Genesis 23

Genesis 23:1-20

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Sarah’s Death and Burial

1 Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 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.

3 Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, 4 “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.”

5 And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, 6 “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.”

7 Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. 8 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, 9 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.”

10 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, 11 “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!”

12 Then Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land; 13 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.”

14 And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, 15 “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.” 16 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.

17 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 18 to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.

19 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. 20 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.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ge 23:1-20

• Transcript

  Hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions, gonna jump on the computer here. Make sure we're able to go live online. Give me one second as I make sure everybody's able to join us live online. Perfect. Well good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions where every day when technology wants to work with me, you and I, we get together. We have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's word and we grow and I love the Lord together and this year 2023 Lord willing, we'll make it from the book of Genesis to the Book of Leviticus, and today we're at Genesis chapter 23. When we have some coffee, we'll pray and we'll get the Lord's word Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the blessing it is to be awake. Every day is a gift from your hand. And thank you for the blessing it is to get to read your work. We pray now that as we get into your word that you would teach us Father, we need your Holy Spirit. We need you to let these words not just die on a page, but make a home in our hearts and change our lives in Jesus's name. Amen. All right, so we are at find my glasses. Here. We are at Genesis chapter 23. Genesis chapter 23. And let's go ahead and read. Sarah lived 127 years old. These were the years of the life of Sarah. So Sarah died in cure Judith Arba, that is Hebron in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. Then Abraham stood up from before his bed and spoke to his sons of Heth saying, oh, sorry, spoke to this sons of hat saying I am a foreigner and the visitor among you. Give me property for a burial place before 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. Are you are my 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 me, and meet with Efrain the son of so far 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 for him among you know F Ron 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 Efrain 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 Efrain answered Abraham's saying to him, My Lord listened to me. The land is worth 400 cycles of silver. What is that between you and me? So Bury Your Dead. And Abraham listened to Efrain and Abraham weighed out the silver of Efrain, which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth 400 Sorry, 400 shekels of silver currency of the merchants. So the field of Efrain which was in Macmillan, which was before mammary 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 and out, went in at the city. At the gate of the city. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Makola, before mammary 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. Well, we need to ask ourselves our normal three questions. A What's this about? b What's the best first to summarize this and see what are we called to do? So a What is this about? Well, we are at the part of the story where it's kind of coming to a close, isn't it? We were introduced to Sarah and Abraham where chapter 23 We were introduced to Sarah and Abraham in chapter 12 when it really started getting deep with them and so we've been with them for 11 chapters now. Pardon me, that's horrible. I came out of nowhere. And so we've been with them for a number of chapters now and have seen them go through a lot. And now Sarah is 127 years old. And this is her death and Abraham weeping for her and ensuring that she actually has a good burial. So what's the best verse to summarize this one I have in my Bible, verse two. So Sarah died and Kira jeth Arba that is Hebron at the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and wept for her. So we can say that that's part but then it could have just ended at verse two. And Sarah died, but the rest of the story is about Abraham going to the sons of Heth and bartering for a place to bury his head yeah, you know and take whatever you want just bury her No, no, I'm gonna pay for it. Well, you know, I really want the cave that's in the field at the at the end of the field of Efrain. Oh, you don't have to pay for it. No, I'm gonna pay for it. Well, you know, it's worth like 400. But what's 400 Between you and I? Well, then, okay, I'll pay you 400 And so they're kind of bartering in this noble way back and forth for the price. And so he he's the only land that Abraham has, in all of the land that God has promised him. He's been sojourning for all these years, in the land that God has promised and this is the only land he actually owns the field of Efrain in the cave of Mack Bala and so he's he's burying his wife. He's bearing the matriarch of the faith, Sarah, she's burying the one who would be the answer to Genesis 315, in part that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent and he would bruise his heel. And so we have this closing of a part of the story. Now this isn't going to be the last we hear of Hebron. Because what we'll find out as the years go on, Sarah son Isaac, will have children and he will have children and he will have children and eventually there will come a day when a boy from not too far from this area, would come up and he would be coronated King in Hebron. David would be his name. And he would rule for seven years in Hebron before he became king of all Israel, and that King would someday have a promise from God that he would be given a kingdom, a descendant to sit upon his throne forever. And then Jesus Christ would finally come a fulfill both the promise to David and the promise to Abraham, and the promise that was given in through Genesis 315. What's his calling us to do? There's a reality to morning. There's a reality that we ought to bury are dead. I give them the rites of passage. And the honor that there is and weeping for them. I'm not getting into the beat right now. Whether cremation or burial. That's not what I'm trying to get at. My point is this. Sometimes we're afraid to weep. In our modern evangelical culture, people even feel guilty or guilty about weeping and crying when someone dies. And that's just not the case. Jesus wept when Lazarus died. The differences are that we grieve with hope. Just like Abraham could grieve, as God had told him to go and offer up his only son, but know that God would even raise him from the dead. So we hope in the resurrection. We grieve Yes, we weep, and we will because sin and death are real. And yet we grieve with hope that those who have gone and died in Christ will rise again when he returns. So there might be weeping in the morning. But the Lord will return with a great trumpet blast. So take comfort Christian, even in your grief. The God of all peace has conquered even death and will be with us always. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for showing us the story of Sarah and for the life that you gave her. Lord, she was not a perfect woman. But she was a woman of faith. And you used her. You used her to bring about your promises and our Savior Jesus Christ. have enjoyed Lord we pray that you would please give us such faith. Or we pray that we would take comfort in Jesus Christ and that we would know that you are with us always. Even when we mourn, even to the depths of our souls. Renew our strength Lord Jesus name, Amen. May the Lord bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ and I'll see you next time. Bye Transcribed by https://otter.ai