Genesis 23. Grave Thoughts
On January 17, 1912 Captain Scott successfully led his team to the South Pole. Edward Wilson, trapped with Scott in a final, fatal blizzard, penned these words to his wife: “Do not be unhappy. All is for the best. We are playing a good part in a great scheme arranged by God himself, and all is well.”
Genesis 23 similarly teaches us that Sarah’s death also plays a good part in a great scheme arranged by God himself. Did you notice that Genesis 23 is an insertion? Genesis 22 finished with reference to the family of Abraham’s brother, Nahor. Genesis 24 is about Abraham sending out his servant to Nahor’s family to bring back a wife for Isaac and this turns out to be none other than Rebekah. So wouldn’t it make more sense to introduce this story with the verses we find at the end of Genesis 22, concerning the 12 sons both to Abraham’s brother, Nahor, but highlighting Rebekah amongst all that testosterone. Instead, Moses chooses to insert Genesis 23. Why?
There are three things to focus on in Genesis 23:
1. The Death of Sarah
2. The Depth of Grief
3. The Dearth of Land
The Death of Sarah
First, up till now the primary focus has been upon the working out of God’s purposes through Abraham and Sarah. But the moment God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac the focus changed. The primary focus is now upon the working out of God’s purposes through Isaac. The death of Sarah underscores this. The unique marriage relationship between Abraham and Sarah was crucial to the outworking of God’s purpose. It should never have been sullied by Abraham having sex with Hagar. As we look to the future, the working out of God’s purpose through Isaac similarly requires the creation of a unique and protected marriage relationship. So Genesis 23, by emphasising Sarah’s death and burial, is enabling us to refocus. Another unique and God-protected marriage relationship, namely between Isaac and Rebekah, is about to come into being.
There is a second reason for the insertion of Genesis 23. It has to do with where God’s people belong. Anthropologists have spoken of hominids going back perhaps 2 million years. Forget that. Go back to Genesis 2 and the time when God created the first human who would share his image and likeness. As a potter fashions a beautiful glazed pot out of clay so, “the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” This is figurative language that doesn’t tell us anything about the actual biological process God used. Perhaps you may read it literally. Whatever, the key point is that “the LORD God formed Adam from Adamah.” Adamah is the word for the ground, the earth and “Adam” represents all human beings. We are all earthlings; made from the earth and belongingto the earth.
If you’ll excuse the pun, where on earth am I going with all this? Not only our origin, but also our physical disintegration in death, merging back into the earth, underscores where we belong. You may have heard about the famous conductor who visited Beethoven’s grave. As he stood there he heard this strange discordant noise emanating from the tomb. He suddenly realised that this was in fact Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony being played backwards. Yes, it was the sound of Beethoven decomposing. As God puts it in Genesis 3:19: “dust you are and to dust you will return.” We are earthlings. Sarah died. Where does Sarah belong? It will not do for her to be buried just anywhere on the face of the earth. Over the years, Abraham would have buried some deceased members of his sizable entourage outside the borders of Canaan, for example, in Egypt. But Sarah MUST be buried in Canaan, not in ancestral burial grounds in Ur of the Chaldeans or anywhere else, for Canaan is the sphere in which God promised to create this new humanity. The phrase “land of Canaan” in verse 2 happens to be the seventh use of this phrase in Genesis and, given the importance of the number seven in Scripture, this may well be intended to underscore the significance of Sarah’s death in Canaan.
Sarah belongs to the new humanity. Abraham and Sarah didn’t know that the formation of the nation of Israel living in Canaan was just phase one. God always had a bigger game plan - the creation of a new heavens and a new earth ruled over by an image-bearing new humanity made up of people from every tribe, language, people and nation.
So, there are two reasons why Genesis 23 is inserted. First, because it’s the time to refocus and, second, because Canaan is the place Sarah belongs, just as we, as God’s people, with resurrected bodies, belong to a new earth reunited with heaven.
Once I told a joke to my wife as she was in labor. I thought I did a good job telling the joke but she told me to focus on the delivery.
