Genesis 23
1. Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old.
1. Sarah is the only woman in the Bible whose age is given, and hers is given twice-the birth of Isaac at 90 and she died at 127. Isaac was 37 at her time of death. Abraham lived to be 175. Biographies always end at the grave, and if there were no hope of life beyond this there would never be a biography with a happy ending. Stedman wrote,
" By this time the little family of Abraham, Sarah and Isaac had moved back from Beer-Sheba to Hebron, under the oak of Mamre, where they had first lived when they came into the land of Canaan -- rather like going back to their honeymoon cottage -- and here Sarah died. In one respect this was a wonderful place to die. As the place names indicate, it is in the place of "fatness" of soul and richness of fellowship with the Lord that Sarah, this woman of beauty and faith, dies."
2. Here is the end of one of the most amazing marriages in the Bible. They had some problems in their marriage, but it was still one of the most successful that we have on record. They worked their way through their problems and did not let anything cause them to lose faith in God's promises. Someone wrote, "What made their marriage special? Their marriage was special because it was a holy marriage. Their marriage was special also because it was a happy marriage. Their marriage is special in that God used their marriage as an example for our marriages. God used them as an example in I Pet.3:5-7: "For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, 6 like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. 7 Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers." Sarah was a model wife and Abraham a model husband.
3. Before you begin to imitate this model husband, however, it is wise to start slow and give a warning to your wife. I read about a man that went home with a friend and noticed that as soon as he walked in the door he kissed his wife and told her how beautiful she was. After dinner, he kissed her again and told what a good meal it was. It so impressed the fellow that he decided to do the same with his wife. When he walked in the door, he threw his arms around his wife and kissed her passionately and told her how pretty she was. She burst into tears. “What’s wrong?” “Oh, it’s been a terrible day. First, Johnny sprained his ankle, then washing machine broke and flooded the basement, then dog drug out the neighbors trash and they are upset, and now you come in drunk.”
2 She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.
1. Mourning and weeping caused by the death of a loved mate are universal, and God's people do not escape it. They had lived together, learned together, laughed together and loved together. You do not lose that kind of relationship without tears. Even Jesus could not escape it, and so he wept at the tomb of Lazarus, a close and precious friend. Grief must be expressed or it does not go away, and so emotional health demands that we weep, and also weep with those who weep. Stedman pointed out, "It is remarkable that this is the only time we are ever told that Abraham wept. He had been through so many bitter disappointments and heartaches in his life: He was disappointed when Lot left him (13:5-12). He was heartbroken when he sent Ishmael away (21:9-14). He was devastated when he had to offer Isaac (22:1-10). But the only time the Scriptures reveal that he wept was when Sarah died. This reveals the depth of his grief and love for this woman." Criswell adds, "She was the love of his life, and together they had the greatest laughs in life of any couple in all of Scripture."
"In college, most students in psychology may have come across the classic study on stress called The Social Readjustment Rating Scale. This table of about 12 stress killers reveals how life event affects us on a scale of 100 point. The lowest would be Christmas, 12 points. The five most difficult things to adjust to, three are at 45-50 points-- retirement, fired at work, and marriage. The second hardest thing to take is divorce, 73 points. And the worst is death of a spouse, 100 points."
2. Scott Hoezee points out how following the call off God does not mean there is no hard parts in the journey. He writes, "Princeton professor Donald Juel once made the comment that on the surface of things, when God calls a person out of the blue the way he once called Abraham, it looks like the greatest thing in the world. Getting singled out by God Almighty himself for something quite special in the grand scheme of cosmic salvation looks as wonderful as suddenly finding out you won the lottery or something. But it doesn't take too long in Genesis before we sense that even a millennia or two before Jesus came to this earth, the truth of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's famous line was already evident: When Christ calls a person, he bids that person to come and die. The cost of discipleship is being asked to live by faith in a world where most everything you can see with your eyes seems calculated to cast that very faith into the most dire of doubt."
3. Vance Havner’s wife died at 2:15 am Sunday morning and he preached that Sunday morning. He said in his sermon that morning just hours after his wife’s death: “It is sort of overwhelming if you try to figure that out, when you have lost your standby, humanly speaking. But then, I haven’t lost her because I know where she is. You haven’t lost anything when you know where it is...So don’t you ever say, when your dear one goes, ‘I’ve lost her,’ or, ‘I’ve lost him.’ If you are in the Lord and he or she was in the Lord, you know where they are. We’re only apart until He comes." There is great comfort in knowing where your loved one is, and that you will be with them forever, but the loss is real, and you cannot fool yourself into denying it. You have lost something by the loss of their presence. You have not lost them, but the loss of their presence is why we weep and go through grief, and you will not get through it well if you deny your loss. Havner said this only hours after his wife died, and while still in the state of denial. We have no record of what he said about it a month or two after living without her.
