Genesis 23
Possession in the Promised Land

1. Sarah Dies, Not Having Received the Promises
   1. She Dies in Faith, having heard and believed the promises of God
      1. She dies in faith, having heard and believed the promises of God
      2. She rejoiced to see Isaac, her child, the seed of Abraham born
         1. For in Isaac she saw, as one afar off, the fulfillment of God's promise that in the seed of Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed.
         2. In Isaac she saw, as a reflection in a dim mirror, the birth of Christ, the hope of all the earth.
         3. She rejoiced to see Christ's day, and she saw it, if only in a shadow, and was glad.
      3. She fought to attain for Isaac the full inheritance rights
         1. Ishmael, the work of Abraham's flesh, would not be co-inheritor with her son, the child of promise.
         2. Ishmael may inherit another land; he may become a mighty prince somewhere else. She does not begrudge him that at all.
         3. But this land was given to her son Isaac as an eternal inheritance, a picture and a shadow of the heavenly kingdom.
         4. What is the rest of the world in comparison to that?
         5. In faith she valued the land because it preached the gospel to her son, that here he would enjoy God's favor and blessing. Here he would dwell with God in fellowship forever.
         6. So in desiring this land for her son, she desires not real estate, but a better country, that is a heavenly one.
         7. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called her God because he is preparing just such a country for Abraham and Isaac and Sarah.
   2. But Still, She Dies
      1. She dies in faith, but still she dies, not having received the promise or seen it fulfilled.
      2. When she dies, her husband is still a stranger and a foreigner in this land; he owns none of it.
         1. The closest he comes to ownership is acknowledgment from Abimelech that he dug a certain well and therefore has exclusive rights to draw water from it.
         2. We said at the time that this was Abraham's first toehold in the land.
         3. But this does not even make him a landowner, really, in the land God had promised him.
      3. Isaac had been promised this land as an inheritance, but Abraham has not gained the inheritance by the time Sarah dies; so how can he leave it to Isaac?
      4. She dies in faith not knowing how God will fulfill his promise.
      5. She dies in Hebron, in the land of Canaan, the text emphasizes. She dies in the Promised Land.
      6. And what good then were all the promises if she cannot live to see them but must go down to the grave?
      7. In that day her plans perish and her purposes come to nothing.
      8. How can this be resolved but by a resurrection of the dead?
2. Abraham Attempts to Acquire Land
   1. Abraham's First Attempt (3-6)
      1. Abraham too understands the importance of this land, this shadow of the eternal heavenly inheritance.
      2. Understanding this, how can he ship Sarah's body back to Haran, back to the country where his family dwells to be buried there?
         1. God made no promises concerning Haran.
         2. To bury Sarah outside the Promised Land would be to confess that death has triumphed over the promises of God.
         3. His promises may be fulfilled to Sarah's descendants; but for her it is too late. Death prevents God from being faithful to his word.
      3. Abraham wants to bury Sarah in the Promised land to confess his faith in the promises of God
         1. Even death itself cannot keep God from fulfilling his promises
         2. Abraham has seen this, has he not?
            1. Was not Isaac born to him when he was as good as dead? Yet the Lord opened Sarah's womb and brought life from the dead.
            2. Was not Isaac given back to Abraham as one alive from the dead on that hill in Moriah, a hill later to be called Calvary?
            3. Abraham went there in faith to sacrifice Isaac, knowing that God could bring Isaac back even from the dead. And he received Isaac back that day as a picture of the resurrection of the dead.
         3. So now he must bury his wife in the land of promise, confessing that God can bring her back even from the dead.
            1. These silent lips shall sing again the praises of God who is faithful to keep all her promises.
            2. She will share in the blessing offered to Abraham through his seed and hers. For she too is a woman of faith.
         4. She died in this land, waiting in faith for the promises.
         5. Abraham will bury her in this land, waiting for the promise of life to be fulfilled.
      4. Being buried in the land is a testimony that Sarah died in faith. Abraham as well will be buried in the land. And Isaac. And Jacob. Joseph, the son of Jacob, will die in Egypt. But it will seem so important to him to be buried in the Promised Land that he will instruct the children of Israel to carry his bones back to that place when they return. More than 400 years will pass before his wish is carried out.
      5. So he spoke to the sons of Heth (Hittites) who owned the area in which Sarah died and asks to become a property owner.
      6. "I am a foreigner and a visitor among you," he confesses
         1. I.e. I am a traveler, I own no land.
         2. I am dependent upon the kindness of others to let me pass by on public roads and pitch my tent in public areas.
         3. But of all this vast area, there is nothing I can call my own, nothing I can leave to my son when I die.
      7. "Give me property" (v. 4)
         1. Let me become a landowner among you.
         2. Let me have a place that I can call my own with full property rights to pass down to my descendants as an inheritance.
