Genesis 23:1-20
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.
Abraham honored his wife who died at one hundred and twenty-seven years old in Hebron in Canaan. He mourned her death and wept at the loss of her on the earth, making us wonder what he believed about the afterlife as Job had so eloquently and prophetically written (Job 19:25-27) for us to read with hope in the midst of sorrow and loss. Abraham was a stranger in a strange land which he knew by faith was promised to him (Genesis 17:8) as a future inheritance. Because of this promise and hope he asked to buy a burial plot for his beloved in that land which was not yet his or his descendants, much like how the patriarchs also looked past that promise to a heavenly country (Hebrews 11:16) by that same faith as an afterlife also by a promise, though veiled to him and them and made more clearly manifest to us now in Christ Jesus the promised Messiah. Abraham was honored among the people of the land he temporarily lived in and was offered any place he chose for free. He asked for the cave of Machpelah owned by Ephron at the end of that man’s field, but would not take it for that which cost him nothing (2 Samuel 24:24, 1 Chronicles 21:24) but at the full valuation of its worth to honor the LORD as an honored offering as well as for honoring his dead to give the memory its full value. He paid the full asking price for the cave as a tomb and the surrounding land to Ephron to honor and remember the life of his wife and the LORD for his faithfulness. He therefore received the deed for the land as the first step in inheriting the entire land of Canaan as promised by the LORD by paying the price. This was a tangible foothold on the promised land to Abraham by the LORD to comfort his loss and assure him of what was to come for all blessed through his trust of faith in God’s promises and work on his behalf and that of all his descendants of the same faith that takes God at His word. We who have the fullness of the gospel mystery (Romans 16:25, 1 Corinthians 2:7, 15:51, Ephesians 3:9, Colossians 1:26-27) unfolded to us in Christ have this same eternal assurance of comfort in loss and expectation of the heavenly promised land to come. Our weeping tears and sorrow will be wiped away at last (Revelation 21:4) as we no longer have to mourn our dead out of sight with their bodies lying in a cold tomb. We honor our dead in Christ because we will see them alive again in new ever-living bodies and He honors us in our trusting faith that He will raise us all to be united in eternity with Him and them. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
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