Have you ever known an older couple that have been together for most of their adult lives and are still so happy together that you can’t even imagine one of them without the other? And when one of these two people passes away, often, the other one doesn’t even know how to function for a long time afterwards because they have always been with each other. I believe this is how it was for Abraham and Sarah. They had been together for so long. They were 100/90 years old when their son Isaac was born. And now, we see in verse one of today’s passage, they were 137/127 when Sarah passed away.
Verse 2 tells us that she died in Hebron, which is in Canaan, the land where God brought Abraham and promised to give to his descendants. The Bible says that Abraham went to mourn and to weep for her. Imagine what a very hard time this would have been for him after all the years they had been together. Their son Isaac would have been 37 years old by now.
Read verses 3-4. We see Abraham going to the locals, he tells them he is but a foreigner among them, but he needs to acquire a burial property among them so that he may bury his wife. If you have ever had to make funeral arrangements for a loved one, you know that this is a hard thing. Your soul wants to grieve, but you must deal with practical matters at a time when the last thing you want to do is to deal with practical matters.
Read verses 5-6. How do the people respond to Abraham’s request? Abraham had become an important man in the land. The people referred to him as a prince. He was told that he could use anyone’s burial plot that he wanted, free of charge. No one would refuse him.
We can see in verses 7-9 that Abraham had a plot in mind. The Cave of Machpelah, which was at the end of a field, was a perfect spot for a burial plot. It belonged to a man named Ephron, the son of Zohar. But Abraham did not want to use this cave for free. He wanted to purchase it for a fair price so that he might own it outright. He offers to pay full price to Ephron.
In verses 10-11, Ephron says that he will give Abraham the field for free. This seems a generous offer, but Ephron probably knew that Abraham would not accept it. Abraham has refused to accept things for free from the pagan people of the area in the past (Gen 14:23-24). Why might this have been? In verses 12-13, Abraham implores Ephron to take the payment for the land. He wants to own the land where his wife is buried. Why was this so important to Abraham?
Remember that God had brought Abraham to the land of Canaan. He had promised to make of him a great nation, numbered like the stars in the sky, and to give his descendants this land, but as of yet, Abraham did not own any of the land. He was living on the property of Abimelech. Abraham had not received the promises of God. It was his descendants who saw those promises fulfilled (Heb 11:9, 13). And it was the custom, at that time, to have family burial plots where multiple generations were buried together. Abraham wanted to have a family plot to bury Sarah where he and his descendants could later be buried together with her in the same place and he wanted it in the place God had promised his family. Also, if he didn’t pay a fair price for the location, Ephron could have someday taken it back and this possibility would have disrupted the family tomb. Owning a piece of the promised land was essential to having a permanent family burial plot.
Verses 14-15 tell me that it was easy for Ephron to offer the free plot knowing that Abraham would probably not accept it. He has a price ready. Was it a fair price? We don’t know, but Abraham certainly wasn’t going to haggle over it in front of all these people. Not for a place to bury his beloved in the midst of his grief. And in verses 16-18, we see that Abraham paid Ephron the asking price for the field with the cave in the presence of witnesses so that he had a site that he legally owned outright. And verses 19-20 tell us that he buried Sarah there. We will see in later chapters that Abraham, Isaac, and their descendants were also buried there in the cave of Machpelah.
In what ways did Abraham, even though grieving, show that he was not without hope (Heb 11:11-16)? Do you think he believed he would see Sarah again? Do we have hope when we lose a loved one?
When someone loses a loved one, it is very important to them that their loved one be remembered in an honoring and respectful way. This was important to Abraham. This is important today. Do we show our respects to others who have lost loved ones? Are we considerate of their grief? It is important to be there for someone who is grieving and to show them that we care even if it makes us uncomfortable. How can we help someone who is grieving?
Responding to God: Praise God and thank Him for life after death. Thank Him that we can have hope even when we are grieving. Ask Him to show you ways to minister to those who are grieving. Pray for a long-lasting marriage and a close relationship with your spouse.
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