Genesis 23
McGeeCHAPTER 23THEME: Death and burial of SarahIn chapter 23 we see the death of Sarah and Abraham’s purchase of a cave in which to bury her, the cave of Machpelah.
Genesis 23:1
Notice that Sarah’s age is given as 127 years old. She was 90 when Isaac was born, which means that at the time of her death (which took place after the offering of Isaac by several years, I suppose), Isaac was 37 years old. We are told that Sarah died in Kirjath-arba, which is Hebron. Abraham even had to buy a cave in which to bury his dead in the very land that God had given to him. Why didn’t he take Sarah somewhere else to bury her? It is because the hope they have of the future is in that land. As we move on down in this chapter, we will see that although there are the arrangements for a funeral, which is not very exciting or interesting and is perhaps even a little morbid to some, it is very important to see a great truth here.
Genesis 23:3
Abraham calls himself a stranger and a sojourner even in the Promised Land which God had promised to give to him.
Genesis 23:5
This is a very generous offer made by the children of Heth who live in this land. They probably said to Abraham, “Just pick your burying spot in any of our sepulchersthat’s it. We’d be delighted to have you.” Abraham had made a tremendous impression. They call him “a mighty prince.” This man’s influence counted for something.
Genesis 23:7
The cave of Machpelah was the place Abraham chose, but he wanted to buy it; he wanted nothing given to him. In other words, until God gives him that land, he will buy what he needs and wants. So now he actually buys a burying place. Again I ask the question: Why didn’t Abraham take Sarah somewhere else to bury her? He buried her here because it is the Promised Land, and the hope of the future is here. As you go through the Bible, you will find that there are two great hopes and two great purposes which God has. He has an earthly purpose, and He has a heavenly purpose. He has an earthly purpose; that is, this earth on which you and I live is going into eternity. It is going to be traded in on a new model.
There will be a new heaven and a new earth. But there will be an earth, and it will be inhabited throughout eternity. This is the promise that God gave to Abraham and to those after him. God is not going to put this earth on which you and I live in the garbage can after He gets through with the program which He is carrying out today; nor is it going to be disposed of in a wrecking yard for old and battered cars. God is not going to get rid of it. He intends to trade it in on a new model.
The new earth will go into eternity, and there will be people to inhabit it. This was the hope of Abraham. Abraham wanted to be buried in that land so that, when the resurrection came, he and Sarah would be raised in that land. He never knew how many were coming after him, but there are going to be literally millions raised from the dead. This is their hope. It is an earthly hope, and it will be realized. In the Upper Room, our Lord said this to His disciples who were schooled in the Old Testament and who had the Old Testament hope: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (Joh_14:1-3). He is speaking of the New Jerusalem which He is preparing today and which is the place to which the church will go. The New Jerusalem will be the eternal abode of the church.
This teaching was brand-new to the disciples, and I am afraid that it is brand-new to a great many Christians. God never told Abraham that He would take him away from this earth to heaven. Rather, He kept telling him, “I am going to give you this land.” Abraham believed God, and that was the reason that he wanted Sarah buried in that land. It became the place for him to bury his dead. He intended to be buried there, and he is buried there. The exact location of Abraham’s burying place is at Hebron, about twenty miles south of Jerusalem. When we made a trip there, we visited the Moslem mosque which is built over that spot. Frankly, on our entire trip through that land, I never felt uncomfortable or even a little afraid, except at Hebron. We had been warned to be very careful in Hebron, that there was a great deal of antagonism toward tourists and, actually, toward everyone who did not belong there. Of course, they allowed us to visit the mosque because it meant tourist dollars. After we went in, we looked through a little hole in the floor and down into the cave where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah are all supposed to be buried. (Rachel is buried at Bethlehem.) These folk are all buried in Israel because of their hope of being raised from the dead in that land.
It is an earthly hope. Our hope as New Testament believers is a heavenly hope. I trust that that is clear to you so that you can understand why this burial was so important to Abraham at this particular time. Abraham now makes a deal to buy the cave. Notice the transaction:
Genesis 23:10
Notice Abraham and the generosity of these people and of this man Ephron in particular. They certainly were polite in that day. We have the impression that these were cavemen who carried clubs around ready to club each other. If Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the other Old Testament saintseven the men who are mentioned in this chapterwere in Los Angeles today and could go back and report to their folk, I think they would say, “Do you know that our offspring are a bunch of cavemen? They’re highly uncivilized! They are rude and crude and a disgrace.” I think they would say that of us, but we have the advantage that we can talk about them. It is interesting to note how polite they are. “And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land.”
Genesis 23:13
That is, Abraham paid for the field and cave in the legal tender of that day.
Genesis 23:17
Apparently, this place is where the mosque is built at Hebron today. It is considered either the second or third most important mosque in the world of Islam. They have many mosques in Cairo and other places, and the ones I have seen are absolutely beautiful. The most important one, of course, would be at Mecca. I am not sure whether the one at Hebron or the one at Jerusalem would be number two, but the other would then be number three. You can see how important this is, because the Arabs all trace their lineage back to Abraham.