Chayei Sarah: In Lou Of
An old, stupid joke:
A very thirsty man goes into a bar. As he's sitting down, he hears the man next to him tell the bartender, "I'll have another waterloo."
The bartender gives the fellow a tall, well-iced drink, then asks the newcomer what he would like to drink. Thinking the other man's drink may be a specialty of the house, he says, "I'll have a waterloo, too."
The bartender gives him the tall, well-iced drink and the customer takes a big drink. "Hey," he says. "This isn't any good. It tastes just like water!"
The man next to him looks at the bartender and says, "Well, it is water. Right, Lou?"
Or, as DALL-E might depict it:
A word that has unexpected density in the Avraham stories is לו, lu.
Thus, we see that Yishmael was Lou’s middle name:
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אַבְרָהָ֖ם אֶל־הָֽאֱלֹהִ֑ים ל֥וּ יִשְׁמָעֵ֖אל יִחְיֶ֥ה לְפָנֶֽיךָ׃
And Avraham said to God, O that Yishma᾽el might live before thee!
Also, repeatedly in this week’s parasha, in the purchase of the Cave of the Patriarchs.
וַיְדַבֵּ֨ר אֶל־עֶפְר֜וֹן בְּאָזְנֵ֤י עַם־הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר אַ֛ךְ אִם־אַתָּ֥ה ל֖וּ שְׁמָעֵ֑נִי נָתַ֜תִּי כֶּ֤סֶף הַשָּׂדֶה֙ קַ֣ח מִמֶּ֔נִּי וְאֶקְבְּרָ֥ה אֶת־מֵתִ֖י שָֽׁמָּה׃
And he spoke to ῾Efron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me: I will give thee the price of the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there.
This call also be spelled with an aleph, for instance in II Shmuel 18:12:
יֹּ֤אמֶר הָאִישׁ֙ אֶל־יוֹאָ֔ב (ולא) [וְל֨וּ] אָנֹכִ֜י שֹׁקֵ֤ל עַל־כַּפַּי֙ אֶ֣לֶף כֶּ֔סֶף לֹא־אֶשְׁלַ֥ח יָדִ֖י אֶל־בֶּן־הַמֶּ֑לֶךְ כִּ֣י בְאׇזְנֵ֜ינוּ צִוָּ֣ה הַמֶּ֗לֶךְ אֹ֠תְךָ֠ וְאֶת־אֲבִישַׁ֤י וְאֶת־אִתַּי֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר שִׁמְרוּ־מִ֕י בַּנַּ֖עַר בְּאַבְשָׁלֽוֹם׃
And the man said to Yo᾽av, Though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in my hand, yet I would not put out my hand against the king’s son: for in our hearing the king charged thee and Avishay and Ittay, saying, Beware that none touch the young man Avshalom.
Maybe before the regularization of the spelling. So, here’s a thought, which I first had back about 2016 on parshablog. Basically, in the back-and-forth negotiation between Avraham and Ephron, a repeated three words were:
lo, lo, lu
, לא, NOT
lo, לו, TO HIM
lu, לו
Adoni
Shema’eini
The Biblical text is consonantal, allowing for some ambiguity in nekudot, though there is an oral tradition as to its proper reading.
These appear in order, as if in a single phrase (though see the example above where Adoni is missing), but there are often pasuk breaks in the middle. This impacts how to read / understand word (1). For instance:
וַיַּעֲנ֧וּ בְנֵי־חֵ֛ת אֶת־אַבְרָהָ֖ם לֵאמֹ֥ר לֽוֹ׃
And the Hittites replied to Abraham, saying to him,
שְׁמָעֵ֣נוּ ׀ אֲדֹנִ֗י נְשִׂ֨יא אֱלֹהִ֤ים אַתָּה֙ בְּתוֹכֵ֔נוּ בְּמִבְחַ֣ר קְבָרֵ֔ינוּ קְבֹ֖ר אֶת־מֵתֶ֑ךָ אִ֣ישׁ מִמֶּ֔נּוּ אֶת־קִבְר֛וֹ לֹֽא־יִכְלֶ֥ה מִמְּךָ֖ מִקְּבֹ֥ר מֵתֶֽךָ׃
“Hear us, my lord: you are the elect of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places; none of us will withhold his burial place from you for burying your dead.”