4. Calvin tries to set some kind of limit to the grief that believers will express. He wrote, "If Abraham came to his dead wife, in order to produce excessive weeping, and to pierce his heart afresh with new wounds, his example is not to be approved. But if he both privately wept over the death of his wife, so far as humanity prescribed, exercising self-government in doing it; and also voluntarily mourned over the common curse of mankind; there is no fault in either of these. For to feel no sadness at the contemplation of death, is rather barbarism and stupor than fortitude of mind. Nevertheless, as Abraham was a man, it might be, that his grief was excessive. And yet, what Moses soon after subjoins, that he rose up from his dead, is spoken in praise of his moderation; whence Ambrose prudently infers, that we are taught by this example, how perversely they act, who occupy themselves too much in mourning for the dead. Now, if Abraham at that time, assigned a limit to his grief; and put a restraint on his feelings, when the doctrine of the resurrection was yet obscure; they are without excuse, who, at this day, give the reins to impatience, since the most abundant consolation is supplied to us in the resurrection of Christ."
You have to agree with Calvin on this, and yet at the same time recognize that people differ greatly in how they grieve, and it is very difficult to judge to what degree one is excessive. Some do not grieve enough, and they suffer for it. They think any sign of emotion is a denial of the hope of the resurrection and so they refrain from weeping. They try to be strong and suppress their emotions, and this ends up being harmful. The bottom line is, each person must grieve in a way that expresses the depth of their sorrow, and not try to conform to any man made scale of what is right. Paul said we are not to grieve as those who have no hope, and that means with wild hopeless screams of despair, but this does not forbid a lot of crying with plenty of tears.
5. Someone wrote, "Some of you may remember the movie "Shadowlands." It is the story of C.S. Lewis' relationship with Joy Davidman. They fell in love, got married and soon after she died of cancer. This is a man who went through some big time loss. He writes, "To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give your heart to no one. Not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries, avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken. It will become unbreakable. Impenetrable. Irredeemable. The only place outside heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love is hell." If you ever read the testimony of Lewis after his wife died you would suspect that he was excessive in his grief, for he considered it the worst pain possible, and he hit bottom; went into deep depression, and even doubted God's love. He loved his wife too deeply, and the result is that he grieved too deeply, according to some.
6. Bruce Getz writes the following about grief, "People grieve in different ways and go through different stages. Some people get angry with God, at circumstances, at the relationship they wish they'd had. Some go numb and don't feel anything for a while. For some people grief brings on feelings of regret or guilt. Some go through prolonged periods of depression. Most people eventually get to the stage of acceptance and hope. [Here's the key, remember this...] But grief takes time." So give yourself time. Give other people time -- time to mourn."
7. Tears are a treasure according to old Jewish thinkers. "After Adam and Eve had been banished from the Garden of Eden, God saw that they were penitent and took their fall very much to heart. And as He is a Compassionate Father He said to them gently: Unfortunate children! I have punished you for your sin and have driven you out of the Garden of Eden where you were living without care and in great well-being. Now you are about to enter into a world of sorrow and trouble the like of which staggers the imagination. However, I want you to know my benevolence and My love for you will never end. I know that you will meet with a lot of tribulation in the world and that it will embitter your lives. For that reason I give to you of my heavenly treasure this priceless pearl. Look! It is a tear! And when grief overtakes you and your heart aches so that you are not able to endure it, and great anguish grips your soul, then there will fall from your eyes this tiny tear. Your burden will grow lighter then." (A Treasury if Jewish Folklore 452, Nathan Ausubel New York: Crown Publishers, 1948)
8. F. B. Meyer wrote, "There are some who chide tears as unmanly, unsubmissive, unchristian. They would comfort us with chill and pious stoicism, bidding us meet the most agitating passages of our history with rigid and tearless countenance. With such the spirit of the Gospel, and of the Bible, has little sympathy. We have no sympathy with a morbid sentimentality; but we may well question whether the man who cannot weep can really love; for sorrow is love, widowed and bereaved -- and where that is present, its most natural expression is in tears. Religion does not come to make us unnatural and inhuman, but to purify and ennoble all those natural emotions with which our manifold nature is endowed. Jesus wept. Peter wept. The Ephesians converts wept on the neck of the Apostle whose face they thought they were never to see again. Christ stands by each mourner, saying, "Weep, my child; weep, for I have wept."
9. Max Lucado has a wonderful piece on tears,
Those tiny drops of humanity. Those round, wet balls of fluid that tumble from our eyes, creep down our cheeks, and splash on the floor of our hearts. They are always present at such times. They should be, that's their job. They are miniature messengers; on call twenty-four hours a day to substitute for crippled words. The drip, drop, and pour from the corner of our souls, carrying with them the deepest emotions we possess. They tumble down our faces with announcements that range from the most blissful joy to the darkest despair.
The principle is simple; when words are most empty, tears are most apt.