         3. Change my status so that I will no longer be a foreigner and visitor among you but a resident.
      8. "that I may bury my dead"
         1. Give me with this property full rights as an owner
         2. Let me use my property as a burial place for my dead.
      9. The Sons of Heth do not respond to the first request, but they do give him the right to bury his dead.
         1. They speak to him very respectfully: "Hear us, my Lord: You are a mighty prince (lit. a prince of God) among us…."
         2. You are not a stranger and a foreigner at all
         3. We recognize your unique relationship with the Lord your God and the status that gives you as a mighty prince in this land.
         4. Use one of our burial places. No one will withhold his best grave from you.
         5. Thus, they speak pretty words to him, but deny the most important part of his request - that he become a landowner.
      10. Still, Abraham has gained something, the right to bury his dead in the land.
          1. This is necessary if he is to confess his hope in the promises of God attached to this land and his hope of the resurrection so that Sarah will see and enjoy the fulfillment of those promises.
          2. But he wants to be able to pass this grave on to Isaac and have Isaac pass it down to his son until his descendants do possess the land. That would be a full confession of his faith that God will indeed give this land to his descendants.
   2. Abraham's Second Attempt (7-11)
      1. Abraham stands up and bows
         1. He acknowledges the immense honor that they have done him by granting a stranger and foreigner burial rights
         2. Only his faith in the promise of God makes him bold to ask for more.
      2. If you really want me to bury my dead, let me own the land
         1. Mediate between me and Ephron, son of Zohar, and convince him to sell me some land
         2. Let me buy the Machpelah cave which he owns (9)
            1. Not sure what "Machpelah" means.
            2. It's not the name of the owner (which is Ephron, son of Zohar)
            3. It may be the name of the region
            4. Or it may mean "The double cave"
            5. Whether that's the case or not Abraham clearly desires to have a large enough burial place to accommodate not only Sarah but himself and Isaac and all his descendants who will die in faith waiting for the promises.
         3. The cave is at the edge of his property
            1. Abraham emphasizes that his purchase will not be an inconvenience.
            2. It will not involve him in trespassing Ephron's boundaries to get to his own property
         4. Give it to me at the full price.
            1. Let there be witnesses that I have not been merely granted the use of this property
            2. I want it clear before all that I am the owner.
            3. Thus Abraham patiently persists in expressing his faith that God will give him this whole land as an inheritance.
            4. He wants to buy a small corner of it as a testimony of that faith.
            5. And that small corner will provoke him to greater faith when he reflects that God has promised him the whole land.
      3. Ephron speaks in the presence of witnesses
         1. He wants to be equally clear about what this transaction entails
         2. No, my Lord, hear me. I give you the field and the cave in it. I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I give it to you. Bury your dead!
      4. Three times, he repeats the word "give."
         1. What could be better? Abraham has a chance to save a little money.
         2. What provokes this generosity on Ephron's part?
         3. Well, it's not entirely generosity. He certainly wants to accommodate this mighty prince among them, but not at the expense of signing away his property rights in perpetuity.
         4. Thus he "gives" the land to Abraham, but not as "property." Abraham cannot pass this land down to his descendants.
         5. Rather, Abraham is to have the use of the land while he lives, and that is indeed a gift!
         6. But when Abraham dies, the rights revert to Ephron and to his descendants.
         7. This is still not the arrangement Abraham seeks.
   3. Abraham's Third Attempt and Success (12-16)
      1. Abraham again bows, low this time. He has been greatly honored.
      2. It is only his esteem for the promises of God attached to this land that make him bold to ask a third time for what they have been so reluctant to give.
      3. He again attempts a transaction in front of all the people that they may be witnesses to his ownership.
      4. He begs Ephron to hear him. I will give you money for the field. I want to buy it. I want the deed in my name. I will pay what it is worth.
      5. Finally, Ephron agrees
         1. He mentions a price, almost embarrassed, 400 shekels (15)
         2. 400 shekels! 100 pounds of silver.
            1. Later David will pay only an eighth of that (50 shekels) to buy a site on which to build the most glorious earthly temple ever built
            2. Even later, the prophet Jeremiah will pay 17 shekels for an entire field.
            3. And this joker wants 400 shekels for a burial site?
               • He is, of course, offering the field that comes with the burial site.
               • But then it's clear he's offering a package deal and Abraham can't get off cheaply simply by buying the cave.
               • The price is steep indeed.
      6. Abraham doesn't even flinch.
      7. He doesn't bargain, he doesn't haggle. He pays.
      8. He pays in the hearing of the sons of Heth so that it is clear that legal title now passes to Abraham in perpetuity.
      9. And Ephron goes off whistling a merry tune, confident that he has gotten the better of the deal.
      10. The fool! He has sold heaven!
      11. Only Abraham knows how to value this land at its proper value.
      12. Only Abraham knows that all the wealth of the world is nothing compared to the inheritance that God offers.
      13. What is 400 shekels indeed, when with it one can buy the kingdom of God and everlasting life?
      14. Let us follow in these footsteps of Abraham
          1. What are the goods of this world to us that we should not give them up for one another.
          2. What is wealth that we should not cheerfully cast it aside if only we may suffer with Christ and have fellowship one with another and each Lord's Day taste of his goodness and receive assurance that the kingdom is about to come?
