# 14 2023 Dev. Gen.23:4. Sarah’s Tomb! Read all of chapter twenty three, first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. Do you believe that this is also part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from The NIV.
Gen.23:2 Abraham said; “I am a foreigner and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.”
Gen.23. Abraham grieves over Sarah, she lived for 127 years and she is the only woman in the Bible that speaks of her age at death. This chapter is a long negotiation to buy a burial site for Abraham and family. People wanted a cave for burial so they could lay their loved ones on a shelf carved in the cave. Caves normally were a place to bury many family members. In this case: “The cave of Machpelah, in the West Bank city of Hebron, is the burial place of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah. According to Jewish mystical tradition, it’s also the entrance to the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve are buried.” (Wikipedia) The Bible confirms those buried there but the mystical Jewish tradition is a tantalizing thought.
Vs.1-16 It is a long drawn out negotiation, Abraham starts out with the reality of his situation, “I am a foreigner and stranger among you.” Abraham wants to buy the cave of Machpelah, the owner Ephron, wants to give it away to Abraham, but Abraham knows better, it is all a pretense. But Abraham trusts that God will give his offspring the land so his purchase is an act of faith. The price is exorbitant, 400 shekels of silver, typically at the time a years wage is about 10 shekels. Abraham does not quibble over the price he is buying for future generations.
Vs.17-20 So the deed is made out to Abraham, the cave, the field, and the trees in the field. Very third world, the trees don’t normally come with the field. In Nigeria the trees belong to the planter of the trees, unless they are sold as well. It was done in the presence of the community, at the city gate, making this a legal and binding transaction.
“By faith he (Abraham) made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” Heb. 11:9-10.
We all are wanderers and strangers on this earth, our home is in a better land not of this world, yet like Abraham we live here by faith.
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