A tearstain on a letter says much more than the sum of all its words. A tear falling on a casket says what a spoken farewell never could. What summons a mother's compassion and concern more quickly than a tear on a child's cheek? What gives more support than a sympathetic tear on the face of a friend?" When words are hard, tears speak clearly. (NO WONDER THEY CALL HIM THE SAVIOR, Lucado p. 106)
3 Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. [1] He said,
1. After death comes burial, and Abraham had not pre-planned what to do when this happened. Now there is no choice, and he has to make a deal with the owners of the land to have a burial spot for his family. The Hittites were among the people who were in control of the Promised Land, and who would be those who were conquered and pushed out when Abraham's seed came out of Egypt and took over this land as God promised they would. Right now, however, they were in control and Abraham had to deal with them to purchase a piece of their property. Sometimes in life you have to make deals with people who are not your kind of people, and who are not godly, but you have no choice because they have what you need.
2. Calvin sees the custom of burial as a universal practice and a witness to the hope of resurrection of the body. He wrote, "How religiously this has been observed in all ages, and among all people, is well known. Ceremonies have indeed been different, and men have endeavored to outdo each other in various superstitions; meanwhile, to bury the dead has been common to all. And this practice has not arisen either from foolish curiosity, or from the desire of fruitless consolation, or from superstition, but from the natural sense with which God has imbued the minds of men; a sense he has never suffered to perish, in order that men might be witnesses to themselves of a future life. It is also incredible that they, who have disseminated certain outrageous expressions in contempt of sepulture, could have spoken from the heart. Truly it behaves us, with magnanimity, so far to disregard the rites of sepulture, -- as we would riches and honors, and the other conveniences of life, -- that we should bear with equanimity to be deprived of them; yet it cannot be denied that religion carries along with it the care of burial. And certainly (as I have said) it has been divinely engraven on the minds of all people, from the beginning, that they should bury the dead; whence also they have ever regarded sepulchers as sacred. It has not, I confess, always entered into the minds of heathens that souls survived death, and that the hope of a resurrection remained even for their bodies; nor have they been accustomed to exercise themselves in a pious meditation of this kind, whenever they had laid their dead in the grave; but this inconsideration of theirs does not disprove the fact; that they had such a representation of a future life placed before their eyes, as left them inexcusable. Abraham however, seeing he has the hope of a resurrection deeply fixed in his heart, sedulously cherished, as was meet, its visible symbol.
He did not desire to have a foot of earth whereon to fix his tent; he only took care about his grave: and he especially wished to have his own domestic tomb in that land, which had been promised him for an inheritance, for the purpose of bearing testimony to posterity, that the promise of God was not extinguished either by his own death, or by that of his family; but that it then rather began to flourish; and that they who were deprived of the light of the sun, and of the vital air, yet always remained joint-partakers of the promised inheritance. For while they themselves were silent and speechless, the sepulcher cried aloud, that death formed no obstacle to their entering on the possession of it."
4 "I am an alien and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead."
1. All agree that this chapter is something of a mystery in that it is mostly about the purchase of a burial plot. It seems like such a trivial matter to be devoting so much space to it. It is more about buying than dying. Chris Robinson writes, "God tells us explicitly through Isaiah (55:9) that His ways higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts. But He also demonstrates it throughout Scripture. Gen23 is a perfect example of that. If you or I had written this chapter, what would we have said? If we had 20 verses to write, as Moses did, undoubtedly we would have written 17 verses on the death, mourning, and burial of Sarah. Then we would have given 3 verses to cover the purchase of the cave for a tomb. But God’s ways are higher than ours, and His thoughts than our thoughts. He had Moses write 3 verses on the death, mourning, and burial of Sarah… and 17 verses on Abraham purchasing a cave for a tomb!" A good many authors ask the same question about this chapter. "There were hundreds of things that went on that were not told, so why spend so much time describing this tedious process of trying to buy a burial site for Sarah? I mean, we have two verses for the death of Sarah. We had two verses for the birth of the promised seed—Isaac. Many of the most significant things we have looked at have had just two or three verses. And here we have this lengthy, monotonous discussion about a burial site."
2. Stedman wrote, "Sarah’s death brought Abraham to a point of decision. The practical matter was: “Where shall I bury Sarah?” The principal issue, however, was this: “Where shall I be buried?” Most often when a burial plot is purchased for the first partner another is bought alongside for the surviving partner, and frequently a whole family plot is secured simultaneously. When Abraham decided upon the burial place for Sarah, he also determined the place of his burial and of his descendants.
Abraham thus approached the Hittites to purchase a burial plot for himself and his family. How strange it must have been for Abraham to petition the Hittites for a burial place in light of the often repeated promise of God:
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite’ (Genesis 15:18-21).
Abraham was compelled to buy a portion of the land God had promised to give him and his descendants. Furthermore, he was to purchase the land from a people that God was going to give into his hand. How ironic that Abraham should humbly bow before these people and petition them for a piece of ground."
