The Beginning (33)
Notes
Transcript
Handout
A little over two years ago, I paused our teaching through the book of Genesis.
We had finished chapters 1-22.
Today we renew the study and pick up where we left off: we begin anew in chapter 23.
Let me bring you up to speed in the storyline.
We pick up just after the sacrifice of Isaac or might we say Abraham’s willingness to take his son’s life for the Lord.
Abraham is commended of God because of his willingness to give, even his son.
God reminds Abraham in vs. 16-18:
16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,
18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
Τοday, we pick up with the death of Sarah.
Just a note about Sarah, she is the only woman it the Scripture who has her complete age, death, and burial recorded.
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.”
10 Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city,
11 “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.”
12 Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land.
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.
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.
Background:
Have you ever had a family member married for a very long time?
Much of the time, in our day folks have been married multiple times, but it is rare to find someone married for 75, 65, or even 55 years.
Think about it age wise...for two twenty year old individuals to make it for 75 years...they both have to reach the ripe old age of 95.
Female life expectancy in the U.S. 2025 = 81.1
Male life expectancy in the U.S. 2025 = 75.8
So with numbers like these are possible number trickles around 55 years.
Sarah and Abraham were married for well over 100 years at the time of her departure.
It had been exactly 62 years since they had begun their nomadic journey to the “land I will show you.”
Sarah died in the land of Canaan...in Kiriath-arba = Hebron.
According to the text, Abram wept for Sarah here.
Let’s talk for a second about this time of mourning:
What details do we know about their marriage?
Covenant Promises
Covenant Fulfillment
Lies
Truth
Faith
Disbelief
2. How do the specific details of their life motivate a high level of grief?
Covenant —
Deception —
Disbelief —
Self-fulfilment —
3. How did Sarah’s faith play a role in this relationship?
Abraham’s?
1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him.
11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.
4. How does their relationship and journey point to the fact that God is Jehovah Jireh (Our God of Provision)?
5. How does her death reveal a devotional love?
7 times = the number of times bury and dead occur in this chapter
vs. 2 - “Abraham went in to mourn Sarah and to weep
6. Why did Abraham wish to bury Sarah in this land?
7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.
17 Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
Do you see the number of times the Lord had reiterated His promise to Abraham?
Do you see this was an act of faith?
Do you see this was an act of faithfulness?
7. Why would Abraham not receive the burial land for free?
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.”
10 Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city,
11 “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.”
12 Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land.
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.
24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
8. Why would the Hittites, though not Semitic, call Abraham a prince of God? vs. 6 Also, why did this non-Semitic group carry Hebrew names?
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.”
9. What is wrong with this negotiation? vs. 9, 11, & 16.
