Genesis Chapter 23
We never know when it will be our time that God will call us home. In this passage we read of the passing of Abraham’s beautiful wife Sarah. She and Abraham had lived together as husband and wife for many years. The only set-back in their marriage recorded in Scripture, is a season of lacking trust in God when they devised a plan to produce offspring by Abraham lying with the servant Hagar. When Abraham found that Sarah had passed, he did what was natural; he went in by her side to weep and to mourn. This woman had been the love of his life, and it is natural that he would shed tears over his loss.
It is never easy to lose someone that you love. God understands this and He wants to comfort us in these difficult times of life. God uses all different kinds of means to comfort people. He is a loving God that understands that our time of mourning will be different for each individual because He created us all to be different people, but all are created in His image. God understands our grief and our pain.
Let's Reflect
1. How old was Sarah when she passed?
2. Do we know the cause of her death?
3. In a culture that uses bartering for the purchase of land, Abraham asked the local people to give him a plot of land to bury Sarah. The intent was not for them to actually give him land at no cost, but that gesture would act as the announcement of Abraham’s desire to obtain or purchase a burial plot for Sarah. How did the Hittites respond to Abraham’s request for a plot of land to be “given” to him?
4. Abraham was interested in a particular plot of land. He was familiar with the cave of Machpelah because it was near the Terebinth or Oak Trees of Mamre where he and Sarah lived for a time. What price was Abraham willing to pay for the piece of land that included the cave he had in mind?
Genesis 13:18So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD.
5. Ephron the Hittite was in the town square and heard Abraham’s proposal to purchase his plot of land. But as was customary, he made a grand gesture that made himself look very generous. What did Ephron say?
6. Ephron knew that Abraham would counter and offer to pay money and so the bartering would begin. What amount did Ephron suggest would be a “small” price for his property? In reality it was probably a high price for the land.
7. Surprisingly, Abraham did not counter. What did he do instead?
8. The Bible records that Abraham lovingly buried his wife, Sarah. All throughout the account of Abraham and Sarah, she is named. She wasn’t just the wife of Abraham, she was Sarah. He didn’t just bury his dead, he buried his wife, Sarah. The place where she was buried is near where they had lived and where he had built an altar to God. This place has an important historical name. What is the name of this place?