3. Up until now he was content to be a stranger in a foreign land and own nothing, but now he is desperate to own a tomb. The first piece of the Holy Land possessed by Abraham was a tomb. It has become one of the best bargains in history in real estate transactions. This is the first mention of a burial sight in the Bible. Abraham won a place there by getting along with these pagans and not by force. Christians too have to win the respect of unbelievers. Abraham was a man of peace, and he was able to be humble and get along well with his pagan neighbors. He was not a proud and arrogant man who gave them the impression that he was better than them. Someone wrote, "Abraham could have come in with an arrogant swagger making demands. He could come as one demanding honor. But he comes humbly. He bows down to the Hittites. He plays according to their rules; he treats them with respect and dignity. He does not trade on God’s promises before them. Abraham shows how people who live according to promises are to live in the midst of people who do not know God from a hole in the ground. Even if we know that God is the sovereign Lord of history, we still must treat the people who do not know God with respect and dignity. It’s never a lesser position, but one of unimaginable power. Nobody’s talking about the Hittites anymore. But we’re still talking about Abraham."
4. Meyer wrote, "Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with you; give me a possession of a burying-place with you" (23:3-4). See how sorrow reveals the heart. When all is going well, we wrap up our secrets; but when sorrow rends the veil, the ARCANA of the inner temple are laid bare! To look at Abraham as the great and wealthy patriarch, the emir, the chieftain of a mighty clan, we cannot guess his secret thoughts. He has been in the land for sixty-two years; and surely by this time he must have lost his first feelings of loneliness. He is probably as settled and naturalized as any of the princes round. So you might think, until he is widowed of his beloved Sarah! Then, amidst his grief, you hear the real man speaking his most secret thought: "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you."
These are very remarkable words; and they were never forgotten by his children. Speaking of the land of promise, God said, through Moses, to the people, "The land shall not be sold for ever; for ye are strangers and sojourners with Me." When David and his people made splendid preparations to build the Temple, as their spokesman he said, "Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly? For all things come of Thee, for we are strangers before Thee and sojourners, as were all our fathers. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding." And, further, in one of his matchless Psalms, he pleads, "Hear my prayer, O Lord! Hold not Thy peace at my tears; for I am a stranger with Thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were." (Psalm 39:12) So deeply had those words of Abraham sunk in the national mind, that the Apostle inscribes them over the cemetery where the great and the good of the Jewish nation lie entombed: "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them; and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Hebrews 11:13)."
5 The Hittites replied to Abraham,
1. It is assumed that there was a spokesman for the Hittites to respond to Abraham, for they could not all reply. We see that they were a friendly people to him and treated him with the dignity he deserved as a prosperous neighbor who lived in peace with them.
6 "Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead."
1. You may ask, "Well, why didn't Abraham take them up on the offer of some free land?" Abraham knew the customs of the land. The Hittites could not, with the cultural emphasis on face-saving, come out and demand a lot of money from a man who was mourning the death of his wife. So, they offered to let Abraham bury his wife at no charge, but Abraham knew this was cultural politeness."
2. "The literal Hebrew there is “You are a prince with a God.” They knew Abraham. They knew who he was. They knew what he was about. And they enter into this bartering process that sounds so foreign to us. But to people of the near East, it was the common process by which they would sell a piece of property. It opens with this seemingly generous offer; but it is really the beginning of a very shrewd business process. The offer is, “Abraham, take anything you want—it’s yours.” The process always sounded very polite, and that’s the way it was supposed to open. But if Abraham would have said, “That’s a very generous offer; I’ll take it,” he would have had no ethics. He would have ripped them off, in our language. It was understood that the first offer was very polite: “you can have anything you want.” And he was to then give his response…and back and forth it would go. So that’s what they did.
It’s also important to notice that Abraham made sure this was all done in a public forum. This was their version of signing a contract. Since it was verbal, it was very important to have witnesses, because that is what would hold you to the deal generations later. So the text is very clear and very careful to show that everybody was there and they heard this."
3. Deffinbaugh wrote, "If Abraham wished the use of a burial place, anyone would gladly loan him the best they had. However, a borrowed grave was not acceptable to Abraham. There is really nothing wrong with a borrowed grave; our Lord was buried in one you recall (Matthew 27:60), but our Lord only needed His grave for three days, whereas Abraham needed his site for posterity (Genesis 25:9; 50:13). Nothing less than a permanent possession would satisfy Abraham."
4. Stedman wrote, " Abraham's pagan friends do have, however, a genuine sense of respect and honor for the man of faith. "Thou art a prince among us," they say. "Although we recognize that you are different and perhaps this caused many questions in our hearts at first, yet we know that you are a man of great honor." They pay respectful deference to him, and are quite willing that he have the land.
I think this is very instructive, though the difference that being a Christian makes may create a feeling of estrangement and even dislike in people's hearts for awhile, it always results at last in the highest respect and honor from those same people. Young people, who are under so much pressure to conform, especially need to hear this. The world is constantly trying to squeeze us into its own mold, and we don't like to be different. Yet the one thing that Christ demands of us is that in the essentials of our lives and attitudes we be different. There are many areas in which we don't need to be different and may even be offensive by being unnecessarily different. But there are other areas where we must not conform.