Let’s focus on the delivery, the new reality that follows on from Sarah. Note how Genesis 22 ends with stress on Rebekah and Genesis 24 make Rebekah the central focus. We need to avoid being so fixated on Sarah that we fail to see that Genesis 23 is paving the way for Rebekah to take over from where Sarah leaves off. That’s why immediately before Genesis 23 Rebekah’s name is singled out among Nahor’s 12 sons. This not only anticipates the future12 tribes of Israel, but that God already a wife lined up for Isaac. Sarah has died. Soon there will be a complete changing of the guard. But God already has the future firmly under his control.
The Depth of Grief
In the last chapter Abraham thought that the son he loved so greatly was about to die. Now he faces the reality that the woman he has loved so greatly, the woman with whom he has shared his life for over 100 years, has died. This chapter treasures the memory of Sarah: the only woman in the Bible whose death is recorded and whose age at death is noted.
A desperate husband goes into a police station. Breathlessly, he reports, “My wife has gone missing. She went shopping yesterday and she still has not come home!”
Cop: How tall is she?
Husband: I'm not sure. A little over five foot four, one and a half metres.
Cop: How much does she weigh?
Husband: Don't know. She’s not slim, but she’s also not really fat.
Cop: What’s the colour of her eyes?
Husband: Sort of brown I think. I’ve never really noticed.
Cop: What colour is her hair?
Husband: She dyes it sometimes. I think it’s dark brown now, but I can’t remember.
Cop: What was she wearing when she went missing?
Husband: It might have been pants, or maybe a skirt or even possibly shorts. I don't know exactly.
Cop: What kind of car did she go in?
Husband: She went in my car.
Cop: What kind of car was it?
Husband: A silver 2023 Audi A6 Sedan. It’s the 55 TFSI quattro S line, with a 6-cylinder petrol engine. It has HD Matrix LED highlights and a panoramic glass sunroof with tinted glass, a Bang & Olufseen 3D Sound System including 16 loudspeakers and 15-channel amplifier with a total output of 705 watts. Do you want me to tell you more about the vehicle.
By this stage, the husbands is struggling to hold back his sobs.
Seeing this the cop said, “Sir, don’t worry. We'll find your car!
Many observe that mourning over Sarah’s death only takes up the first two verses and see the rest of the chapter as about how Abraham comes to possess part of the promised land. I beg to differ. Abraham is very focused on the fact that he has just lost the love of his life. His focus is on her and to the extent that attention is given to Abraham’s purchase of the land it is as an expression of how greatly he treasured her and wants to ensure she is given a very special burial.
The phrase “bury my dead”, “bury your dead”, occurs seven times in this chapter. Abraham requests the Hittites, “Sell me some property for a burial site so I can bury my dead” (v4). They reply, “None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead” (v6). Abraham asks the Hittites to intercede for him with Ephron: “Ask him to sell [the cave of Machpelah {mack-pea-lā] to me for the full price as a burial site among you” (v9). Ephron responds, “I give [the field and the cave in it] to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead” (v11). Abraham agrees to pay the price of the field: “Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there” (v12). Ephron invites Abraham to pay the price he is asking for the field and land and says, “Bury your dead” (v15). The chapter concludes:“Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site” (vv19-20). In Genesis 23 Abraham doesn’t buy land so he can possess at least part of the promised land. This is a man in grief, mourning and weeping over the death of his wife.
To Abraham Sarah’s death is like no other. She is extra-special and he wants to make sure he has a very special burial place for this woman who, with all her flaws, was so utterly precious to him. Husbands, treasure your wives and wives your husbands until death do us part.
