Beyond The Basics

Transcript:

Welcome to the Beyond the Basics Bible Study Podcast. My name is Dan Snyder and I am your host. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Beyond the Basics where we are exploring the Bible from Genesis to Revelation one chapter at a time.

Well this episode we’re going to be getting into Genesis chapter 23. If you remember last episode we discussed the sacrifice of Isaac. God had asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and then at the last minute stopped him and said, “Now I know that you fear God.”

So in this chapter we’re going to get into the death of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. She died at the age of 127.

So after Abraham mourned her death, he went to the Hittites to request a burial place. And the Hittites told him to bury Sarah in whatever tomb he chose. He could bury her anywhere. And so Abraham asked for the cave of Machpelah. And again, I apologize if my pronunciation there is completely off. But he asked for that cave, which was owned by Ephron, the son of Zohar, and offered to pay the full price. But Ephron refused payment. Abraham insisted, they negotiated and Abraham bought the cave and the field that it was in for 400 shekels of silver. Then Abraham buried Sarah there in that cave.

So a little bit shorter of a chapter, a little bit less intense than some of the more recent chapters, but let’s get into it.

So in verse one, the author tells us that Sarah lived 127 years. Sarah is actually the only woman in the Bible whose age is recorded. No other woman in the Bible are we told how long she lives, except for Sarah.

And the Bible actually shows a lot of respect for Sarah. We’ve talked about some of the things that Sarah did that was questionable and sometimes downright awful, but Sarah did a lot of really good things and showed a lot of faith. Hebrews 11:11 says: By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.

So Sarah had faith that the Lord would keep his promise because she recognized that God is faithful. And however much she doubted that that her own age would keep her from having children, she knew that God was faithful and she knew that God had made a promise. And so that faith, even though sometimes she struggled with it, that faith enabled her to conceive and have a son.

1 Peter 3:1-6 says: Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external – the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear – but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

So I know this is a little bit of a controversial passage here and I’m not going to get into the controversial part of it. I’m not going to get into wives be subject to your own husbands. I’m not going to get into the adorning part because that’s not my point right now. We’ll get into that when we get to 1 Peter chapter 3. We’ll definitely discuss it.

But for now, my point in reading this is to show how the Bible expects women to use Sarah as an example of how to relate to their husbands. It says, submitting to their own husbands as Sarah obeyed Abraham.

Now I’m sure if you read the text over the last several chapters, over the last ten chapters or so, Sarah didn’t always obey Abraham. So what is Peter saying here? He’s talking about the way Sarah addressed him, calling him Lord. He’s saying Sarah had a respect for Abraham. Sarah respected his word. She had a respect for his decisions. She did not undermine her husband. She didn’t talk bad about him behind his back. I think that’s what Peter is saying here, to use that as an example.

So Peter here holds up Sarah as an example of a godly wife that women should follow, married women should follow even though course Sarah wasn’t perfect in her own marriage.

And then Isaiah chapter 51:1-2 says, “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him.”

So again, the prophet Isaiah is saying, “Listen to me.” He’s saying, “Remember where you came from. Remember Abraham your father, remember Sarah your mother, look to their examples, look to his faith when I called him, because I promised to bless him and multiply him.”

Again, Isaiah is saying, “Look to Abraham, look to Sarah, they are your examples.”

So it’s not just Abraham that the Bible holds in high regard, it’s Sarah as well. Those are just a few examples.

So, in verse two it says Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. So in chapter 22 Abraham was in Beersheba, now he’s in Hebron with Sarah. So this indicates that he’s still living a nomadic lifestyle, which actually sets up the story in this chapter because Abraham doesn’t own land where he can bury her. And this tells us why, because he’s still moving around. He’s still a nomad.

So Abraham goes to the Hittites. He says, “I’m a sojourner and a foreigner among you.” And not just because he was from Ur of the Chaldeans, but Abraham understood that he was looking towards a greater reality. He knew he was more than just someone who was from the city of Ur living in the land of the Canaanites. He was looking toward another foreign land. He was looking towards a greater foreign land, a greater promise.

Hebrews 11 verses 9 through 10 says: By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

So he lived in the land of the promise, he lived in a foreign land, Hebrews tells us, living in tents, but he had a promise, and he was looking forward to that promise which was a city that has foundations built by God. He’s looking towards a city built by God, not by men.

And there is a city that’s built by God. Jesus told us that when he left, he was gonna go prepare a place for us. His father’s house has many rooms and he’s gonna go prepare a place for us. And when he comes back, he’s gonna bring that city with him. He’s gonna bring the New Jerusalem down, the city that was built by God.

We can identify with Abraham in this way because we’re also sojourners and foreigners and exiles. 1 Peter 2 verse 11 says: Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

We are sojourners and foreigners just like Abraham was. I am a native Minnesotan. I was born in Minnesota. I live in Florida. But I am neither Minnesotan nor Floridian when it truly comes down to it. I’m a foreigner in both those states, in both those places. Because what I’m truly looking forward to is the city built by God, the New Jerusalem. And that’s what you should be looking to as well.

