesis xxxiii. 19. In the Village-Communities of Palestine, there 
is a way of excluding strangers from obtaining any foothold on the soil, 
or any possession of house property, or the holding of fruit trees (such 
as the olive) apart from the land on which they grow. [This possession, so 
to speak, of real property in “fruitful trees,” is a peculiar feature of the 
land laws of Palestine and the adjacent countries, alluded to in what would 
appear to be the conveyancing terms of the first deed on record, that by 
which Abraham purchased Jand from Ephron and the sons of Heth, where 
the description of parcels runs “the sadeh of Ephron which was in 
Macpelah, which was before Mamre, the sadeh and the cave that was in 
it, and every tree which was in the sadeh that was in all the borders round 
about were made sure to Abraham fora possession.” Genesis xxiii. 17, 18.] 
Though, as it is shown in this paper, broad acres were always held, as 
they still are, in common under the Crown, land and house property in 
towns and villages, and their adjacent “ watered gardens,” orange orchards, 
vineyards, olive yards, or some one or more of their separate trees is mulk, 
or freehold property, in individual holding. Such property may be put 
up to sale, and bid for by any person or persons from outside, but relatives 
of the vendor, or, failing relatives, neighbours, or if no relative or neigh- 
bour comes forward, any member or members of the Community, have 
always the right of pre-emption at the price offered by the intending 
purchaser or purchasers. In this way strangers can be, and generally are, 
excluded from the Village-Communities. Thus we have an explanation 
of Abraham’s very great and natural anxiety—appearing so strongly, in 
the original Hebrew, in the broken language and agitation of Genesis xxiil. 
13, and in the humble entreaties and attitude of verses 8 and 12—as to 
whether he would be permitted by the people of Mamre to purchase a 
freehold in which to bury his wife. 
§ The word hhelkath, masculine hhailek, Arabic hhakel, this last pre- 
serving no doubt the Chaldo-Syriac form of the colloquial in our Lord’s 
time, appears to have been the technical term in Hebrew answering to 
our “field,” or small division of open land, as we may gather from the 
name ’Akeddapa (NDF bpn), “the field of blood.” Many MSS. read 
“AxedSapay, this final x being no doubt a Greek rendering of the soft aspi- 
rate sound formerly attached to ®. Inthe Shéphailah, or Philistine plain, 
almost the precise term hhelkuth survives to this day in the common ex- 
pression hhalkath wateh, “a field [or portion] of ground.” 