3. Abraham the Landowner (17-20)
   1. Abraham Buries Sarah in Testimony of his Faith (19)
      1. He confesses by this that even death cannot separate him or his wife from the promises of God.
         1. God had promised blessing to Abraham and his seed in this very land. Yet he spent all his time in this land enduring hardship, owning none of it.
         2. Now Sarah is dead, and Abraham's first ownership of the land arises out of his need to bury the dead.
         3. It would seem she has lost out on any blessing the land had to offer.
      2. Forever! God had said he would give this land to Abraham and his seed forever.
         1. To this land was attached the promise of eternal life.
         2. Abraham does not have to lament as the Preacher in Ecclesiastes: "Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. ¹⁹And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity." (2.18,19)
         3. Somehow he himself will enjoy the promised inheritance along with a multitude of his descendants.
         4. He will rejoice to see the day of his salvation to eternal life and he will see it and be glad.
            1. He saw the shadow of that day when Isaac was born, the impossibly conceived and oh so necessary seed of Abraham.
            2. He will rejoice all the more to see the reality of that seed, the person of Christ.
         5. Thus he knows that even if he dies yet he shall live.
            1. He has seen the shadow of this in Isaac
               • For was not Isaac given to him from Sarah who was as good as dead? Isaac at his birth became the picture of life from the dead.
               • And was not Isaac given to him again as one alive from the dead when God told him to sacrifice Isaac?
            2. He will see the reality of that day in Christ who will actually be sacrificed and yet will rise again from the dead.
            3. And at the last day Abraham, having believed in God who can restore even the dead to life, will be raised by the power of Christ, never to die again.
            4. And all his children, those who share that faith, will rise again with him, made alive in Christ to everlasting life.
            5. This is what Abraham confesses when he buys this plot of land.
            6. This is what he confesses when he buries Sarah. She will rise again. And so will he.
      3. How much greater is your assurance, O Christian
         1. Christ has burst the gates of hell
         2. The stone has been rolled back
         3. Abraham had faith because the resurrection was pictured to him in Isaac
         4. Surely we shall much more believe now that Christ has been raised from the dead and ascended into heaven!
         5. Have no fear, death has already been conquered! Your Savior sits at God's right hand.
   2. Abraham Becomes a Landowner in the Promised Land (17,18,20)
      1. This is the real moral of the story
         1. We are told relatively little about Sarah's death, how Abraham mourned her, what burial clothes he dressed her in, or how he made his last farewells before rolling a stone across the mouth of the Machpelah cave.
         2. The way the Holy Spirit sums up the story is thus: "So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham by the osns of Heth as property for a burial place."
         3. This is what the story is about.
         4. The two verses before Sarah's burial reflect the same concern: Abraham legally owns the land in perpetuity.
      2. The acquisition of this land is so important that the death and burial of Sarah take second place and are mentioned incidentally to the main story.
      3. Abraham finally owns a piece of that land that was promised as an eternal inheritance to his seed forever.
      4. Having spent the past 62 years wandering about as a foreigner and a traveler in this land, he finally has this token of the promised inheritance to pass down to Isaac and to his children's children forever.
      5. He values the land more than all riches, for this is no mere material possession.
         1. Indeed, if all he wanted was an inheritance of real estate, he could have traveled back to Ur of the Chaldees where he was born or to Haran where his family currently lived.
         2. But those were mere earthly cities; God had attached no eternal promises to them.
         3. But to this inheritance was attached the promise of a lasting city coming down out of heaven as his dwelling place forever!
      6. It represents the fulfillment of all God's promises to him.
         1. The seed of Abraham will be born and be a blessing to the Gentiles and in him all the families of the earth will be blessed
         2. This land will be Abraham's forever, for it is a picture of that true country that God is preparing for Abraham and for all who like Abraham believe.
      7. Abraham believed and was glad to sacrifice worldly goods simply to own a picture of that heavenly country.
      8. But Christ, the seed of Abraham, has inherited the real thing.
      9. Abraham now owns a field in that inheritance.
      10. Christ owns it all and is a prince of God in the kingdom of heaven with all authority and power.
      11. Leave behind whatever you must, but take this as your inheritance.
      12. Despise the things of this world as idols and seek the Kingdom of God.
      13. If only you will understand, little lambs of God, the riches you have in Christ, will you not stop seeking the things of this world and valuing what the world values?
      14. Come. Though it cost you 100 pounds of silver, it costs nothing at all. Come and know that your inheritance is eternal. It is with God in Christ. No one can take it from you. Therefore forget what is behind and press on toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

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