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No contractual documents survive from ancient Israel, but Jeremiah
refers to sales documents: “fields will be bought with silver with writ-
ing in a scroll and sealing and witnessing” ( Jer. 32:44). By its nature,
the Bible does not contain contractual records, but several laws deal
with contractual obligations, and there are references to contracts in
the narratives.7.1 Sale
Sale of land is recorded in several narratives: Abraham’s purchase
of the Cave of Machpelah as a burial ground (Gen. 23:3–10); Jacob’s
purchase of land at Shechem (Gen. 33:18–20); David’s purchase of
the threshing floor from Araunah (2 Sam. 24:24); Omri’s purchase
of the hill of Samaria (1 Kings 16:24); Jeremiah’s purchase of his
kinsman Hanamel’s land ( Jer. 32:6–15); and Boaz’ purchase of
Elimelech’s field (Ruth 4:9). These enable us to construct the essen-
tial features of a land sale. It took place in public, before witnesses
(Gen. 23:10; 13; Ruth 4:1; Jer. 32:12). The buyer weighed out the
silver (Gen. 23:16; Jer. 32:9), wrote out a bill of sale, and had it
sealed and witnessed, checking the weight of the silver on a scale
( Jer. 32:10). Jeremiah wrote two documents, one sealed “by law and
command” (32:11) and one open, gave them to his secretary Baruch
in front of witnesses, and ordered them to be placed in a clay pot
so that they would last a long time ( Jer. 32:11–14). Ruth records
an old custom in which the land was then transferred symbolically
by the handing over of a sandal (Ruth 4:7).7.1.1 Jeremiah indicates the essence of sale: “fields will be bought
with silver with writing in a scroll and sealing and witnessing” ( Jer.
32:44). Payment of the price is necessary to transfer permanent own-
ership. In acquiring the Cave of Machpelah, Abraham takes care to
make the transfer a sale, which presumably would be forever, and
not a gift, which might have to be returned on demand or after the
death of the donor. Abraham therefore insists on paying at full price
(Gen. 23:10). The form of this transaction is reminiscent of the “dia-
logue documents” prominent in the Mesopotamian periphery in the
first millennium,^60 but features of the sale, particularly the promi-(^60) Petschow, “Zwiegesprächsurkunde...”
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