Genesis 23.3-6-Abraham Opens Negotiations with Hittites for Burial Plot
Tuesday March 28, 2006
Genesis: Genesis 23:3-6-Abraham Opens Negotiations with Hittites for Burial Plot
Lesson # 123
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 23:1.
On Sunday morning, we studied Genesis 23:1-2, which records the death of Abraham’s wife Sarah.
Her death presents Abraham with a problem in that since he was an “alien and a stranger” in the land of Canaan, he did not own any property in the land of Canaan so as to bury his dead.
Therefore, this evening we will begin a study of Genesis 23:3-20, which records Abraham acquiring his first piece of property in the land of Canaan, namely, the cave of Machpelah.
In this passage of Scripture, we see Abraham carefully entering into negotiations with the Hittites in order to secure a firm contract guaranteeing him and his descendants a burial site.
As a resident alien, he is not ordinarily entitled to purchase land.
We will see that the Hittites initially offer Abraham a tomb to meet his immediate need to bury his dead, but not a permanent burial site.
Assumedly, Abraham encounters the pervasive reluctance of landowners in the ancient Near East to part with their property.
The negotiations get complicated when Ephron offers him the cave along with its field to bury his dead.
Had he accepted this offer, his claim to the cave and field would not have been incontestable.
This situation is resolved with Abraham’s purchase of a cave and field.
Genesis 23:1 presents the introduction to the acquisition of the cave of Machpelah.
Genesis 23:1, “Now Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.”
Genesis 23:2 presents to us a summary of Sarah’s death.
Genesis 23:2, “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.”
In Genesis 23:3-6, we have the first round of negotiations between Abraham and the Hittites in which Abraham requests a permanent burial site and in response the Hittites offer him their best tomb.
The fact that Abraham seeks to buy a burial plot for Sarah, himself and his descendants manifested that he trusted in the promises that the Lord made to him that he and his descendants would possess the land of Canaan.
The Lord’s promise to give Abraham the land of Canaan is called by theologians, the “Palestinian Covenant.”
The “Palestinian” covenant is in fact an extension of the “Abrahamic” covenant, which is recorded in Genesis 12:1-3, 13:14-17 and 15:7-18.
Genesis 12:7, “The LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.”
Genesis 13:14, “The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, ‘Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward.’”
Genesis 13:15, “for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever.”
Genesis 15:7, “And He said to him, ‘I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.’”
Genesis 15:18, “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.’”
It appears that since the Lord delivered on His promise to give him and Sarah a child, Abraham trusted that the Lord would deliver on His promise to give him the land of Canaan as a permanent possession.
Therefore, the fact that Abraham is attempting for the first time to purchase land in Canaan demonstrates his faith in the Lord’s promise to him to give him and his descendants the land of Canaan for a permanent possession.
The piece of land that Abraham seeks to purchase was in Hebron, which was a place of happy memories for both Abraham and Sarah.
It was in Hebron, at the oaks of Mamre that the Lord promised Abraham and Sarah that Isaac would be born one year later as recorded in Genesis 18:1-15.
In fact, Abraham was residing at the oaks of Mamre in Hebron when he received the promises from the Lord as recorded in Genesis 13:14-18, 15:1-6 and 17:1-8.
The purchase of this burial plot in Hebron was the first step toward Abraham and his descendants possessing the land of Canaan.
For this reason, Genesis draws attention twice to the rather obvious point that Hebron is in the land of Canaan (see Genesis 23:2, 19) and repeatedly insists that the negotiations and payment for the land were conducted publicly before the elders of the city.
The negotiations consist of three dialogues between Abraham and Ephron, the Hittite: (1) First round: Genesis 23:3-6 (2) Second round: Genesis 23:7-11) (3) Third round: Genesis 23:12-16).
The negotiation dialogues are followed by the narrator’s statements of an acceptance agreement and payment formula in Genesis 23:16, transfer of property, including property description in Genesis 23:17 and witnesses.
The dialogue contract form establishes Abraham’s impeccable claim to the cave and field of Machpelah.
The cave became the burial place for Abraham and Sarah (Gen. 25:10), as well as Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Leah (Gen. 50:13).
Each dialogue intensifies and becomes more specific in terms of participants and property.
First of all, we have the Hittites and a tomb followed by the people of the land and Ephron’s cave and lastly, Ephron and his cave and field.
The plot and style as well as the dialogue contract form demonstrate that the emphasis of the writer is not upon Sarah’s death but on Abraham’s firm and binding agreement of a burial site that will anchor Abraham’s descendants in the Promised Land.
Genesis 23:3-4, “Then Abraham rose from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, ‘I am a stranger and a sojourner among you; give me a burial site among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight.’”
The fact that Abraham “rose from before his dead” indicates that he was sitting on the ground as a mourner for his wife Sarah, which was the manner of those in the Middle East (see Job 2:8; Isaiah 3:26; Lamentations 2:10).
“The sons of Heth” is another term for “Hittite” and were descendants of Heth who was the son of Canaan (See Genesis 10:15), who were in possession of Hebron that Abraham was residing in at the time.
The Hittites were present in the land of Canaan during the time of Abraham according to Genesis 15:19-21 and they reached the zenith of their power sometime later and still possessed great power at the time of Solomon a thousand years later according to 2 Chronicles 1:17.
