Genesis 33:19 - Exposition

And he bought a parcel of a field ,—literally, the portion (from a root signifying to divide) of the field — where he had spread his tent ,—and in which he afterwards sank a well (cf. John 4:6 )— at the hand of the children of Homer, Shechem's father (after whom the town was named, ut supra ) , for an hundred pieces of money —or kesitahs, the etymology of which is uncertain (Kalisch), though connected by some philologists (Gesenius, Furst) with kasat, to weigh; translated lambs (Onkelos, LXX ; Vulgate), but believed to have been a certain weight now unknown, or a piece of money of a definite value, perhaps the price of a lamb (Murphy), which, like the shekel, was used for purposes of commercial exchange by the patriarchs (Gesenius)—probably a coin stamped with the figure of a lamb (Bochart, Munter); but coined money does not appear to have been of so great antiquity (Rosenmüller, Wordsworth, Alford).