That’s what we should all be looking to as the body of Christ. It’s not that we are so heavenly minded that we’re no earthly good. You’ve probably heard that phrase. It’s not that. It’s, you know, Abraham was heavenly minded, but he was still a blessing to others. He was still a blessing to the nations. We can still be a blessing to others. We can still be a blessing to the nations while still looking forward to that city. We just recognize that we’re doing it in a place that’s not our home, long term, because our home, long term, is the New Jerusalem.

So if you don’t think about your long-term home very much, I encourage you. Do it. Because Abraham did it.

So Abraham goes on, he says, “Give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

There is a variation of this phrase that’s actually repeated seven times in this chapter. The phrase, bury my dead.

So this represents completion, a new creation. Completion in the sense that Sarah is now dead, her life is complete. The promised son has been born. So the completion of Sarah’s life, the new creation of now the new life, the promised son.

If you see that relationship there, I think that’s what that phrase is trying to tell us. Just like the earth was created in seven days, I think this is telling us the same thing. That the phrase, bury my dead, repeated seven times means, okay, Sarah’s life is over, but now there’s a new creation. There’s a new person, there’s Isaac, to carry on the faith of not only his father but also his mother.

So the Hittites answered Abraham, “Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God among us.”

So the Hittites recognized God’s favor on Abraham. They called him a prince of God. They said, “Bury your dead in the choices of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb.”

So Abraham asked to talk to Ephron, the son of Zohar, that he would give him the cave of Machpelah. And he said, “For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.”

So Abraham wanted to get a deal done right away. He needed a burial place very quickly. He had his dead wife on his hands and he had finished his mourning and now he needed to get her buried. And so he wanted to get a deal done right away. He said, “In your presence,” with the city elders present. That’s who he was talking to.

So Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city. So this is actually where these negotiations were typically held at the gate of the city. That’s where people would meet and negotiate deals like this.

And Ephron says, “No, my Lord, hear me: I give you the field.”

So this is actually a typical method of negotiating a sale. The seller offers the item for free knowing that the buyer won’t accept. That’s a little bit different obviously than our modern culture. We would think if somebody today were to offer you something for free, we would think of it as that person is being extremely generous and we would accept. That’s our culture.

But in those days, in that culture, that’s not how it was. The seller would offer it for free to make it appear as if he was being generous, but the buyer would never accept something for free because that wasn’t actually truly socially acceptable. It was socially acceptable to offer something for free. It was not socially acceptable to accept something for free. So then the buyer would offer to pay the full price and the seller would suggest a price that would be usually very high and then they would negotiate down from there to an agreed upon price.

But here, something a little bit different happens.

Ephron here offers the field and the cave for free. In verse 12, Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. So he showed them respect. He showed them integrity. He showed them generosity by bowing down.

We can learn from the way Abraham is treating the Hittites and treating Ephron. We should show the same respect and integrity in our own business dealings with others. We should show the same generosity in our business dealings. T

his is not something that’s common these days, even among Christian business owners. I’ve seen this where Christian business owners will cut salaries or treat employees poorly. They will, I’ve sometimes even heard stories of Christian business owners stealing money, things like that.

Christian business owners should be the most honest, respectful, generous people out there. Our love for the Lord and our ability to treat others with dignity, our strong character should always shine through naturally. It shouldn’t be something that is forced. It should come through naturally in our business dealings, whether you’re a business owner or whether you’re doing business with somebody else, personal business, personal transaction, whatever it is, we should show the same respect that Abraham showed.

So Abraham bowed down and said to Ephron, “I give the price of the field. Accept it from me.”

Ephron answered Abraham, “My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me?”

So, so far this is going normally. Abraham rejected the offer of the free land, he offered to pay the full price, and Ephron said the price is four hundred shekels of silver, which is actually an outrageous amount for a piece of land. In those days, one acre was about 40 shekels. It’s not exactly clear how large this piece of land is, but it’s probably very, very, very high for what Ephron was offering.

And in fact, Abraham could have gone back to his family to bury Sarah for free. Remember, his family is still alive. And at the end of the last chapter, we found out that his brother Nahor had a bunch of kids. He could have gone back there and buried Sarah for free on his brother Nahor’s land.

But God told him to stay in the land of Canaan. And so he’s staying obedient to God. And he’s willing to make the personal sacrifice that is required to stay obedient.

Again, what can we learn from this? What cost is required in order to stay obedient to God? There’s going to be a cost. Are we willing to pay that cost? Are we willing to pay a high cost? Like I said, this 400 shekels of silver, this is a very very high price for what Abraham was actually getting. But he was willing to pay it. Are we willing to pay a high cost in order to remain obedient to God?

So Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites. So Abraham paid the price. He did not negotiate down. He paid the full price that Ephron had asked.

And in verse 20, the field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites. So this solidifies Abraham’s commitment to keep his family in Canaan. Now he owns land in Canaan. Now he has personal stake in the land. He owns portion of the land. He’s now tied to it.

This is called faith in action. Remember in the book of James where James says, “I will show you my faith by my works.”

This is Abraham showing his faith by his works. Abraham believed the promise of God that God was going to give him the land of Canaan, and so now Abraham was spending a large amount of money on a personal stake in the land. And in fact, Sarah, Abraham, Isaac, Rebecca, Leah, and Jacob would all be buried in this cave. This would be a very important cave to Abraham’s family.

So that’s the chapter. Like I said, small chapter, short chapter.

So how does this chapter point to Jesus?

Well, Abraham buried Sarah looking toward her resurrection. Remember I mentioned earlier in the episode that the phrase bury my dead or some variation on it was repeated seven times and that that number seven was an indication of completion and new creation, the completion of the life of Sarah and new creation of her son, Isaac.

But it also looks toward a new creation: resurrection. The author here writes bury my dead or bury your dead or whatever variation on that phrase seven times because seven that number seven should point us to a new creation in reference to the burial of the dead.

So what is being recreated or what is the new creation? It’s the dead that are being buried. So Abraham buried Sarah knowing that one day she would be resurrected. I don’t know that Abraham would have been able to put it in so many words, but we already know that Abraham, in the previous chapter, we know that Abraham believed that God could resurrect Isaac. And now in chapter 23, we’re told that Abraham buried Sarah. So it follows that Abraham would also believe that God could resurrect Sarah.

But this isn’t a simple raising somebody from the dead. This is resurrection. The New Testament spends lots of time developing this, of course. Resurrection is the raising of the dead into new life. The bodily resurrection of the saints, where we will receive one day a new glorified physical body that will live forever in that city that Abraham was looking to.

This should not surprise us when the Bible tells us that Abraham knew that God could raise Isaac from the dead. When the Bible tells us that Abraham was looking toward a city built by God. I don’t know how Abraham knew these things, but he knew them. These are concepts that many people in our own churches, in our own modern day, don’t understand.

Many times I’ve talked to all kinds of Christians who have no idea that there’s going to be a physical New Jerusalem city built by God that is going to be on the earth one day and they have no idea that we’re going to be living as physical glorified bodies on the earth for eternity. There’s people all over the place that have no idea that that’s what the Bible teaches. But Abraham knew this.

Another reason we know that Abraham buried Sarah looking toward her resurrection is because burial leaves the body intact. It shows our faith in Jesus’ return and in our resurrection, instead of cremating the body like many pagan cultures did in those days, and many people do today.

I’m not saying that if you cremate a body that you’re pagan. That’s not my intention. It’s a different culture now. But I do believe that burial does show faith in Jesus’ return and the resurrection. I believe that that’s why we bury a body; because we know that Jesus is going to return one day and that body is going to be resurrected.

Peter talks about our hope in the resurrection in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 3. He says: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

So what he’s saying is that because Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead, we now have a living hope for the same thing. This is what Abraham was looking towards. We now look back to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ so that we can look forward to the day when we will be resurrected and join Jesus in glory for all eternity, on the earth, in our physical bodies, in a physical city, the New Jerusalem.

That is the main message of this chapter. Believe it or not.

So let’s get to some questions for reflection.

First. What does it mean to be a sojourner and foreigner as a follower of Jesus? I did give some thoughts on this earlier, but go ahead and write down even a little bit more personal. Make it a little bit more personal to you.

How does being a foreigner change the way you view your purpose on earth? How does it change the way you live?

What are some ways we can display respect and integrity in negotiations and business transactions in our modern culture?

What are some of the costs you have had to pay, monetary or otherwise, in order to stay obedient to God?

What can we infer from this chapter about how we should treat a person’s body upon death? What should we keep in mind when burying a loved one who was in Christ? And go ahead and read 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 13 through 18 when answering that question.

Thank you once again for joining me on this episode.

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I also want to let you know that coming very soon I’m going to be launching a Patreon page where you can go and subscribe and these free episodes, as I’ve always mentioned, are always going to be free. However, there’s always quite a bit of audio that I cut out. And it’s for the purposes of keeping the episode focused. It’s so that it doesn’t get boring in certain spots. It’s so that I can stay focused on the main themes of the episode and not get off into tangents.

While on Patreon, I’m going to leave those in. I’m going to leave all that content in. And I’m also going to start doing some question and answer episodes and some interview episodes. In fact, if you’re listening and you would like to do an interview, let me know. Send me message. If you’ve got some questions about the book of Genesis, especially the chapters that we’ve gone through, let me know. Send them in. I’ll put them in an episode. But those are all going to be on the Patreon page and you can subscribe there.

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