Abraham bought the burial site
Genesis 23
Good morning. Happy Sunday. Thank you for your prayers for my trip to L.A. As you know, I attended the North America UBF staff conference last week. The theme of the conference was “have faith in God”. It was very inspiring and challenging. The host people said there was heavy rain early last week in L.A. By faith, they had prayed for good weather. On Wednesday, the rain stopped, and the weather was very good. At the last session, all of the attendees were asked to pray for one thing: to raise spiritual leaders for the world and for future generations. Here, all of you are to be the spiritual leaders. May God use Delaware UBF to raise many spiritual leaders for God’s kingdom.
In chapter 22, we learned God tested Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac as a burnt offering. Without hesitation, he offered Isaac to God. Then, God said, “now I know that your fear God”. After that, he provided one lamb for the burnt offering. Abraham called the place, “Jehovah-Yireh”, the LORD WILL PROVIDE. In today’s passage, Sarah died. Abraham had to find the burial site for her. You know, finding a good burial site in a short time is very stressful. Several years ago, when my mother passed away, my sister had some trouble in finding a good place for my dead mother. But in this passage, even though we do not see the name of God, but we will see how God provided Abraham to purchase a burial site very smoothly. Also, we are going to learn how Abraham had a sense of history through paying the full price to have the burial site.
Part 1. Sarah died.
In verse 1 and 2, Sarah lived 127 years and died. Who was she? She was Abraham’s wife. She lived an idol worshipping life. She was very beautiful. She was rich as her husband was rich. It seemed she had a very good life. However, there was one big problem in her life; she was barren, she could not have a baby. It was a shame and disgrace to her.
But, God was gracious to her. He took her and Abraham out of idol worship life and led them to the mission land: the land of Canaan. He promised her that she would have a son Isaac. She waited patiently, yes, one time she did a mistake, she could not wait that she gave her slave woman Hagar to her husband. Yet, God was merciful to her. He even changed her name Sarai (princess – looking for man’s love and sweet home) to Sarah (a mother of many nations). She grew spiritually. In the end, at God’s right time, she gave birth to a son Isaac. And after that, she has helped Abraham and her son Isaac to grow as the men of God. Now at her age 127, she died.
During the conference in LA, Liz Hembekides shared her testimony. She had a problem. But she could not solve it by herself. But Jesus saved her and helped her overcome her sinful life. She and her husband grew spiritual leaders for college students. Their house was always full of young hungry and thirsty college students. The students stayed long, sometimes, they did not go to their homes. She did not have much privacy. Yet, she said she was thankful that God used her to help young people to grow as the men of God. She also said through her little sacrifice to Jesus, it is blessing to see how students get to know who God is personally and her husband growing in the image of Jesus.
Back in verse 1, Sarah’s death reminds us of what kind of life we should live on. We have only one life. Everyone will die. If we know our end, the question is how we should live in this world? Sarah is a good model: knowing God personally, living a meaningful and beautiful life for God. In college, I did not know about God at all. One day, I was invited to my friend’s birthday party. Until 4am, we were crazy in drinking and dancing. But the next day, I injured my left ankle while I was playing basketball. I was taken to E.R. While I was waiting for a doctor, out of nowhere, I began to think about, ‘last night, I was wild in dancing and drinking, now, I am on ER bed, I cannot go to bathroom by myself. Anything can happen to me, even death suddenly’. The thought of death helped me begin to think about something meaningful life. But I did not know what it was. God humbled my heart. Then, couple weeks later, a friend of mine invited me to a bible study on campus and now I am here, living the most meaningful life for God’s glory.
Part 2. Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah.
In verse 2, Abraham wept over his dead wife Sarah. In the Middle East, the weather is hot and the dead body decays fast. So, he had to find a place to bury her quickly.
In verse 3, he spoke to the Hittites, “I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.” Abraham said he is a foreigner. He was literally a stranger among the Hittites in terms of his race. But he was also spiritually a foreigner. The Hittites did not believe God. They had secular culture. He lived among them. Yet, he was not melted in their culture. He did not follow their trend. Instead, he followed God. He followed God’s commands. He sought godly culture and goldy trend. He maintained his spiritual identity as God’s people. now, he asked them to sell him some property for a burial site.
We are wondering why he did not have any land for him and his family at that time. He was greatly rich. If he wished, he could own many lands. Yet, he did not possess any land yet. Of course, he did not stay at one place but kept moving here and there to take care of sheep and cattle. Here, also, he was looking for only a burial site, not the land. Hebrews 11:9-10 explains about his life. It says, By faith he 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. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith, he lived in tents. He was ready to move to any place when God would tell him to do so. He put his hope in God. He put his hope in the kingdom of God. The worldly possessions did not matter to him at all.
Look at verse 5. When Abraham asked the Hittites to sell some property, they responded Abraham, “Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.” They said to Abraham, You are a mighty prince among us. even though Abraham just said, ‘I am foreigner and stranger among you”. In their eyes, he was not just a foreigner. He was a mighty prince. He was somebody. He was influential and powerful among them. He was a spiritual leader. Here mighty in Hebrew, “Elohim”. Elohim means God almighty. So, from the eyes of the Hittites, Abraham was a prince of Elohim God. Though they did not believe God, but they saw God in his life. They saw that God was with him and God had his back.
