The Death of Sarah

Intro: Today’s text is an unusual text to preach from. In it there is no mention of God or the work of God. To be honest my first inclination was to simply acknowledge the content as part of the greater narrative and then move on to chapter 24. But Careful examination lead to believe that this passage of scripture has more to teach us than at first glance.

Let’s look at this text together:

Genesis 23 CSB

Now Sarah lived 127 years; these were all the years of her life. Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. When Abraham got up from beside his dead wife, he spoke to the Hethites: “I am an alien residing among you. Give me burial property among you so that I can bury my dead.” The Hethites replied to Abraham, “Listen to us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in our finest burial place. None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead.” Then Abraham rose and bowed down to the Hethites, the people of the land. He said to them, “If you are willing for me to bury my dead, listen to me and ask Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf to give me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me in your presence, for the full price, as burial property.” Ephron was sitting among the Hethites. So in the hearing of all the Hethites who came to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hethite answered Abraham: “No, my lord. 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 sight of my people. Bury your dead.” Abraham bowed down to the people of the land and said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “Listen to me, if you please. Let me pay the price of the field. Accept it from me, and let me bury my dead there.” Ephron answered Abraham and said to him, “My lord, listen to me. Land worth four hundred shekels of silver—what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” Abraham agreed with Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver that he had agreed to in the hearing of the Hethites: four hundred standard shekels of silver. So Ephron’s field at Machpelah near Mamre—the field with its cave and all the trees anywhere within the boundaries of the field—became Abraham’s possession in the sight of all the Hethites who came to the gate of his city. After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. The field with its cave passed from the Hethites to Abraham as burial property.

How many of you like me have prayed for something you believed God was in? Yet day after day, week after week, month after month and finally year after year. The prayer you prayed did not come to pass. Yet you still believed God was in it. In the life of Abraham, it took a lifetime for God to fulfill all that He had promised .

As the Narrative of Abraham is coming to a close, we were able to see that Abraham was very human. He had many trials, struggles and even some massive failures yet God would continue to accomplish all that he said he would.

In this seemingly insignificant passage about a business transaction we See God’s faithfulness.

Note: At first glance, we would assume that this passage is about Sarah Abraham’s now deceased wife. But if you look the passage again, she is only mentioned by name twice in the first three verses. .

This is not because she is insignifigcant. In fact, Sarah is the only woman whose lifespan is recorded in the Bible. She is the mother of a great nation.

Then after that we see this much longer narrative about Abraham negotiating for land, a place to bury his wife.

In fact verse 4 is the key to understanding the purpose of this whole passage.

Genesis 23:4 CSB

“I am an alien residing among you. Give me burial property among you so that I can bury my dead.”

If you are in the habit of underlining or highlighting a passage of scripture highlight the following phrase “ I am an alien residing among you”.

Now we know that the narrative of Abraham is winding down. Abraham is very old, Sarah has passed and Isaac the son of promise has been born. They are residing in the promise land.

At this point Abraham has great wealth. Abraham has a heir, Isaac. But when we look back to the covenant that God made with Abraham, He has almost everything except for what?

Abraham has no land.

Up until this point he is an Alien wondering around with the son of promise in the promise land but none of it belongs to him.

He doesn’t even have land to buy his wife. God has not given him a single piece of Ground for him to pass down to his descendents.

So for the remainder of the chapter instead of Abraham recounting Sarah’s death we see this business transaction taking place.

And if we are not careful that is all we will see.

But this account it the beginning of God fulfilling his promise not only to Abraham but also to the world. In this account we see that.....

I. Abraham begins to share in the promise land.

After Abraham was stopped by the angel from sacrificing Isaac the son of promise. God reiterated this covenant to Abraham.

Genesis 22:17 CSB

I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the city gates of their enemies.

Why is this so important?

Because once again Abraham has no land but all of this after many years has finally about to change.

Genesis 23:5–6 CSB

The Hethites replied to Abraham, “Listen to us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in our finest burial place. None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead.”

So then why did Abraham not take them up on their offer of a free place to bury his wife?

No doubt in Abrahams eyes to bury Sarah the mother of the nation of Israel in cave in land that was not their own was to ensure that she be buried and forgotten.

Not only that but in the Ancient Near east generations of family were often buried together.

The fulfillment of the promise.

Genesis 17:8 CSB

And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession, and I will be their God.”

For the first time Abraham would actually own a piece of land in the promise land. This land was not deeded permanently to Abraham and his decedents

What God begins he will accomplish in his own way and in his own time.

There is now a permanent place for Abraham and his descendants in the land of promise.

But this was only the beginning

II. What God began with Abraham He would expand with the nation of Israel.

If you are the nation of Israel about to go into the land of promise and all of sudden you are told that generations before God has already put this plan into motion and granted you Abrahams descendents land you, they would be greatly encouraged that God would continue what he started.

The promise that God began to fulfill in Abraham God would continue with his descendants.

But we aren't done yet because Isreal eventually possessing the promise land was still only a partial fulfillment of the promise.

Genesis 22:17 CSB

I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the city gates of their enemies.

Genesis 22:18 CSB

And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed my command.”

III. What God Began with Israel He would expand to the whole earth with His disciples/Church.

Matthew 5:5 CSB

Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth.

Matthew 28:19 CSB

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Romans 4:13 CSB

For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

When it comes to the great commission we often fail to connect it back to the fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham. The Fact that we exist as a church today is in direct fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant . Through the descendants of Abraham Jesus was born. Through him the whole world will be blessed. However, We as the church are supposed to carry that blessing to the nations.

With every proclamation of the gospel. With every soul that is saved we are part of fulfilling the Abrahamic Covenant.

Just like God told the children of Isreal the victory has been given to them go and conquer the land. He has given us the same promise.

The goal of every believer is to share in and preach the world the victory of Jesus Christ. the victory has been given church now go and conquer in the name of Jesus Christ.