Genesis Chapter 23
A. The death of Sarah.
1. (1) The death of Sarah.
In burying Sarah, Abraham ignored his ancestry, not going back to Paddan Aram for her burial
Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.
a. Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years: Sarah is the only woman in the Bible whose age at death is recorded. This gives us some measure of how highly she is regarded in the Bible.
b. The life of Sarah: Nowhere in the Bible are we told to look to Mary the mother of Jesus as an example of a godly woman. Twice we are told to look to Sarah as such an example (Isaiah 51:1-2 and 1 Peter 3:3-6).
2. (2) Abraham’s mourning.
So Sarah died in Kirjath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
Sarah passed away, leaving Abraham bowed in grief. His love for her had been genuine and tender. She was to him “the princess.” In his sorrow, Abraham revealed something of the dignity of soul that characterizes a strong man of God. Besides wailing and otherwise loudly manifesting his grief, he broke forth into weeping. The Hebrew words for mourn and weep carry both ideas. [Sarah is the only woman in Scripture whose age, death, and burial are mentioned, probably to do honor to the venerable mother of the Hebrew people.]
a. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah: Abraham felt his loss of Sarah deeply and wasn’t afraid to mourn, though he did not sorrow as those without hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
i. “That is, he set himself deliberately to all the functions of a mourner.” (Boice)
b. And to weep for her: Abraham’s mourning was demonstrated in an appropriate way. The man of great faith, the friend of God, wept for the loss of Sarah’s companionship. There was nothing weak or unbelieving about the tears of this man of faith.
i. “To weep for a loved one is to show that we have been close, that the loss is keenly felt, that death is an enemy, and that sin has brought this sad punishment upon the human race.” (Boice)
B. Abraham buys land for Sarah’s burial.
1. (3-9) Abraham speaks with the sons of Heth.
Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, “I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” And 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 burial places. None of us will withhold from you his burial place, that you may bury your dead.” Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your wish that I bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and meet with Ephron the son of Zohar for me, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he has, which is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me at the full price, as property for a burial place among you.”
Abraham’s purchase of a burial cave “near Mamre” (v. 19; cf. Gen 13:18; 14:13; 18:1) was occasioned by the death of Sarah, who lived to be 127. (Isaac was 37 at the time, Gen 17:17.)
When Abraham bought this cave, he was renouncing Paddan Aram, that is, Northwest Mesopotamia (cf. 25:20). Canaan was now Abraham’s new native land. There would never be a return to Mesopotamia. But interestingly the only part of the Promised Land Abraham himself ever received he bought, and that was a burial cave. This first property of the patriarchs—a cave—bound them to the Promised Land. This was a real “occupation” of the land. Later patriarchs would also die and be buried with their ancestors in Canaan. [Machpelah = the “double case.”]
a. I am a foreigner and a sojourner among you: Abraham did not feel this way because he came from Ur of the Chaldeans. It was because he recognized his real home was heaven. Moses knew the same, and commanded Israel to know it (Leviticus 25:23). David also knew this truth (1 Chronicles 29:14-15 and Psalm 39:12).
b. Give me property for a burial place among you: Abraham had a particular property in mind – the cave of Machpelah. That property was in the land of Ephron the son of Zohar. In his travels around Canaan, Abraham had earlier lived in this area and here built an altar to God (Genesis 13:18). He knew this cave and was willing to pay the full price for it.
2. (10-16) Abraham negotiates with Ephron the Hittite for the land of Sarah’s tomb.
Now Ephron dwelt among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the sons of Heth, all who entered at the gate of his city, saying, “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and the cave that is in it; I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I give it to you. Bury your dead!” Then Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land; and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If you will give it, please hear me. I will give you money for the field; take it from me and I will bury my dead there.” And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, “My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead.” And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed out the silver for Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants.
The point of this event was to ensure that the cave and field would be Abraham’s possession. He was not presumptuous. In faith, he bought the land taking nothing from these people (cf. 14:21-24). In those days, it was important where people buried their dead and burial was to be done in their native land. Thus there was no going back. Though Abraham was an alien and a stranger among the people (23:4), his hope was in the land. [Hittite Law: If you sold part of your property you still had to pay taxes on all of it. If you sold all of it you were exempt.]
In this legal transaction Abraham wanted to purchase only the cave owned by Ephron, but Ephron wanted to sell the whole field. When Ephron said he would give the field and the cave (three times in v. 11), he did not mean it was free. This was bedouin bargaining—giving for giving. Though Abraham did not want the whole field, he was willing to take it at a high price (400 shekels of silver) to get the cave. The transaction was then finalized in the presence of all the Hittites at the city gate, the place of legal and business dealings. The Machpelah which means “double cave” would eventually hold Sarah but also Abraham (Gen 25:9), Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Leah (Gen 49:29-31; 50:13). In later years, it became a Moslem possession and a mosque was built over it.
a. I give you the field and the cave: This way of negotiating the price was typical of ancient and modern practices in that culture. As a gesture of kindness, the selling party may offer to give the property in question to the buyer, until the buyer insists on paying a price.
i. Ephron the Hittite followed the cultural customs of bargaining. First, the seller offered to give the item – confident that the buyer would refuse the ceremonial offer. When the buyer refused to receive it as a gift, the seller suggested a price, which he claimed was modest but was really very high. This was understood to be the starting point, and from there the bargaining began.
b. Abraham bowed himself down to the people of the land: Abraham showed how a follower of God should conduct business with the world: courteously, fairly, prudently. In not giving a counter-offer to the suggested price of four hundred shekels of silver, Abraham was remarkably generous in his dealings with Ephron.
i. “They who, under the sanction of religion, trample under foot the decent forms of civil respect, supposing that because they are religious, they have a right to be rude, totally mistake the spirit of Christianity.” (Clarke)
3. (17-20) Abraham buys the field and buries Sarah.
So the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place.
a. Were deeded to Abraham as a possession: The text emphasizes this property was Abraham’s land by deed, not only by the promise of God. If this was the only piece of land Abraham ever owned in the land promised to him, it showed that he was a real man of faith.
b. Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah: This is where Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham (Genesis 25:9). Isaac and Rebekah were both buried here (Genesis 49:31). Jacob buried Leah here (Genesis 49:31), and Joseph buried Jacob here (Genesis 50:13). The cave of Machpelah (near Hebron) was the great tomb of the Patriarchs.
