John Calvin Commentary Genesis 23:8

"And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar," — Genesis 23:8 (ASV)

If it be in your mind. Abraham appoints them as his advocates with Ephron, to persuade him to sell the double cave. Some suppose the cave to have been so formed that one part was above, and the other below. Let everyone be free to adopt whatever opinion he pleases; I, however, am more inclined to suppose that there was one entrance, but that within, the cave was divided by a middle partition.

It is more pertinent to remark that Abraham, by offering a full price, cultivated and maintained equity.

Where can one be found who, in buying and in other business, does not eagerly pursue his own advantage at another's expense? For while the seller sets the price at twice the worth of a thing, so that he may extort as much as possible from the buyer, and the buyer in return, by evasiveness, attempts to reduce it to a low price, there is no end to bargaining.

And although avarice has specious pretexts, it nevertheless causes those who make contracts with each other to forget the claims of equity and justice.

This also, finally, deserves to be noticed: Abraham often declares that he was buying the field for a place of burial.

And Moses is more detailed in this matter, so that we may learn, with our father Abraham, to raise our minds to the hope of the resurrection. He saw half of himself taken away; but because he was certain that his wife was not exiled from the kingdom of God, he hides her dead body in the tomb, until he and she should be gathered together.