When Abraham first came into the land he was a pilgrim and a stranger, and they must have looked upon him as a wandering nomad. It may have taken him a long time to win their respect, but here at the end, all these pagan friends gather around and say to him, "Thou art a prince, a mighty prince among us. You can have anything you want. We respect your integrity, your heart, even though you are still a stranger and a sojourner."
7 Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites.
1. Abraham shows them the highest respect as he bows before them. This is not a bow of worship as if he was making them his idol, but the bow of honoring them as good neighbors. He is the one seeking their help in acquiring a burial site, and so he is highly respectful of them.
2. Calvin wrote, " But lest any one should be surprised that Abraham acted so suppliantly, and so submissively, we must be aware that it was done from common custom and use. For it is well known that the Orientals were immoderate in their use of ceremonies. If we compare the Greeks or Italians with ourselves, we are more sparing in the use of them than they. But Aristotle, in speaking of the Asiatics and other barbarians notes this fault, that they abound too much in adorations. Wherefore we must not measure the honor which Abraham paid to the princes of the land by our customs."
8 He said to them, "If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf
1. Abraham is appealing to the city leaders to be the go between and get Ephron to do business with him.
9 so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you."
1. "Cave of Machpelah-the word means double and refers to the fact that it was a double cave. It was a good size cave, for this became the tomb of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah. No other place in the world has so many famous Bible people buried. They are all right now alive with God for He is the God of the living and not the dead-Matt. 22:23-33. This is the most sacred grave in the world, for Jews, Christians and Moslems hold it sacred."
2. Stedman wrote, "Yet, I think the supreme lesson here is to show us the thorough independence of the man of faith. Abraham will not consent to own one foot of ground without paying for it. He courteously insists on taking nothing from the world, though he is ready to take everything from God. He shows a great independence here; he will not allow the world to make him rich in any degree. God had promised him this land, and no stratagem of the enemy, no temporary expedient, will satisfy his heart. It must come from God, and until it does, he insists on paying for this segment of it even though they offer it to him. At the end of his career, although he owned the land by promise, the only part he actually possessed was the field and a cave where he buried his wife. This is a picture of the man of faith."
10 Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people and he replied to Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city.
1. Business and legal transactions took place at the city gate, for this made them public rather than private transactions. In addition to showing us Abraham's fine example in doing business, this passage is a fascinating historical account of the ancient customs of doing business. Business was usually carried out at the city gate (see vs.10), where the city elders sat. No contracts or lawyers were needed, just the witness of the people. Business was conducted precisely and professionally. The exact price, and exact scope of the land to be purchased was precisely specified publicly, so that any disputes would be easily settled because of the many witnesses to the deal. Business was so much easier then than it is now!
11 "No, my lord," he said. "Listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead."
1. Brian Morgan writes, "As the legal negotiations continue, Ephron uses the occasion to place himself in the public eye as a model of generosity. He needs no community pressure to let go of his "cave," and therefore rises to speak before the community acts. Surprisingly, he refuses any financial remuneration. He is willing to let the burial site go for free. In full view of the entire community, three times he says, "I give, I give, I give." And that's not all. So moved does he appear to be by Abraham's plight, he not only offers him the cave, but throws in the entire field as well. Could there be any doubt about this man's generosity?
But is Ephron really generous or is he caught in the throes of public pressure? Is his offer of the field really a gift or just a political maneuver to elicit an exorbitant offer from Abraham? One commentator argues: "The object of the offer and of the excessive politeness as a whole is to put the other party on the defensive...By offering more than was requested, he [the seller] would indirectly command a higher price."[5] Now that Ephron has countered Abraham's request with an offer even more generous than he originally requested, Abraham enters into the third and final round of negotiations.
12 Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land
1. Abraham was showing his humility in bowing again, and in so doing assure them that he respects them and their customs, and that he will cooperate with them.
13 and he said to Ephron in their hearing, "Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there."
1. Someone wrote, "Obviously, this passage is not telling Christians how to do business! Why would Abraham make such a bad deal? For one reason and one reason only: because he had faith for the future. He firmly believed his descendants would own it all one day so he was willing to invest quite heavily in this portion of the land, by faith. He was determined to pay any price for Sarah to be buried in Canaan, because he really believed God's promises. The way we spend our money is certainly one indicator of the health of our faith!"
2. Another gives us this insight: "When David was commanded by the Lord to build an altar on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, Ornan tried to give it to David - the threshing floor, as well as the oxen for the offering. 1Chr. 21:24 But King David said to Ornan, "No, but I will surely buy {it} for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing." There are times when we should be looking for the best deal possible. But there are other times that we need to forget the finances and disregard the dollars. There are times that great sacrifice is called for. Abraham would not give Sarah a grave that cost him nothing. David would not give the Lord a sacrifice that cost him nothing."
3. Brian Morgan writes, " Taking them up on their generous offer, he singles out the tomb of his choice, the cave of Machpelah, owned by Ephron, to bury his dead. Abraham then makes sure that what follows is done in a public and official manner. He pays careful attention to exact legal procedures, appealing to the community to act as his agent to subpoena Ephron, and to remain present as appropriate witnesses, just as today one would use a judge and county recorder.
