Doing Business in the Middle East — Lessons From Abraham and Ephron

Who Were the Hittites?

The most significant portion of this Torah reading on Shabbat is Abraham's purchase of the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron which belonged to Ephron the Hittite. Before we look at the negotiation itself, it helps to understand who these Hittites were.

Until the late 19th Century A.D., many of the Bible scholars and even historians of the Middle East didn't think that there was such a nation as the Hittites. The Hittites had an empire — a very powerful and highly-developed empire in the midst of the Anatolian mountains. They flourished just around the 16th and 18th Century B.C.E. The Hittites were in competition and conflict with Egypt, that was a great empire at the same time. The capital of the Hittite empire was Hettusa in northern Anatolia. The Hittite Empire reached its highest point of power in the 14th Century B.C.E. Like every empire, the Hittites had aspirations for expansion toward the land of Canaan and also had a conflict with Egypt.

In the land of Israel, the Hittites had some famous cities. Among the Hittite cities was Hatzor in the Galilee, seated on the main road leading north toward Mesopotamia. Another Hittite city, Beit Yerach (The House of the Moon), was situated at the southwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. Of course we learn from the story of Abraham that the Hittites were also settled in Hebron. They were great builders and worked with Basalt, a hard black stone that is found in the Golan Heights.

For us to understand what is going on in the days of Abraham in the land of Canaan, we must remember that the land of Canaan was first of all a kind of less-important Egyptian province — the only land bridge between three continents: Africa, Asia, and Europe. The two main highways of the ancient world passed right through between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. One of these highways was called the Way of the Sea. The Way of the Sea went from Egypt north along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, up to Mount Carmel that blocked the passage north, and there at the foot of Mount Carmel the Way of the Sea turned east across the Jezreel Valley, and at the foot of the Sea of Galilee crossed the Jordan River and went up to Damascus and on to Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Babylon. The other highway came out of Egypt, going across the Sinai desert and across the Negev desert, then crossed to the other side of the Dead Sea and continued north along the Jordan River to Damascus and northward.

There are no known natives of the land of Canaan in the book of Genesis. Every one that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had business with was from somewhere else. Jerusalem had Jebusites, and there were Hittites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Philistines. This is the stage that God sent Abraham to — one of the messiest spots in the ancient eastern Mediterranean.

The Negotiation — A Masterclass in Middle Eastern Business

If you want to do business with Arabs and some Jews of Middle Eastern backgrounds, you must study the negotiation between Abraham and Ephron the Hittite, the owner of the Cave of Machpelah.

If you visit Israel and want to see the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron, it is possible to go to Hebron and see and enter into the tombs of Abraham and Sarah and Rebecca, and Isaac, and Jacob and Leah his wife. The building on top of the Cave of Machpelah was built by Herod the Great, the same Herod who had John the Baptist's head served to his mistress according to her request. The building that stands on top of the Cave of Machpelah is one of the oldest buildings in the world that is in continuous use since around about 20 B.C.E.

Abraham comes to Hebron and it is obvious that he has done his homework and knows exactly what he wants — the place, the name of the place, and the market value. He tells the Hittites: "I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight." The signal is clear: "I am not here to ask for a favor, or charity from you. I am here to do business with you."

The Hittites in Hebron already know who this Abraham is. They respond: "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." They are very gracious and generous to Abraham. However, Middle Eastern generosity should not be taken lightly, or it will cost you a whole lot of money in the end.

Today, in dealing with the Arab market in the Old City of Jerusalem, it would not be unusual to have a very similar exchange with the local merchants. You enter into the shop. First, you are offered coffee or tea or a soft drink. You are received with warm hospitality into the shop. After you get the coffee or tea or soft drink, there is very nice conversation about how much the Arab merchant appreciates Americans. Next, you are invited to look around the shop and the announcement is made how good the products are and how fair the price is. Now you start feeling a sense of obligation because of the drink and the gracious reception. Next you look at something and you like it. The Arab merchant comes to you and says, "I will make a special price just for you!" You now feel that you are disarmed from arguing and from haggling over the price. So, you pay up whatever special price was engineered just for you.

Ephron, by being "very generous" and gallant to Abraham around his fellow Hittite citizens of Hebron, closes the option to haggle and argue about the price. Abraham could not now act less gallant or cheap to haggle with Ephron. Because this is a public meeting with the Hittite people of Hebron, Ephron cannot be too greedy. He must function within the bounds of what is appropriate, or his own countrymen would look at him as a con man.

The key point is what Ephron said:

The offer to give Abraham the cave and the field for free means that the property is not really Abraham's — he will have to be indebted to Ephron and his family forever. If he wants to be buried with Sarah, next time it will not be a gift, it will be a totally different picture, and the price would be super high. So Abraham refuses, insists on paying full price, and carries out a clear and clean business deal — publicly, with witnesses, and fully documented.

Practical Principles for Today

Here are the principles that Abraham is using in his dealing with potentially-hostile Hittite neighbors, and they are just as relevant today:

Be humble and not haughty with your neighbors, who have a history of having a propensity to be violent and aggressive. In business, don't accept gifts, because these gifts might cost you very much in the future. Do business always with witnesses, and as far as possible in public and not in secret. Don't ask for a discount from your neighbors, because it might be interpreted as a debt that you will owe them in the next transaction. Pay the price they ask you if it is reasonable, and demand the documentation and registration of all business deals. It is more important to be friends and remain friends than to do some hanky-panky and make a few dollars, but make an enemy. Pray before and after such big business deals, like the purchase of land or a car from your neighbors. Ask God for help and to reveal to you the true honesty and sincerity of the neighbor that you want to do business with.

However, if you develop sincere friendships with merchants in Jerusalem and have that friendship tested over time, you have a totally different situation, and trust is built far beyond anything that you will see in the West.

It also bears remembering that this cave became the burial place not only of Sarah and Abraham. Later on in the Bible we learn that Abraham and Isaac are buried in the same cave in Hebron. Jacob's body is brought from Egypt to the Land of Canaan to be buried there. And when the children of Israel left Egypt and spent 40 years in the wilderness, they carried the body of Joseph with them and buried Joseph also in the same cave on the same land that Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite. Abraham's insistence on paying full price, publicly, with documentation, was an act that blessed every generation that came after him.