As a young man in NZ I had a girlfriend who was a head nurse in a major hospital. She had a particular concern for the terminally ill. She’d get very upset if any nurse failed to treat the body of a deceased person with dignity and respect. In Genesis 23 we see Abraham honouring his much-loved wife, treating her dead body with great dignity and providing her with her own special burial place. The Hittites tell Abraham, “You are a mighty prince among us”, that is, “a prince of God”. The name Sarah means ‘princess.’ Sarah was Abraham’s princess and Abraham treats her as royalty in her death. As verse 9 indicates, Abraham paid “the full price”, a phrase which we also find in Old Babylonian contracts and which means it will now be beyond any question that this land is fully owed by Abraham. So important is it to provide Sarah with a resting place that will never be violated, that he pays an exorbitant price for Ephron’s field and cave, 400 shekels of silver. Later Jeremiah also buys a field in the promised land and only pays 17 shekels of silver for it. When David insists on paying the full price for the threshing floor of Araunah and his oxen, on which the temple was built, he only paid 50 shekels of silver (2 Sam 24:24). So, we can be pretty certain that Ephron is exploiting the situation and ripping Abraham off. No doubt Ephron would have justified his raising of the burial cost on the cost of living. But Abraham is not interested in bartering. He doesn’t care what the price is. What matters is finding a special place to bury his wife.
The Dearth of Land
We have looked at the death of Sarah and the depth of Abraham’s grief. Lastly, we need to come to grips with the dearth or scarcity of land Abraham ends up possessing in the land God promised him.
A major theme of the Abraham narratives is that of listening. God commanded Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you” (12:1). He showedremarkable faith in obeying this command. But he didn’t fully listen. He was told to leave his father’s household. But we read: “Abram left, as the LORD had told him”, Later unnecessary conflict and suffering results when Abraham ‘listened’ to the voice of his wife, like Adam listened to Eve. Genesis 22 concludes with God throwing wide open the gates of blessing to the whole world. Why? God tells Abraham it is because you have listened to me. So, it’s significant that in Genesis 23 the word “listen” is used repeatedly. When Abraham requests a burial site from the Hittites they respond, “Sir, listen to us” (v5). Abraham responds asking them to listen to him (v8). Ephron pipes us, saying to Abraham, “Listen to me” (v11). Abraham responds, “Listen to me” (v12). Ephron responds again, “Listen to me, my lord.” Ultimately, it’s Abraham who listens to Ephron rather than the other way round. BUT this is all in the providence of God. Abraham bought this burial site simply as a place to bury his deeply cherished wife. But it also becomes the burial place for himself when he dies and for Isaac and for Jacob. In God’s providence it becomes a symbol of the fact that Abraham has genuine rights not only to this particular piece of property within the land but to the entire land of Canaan. So, it turns out that, given the providence of God, when Abraham listens to the Hittites and listens to Ephron it is as if he is listening to God himself. Some wit said, “Show me where Stalin is buried and I will show you a communist plot.” Show me where Sarah is buried and I will show you God’s plot or plan. For God was working out his own good purpose as Abraham listened to Ephron, even though it involves the probable injustice of being charged an exorbitant amount.
In Genesis 23 the location of Sarah’s tomb in Hebron is clearly important. Notice how the chapter is enveloped by the words “that is, Hebron” in verse 2 and “which is at Hebron” in verse 19. Today, the location of this burial site, the Hebron highlands, where Abraham probably camped in summer to escape the heat, causesgreat tension between Jews and Muslims. Muslims also venerate Abraham. There is a site claimed to be the Cave of Machpelah, often called the Cave of the Patriarchs, which makes Hebron the second most important city in Israel. Jews regularly make pilgrimage to this site. Muslims make their own claim to this burial ground calling it Ibrahimi (Abraham’s) Mosque or Abraham’s Holy Site. Similarly, Buddhists make pilgrimage to various locations to venerate the relics of the Buddha and other venerated figures, housed in what are called stupas. Hindus and Muslims similarly make pilgrimages to the shrines of venerated persons.
Abraham never intended for this place of burial to be treated as a sacred site. Indeed, in verse 4 and verse 8 there is an important phrase which is often left untranslated. It is the phrase “out of my sight.” So, in verse 4 Abraham says, “Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead OUT OF MY SIGHT.” Again, in verse 8 he says, “If you are willing to let me bury my dead OUT OF MY SIGHT.” In Isaiah 51:1-2 we read: “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth.” Not merely Abraham, but Sarah too, must be remembered as integral to the way God began this wonderful work of creating a New Humanity. Abraham certainly did not want this burial place to be treated as a sacred site or place of pilgrimage. He simply wanted Sarah’s body to be put aside in a dignified and appropriate manner, out of sight.
