Genesis 23:1-20 - God is orchestrating His plan one detail at a time.

I’m a Marvel fan.

I love Marvel superheroes.

Marvel masterfully created a universe where all the superheroes would come together.

There are 22 movies that make us the Infinity Saga.

All 22 movies interchange with one another to tell one overarching story that culminates in Infinity War and Endgame.

When Hilary and I got married, Infinity War had just come out on DVD.

Hilary had saw Ironman 1 and Thor 3

She would have had NO idea what was going on because all the movies matter in the story!

So she watched 19 movies over the course of 2 months to get caught up!

There were so many details that she missed and I couldn’t allow her to watch Infinity War without watching all the other movies first.

Genesis 23, we are going to see Abraham engage in a negotiation over a field.

If you read this in your quiet time, you don’t think “Wow. This is so spiritually insightful. Thank you, Lord.”

This is one of those parts of the Bible that if we are not careful, we can skip over.

There are many people who jump to the end of the story and miss all the important details that built up to that moment!

“What is this even about?”

What we’re going to see in Genesis 23

Big Idea: God is orchestrating His plan one detail at a time.

Context

He tested Abraham’s faith by instructing him to sacrifice Isaac.

Abraham’s faith proved true as he did not withhold Isaac from God, but did exactly what He commanded.

He was going to slaughter his son in full faith that God was able to raise him from the dead.

After God provided a substitute for Isaac, Abraham sacrificed the ram in worship to the Lord.

The Lord restated His promise to Abraham that He would bless Abraham and multiply his offspring like the stars of the heavens and the sand of the beach! (22:16-18)

The nations of the earth would be blessed.

God promised that He was going to provide a land for His chosen people.

Now we’re going to see how God orchestrates His plan.

Stand to read

Genesis 23:1–9 ESV

1 Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3 And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites, 4 “I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” 5 The Hittites answered Abraham, 6 “Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.” 7 Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. 8 And he said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, 9 that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.”

Leader: This is God’s Word

Everyone: Thanks be to God

Explain

Sarah died while travelling through the land of Canaan.

Abraham was mourning the loss of his bride, his friend, his companion through so many things in his life.

Now we see where Abraham wants to honor her with a proper burial.

Abraham goes to the Hittites and asks them to sell him part of the land for Sarah’s burial.

He appeals to the Hittite people as a whole community, because he himself is not a Hittite.

He tells them that He is a “sojourner and a foreigner” (v. 4)

He’s not a Hittite citizen

He has no right to buy and own property in Canaan.

Abraham is well known among the people because he had been there for so long.

He first got to the Hebron area around Genesis 13. The people are familiar with him.

So out of deep respect for Abraham, the Hittite people give him a generous offer to pick any of the best tombs for Sarah.

This a generous offer, but Abraham would not own the property.

Abraham acknowledges their generosity by asking for Ephron to sell him the land with a cave (v. 9)

Ephron initially offers the field for free, but this is not a good deal according to Abraham.

The property would still not belong to Abraham and that would not fulfill God’s promise.

This is part of God’s plan to give a piece of the promise.

Abraham insists that Ephron sells it to him for a price so that he doesn’t take advantage of their generosity, but also can have full legal rights to the land.

He negotiates with integrity because he does not want to be indebted to anyone on this.

Genesis 23:13–16 ESV

13 And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.” 14 Ephron answered Abraham, 15 “My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” 16 Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.

Ephron highly inflates the price to 400 shekels of silver

That’s about 100lb of silver.

My wife and dad are skilled negotiators.

My dad is the only person I know who could haggle with Walmart.

When Hilary and I went to the Bahama’s, she was so excited to barter with the locals in the market.

Hilary says things like “is that the best you can do?”

It’s like a sport to these people.

I pay full price for everything because I get nervous that they’ll hate me because I’m super insecure.

To Ephron, this is a small piece of insignificant land.

To Abraham, this isn’t just land. This is the Promised Land.

