Daily Devotional Thursday 22nd August 2024
by William MoodyGenesis 23
Sarah’s Death and Burial
23:1 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,1 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 God2 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 shekels3 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.
Footnotes
[1] 23:3
Hebrew sons of Heth; also verses 5, 7, 10, 16, 18, 20
[2] 23:6Or a mighty prince
[3] 23:15A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams (ESV)
This account of Abraham mourning and burying his wife Sarah appears fairly uneventful and yet it is given in great detail.
We see here that even great men are not immune to the normal trials and pains of life. It doesn’t matter who we are, losing loved ones is painful and we do need to mourn (v2).
The worse thing anyone can say to anyone at a time of bereavement is, “Don’t cry!” We must not fear tears, either ours or others. Tears are a necessary emotional release for those who are hurting.
The negotiations for the burial plot are very polite but prolonged (v3-16). The price in the end was actually very expensive (v16), but Abraham does not try to bargain, he wants the right place to lay to rest his wife’s body.
This is the first part of the Promised Land to be owned by Abraham’s family, a first fruit pointing forward to the days when the whole land would be possessed. Sarah’s body is laid to rest in the Promised Land and it should be our prayer and concern that our loved are laid to rest in heaven.
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