Once the legal scene is set, Abraham, using his keen negotiating skills, places three bargaining chips on the table. First, he notes that this cave "is at the end of the field," suggesting that its acquisition should pose no threat to Ephron's business activities. Second, he announces that he is not interested in a grant. Rather, he is willing to pay full market value for the field, and refuses to negotiate for a cheaper price. This will preclude any future possibility that the community will feel they had been taken advantage of and contest the site. And third, he reiterates his original request that this is to be an irrevocable sale of real property, not a grant to rent the "air space" of a tomb. Abraham trumps their feigned generosity, countering their reluctance to sell with an offer of cold cash.
14 Ephron answered Abraham, 15 "Listen to me, my lord; the land is worth four hundred shekels [5] of silver, but what is that between me and you? Bury your dead."
1. Someone wrote, "One must appreciate the beauty of the near-eastern culture to enjoy this final act of negotiation. Ephron was nobody’s fool. He persists in his offer to give Abraham the land free of charge, but he also places a value on the “gift” that is offered. This accomplishes two things: it names the price, yet in a very generous way, and it makes it almost impossible for Abraham to bargain over the price. If Ephron is so generous as to offer to give the land to Abraham, how could Abraham be so small as to dicker over the price? Abraham paid the price, and both men went away with what they had hoped for."
2. Another author reports, "This way of speaking can still be found in the Near East today. In Damascus, when a purchaser makes a lower offer than can be accepted, he is answered: 'What, is it a matter of money between us? Take it for nothing, friend, as a present from me; don't feel under any kind of constraint!" Of course, nothing of the kind literally is meant at all. Some years ago a traveler reported this happening to him in Hebron itself. "In our excursions we had noticed a fine gray horse belonging to the Quarantine inspector. Mr. Blaine, my fellow traveler, had appeared to wish to buy the animal. It now made its appearance in our tents. We inquired the price, and our astonishment may be conceived, when the...Turk offered us the animal as a present. Mr. Blaine declared that he by no means intended to take it as a present, when the Turk replied: 'What then are [25 pounds sterling] to thee?'" [In Wenham, p. 129]
3. Another unknown author gives us the best report on this transaction: "Four hundred shekels was an absolutely outrageous price for a piece of ground. I mean, it was way out of the ballpark. But he knew Abraham was a pilgrim, and he had no bargaining power. He knew Abraham was wealthy. He knew Abraham’s wife was dead, and he really didn’t have many options. So he throws out this outrageous price. Typically, what would be done is that Abraham, then, would come back with a counter offer, and back and forth they would go until they would settle. But he throws out this “dream price” and Abraham pulls out his checkbook and signs the check. That’s it.
Abraham, by faith, believed that the land upon which they were standing would one day be theirs, because God promised. It would have been very easy to take Sarah back to Ur and have her buried there; she had plenty of family back there. But by faith he wanted her buried in what would become their land, and so he would spare no earthly expense to make sure that happened. In a sense, you can almost imagine Ephron’s eyes bugging out as Abraham writes him the check. He probably would have bragged to all his friends and family what Abraham paid for that goofy piece of land. But in the process, it would be sealed for generations to come that that land belonged to Abraham because he bought it. That deal would have been remembered for a long time by those witnesses.
Abraham was absolutely determined by faith to bury Sarah in the middle of what would be their land one day. Sarah died, having never realized it, and he would die without ever having realized that promise. He would be buried in that cave…Isaac would be buried in that cave…Rebekah would be buried in that cave…Jacob would be buried in that cave…Leah would be buried in that cave. Only, by that time, it would be their land—their possession. And that burial site would be right in the heart of the land of promise. It is interesting to notice that in the last few verses there is a great emphasis on the fact that this land now belonged to Abraham. It was just this little piece of ground, but it was deeded over to him. It was his possession and, for the first time, he owned a little piece of the land of promise.
4. Donald Aellen writes, "Well, the fact of the matter is that it’s a lot. It’s a seller’s market, and Abraham paid well over what the land was worth. Ephron the Hittite is laughing all the way to the bank. The irony, of course, is that Abraham got stiffed buying a piece of land that was already promised to him and his descendants by God. Abraham is paying an inflated price for land that is rightfully going to belong to his family one day. So what about those promises? The family of promise has suffered the death of Sarah, the matriarch. Next chapter, Abraham is going to die too. God, who promised Abraham all the land he has been living on for the past decades, has not yet acted to give Abraham the land. So what does that say about the promise? All Abraham has is a burial plot that he had to buy. Some promise. Is the promise as dead as Sarah? Where is the future promised by God?
5. Brian Morgan writes, "What do we discern from Ephron's words, generosity or greed? First, to inflate the value of the "gift," Ephron changes the word "field" (sadeh) to "land" ('erets), "intimating, by way of a term that also means 'country,' that Abraham is free to imagine he is getting more than a field with a burial cave for his money."[6] Second, Ephron insists Abraham should think nothing of his generosity. But in his insistence that the gift should mean nothing between "equals," he slips in the price, a mere four hundred shekels. "It is a strange donor who will put a price-tag on his gift; how much stranger to meet one who jacks up the figure in explaining why he gives it away."