The “Hittites” would serve as witnesses to the sale of the cave of Machpelah to Abraham.
The custom was to bury the dead one days time after the death and so we see Abraham wasting no time in securing a burial site for Sarah.
“Stranger” is the noun ger (rG@) (gare), which denotes an alien who has become a permanent resident without attaining citizenship.
“Sojourner” is the noun toshav (bv*=w{T), which describes someone who is a temporary resident.
“A stranger and a sojourner” contains the figure of hendiadys meaning “resident alien” expressing the fact that Abraham owns no land and ordinarily is not entitled to buy land.
The figure of “hendiadys” takes place when two nouns are used to express one idea or concept.
The figure of “hendiadys” indicates that the noun toshav intensifies the meaning of the noun ger and changes it to an adjective of the superlative degree and so the expression ger-wethoshav should be translated, “resident alien.”
A resident alien was a person who moved into an area where he had neither land nor clan ties and would be without traditional tribal legal support and protection and would be vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
Abraham’s statement to the Hittites, “I am a stranger and a sojourner among you” expresses the fact that Abraham recognizes that he has no legal right to buy property.
Hebrews 11:8-16 gives us further insight into this statement.
Hebrews 11:8, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.”
Hebrews 11:9, “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.”
Hebrews 11:10, “for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
Hebrews 11:11, “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.”
Hebrews 11:13, “All these (Abraham, Sarah) died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.”
Hebrews 11:14, “For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.”
Hebrews 11:15, “And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.”
Hebrews 11:16, “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”
Genesis 23:3-4, “Then Abraham rose from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, ‘I am a stranger and a sojourner among you; give me a burial site among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight.’”
Sarah was the first in the patriarchal family line to die in the land of Canaan.
Abraham did not take Sarah back to her homeland for burial but rather he wanted her to be buried in Canaan as a testimony to both the people of the land and their own descendants that Canaan was to be their home from then on.
“Give” is the qal imperative form of the verb nathan (/t^n*) (naw-than), which is incorrectly translated since these negotiations were done in a polite and dignified manner where Abraham was seeking to make a legal purchase of land from the Hittites to bury his dead and so it means, “to sell” (see Genesis 23:4, 9, 13).
Genesis 23:5-6, “The sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, ‘Hear us, my lord, you are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our graves; none of us will refuse you his grave for burying your dead.’”
“Mighty prince” is incorrectly translated and literally means, “prince of God” since the Hebrew expression is composed of the noun nasi (ayc!n*) (naw-see), which means, “leader, prince” and the noun Elohim (syh!la$), which means, “God.”
Like Abimelech in Genesis 21:22, the Hittites recognizes God’s blessing and protection of Abraham and his family.
Genesis 21:22, “Now it came about at that time that Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, ‘God is with you in all that you do.’”
Abimelech’s statement in Genesis 21:22 and the Hittites’ in Genesis 23:6 reveals the principle that even unbelievers, pagans can recognize God’s blessings in the life of a believer.
Both Abimelech and the Hittites acknowledgement that God was with Abraham were made because they undoubtedly heard of the miraculous birth of Isaac.
Furthermore, Abraham’s miraculous victory over the four Eastern Mesopotamian Kings recorded in Genesis 14, which delivered the Dead Sea kings, would have been known by the Hittites and impressed them.
If you recall, Genesis 14:13-16 records that Abraham took only three hundred night rangers and the small armies of the Amorite princes in alliance with him and defeated the four armies of the Eastern Mesopotamian Kings.
This undoubtedly got the attention of both Abimelech and his military commander and the Hittites once this information got back to them.
Lastly, Abraham’s possessions and great wealth would have greatly impressed the Hittites as it did Abimelech.
Notice that in Genesis 23:4, Abraham puts himself in the bottom of the social ladder among the Hittites as witnessed by his statement that he was a “resident alien” among them and the Hittites respond by elevating his status to the top of their social ladder by calling him a “prince of God.”
In Genesis 23:4, Abraham asks for a “burial site,” which is composed of: (1) Noun `achuzzah (hZ*j|a&) (akh-ooz-zaw), “property, possession” (2) Noun qever (rb#q#), which means, “tomb, grave.”
In Genesis 23:6, the Hittites offer Abraham the “choicest of our tombs,” which is composed of: (1) Noun mivchar (rj*b+m!), “the best, something choice” (2) Noun qever (rb#q#), which means, “tomb, grave.”
Therefore, we can see that Abraham requested “a piece of property for a burial site” whereas the Hittites offered simply their “best tomb.”
The change of terms suggests that while the Hittites respected Abraham and were willing to grant him the right to bury his dead on their land, they were reluctant to give him a permanent possession there.
Therefore, there is a snag in the negotiations between Abraham and the Hittites.
Abraham wants to not only buy a grave for Sarah but also wants to secure a piece of property as a permanent possession whereas the Hittites are willing to sell him a tomb but not a piece of property as a permanent possession.
This reluctance by land owners in the Middle East in Abraham’s day to sell their property was a pervasive and deep rooted attitude through the Middle East.
Tomorrow evening we will study Genesis 23:7-11, which records the second round of negotiations between Abraham and the Hittites in which Abraham requests Ephron’s cave and in response Ephron, offers his cave and field.