Morning Light: Genesis 23 – Eyes on Eternity and a Heart of Humility

[Today: Genesis 23] Sarah Dies and Abraham purchases the first land that he will own in his lifetime. At the age of 127 years old Sarah makes her departure leaving a grieving husband and a sorrowful son, Isaac. In the midst of these events, Abraham arranges for her burial by entering into lengthy negotiations with the landholders of the region who seem to be quite reluctant to accommodate him.
[Gen 23:1-20 KJV] 1 And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: [these were] the years of the life of Sarah. 2 And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same [is] Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. 3 And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, 4 I [am] a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight. 5 And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, 6 Hear us, my lord: thou [art] a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead. 7 And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, [even] to the children of Heth. 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 intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, 9 That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which [is] in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace amongst you. 10 And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, [even] of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying, 11 Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that [is] therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead. 12 And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land. 13 And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou [wilt give it], I pray thee, hear me: I will give thee money for the field; take [it] of me, and I will bury my dead there. 14 And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him, 15 My lord, hearken unto me: the land [is worth] four hundred shekels of silver; what [is] that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead. 16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current [money] with the merchant. 17 And the field of Ephron, which [was] in Machpelah, which [was] before Mamre, the field, and the cave which [was] therein, and all the trees that [were] in the field, that [were] in all the borders round about, were made sure 18 Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city. 19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same [is] Hebron in the land of Canaan. 20 And the field, and the cave that [is] therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.
After the test at Moriah Abraham and Isaac return home (v. 1-2) and the next thing that happens in the narrative is the death of Sarah. The fact that it is abruptly mentioned after the Moriah incident gave rise to opinions that the stress of Abraham offering Isaac brought on her demise.
Rabbinic Literature intimates that there is a connection between Sarah’s death with the attempted sacrifice of Isaac. In Jewish legend, there are two versions of the story. According to one, Samael (a demon) came to her and said: “Your old husband seized the boy and sacrificed him. The boy wailed and wept, but he could not escape from his father.” Sarah began to cry bitterly and ultimately died of her grief. According to the other legend, Satan came to Sarah disguised as an older man and told her that Isaac had been sacrificed. Believing it to be accurate, she cried bitterly but soon comforted herself with the thought that the sacrifice had been offered at the command of God. She started from Beer-sheba to Hebron, asking everyone she met if he knew in which direction Abraham had gone. Then Satan came again in human shape and told her that it was not true that Isaac had been sacrificed, but that he was living and would soon return with his father. Sarah, on hearing this, died of joy at Hebron (so the story goes).
The legend continues, suggesting that Abraham and Isaac returned to their home at Beer-sheba, and, not finding Sarah there, went to Hebron, where they discovered her dead. According to the Genesis Rabbah, during Sarah’s lifetime, her house was always hospitably open, the dough in her kneading bowl was always miraculously increased, and a light continually burned from Saturday evening to Saturday evening, a full week, and that a pillar of cloud rested upon the entrance to her tent.
Whether these things are the case or not, Sarah is dead, and Abraham is faced with a new challenge that has broad implications. He must secure a burial place for Sarah. This is important because God has promised him the land. As we know in the case of Jesus, it was not uncommon for people to be buried in borrowed tombs. When Abraham approaches his neighbors, this is the solution they offer him (v. 3-8). The lords of the land suggest that Abraham bury his dead in his choice of the tombs of his neighbors, but this is not the same thing as giving him ownership of the burial plot.
The hermeneutical principle of the first mention comes into prominence here as this is the first mention of burial in the bible. By motivating Abraham to secure as his own possession a burial place for his wife – God is connecting the idea of death with the fulfillment of His promises on the earth. God promised Abraham that He would give him all the land as far as he could see. The burial place of Sarah is to be the first fruits of that promise kept.
This event reminds us of our mortality and of eternity to come. It is an unfortunate truth that Christian culture rarely looks beyond the mundane. Of the top 20 best selling Christian books of 2013 nine were fiction, two were historical, two were doctrinal, and the rest were self-help volumes. Christians today do not tend to look much past the immediate. Kitty makes the statement if you can’t trust God for your every day challenges how are you going to trust Him for your eternity? Abraham is dealing with the mundane and the demand right in front of him, but he is also acting with eternity in view and the promise of God for his future generations at the top of his mind.
The Apostle Paul wrote:
1 Cor. 15:17-19: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
Abraham does secure the cave Machpelah and buries Sarah there (v. 9-11). This cave became known as the cave of the Patriarchs. Abraham is buried there along with Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph commanded his bones to be carried from Egypt and buried here as well. There is now a Mosque on the Cave of Machpelah known by the Muslims as the Sanctuary of Abraham or the Ibrahimi Mosque. King Herod was the first person to build a memorial over this burial site in the first century. For 2000 years this cave has been contended over by Romans, Jews, Christians, and Muslims. After the Israeli victory in 1967, the first Jew to enter the cave after 700 years was Major General Rabbi Shlomo Goren. There have been several massacres at this site in recent years and currently Israeli authorities while allowing tourism at the cave do not allow Jewish religious authorities to have access.
The person that Abraham secured this cave from was a Hittite named Hebron (v. 11-16). This purchase is also the first commercial transaction mentioned in the bible. It is remarkable the humility that Abraham showed and the wisdom by which he prevailed on the men of the land to sell him the property. He is bereaved, but he publicly negotiates for the cave and deeply humbles himself to the men. Humility is God’s secret weapon. Satan does not understand humility because he doesn’t have any. Humility is the one spiritual grace that Satan cannot counterfeit.
There are 24 references to the word humble/humility in the bible, an interesting fact in view of the 24 elders around the throne. Humility provokes the hand of God to be activated in your situation.
1 Chron. 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Humility is the means by which we ascend into heavenly places in Christ. Fasting is also connected with humility. When you fast, you force your sin-prone flesh to render honor to God. Humility is not about putting yourself down or self-hatred. It is about acknowledging the Father and honoring his supremacy over your life.
Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
In v. 17-20, the exact location of the cave Machpelah is suggested and tracked even from ancient times. We understand today that the Cave of the Patriarchs is located in Hebron. According to scholarship, some Jewish traditions regarding Adam place him in Hebron after his expulsion from Eden. Another has Cain kill Abel there. A third has Adam and Eve buried as well in the cave of Machpelah. A Jewish-Christian tradition holds that Adam was formed from the red clay of the field of Damascus, near Hebron. During the Middle Ages, pilgrims and the inhabitants of Hebron would eat the red earth as a charm against misfortune. Others report that the soil was harvested for export as a precious medicinal spice in Egypt, Arabia, Ethiopia, and India and that the earth refilled after every digging. Legend also tells that Noah planted his vineyard on Mount Hebron. In medieval Christian tradition, Hebron was one of the three cities where Elizabeth lived. It is thus possibly the birthplace of John the Baptist.