How could Abraham receive such a title? Because he was faithful to God. He lived a life of obedience. In Genesis 12, when God told him to leave his father’s household and go to the land God would show him, he obeyed God, even if he did not know where he was going. In chapter 21, When God commanded him to get rid of his first son Ishmael, he did. In last week’s passage, when God told him to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering to God, without hesitation, he offered his son to God. The Hittites must have heard what Abraham did for God. They found Abraham was sincere and serious to God. They were afraid of him. They respected him. When Abraham honored God through his life, God honored him among the unbelievers.
At the conference, pastor Teddy Hembekides, the husband of Liz, shared his testimony as well. After college graduation, while he was praying about his life direction, he received Genesis 12:2,3. He got God’s calling to be a blessing to young people. but at first time, he did not want to obey God’s calling. He just wanted to be a regular Sunday Christian. However, after many prayers, he decided to put his trust in God and to live as a blessing. Then, He lived like a foreigner and stranger in America even though he is an American. people began to see his life. Many hungry and thirsty campus students came to him, have fellowship, and listen to the words of God. He was honored and respected like the prince of God among many people. You want honor and respect from people? right? Honor God, serve him faithfully. God promised he will honor those who honor him.
Look at verse 6, the Hittites told Abraham to choose the choicest of their tombs to bury Sarah. They were very generous to him. In verse 7, he rose and bowed down before them again. In the middle of sorrow, he was thankful to their favor to him. But in this verse, one thing that stood out is that even if he was 137 years old, he bowed down before the people. It shows his humility. How could he be so humble at the very old age? Because he was humble before God. He received God’s training for long years. Thus, He became a man of humility. When he was humble before God, then, the same attitude, he was able to be humble before men too. It is the same attitude. If anyone is arrogant before men, 100%, he will be arrogant before God. But if anyone is humble before God, 100%, he will be humble before men too.
In verse 8-10, though Abraham received an offer to bury Sarah one of the caves, he asked them to sell the cave of Machpelah owned by Ephron with full price. While he was talking about the deal, Ephron, the owner of the cave, was among them. He said to Abraham, I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Ephron was willing to give the cave and the land freely. But Abraham insisted on paying the full price to purchase the land.
So, in the end, Ephron asked the price of 400 shekels of silver. Abraham did not negotiate to buy the land cheaper. Instead, he paid the full price to purchase the burial site. Then, in verse 17, it was deeded to Abraham. Deed means a legal document signed and sealed and delivered to effect a transfer of property and to show the legal right to possess it.“ Legally the burial site belonged to Abraham.
His paying the full price for the burial site teaches us two things. One is when we serve God, there is a cost. We cannot serve God with free of charge. In 2 Samuel 24, David wanted to build an altar to the Lord at one place. But the place belonged to Araunah the Jebusite. When Araunah knew David’s intention, he told him to take whatever he wished for free. But David replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” He did not want to worship God through someone’s money. Instead, he wanted to pay the cost from his own pocket. The Bible says, “where the treasure is, there your heart will be also”. Because of such an attitude toward God, later David was known for a man after God’s own heart.
Second, as Abraham purchased the burial site through paying the full price, Jesus bought us through paying the full price. 1 Peter 1:19 says, You were bought with the precious blood of Christ’s death. He was a pure and perfect sacrificial Lamb. God could save us by any means, even not by sacrificing his own son. However, he sent his son Jesus in this world that Jesus shed his blood to pay for our sins. He paid the full price on the cross to purchase us. Because he bought us with his blood, now we belong to him. We are God’s possession. We are deeded, sealed through the Holy Spirit to God. Praise Jesus our Savior and Lord!
Look at verse 19, Abraham buried Sarah in the cave of Machpelah in land of Canaan. Here, ‘In the land of Canaan’, is emphasized twice in this chapter. Sarah died in the land of Canaan. Abrahma buried her in the land of Canaan. The land of Canaan was not the land where they lived. It was the land God called them to live: it was their mission land. God promised Abraham that after 430 years later, his offspring would come out of Egypt and take possession of the Canaan land as their own property. In history, the cave of Machpelah was the landmark of Israel. Abraham was buried there later. Isaac and Rebecah were buried too. Jacob buried his wife Leah, and he was buried in the cave. As God promised, 430 years later, when Israel came back to Canaan, the bones of Joseph was buried in the cave too. When we consider all these things, we can see how Abraham had a sense of history about the land of Canaan. He believed that God would give the land to his descendants. So, he secured the right of the land through paying the full price even though it was just the burial site. Like him, we need to have a sense of history about God’s work: what he is doing through me now, how my act of faith impact upon me and future generations.
In conclusion, in this chapter, we do not see a word of God, but behind this story, we can see how ‘Jehovah-Jireh’, provided Abraham to purchase the burial site very smoothly for Sarah. It was God’s hidden hands behind all processes. Through this message, one thing I learned is that it is important to achieve our goal (like graduate school, get a job, get a good GPA, or register a campus club) but it is more important to experience God’s provisions or his hands in each step through paying the cost. We need to continue to experience the LORD WILL PROVIDE. Next week, in chapter 24, we will see how God provided Isaac his wife Rebeccah. May God bless us to have a sense of history. May God bless us to pay the cost to grow as spiritual leaders for the glory of God.