Could we imagine it as a single phrase throughout, “please, my master, heed me” with later oral interpretations? Alternatively, we can think of it as clever wordsmithing, meant to lead the reader in a specific way which is then subverted. Will Ephron agree? Is Abraham effectively agreeing of giving a counteroffer?
Looking now further into it, I see that in the Samaritan Pentateuch, they actually have לא in two places, and also cut the pasuk differently that Moshe did. Thus:
So, in the Benei Chet’s first interaction with him, they are answering him in the negative. For he asked to purchase, and they said “no”, meaning that they will gift it to him.
The next, לי instead of לו, so “listen to me”, instead of “please listen”.
The final is ending the pasuk early. Avraham offered 400, and Ephron answers in the negative, because what is 400 between you and me,
I don’t think the Samaritan text is better just because it is different. Nor because it is consistent. (A foolish) consistency and harmonization is a main driver in the Samaritan text, making things artificial and therefore smoother. This text is consistent because the word is more often לא. But loo makes a lot more sense to me.
I see now that Shadal comments on the last difference.
לאמר לו: בספר הכותים כתוב "לא" באלף, ויהיה דבק עם פסוק שלאחריו לא אדני שמעני כמו למעלה כ' י"א, וכן בפסוק ה' כתוב ויענו בני חת את אברהם לאמר לא שמעני אדני; ול"נ בהפך שגם למעלה פסוק י' ראוי לקרוא לאמר לו, ויהיה זה נוסף על ט"ו "לו" דכתיבין "לא", כמו (תהלים ק' ג') הוא עשנו ולא אנחנו, ועיין המסורה על פסוק אשר לא כרעים (ויקרא י"א כ"א).
He notes what the Samaritans did, and disagrees. Indeed, he thinks it should go in the opposite direction, that the earlier לא in pasuk 10, in Ephron’s response,
וְעֶפְר֥וֹן יֹשֵׁ֖ב בְּת֣וֹךְ בְּנֵי־חֵ֑ת וַיַּ֩עַן֩ עֶפְר֨וֹן הַחִתִּ֤י אֶת־אַבְרָהָם֙ בְּאׇזְנֵ֣י בְנֵי־חֵ֔ת לְכֹ֛ל בָּאֵ֥י שַֽׁעַר־עִיר֖וֹ לֵאמֹֽר׃
Ephron was present among the Hittites; so Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, the assembly in his town’s gate, saying,
לֹֽא־אֲדֹנִ֣י שְׁמָעֵ֔נִי הַשָּׂדֶה֙ נָתַ֣תִּי לָ֔ךְ וְהַמְּעָרָ֥ה אֲשֶׁר־בּ֖וֹ לְךָ֣ נְתַתִּ֑יהָ לְעֵינֵ֧י בְנֵי־עַמִּ֛י נְתַתִּ֥יהָ לָּ֖ךְ קְבֹ֥ר מֵתֶֽךָ׃
“No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and I give you the cave that is in it; I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”
we should move the לא to the preceding sentence, and interpret it as “to him”. He notes the masoretic note of 15 such לא’s which are read / mean לו, and would add that of pasuk 10 to them.
This fits in to Shadal’s general approach that the nikkud and trup (thus also sentence endings, at silluq) are an ancient and important commentary, but not halacha lemoshe miSinai; that even the symbols were post-Talmudic, and so one can argue against them. See his Vikuach al Chochmat Hakabbalah, about the age of trup. He also discusses cases where Chazal and Rishonim read verses past the official end, as in Issi ben Yehuda’s five such mikraot.