Or, A Place to Bury His Own
Scripture: Genesis 23:1-20
Date: August 7, 2016
Speaker: Sean Higgins
Genesis 23 is a chapter about death. Actually, it’s less about death and more about burial. Actually, it’s less about burial and more about buying property for a tomb. Abraham is about to secure a place of his own in the land of his sojourning, a place to bury his own.
Moses does not fill this chapter with the sort of details that we might more naturally be interested in. Twenty-plus years have passed since Mt. Moriah. In chapter 22 God called Abraham to offer his only and beloved son, Isaac, as a burnt offering. Both father and son went together and were prepared to go through with it when the angel of the LORD stopped the slaughter and provided a substitute. The LORD pledged to bless Abraham and multiply his offspring and give those offspring “the gate of his enemies.” Then Abraham and Isaac returned to Beersheba and…what did Sarah think?
We don’t ever find out in the Bible.
In the final paragraph of chapter 22 Moses tells us that Abraham heard a report that his brother’s family was growing and then at the beginning of chapter 23 tells us that Abraham’s wife passes away. There’s not much recorded about the response of Sarah’s death; there’s no eulogy from her husband. There’s no mourning or memories of mother; Isaac isn’t mentioned at all.
Instead, the burden of Genesis 23 is about how Abraham came into possession of property in the promised land. It wasn’t property for a home or for business, it was a burial spot. But it was the genesis of ownership. After all Abraham went through to get it, he had legal grounds of possession for generations to come.
The chapter opens with a verse that seems to prepare us for some biographical background. Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah, “and here’s what happened.” But that’s not what we get. And Sarah died. The last time we heard about her she was angry and resentful over Ishmael and Hagar in chapter 21. There’s nothing about the last 34-35 years of her life, though she is the only woman in the Bible whose age at death is recorded.
She died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Hebron is about 20 miles south of Jerusalem on the way to Beersheba. We don’t know why she was there, or even if Abraham and the rest of the family were there as well. According to Genesis 22:19 Abraham was dwelling in Beersheba. Now Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. That he went in doesn’t necessarily mean that he wasn’t there, but that she died and was temporarily placed in her tent until she could be buried. Abraham grieved; he and she had been through quite a lot together. Thirty-seven year-old Isaac isn’t in the scene.
Now that his wife had passed, Abraham desired to bury her, but where? Going back to Ur wasn’t a consideration, though we don’t know how consciously Abraham wanted to obtain property in Canaan to call his very own. Abimelech acknowledged the well Abraham dug at the south end of Canaan, and Abraham even planted a tree (or some trees) nearby as a more stable immigrant, but he still didn’t own any land.
He desires to purchase a burial plot for Sarah, and goes through three rounds of negotiations with “elaborate courtesies” (Kidner) to get what he wanted.
Each round starts with a description of Abraham’s movement: Abraham rose up before his dead (verse 3), Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites (verse 7), and Abraham bowed down before the people of the land (verse 12). Abraham talks and someone replies. In this first sequence Abraham goes before the entire group and humbly acknowledges his position.
”I am a sojourner and foreigner among you”. He’s a “resident alien,” a stranger. He’s been staying in a place for a long time but with no property to call his own. ”Give me property among you for a burying place, that I might bury my dead out of my sight.” The word Give could be translated “Sell” and that’s how the Hittites understood it. In the second round, Abraham will say, “For the full price let him give it to me.” Abraham wants to buy a burial place, not have one donated to him. He refers to my dead rather than use Sarah’s name because her name doesn’t matter to the Hittites. But this is a case when not using her name may make it more personal.
The Hittites volleyed back. ”Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God among us.” Abraham deferred to them and appealed knowing that he was an outsider. They recognized his status and esteemed him as royalty, either with divine blessing or military might. They wouldn’t use the title prince of God for just anyone; prince or “elected chieftain” was the opposite of a pilgrim. So they offer whatever he wants. ”Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.” Probably this is more tact than generosity on their part.
Whether or not they intended to gift him a tomb or not, he makes it clear that he wants to buy. He rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land, the land owners, those with authority. ”If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.”
Abraham researched the available real estate listings. He knew of a nice, secluded cave at the edge of a field, meaning that it wouldn’t interfere with growing crops or grazing for animals. It was out of the way, not going to bother anyone. The name of the cave was Machpelah meaning “double-cave,” probably divided either side-by-side or top-and-bottom. Abraham put in his offer for this duplex in public.
Abraham did not know Ephron. The people didn’t need to to entreat Ephron because he was listening, sitting among the Hittites as one of them and he answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city. That it was his city may mean that he was the ruler, or perhaps he owned the most property. The gate was like the courthouse, so this was not a discussion in the back alley off the books.
Ephron said, ”No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and I give you the cave that is in it.” If it was presented as a gift, a gift would put Abraham in debt, just not a financial debt. While it’s possible that Ephron was being generous, it’s more likely that he was shrewd. Historians have found Hittite laws that required taxes and other duties on a field but not on a cave. What would a cave produce that could be taxed? Ephron doesn’t want Abraham to get out of all the obligations that come with cave ownership. He needs to pay fees, so he needs to purchase the field.
Abraham isn’t saying that now he will pay, he’s saying that he will pay for the field, too. All of this is still in public, so it’s legal and binding. Saying that he will give the price of the field means he wants to know how much this is going to cost him to get this done so that there will be no questions in the future.
It’s already been established that Abraham was a “mighty prince,” so he had a lot of money. Ephron’s reply is subtle and no bargain. ”a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” All this can be yours for the low-low price of 400% what it cost David to buy the land for the temple (2 Samuel 24:24). It must have been some field.
But Abraham didn’t haggle over the price. He did have that much; he’d received 1000 pieces of silver from Abimelech after the Sarah incident. He paid cash, well, coin, according to the weights current among the merchants. The contract was verbal, but public, so irrevocable with witnesses to the transfer of deed.
The final paragraph adds almost nothing new to the scene. But the summary is the emphasis. Abraham not only secures a place to bury Sarah, he now owns a piece of the promised land.
The field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites. To those who know the story, this is goosebump inducing contract reading!
Someone reading in The Magician’s Nephew about the apple core planted with some rings in Digory’s backyard may not be that impressed. “Cool. A tree growing in London from an apple tree in Narnia.” But when you know thatthat tree makes a wardrobe that leads to Narnia?
Abraham has grounds of possession for the first time since God called him to leave Ur over sixty years ago. He buried Sarah in Hebron, in the land of Canaan, in the land God promised to give his descendants. Abraham himself was buried there, along with Isaac and Rebekah as well as Jacob and Leah. The details are repeated again at the end of the paragraph. The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites. It’s as if Moses is begging us to be thrilled: Can you believe this?
Stephen preached that Abraham possessed “not even a foot’s length” in the land (Acts 7:5). Abraham didn’t build a house, or even move his tent over to this field. It wasn’t much. But it was a seed of inheritance land.
Birth and death advance the fulfillment of God’s promises. Birth is more obvious. The LORD promised offspring and through Sarah and Isaac was born miraculously. The LORD also promised land and through Sarah’s death Abraham had occasion to buy a place to bury his own. It is not the way we would have written it up, but even in her death God used Sarah to bring blessing.
How much did Abraham realize while it was happening? Abraham was wise, yet he was also mourning his wife. His loss, irreplaceable in one way, was used by God for gain, in an unimagined way.
There is no mention of worship, prayer, or offerings to God in Genesis 23. Instead we read about death, burial preparations, business and real estate transactions, some of the most mundane things on earth. Even these advance God’s purposes and are reasons for goosebump-gratefulness if we know the story we’re in.