Genesis 23
Finding Hope in the Graves: Lessons from Abraham's Faith
Bible Passage: Genesis 23:1–20
The notion of burial indicates permanency. That Abraham secures a family plot in Canaan rather than returning to Haran conveys the man’s commitment to the land promised him. Ancient peoples cherished their ancestral burial ground; burial in the ancestral grave indicated honor and continuity with the family. Later, while in Egypt, Jacob and Joseph insist that their remains rest in Canaan according to their faith in the divine promises
1. Facing Grief with Faith
Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 So Sarah died in Kirjath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
3 Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, 4 “I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”
5 And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, 6 “Hear us, my lord: You are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of us will withhold from you his burial place, that you may bury your dead.”
Since the promised child was to come from Sarah, her death makes it finally certain that Isaac is the only hope for the promise. Abraham has other sons through Keturah after Sarah’s death, but only Isaac can be the promised heir. Sarah lived 37 years after the birth of Isaac and therefore saw him grow into a mature man, although he was not yet married when she died. Isaac married at age 40 which is extraordinarily late for an ancient Near Eastern man. The long life of Sarah shows God’s blessing on her.
Accordingly we may translate the first part of this verse “When Abraham had finished the time of mourning for his dead wife, he went to speak to the people called Hittites.” Other ways of expressing the change of scene that is involved here are “… he left that place where the body was, and went to see the headmen of the town” and “… he got up from his dead wife, and went to the meeting place at the town gate where all the important people were.”
Hittites translates the Hebrew “sons of Heth.”
Abraham identifies himself to his hosts as a resident alien (gēr-weṯôšāḇ), a combination of terms found elsewhere in the OT. The addition of tôšāḇ to gēr indicates even more forcefully that Abraham viewed himself as one with tenant status only before the Hebronite Hittites.
2. Fulfilling God's Plan
7 Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. 8 And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your wish that I bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and meet with Ephron the son of Zohar for me, 9 that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he has, which is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me at the full price, as property for a burial place among you.”
10 Now Ephron dwelt among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the sons of Heth, all who entered at the gate of his city, saying, 11 “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and the cave that is in it; I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I give it to you. Bury your dead!”
12 Then Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land;
3. Focusing on Future Hope
13 and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If you will give it, please hear me. I will give you money for the field; take it from me and I will bury my dead there.”
14 And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, 15 “My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead.” 16 And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed out the silver for Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants.
17 So the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded 18 to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who 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 (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place.
The field costs Abraham 400 shekels. The piece of property was no bargain for Abraham; 400 shekels would be more than a hundred pounds of silver. David paid only one-eighth that amount—50 shekels of silver—for the purchase of the temple site from Araunah (2 Sam. 24:24). Jeremiah paid 17 shekels of silver for his cousin’s field in Anathoth (Jer. 32:9). Omri paid fifteen times as much as Abraham—two talents of silver (6,000 shekels)—for the large hill of Samaria (1 K. 16:24). In another patriarchal land transaction Jacob paid 100 qeśîṭá (value unknown) for a piece of land in Shechem (Gen. 33:19). But to Ephron 400 shekels is a paltry amount—between you and me, what is that?—to pay for a burial site. Ephron plays a bit on Abraham’s emotions at this point through an interesting change of word order in v. 15.