What are a few hundred shekels between friends? To feel the full "weight" of that amount, we might reflect that a thousand years later, David paid Araunah the Jebusite fifty shekels for the site of the Jerusalem Temple, including cattle for sacrifice (2 Sam 24:24). What are a few shekels among equals? That which Ephron says is a mere "pittance is actually a king's ransom" (Alter). The figure comes as a staggering blow to Abraham. He is in no position to negotiate, since he has already legally vowed to pay "full price." So what appears to be "nothing" is in fact "everything," for "this sum alone will make the difference between clinching and calling off the deal."
16 Abraham agreed to Ephron's terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants.
1. Abraham was the first Jew, but was not interested in jewing him down and getting a better bargain. He just paid the asking price. He was in no mood to haggle for his wife needed to be buried quickly.
2. Brian Morgan paints a negative picture from this scene. "Amazingly, Abraham doesn't flinch or protest. He simply empties his pockets of all his cash right then and there. The niceties are dispensed with. No more words are needed. The only sound heard is the sound of cold cash (shekels) weighed (shakal) on the scale. Ephron gets the full price, not a down payment, and in cold cash, commercial standard. We are left with a bad taste. This closing scene makes all the previous gestures of politeness and generosity sickening. Here is a community taking advantage of a man at his weakest moment, all the for the sake of profit."
3. "Do you realize what Abraham is doing? He lays claim to a part of the Promised Land as if it were already the homeland of his family. In burying Sarah in the Promised Land, Abraham takes a down payment, a deposit, on the blessing God had promised him. God has given Abraham the faith to act as if the Promised Land already was home. This helps to explain why Abraham did not accept the generous sounding offer of the Hittites to simply "give" the field to Abraham. In that time and culture, to accept the field as a gift meant that Ephron's heirs could have reclaimed the land after Ephron's death – but Abraham, out of faith, viewed the land as being his permanent possession."
4. Deffinbaugh writes, "By determining that Sarah, and later he and his descendants, would be buried in Canaan, Abraham “staked his claim” in the land which God had promised. The land where he would be buried was to be the homeland of his descendants. The place that God had promised him was the place where he must be buried. Jeremiah expressed a similar faith when he purchased the field of Anathoth (Jeremiah 32:6ff). While God was to judge His people for their sins by driving them out of the Promised Land, so He would bring them back when they repented. The purchase of the field of Anathoth evidenced Jeremiah’s conviction that God would do as He had promised (Jeremiah 32:9-15)."
17 So Ephron's field in Machpelah near Mamre--both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field--was deeded
1. Morgan writes, "After the cash is delivered, the title to the property is deeded over to Abraham. Notice how precise and legal is the description of the property, down to the number of trees. (Trees were considered "property improvements" in ancient Near Eastern contracts). The entire proceeding is carried out in full view of the community to show that Abraham's claim on the land is irrevocable. Everyone's signature is notarized. In the end, both parties get exactly what they want. Ephron gets his cash, and Abraham acquires "real property" to honor his wife. Now that the patriarch has successfully negotiated his way through the greedy financial markets of his day, he returns home to bury his wife."
2. Deffinbaugh has an excellent insight and practical application to Christians based on the implications of Abraham now owning part of Canaan. He writes, "Abraham’s purchase not only exemplified his hope for a better country, a heavenly one (Hebrews 11:16), it also involved him more deeply in the present world in which he lived as a stranger and sojourner. Sojourners didn’t own property, but now Abraham did, of necessity. Strangers and sojourners do not have as great an involvement or obligation as do citizens and property owners. Abraham’s purchase gave him a “dual citizenship,” so to speak. Let me suggest how this was so.
We are told that according to Hittite law Abraham would not have been obligated to the king had he only purchased the cave at Machpelah rather than the field and the cave. By acquiring property as he did, Abraham thus deepened his commitment of faith in God but also extended his worldly obligations. I think this is significant. In his first epistle Peter instructs Christians on their attitude and conduct toward this present world in light of the fact that we are strangers and pilgrims:
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves of God. Honor all men; love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king (I Peter 2:11-17).
Christians are citizens in two worlds, not just one. While our inheritance is in heaven, “imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away” (I Peter 1:4), we have obligations in this present world. We must submit to earthly authorities and institutions (I Peter 2:11ff). We must also obey the laws of the land and pay our taxes (Romans 13:1-7).
Christians have often been accused of being “so heavenly minded, they are of no earthly good.” If I understand the Bible correctly, our heavenly mind is what makes us useful in the present. Abraham lived in the present in the light of the future. His future inheritance did not lessen his present obligations; it established his priorities. The fact that he would inherit the land of Canaan and “possess the gates of his enemies” (Genesis 22:17) did not mean he would be kept from purchasing property and bowing before constituted authority (cf. 23:7,12) and this at the very gates of those whom God would later put under his authority (15:20)."
