Memorial for Sarah

Intro:

In last week’s lesson, we saw how Abraham’s faith has reached a new height. We saw how he was willing to trust God, even though he didn’t fully understand what was happening. He trusted God to the point, where he knew that even if Isaac was killed, God would raise him up in order to keep His promise.

Well in last week’s sermon, we saw how Abraham’s faith has reached a new height. We saw how he was willing to trust God, even though he didn’t fully understand what was happening. He trusted God to the point, where he knew that even if Isaac was killed, God would raise him up in order to keep His promise.

And if you remember; prior to this chapter, when God had made that promise to Abraham, and told him that he would be the father of many nations; God also told him that He would give Abraham a land for his descendants. And up until now, Abraham hasn’t owned any land whatsoever. But in this chapter, we finally see this promise begin to be fulfilled

Genesis 23:1–2 ESV

Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 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.

Sarah’s Death

So if we look at verses 1 & 2, we see that Sarah dies in the land of Canaan – which is the land of promise, but she’s only had one son, and no grandchildren yet.

She had lived to be 127 years old. That would mean that Isaac was about 36 or 37 years old.

So God graciously had allowed her to see her son grow up, and she got to see what kind of man he would be, but she didn’t get to see all of God’s promises to Abraham fulfilled.

That should make us think of

Hebrews 11:13 ESV

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.

Sarah died, but she died in faith.

One other important thing about Sarah’s death that’s interesting.

Sarah is the only woman in Bible whose age at death we know.

The Bible doesn’t mention the ages of any other women when they died. Not even Mary’s – we don’t even know when Mary died.

But it tells us Sarah’s age. So that kind of lets us know how important she was in God’s plan.

Sarah’s Example

We’re also told in Scripture… ,

1 Peter 3:3–6 ESV

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

Sarah is a role model for wives.

But now she’s gone. And I think this was probably pretty tough on Abraham. He and Sarah had been together a long, long time.

Just think of all the things that Abraham put her through.

Packing up and leaving, traveling all over the Middle East, almost giving her away TWICE!

And yet she stayed with him, and submitted to him.

But now she’s gone. And I think this was probably pretty tough on Abraham. He and Sarah had been together a long, long time.

They’ve traveled together for most of their lives, leaning on one another and trusting one another – through good times and bad. They had probably been married for more than 100 years. But now she’s gone, and Abraham is faced with the issue of burying her.

Picking up the Pieces

Genesis 23:3–11 ESV

And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites, “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.” The Hittites answered Abraham, “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.” Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. 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, 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.” 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, “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.”

Abraham comes to the sons of Heth (that’s the Hittites), and he asks to buy a place so that he can bury Sarah.

In verses 3 – 11, he comes to the sons of Heth (that’s the Hittites), and he asks to buy a place so that he can bury Sarah. And you notice immediately they say, “Abraham, you are a mighty prince among us, none of us will withhold our land from you. Bury her where you like.”

They immediately say, “Abraham, you are a mighty prince among us, none of us will withhold our land from you. Bury her where you like.”

Historical Context:

In just a general reading of this passage, it sounds like the Hittites are being generous to Abraham.

But what you don’t know, unless you know the ancient Hittite laws, was that if Abraham had accepted this offer of free land, then at any point in the future, if the one who made the offer wanted that land back, he could come and take it.

It was more like borrowing rather than a gift. The Hittites also had a provision in their laws that said, once Ephron had died, if his children wanted the land back, they could come and take it as well.

So Abraham wanted to make sure that the land was secured for himself and his descendants, and so he persists, and insists on buying it.

Now look at verse 15

Genesis 23:15 ESV

“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.”

400 shekels of silver.

That’s either a huge chunk of land, or Ephron’s trying to cheat Abraham in some way. 400 shekels is a lot of money.

About 1500 years after this takes place we’ll see Jeremiah buy a field for 17 shekels of silver.

And in , when King David goes to buy the land where the temple was going to be built, he only paid 50 shekels of silver.

Most likely, Ephron is trying to get Abraham to take the first offer, knowing that at some point in the future, if he wanted he could repossess the land from Abraham or his descendants.

Abraham doesn’t even bother haggling over the price, he just forks out the silver and buys the land.

Notice that again Moses writes that this entire transaction took place in-front of the whole council. Again, he’s making sure that anyone who reads this will know that this was a legal transaction, and that it couldn’t be disputed.

Once Abraham has the land, he buries Sarah.

EX: This day is inevitable for all of us

None of us know how long we have left on this earth.

We’ve got to make every day count. Don’t waste your lives. Live for the Lord every second of every day.

None of us will probably make it as long as Sarah did, and definitely not as long as Abraham. But we can live lives marked by faithfulness.

Beginning of the Fulfillment

Sarah didn’t see the full fulfillment of God’s promises. For that matter, Abraham didn’t get to either. He saw the beginning of the fulfillment, but he didn’t get to see the promise fulfilled completely.

The promises that God made were to Abraham and his Seed; and that Seed is none other than Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Galatians 3:16–18 ESV

Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

.

Jesus is the promised Seed of Abraham, that all the promises that God made to Abraham are fulfilled in Christ. And guess what? If you’re in Christ, those promises are yours. You receive them by faith. Just like Abraham did.

We looked at it last week, but I want to read it again (Read).

, , … they are all dealing with and touching on the same issue. They are all saying that Jesus is the promised Seed of Abraham, that all the promises that God made to Abraham are fulfilled in Christ. And guess what? If you’re in Christ, those promises are yours. You receive them by faith. Just like Abraham did.

This field that Abraham has bought is just a picture of things to come.

In the rest of Genesis, you see the decendants of Abraham returning to this field. It serves as their cemetary.

And if you were to go to this place today, you can still see Abraham’s tomb.

Interestingly enough, today it’s a Muslim shrine. Devout Muslims make pilgrimages to it to honor Abraham.

The Jewish people also look at as somewhat of a sacred place. The father of their faith is buried there.

AP: As Christians, we don’t visit the remains of our founder in a tomb

But for us as Christians… it’s not the tomb of Abraham that we look to. Our faith recalls a different tomb.

Our Savior, Abraham’s seed, isn’t in any tomb. His tomb is empty because God raised Him on the third day.

He arose from the dead, so it really didn’t matter which tomb He was laid in.

Sometimes skeptics will try to use that against us and say, “Well you can’t even go to the tomb that Jesus was buried in…”

My answer to that is, “I don’t need to. He’s alive! I don’t need to go to a tomb, I’m going to go where He is today, not a tomb.”

Our faith doesn’t rest in a tomb where the dead are buried, instead we look to a tomb where the dead rose.

Conclusion:

Abraham and Sarah persevered. They finished strong.

Yes, they stumbled along the way, but they repented and kept the faith.

YEs, as times they stumbled and faltered, but hen they did, they knew where to turn to. And we can look at their lives and see the faithfulness and provision of God. Even when Abraham and Sarah messed up, God remained faithful. So no matter what you’re going through in life, no matter how bad things might get for you, or your family. Press on. We are to fight the good fight of faith. We are to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets us, and run the race with patience, looking unto the Author and Finisher of our Faith.

And that’s what we see in the lives of Abraham and Sarah. We see that they persevered. That the finished strong. Yeah; we see that they stumbled and faltered from time to time, but when they did, they knew where to turn to. And we can look at their lives and see the faithfulness and provision of God. Even when Abraham and Sarah messed up, God remained faithful. So no matter what you’re going through in life, no matter how bad things might get for you, or your family. Press on. We are to fight the good fight of faith. We are to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets us, and run the race with patience, looking unto the Author and Finisher of our Faith.

I pray we do that today, and every day