Sermon Tone Analysis

Background

We are back in Genesis, picking up where we left off.

So far, we have observed in Genesis the creation of the heavens and the earth, and mankind on the earth.

We watched man fall from grace through rebellious sin.

We’ve seen God judge fallen man, flooding the earth and destroying all life except for Noah and those on the ark with him.

Most recently, we were introduced to Abraham, the father of many nations.

Abraham was promised that he would be the father of God’s chosen nation Israel through his son, Isaac, who was born to him when he was 100 years old.

Sarah, his wife, was 90 years old when she bore Isaac.

During Christmas, we saw Abraham’s faithfulness when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac, but instead provided a substitutionary sacrifice in his place.

Now we will see what comes next in their story.

TIMELINE

Of all the women listed in the Bible, only Sarah has her age listed, most likely because she is the mother of the son of promise, and as we’ve seen previously that Abraham is the spiritual father of all believers, that also means Sarah is the mother of all believers:

Why this matters:

It was through Sarah that Isaac, the son of promise, would be born, and on whom would rest God’s covenant, through their descendants.

It is through this covenant that land and blessing are promised.

It is through this line that Jesus was born to be a blessing to the nations.

God can use anybody for His purposes.

Remember that originally, only the Jews were inheritors of the blessing.

And so Sarah died in Hebron.

If you recall from 14, Kiriath-arba was listed as a city where giants lived, the sons of Anak.

MAP

At the end of 22, Abraham was living in Beersheba.

As we’ve seen previously, Abraham often moved his tents.

Abraham would have been 137 years old, and Isaac would have been 37 at this time.

Abraham mourned the loss of his wife, most likely in a traditional manner in those days.

This includes loud weeping, tearing of clothes, wearing sackcloth, and sitting in the dirt.

Abraham arose from his mourning and had to get down to business, because he had nowhere to bury Sarah.

In spite of his great wealth and covenants he had made, Abraham was still a sojourner in a foreign land.

Heth was Canaan’s son, who was the son of Ham.

Abraham sought out the people of the land at the gate of the city and requested a place to bury Sarah.

The sons of Heth recognized Abraham’s reputation, his greatness and his wealth, and called him a “nasi Elohim” (prince of God).

Because of this, they offered him whatever plot of land he wanted.

Here we see and interesting interaction for us: Abraham humbly bowing before the Hittites and asking for a very specific cave on a very specific plot of land for burial, not for living on.

Abraham had also already found out who owned that land.

Abraham requested to pay full price for the land, so that he would own it outright.

This was important so that the Hittites didn’t try to rescind the gift.

He also was not requesting all of the land, but just the plot that the cave was on for burial.

Furthermore, Abraham believed God’s plan and was acting as though all the land would eventually belong to his descendants.

Ephron was among the men at the city gate, and made his presence known by offering the land to Abraham free of charge.

This might have been a generous offer, or it might have been a bargaining ploy.

Abraham again humbles himself by bowing, and insisting on paying full price for the land.

Many of us might have said thank you and taken it without paying.

Abraham was a man of wisdom and integrity.

Ephron sets a price of 400 shekels of silver, and Abraham immediately begins counting it out and then hands it over without further bargaining or negotiating.

The land has been sold and it is now owned by Abraham.

There was no contention about this, and so Abraham went to have Sarah buried.

We see here that the cave and the field were in the vicinity of where Abraham had been sojourning, facing Hebron.

APPLICATION

God can use anybody for His purposes.

Abraham was a man of wisdom and integrity.

Next week, we will continue through the book of Genesis.