18 to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city.
1. This land was to stay in the hands of Abraham's family forever, and all the community of Hittites were there to witness this transaction. There would never be any basis to contest his ownership. He had made an investment in the future of his descendants by this purchase of property in the Promised Land.
19 Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
1. Sarah was the first person of God's people to be buried in the Promised Land. In addition to Sarah Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah would also be buried at this sight. Josephus says all the sons of Jacob except Joseph were also buried there. The cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, which is at Hebron, is about twenty miles south of Jerusalem. Today Hebron is a town of 130,000 Palestinians and 500 Jewish settlers. The cave is guarded by security forces from Jews, Christians and Moslems. Some years ago a Jewish man entered the cave and with an automatic weapon killed 29 Moslems while they were worshipping God. Moslems then began to kill other Jews who had nothing to do with it. This violence led to strict security there.
2. Brian Morgan writes, "Henceforth, every Jew who came to Machpelah would be brought face to face with the testimony of Abraham's faith. Abraham Joshua Heschel says: "Much of what the Bible demands can be comprised in one word: Remember."
How successful was Abraham in causing future generations to remember? Sarna writes: "After the Western Wall in Jerusalem, it has remained throughout history the most sacred monument of the Jewish people."[11] Even well into the Christian era, this cave still speaks. The fourth century Latin poet Prudentius (ca 348-405), seized by the faith of Abraham, wrote these words:
The Tomb of Sarah
Abraham bought a field, in which to lay the bones
Of his wife, because on earth a stranger tarries:
Righteousness and faith: This price for him was inexpressible,
A cave, a place of rest created to hold her holy ashes.
(Translated, from the Latin, by Steve DePangher)
I am reminded of another Jew, Joseph, who was shaped by this act of remembering. Like Abraham, his world had just grown dark and he was swallowed in grief. But he would not permit his soul to weep until he made a needed acquisition. The cost was more than financial, however. He already owned the tomb. What he needed was the body, that of an executed revolutionary hated by the Jews and mocked by the Romans. If the negotiations went wrong it could cost him his life. But by faith he gathered up his courage and requested from Pilate for the body of Jesus. Joseph laid that body in his own tomb, and from that holy place we remember the day when forgiveness became our gift and heaven our home.
20 So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.
1. Abraham now has a deed to part of the Promised Land. It is not much, but it is a sort of down payment on a land that will eventually belong to his people. Future generations saw it as a privilege to be buried in this cave.. So, for instance, when Jacob was on his deathbed he asked for his body to be taken to the Promised Land to also be buried in the cave of Machpelah (Gen 49:29-32; 50:12-14).
2. "The compound, located in the ancient city of Hebron, is venerated by Jews, Christians, and Muslims whose traditions maintain that the site is the burial place of four Biblical couples: (1) Adam and Eve; (2) Abraham and Sarah; (3) Isaac and Rebekah; (4) Jacob and Leah. According to Midrashic sources it also contains the head of Esau, and to Islamic sources, is also the tomb of Joseph.
The Cave of Machpelah is the world's most ancient Jewish site and the second holiest place for the Jewish people, after Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The cave and the adjoining field were purchased—at full market price—by Abraham some 3700 years ago. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah are all later buried in the same Cave of Machpelah. These are considered the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Jewish people. The only one who is missing is Rachel, who was buried near Bethlehem where she died in childbirth.
The double cave, a mystery of thousands of years, was uncovered several years ago beneath the massive building, revealing artifacts from the Early Israelite Period (some 30 centuries ago). The structure was built during the Second Temple Period (about two thousand years ago) by Herod, King of Judea, providing a place for gatherings and Jewish prayers at the graves of the Patriarchs.
This uniquely impressive building is the only one that stands intact and still fulfills its original function after thousands of years. Foreign conquerors and invaders used the site for their own purposes, depending on their religious orientation: the Byzantines and Crusaders transformed it into a church and the Muslims rendered it a mosque. About 700 years ago, the Muslim Mamelukes conquered Hebron, declared the structure a mosque and forbade entry to Jews, who were not allowed past the seventh step on a staircase outside the building.
Upon the liberation of Hebron in 1967, the Chief Rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces, the late Major-General Rabbi Shlomo Goren, was the first Jew to enter the Cave of Machpelah. Since then, Jews have been struggling to regain their prayer rights at the site, still run by the Muslim Waqf (Religious Trust) that took control during the Arab conquest. Many restrictions are imposed on Jewish prayers and customs at the Tomb of the Patriarchs despite the site's significance, primacy and sanctity in Jewish heritage and history.
Over 300,000 people visit Ma'arat HaMachpelah annually. The structure is divided into three rooms: Ohel Avraham, Ohel Yitzhak, and Ohel Ya'akov. Presently Jews have no access to Ohel Yitzhak, the largest room, with the exception of 10 days a year."
Source: Jewish Community of Hebron and other historical sources.