Why does the Torah again repeat the details regarding the Me'aras ha'Machpelah?
Targum Yonasan: To counter Esav, who, accompanied by a large contingent of soldiers, confronted the entourage in Chevron and claimed that the right to be buried in the Me'aras ha'Machpelah was his. 1 Malbim - This hints that they needed to show the sale document.
Ha'amek Davar: This shows that burial is honor also for the living. It repeats the place, for it was most honored, and that it was bought for burial, for these are honor also for the living. It does not repeat that Avraham was buried there, for this is contentment only for the dead.
Immediately, Naftali was dispatched to run back to Egypt, to fetch the document of sale, in which Esav had conceded his half to Yaakov (Refer to 50:5:1:3). He then hinted to Chushim ben Dan (who was deaf), who took a sword and decapitated Esav. Esav's head rolled into Me'aras ha'Machpelah and landed in the bosom of his father, Yitzchak. The Gemara says slightly differently; refer to 27:45:3:1*.
Why does it say that Yaakov's sons carried him?
Refer to 50:12:1:1.
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "'His sons carried him' - and not his grandsons. [Yaakov] had commanded so... for they were [born] of Canaanite women." But the Gemara (Pesachim 50a) is sure that Yehudah did not marry a Canaanitess (but rather the daughter of a 'merchant' (38:2)) - for 'how could Yaakov's sons have violated Avraham's command against marrying Canaanite women?'
Gur Aryeh (to 38:2): Rashi to 37:35 cites a dispute of two Tana'im (in the Midrash). While the Gemara follows Rebbi Yehudah, that the tribes (generally) married their half-sisters and not Canaanites, Rashi here follows Rebbi Nechemyah, that they in fact married Canaanite women. Gur Aryeh (ibid.) explains that to this opinion, Avraham and Yitzchak forbade it because they came prior to our establishment as a nation. Now that the twelve tribes were born, they were considered a nation; such that any woman who would now marry in would be subsumed into the nation of Yisrael. 1
Gur Aryeh (ibid.): ... provided that they did Teshuvah (i.e. abandoned their idolatry); see Sotah 35b. According to Rebbi Yehudah, twelve males were not yet a nation, without females of Yisrael to join them (refer to 37:35:1.1:1).
Rashi writes: "He specified their positions; three on the east side... in the same way that the tribal banners would journey (in the desert)." Are there reasons behind that specific order?
Maharal #1 (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 42, p. 158): Binyamin was last (Acharon) to be born; he was placed at the west, which is called "Achor." 1 A king walks at the head; so Yehudah was placed at the east, which is called "Kedem." 2
Maharal #2 (Netzach Yisrael Ch. 37, p. 164): Efrayim travelled in the middle; just as Yosef himself represented the heart 3 (of Yisrael), which is at the middle of the body. 4
Maharal (Chidushei Agados Vol. 4, p. 67, to Zevachim 53b): Although the banner of Dan was last sequentially, and Dan is called the "Me'asef" (Bamidbar 10:25), Binyamin is still 'last' in terms of orientation (at the west).
Maharal (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 70, p. 321): Yehudah is first of the tribes in every context. Binyamin is last, bringing them to completion (refer to 35:17:2.1:2 and 35:17:2.1:3). Binyamin camps in the west, where the Shechinah resides.
But the Midrash Raba here compares Yosef to the head! Also refer to 49:24:2.1:1; 49:26:3:8; 35:17:2.1:2; and 43:30:1.5:1;
Maharal (Chidushei Agados Vol. 2, p. 74, to Sotah 36b): Yosef's trait was hiddenness; the Ayin ha'Ra holds no power over him. Also see Maharal (ibid. Vol. 3, p. 35, to Bava Metzia 84a).