We learn about the cult of the dead from textsunearthed in the ancient port city of Ugarit in1928. The deceased were often buried beneath their homes. The surviving family, believing the nephesh (‘soul’) of the deceased was still present, hoped to please their dead ancestors by offering them food and drink – all to ensure the wellbeing of the family and the fertility of their crops. Likewise, the Canaanites evidently had their own version of ancestor worship.
Von Rad astutely observes, “The surprising number of regulations against the cult of the dead and the rites pertaining to it [in the OT] allow of the conclusion that a particularly bitter warfare was waged against it, as a cult which offered special temptations to ancient people.” Abraham speaks of wanting a burial place for Sarah that is “out of sight.” This serves an implicit polemic against the cult of the dead as practised by Canaanites. In Isaiah 65:4, the extent to which God’s people later took on Canaanite cultic practices is indicated when God reproves his people describing them as people “who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil.”
God promised to bless others through Abraham. TheCanaanites have experienced this. For example, it was Abraham who recovered all the people and plunder taken by the invading kings of Genesis 14. When the Hittites hail him as a “prince of God” this may imply Abraham had acted like a regional governor. Over a long period Abraham had achieved considerable status in the society of his day. He was respected for the role he played as a wise and good leader. Abraham introduces himself to them, saying, “I am an alien and a stranger among you” (v4). Abraham had no ancestral rights in Canaan itself. Itis only because, in God’s providence, that he has achieved such high status that the Hittites would even consider enabling him to acquire land for any purpose.
When Abraham requests a burial site, they respond, “None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead” (v5). They assume Abraham won’t mind having his wife’s remains placed alongside the remains of Hittites. For future Jewish readers, separation from other peoples is fundamental. They would readily understand why Abraham needs a distinct burial place solely for the burial of his wife.
In Genesis 14, the king of Sodom offered to give all the plunder to Abraham. He replied, “…I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’” Similarly, Abraham pays an exorbitant price for the field and land, so that no-one could possibly say that Abraham didn’t have full rights to claim this land as his own and so no Canaanite could claim to have enriched Abraham.
Genesis 23 signals a major transition from one great matriarch, Sarah, to another, Rebekah. But the progenitors of Israel, both Abraham and Sarah, belong to the land God has given them. So, Sarah must be buried in Canaan and it is because Abraham treasured Sarah so greatly that he is prepared to pay any price to secure for her a special burial place. In listening to the Hittites and Ephron, Abraham is effectively listening to God, since it is God in his providence who provides this foothold in the land of Canaan, one in which other patriarchs will also be buried.
Finally, we come to the great irony of this passage. The Hittites speak of giving Abraham the burial site he wants. When Ephron becomes involved, he similarly tells him, “I will GIVE you the field, and I GIVE you the cave that is in it. I GIVE it to you in thepresence of my people” (v11). It’s ironic that the Hittites talk of giving this land to Abraham, because God had already promised Abraham: “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to GIVE you this land to take possession of it” (15:7). The Hittites mistakenly think the land is theirs to give. In reality it already all belongs to Abraham. For, as Psalm 24:1 states, “The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” It is doubly ironic that Abraham should be an “alien and stranger” in a land that already belongs to him. It was even more ironic that Jesus should be treated as if he did not belong to the world he himself created. We too are aliens and strangers in this world. We are earthlings and though God’s people will often encounter rejection in this world is to God’s people alone that his earth truly belongs. As Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” We read: (Heb 11:9-10). The “the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” is the heavenly Jerusalem which will one day descend at the time when a new heaven and a new earth is brought into being. Then it will be said: “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Rev 21:3). It is then that we will truly feel what it means for this world to really be our true home, the home we will share with our God for ever more.