400 shekels of silver is nothing compared to God’s promise.

The Lord provided the opportunity for Abraham to purchase this particular field that would house his family for generations.

It’s a small taste of the Promised Land.

Church,

We can trust God with the details

God made a promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1.

Abraham repeated demonstrated His faith in God’s promise from the very beginning.

He negotiated this deal on the basis of God’s promise.

He has left his home

He waited 25 years for the Lord to give him and Sarah a son

He was willing to sacrifice his son because God had commanded

Now he has lost his wife, and even in his grief, he remains faithful to the Lord’s promise to give them the land.

Abraham wouldn’t own all of the Promised Land like his children would, but for now, he gets to see a small taste of it.

Abraham didn’t do anything impressive here, besides being faithful to the Lord.

Many people find it hard to follow Jesus because we want to be impressive.

We strive to look like Christians around other Christians and especially on social media.

We tend not to think of the Lord in the small details of our lives that people don’t see.

How we spend our money, engage in friendships, love our spouses, discipline our children.

We don’t think of how the Lord works through our place of employment and how we can glorify God there.

The Lord isn’t calling you to be impressive. He’s calling you to be faithful.

This is why we can trust God with our details

You’re not called to be impressive(have the answers). You’re called to be faithful.

To neighbor, “You’re not impressive, so be faithful”

What if we stopped trying to be impressive Christians and resolved to faithfully live as followers of Jesus?

All Abraham is doing here is honoring his wife’s death and faithfully purchasing the land that God was going to give His family for generations to come.

Genesis 23:17–20 ESV

17 So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over 18 to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city. 19 After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.

Why is Moses writing this to the people of Israel?

He gives 2 verses to Sarah’s death, 16 for the negotiation, and 1 for her burial?

He’s highlighting the significance, not for Sarah—but for God’s people, Israel.

It was only a small part of the land, but God was beginning to fulfill His promise.

Moses is showing them that God is faithful to His Word.

He had already begun to fulfill His promise of countless offspring with the birth of Isaac (Genesis 21)

In His timing, God was going to give it all to Abraham’s descendents, just as He promised.

Transition

Moses wrote this event down to prove a point to us today.

Church, what this shows us:

We may not see it, but we can trust God’s promises.

There are parts of your life where you wonder why God allowed it to happen.

You don’t see where this makes sense in God’s plan for you.

There are things in your life you’re not convinced God cares about.

The Lord has orchestrated His plan for your life to lead you to this moment to hear the good news of how to be brought back to Him.

God has sovereignly used every moment of your life to lead you back to Himself.

Gospel presentation

This land deal in Genesis is significant because from this land would come the birth of God’s Son.

This was the ultimate promise of God in Genesis 3.

Every little detail that God orchestrates throughout human history points to the coming of Jesus.

We get so concerned that God doesn’t care about our small details

The Lord is concerned with every instance of your life.

This is why Jesus had to die on the cross to save you from your sins.

Every sin you and I commit is an act of rebellion against a holy God, deserving death and judgement.

In my sin, I am a willful enemy of God.

But God made a promise to us that He would provide a Savior

He sent His Son to die on a cross to take the penalty for your sins and pay the debt you owe.

Jesus’s blood satisfied the wrath of God for your sins.

Then God raised Him to life three days later so that we could have eternal life in His name.

Just like Abraham purchased the tomb in Canaan,

Jesus purchased your tomb and sealed it in His death!

Jesus Christ is God’s promise to you fulfilled!

Now, through faith in Christ, you can be saved from sin and live by God’s promise of eternal life!

If you’re not a Christian, believe in Jesus!

Turn from your sins and live in God’s promises!

If you do not trust Jesus, you have no claim of Jesus’s promise.

Take the Next Step

Trust in Jesus as God’s promised Savior.

What does being faithful look like for you?

Taking the next step of faith

How will you trust God with the smallest details of your life?

God orchestrates His plan one detail at a time.

So let’s be faithful and trust God’s promises.